Thursday Galaxy Gameday
Claudio Reyna and Bruce Arena in happier times when first reunited as player and coach with the Red Bulls.
Photo by Bruce Hazleton
The one thing players stress about new Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena is his man management skills:
"His best quality is as a man manager and as a team manager," said defender Chris Klein, who has had stints under Arena with the national team. "He's always gotten the most out of players and if you ask guys who played for him many more times than I have, they'll say the same thing - when you play under Bruce, he's going to get the most out of you."
Still, it was notable that a widely reported player revolt in New York likely played a role in his firing from the Red Bulls.
So it will be interesting to hear what former Arena favorite Claudio Reyna - one of the chief revolters, who publicly fell out with his former coach - has to say about him in the ESPN2 booth before tonight's game (live at 7 on ESPN2) against the Chicago Fire.
The former U.S. National Team captain will make his ESPN studio debut as a guest analyst during the pregame show.
It's a game notably short on star power, but Galaxy fans will be more concerned whether Arena can break the team's eight game winless streak.
I will blog from Carson as usual.



Nick, what did Claudio Reyna say about Arena? Anything notable? Thanks for your blog.
Nick replies: I don't think so, but sadly I missed most of it since we had the sound turned down in the press box.
Ok. Thanks for your reply. I also wanted to tell you that you are doing a great job with the blog and I have become a regular reader. Thanks again.