On Friday, Dutchman Ruud Gullit was officially named head coach of the L.A. Galaxy. “It’s a huge challenge to be here but it’s all here for the taking,” said Gullit. “The Galaxy is used to winning things and we will try everything in our power to win more titles here. I hope to find a team that is curious, that is ambitious and that plays with a lot of heart.” Gullit admitted he didn’t know a lot about MLS, so he said he was appointing retiring Cobi Jones to be his assistant coach.
Fittingly, soccer columnist Andrea Canales reflects on the history of foreign coaches in MLS, and reminds us that for the most part, it’s been an unhappy one. The American soccer league, with its salary caps and league-centered structure, is a very different world from what foreign coaches are used to in Latin America and Europe. Big names
like Bora Milutinovic, Hans Westerhof, Carlos Queiroz and Carlos Alberto Parreira have coached here only depart with their tail between their legs for failing to achieve winning records with their respective teams.
However, none of them faced as monumental a task as the one that now stands before the Dutchman. As Canales says, Gullit begins his tenure as Galaxy head coach with “a target on his back a mile wide.” Foreign coaches can succeed in MLS, but they must be patient and willing to adjust. Gullit, of course, will be looked at under a keen microscope. He’s also inheriting a team in turmoil, and several big decisions need to be made immediately. Among them is whether or not (or even how) to obtain an extra DP slot to keep Landon Donovan.