Mr Right? Robin Fraser is unveiled today as the latest Chivas USA coach by Interim General Manager Jose Domene (Photo courtesy Chivas USA).

Former Galaxy defender and Real Salt Lake assistant coach Robin Fraser was introduced as the club’s sixth coach in seven years at a rather vague news conference today that offered plenty in terms of abstract philosophy and little in the way of specifics.

“The owners have a phenomenal vision about where they want this team to go and how it’s going to get there,” said Fraser at the outset of the press conference without offering concrete examples.

Whatever that vision is Interim General Manager Jose Domene wasn’t articulating it:

“In terms of the global vision for this club that’s more of a question for our team President Antonio Cue. We have great strategy in place that you’ll see.”

Well, what about Fraser’s philosophy then?

“We’re going to teach our players how to solve problems on the field because a team that can figure out how to solve problems on the field is going to figure out how to win,” he said.

For Fraser it was the challenge of taking over a team that needs a massive rebuilding job that attracted him, which is much like the situation he first encountered with RSL:

“That’s one of the things that’s really appealing. It reminds me a little bit of a team that needed some rebuilding and reshaping and remodeling. … It’s a lot about shaping the way the team approaches (things), the way the team plays. I think this is a team that has a basis for being a very, very good team.”

Fraser said he will have a “fair” amount of control over player personnel decisions at a club where those things are literally decided by a soccer “committee” comprised of ownership, management and coaching staff.

Still, if Fraser – a class act by any standards – can’t bring what worked at one of the model franchises in the league in terms of ownership, management, coaching and on-field product to one of the worst, no one can:

“It was absolutely the best assistant coaching job in the league by far because Jason Kreis is so collaborative in his approach to everything,” he said of his years in Utah. “It gave me a wider range of experience than your average assistant coach.”

And just how much time will Fraser have given that this is a club who goes through coaches like Jorge Vergara goes through nutrition supplements?

“We will have patience with him, of course. We want this to be a long-term relationship and have Robin here for many many years.”

Good luck with that, Robin.

I’ll have more a little later from Fraser and newly-appointed assistant coach Greg Vanney, who have coached together in the past

The 37-year-old central defender signed a new one-year contract, the club announced this afternoon.

Berhalter slowed visibly last season, his second with the Galaxy after a 15-year career in Europe, and by season’s end was mulling retirement.

Injuries limited Berhalter to just 16 games last season. In his first season the Galaxy allowed just 31 regular season goals, exactly half the number that they had conceded the previous season.

“In addition to his role on the field, he will also be joining the club’s technical staff and will be working with our defenders and the reserve team,” Coach Bruce Arena said.

Berhalter recently completed his USSF “B” coaching license. He joins associate head coach Dave Sarachan, assistant coach Cobi Jones and goalkeeper coach Ian Feuer on Arena’s staff.

“It’s not that often that a player has both of those responsibilities so I’m excited,” Berhalter said of the opportunity to become a player-coach. “It shouldn’t be much different from my role on the field. It’s using my experience and my leadership to help in another capacity.”

Robin Fraser will be introduced to the media at a noon Wednesday press conference.

He has spent the last four years as an assistant coach at Real Salt Lake and is freqently mentioned in connection with MLS head coaching vacancies.

Fraser, 44, takes the club’s reins immediately ahead of the Jan. 13 MLS SuperDraft.

From the Chivas USA press release:

Fraser has become one of the most widely respected Assistant Coaches in Major League Soccer due to his work in four seasons with Real Salt Lake under Head Coach Jason Kreis. Since he joined RSL in 2007, the club has won an MLS Cup (in 2009) and has set a record for most consecutive home matches without a loss, currently at 25 league games and 33 matches in all competitions. Fraser, who earned his USSF ‘A’ Coaching License in 1993, also served as the Director of Coaching for youth club Arizona Futbol Club for two years and the head coach of the RSL Arizona Under-17 team following his retirement from Major League Soccer.

In 10 MLS seasons as a player, Fraser established himself as one of the league’s top defenders, earning two MLS Defender of the Year awards in 1999 and 2004, as well as earning five appearances on the MLS All-Star Team and MLS Best XI (1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004).

Story here

Fraser played more than 260 MLS games over 10 seasons including the league’s first five seasons with the Galaxy when he was virtually ever-present in defense. He was the team’s first draft pick.

He also played for Columbus and Colorado. Fraser is frequently mentioned as a prospective MLS head coach.

He played 27 times with the U.S. Men’s National Team.

Chivas USA could do worse than building from the back, which Fraser will presumably emphasize.

He would be the seven-year-old club’s sixth coach.

Regarding the report that former Galaxy defender Greg Vanney will join Fraser’s coaching staff, there’s this from Fraser’s Wikipedia entry:

“During the late 90s, Robin Fraser and Greg Vanney co-coached a local girls soccer club in Los Angeles, California known as the Santa Anita Soccer Club or SASC.”

David Beckham: yadda yadda EPL loan yadda yadda (AP Photo).

I will mark a dozen years of employment at the Daily Breeze Monday by taking the day off so there will be no column Tuesday.

*I’ll leave you with the usual blather out of England that include reports Newcastle United want David Beckham on loan. So do Spurs. Really.

The Galaxy really do not want Beckham to go anywhere on loan before the fifth and final year of his contract. Really.

*Maykel Galindo, out of contract with MLS and banished from Chivas USA to USL Miami FC by season’e end last year, will report for pre-season training with the club, but doesn’t know where he will end up, he told me via Facebook.

*Reports out of Latin America suggest Juan Carlos Osorio is not coming to Chivas USA after all.

*One thing we do know for sure: UCLA product Frankie Hejduk, 36, signed a one-year contract with the Galaxy after the club selected him in the Re-Entry Draft.

“As a Southern California native, to get an opportunity to play in front of my family and friends is a cool thing that not too many people get to do,” added Hejduk. “In addition, the transition into the locker room is going to be an easy one for me as I already have a bond with many of the players here through the National Team program. It’s not very often you get to play with other World Cup veterans on your team and I’m really looking forward to playing with them as well as some of the young and up and coming MLS stars on the Galaxy roster.”