You can’t argue against foreign players in MLS. Even if American talent could support an entire league, we’d still want players from around the world to spice up the soccer on our shores.

But foreign coaches?

Every team that reached a final during the first three seasons was led by an American รน Lothar Osiander, Bruce Arena, Glenn Myernick and Bob Bradley.

Osiander is a German native who has spent most of his life and, like Dutch-born Thomas Rongen, all of his coaching career in the United States.

Imports have included Ireland’s Frank Stapleton and England’s Bobby Houghton, who headed Year 1’s two cellar teams.

The MetroStars suffer the most by bringing in men whose rTsumTs are decorated with international jobs.

Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira failed to reach the playoffs with a 13-19 record while convincing the league to spend heavily on stiffs from his homeland.

His predecessor, Portugal’s Carlos Queiroz, had the best record of all foreign coaches, but overall it was still a losing one and he jetted off like a mercenary before his ballyhooed mentoring skills left an impact.

Bora Milutinovic coached the United States in 1991-94, but the Serb didn’t immerse himself enough in American soccer to remain anything but a foreign coach before he returned to compile the worst record in MLS history.

Miami’s Brazilian, Ivo Wortmann, gained the respect of colleagues like Arena in 1998, but he’s a disgruntled loser so far this year.

That Walter Zenga got a chance to engineer a train wreck in New England should serve as a warning to MLS owners who still suffer from xenophilia. The guy had never even coached.

American coaches know the domestic players who comprise 80 percent of a roster. Plenty are well-versed in the international game. And MLS teams who shop abroad are betting against the odds.
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