Dude. The Bruce Is a Dick!

Now, I know this is old, old news to the soccer-watching world and, for the record, I like the man just fine. But every so often something I read or see reminds me of just how big a dick Red Bull head coach Bruce Arena can be. Observe:

"ESPNsoccernet (Kristian Dyer): After the World Cup, you made some critical comments about the MLS and its affect on the national team. This led to a spat of words from the league headquarters and apparent bad blood. Now with a partial season under your belt in the league and an offseason, have there been any sentiments of negativity towards you, within the league?"

"[Bruce Arena]: Anyone that attended my last press conference with the national team knows that I didn't have any bad words against MLS. For some reason, somebody began a campaign that was actually very inaccurate. I did not have any bad words against MLS and I would ask anyone to prove that."

Good Lord, man. This was not the "vast, right-wing conspiracy," but people filling in blanks, and in an entirely defensible way, based on this quote:

"And the way for us to get our players to get better is: We do need to get more of our younger talented players in Europe," said Arena, who won two of the first three titles in MLS with D.C. United. "We need them in a year-round soccer environment. We need them playing in more intense games to help develop them mentally, as well as soccerwise."

Yeah, a closer reading suggests he's bashing college and youth development in the States more than MLS - and that's hardly rare in the many spaces that talk about soccer. But it's not surprising people read that as a slur on Major League Soccer, as plenty seem to have done. His response to the "Brooklyn boy" question is equally precious.

(########)