Gullit blames self for Galaxy flop

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Thursday 28th January, 2010
Gullit blames self
for Galaxy flop
In this Nov. 27, 2007, file photo Los Angeles Galaxy soccer star David Beckham, left, chats with coach
Ruud Gullit after their exhibition soccer game against Sydney FC at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium,
Australia. Famous from a standout career that earned him the 1987 European player of the year award,
the former Dutch star was hired with much fanfare in November 2007. He left just nine months into a
three-year contract. Now a television commentator for Sky Sports in England, the 47-year-old is preparing to be a studio analyst for ESPN at this year’s World Cup. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
by Ronald Blum
BRISTOL, Connecticut (AP) - Ruud Gullit didn’t take long to realize he was the wrong man to
coach David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy.
“In LA, nobody is talking about football. No tel-
evision stations. You see it nowhere,” Gullit said.
“It’s difficult to swallow because you need that
adrenaline to pump yourself up. If nobody talks
about it, it’s almost like an enigma.”
Famous from a standout career that earned
him the 1987 European player of the year award,
Cricket SA fire selectors
Jan 27, 2010: Cricket South
Africa has sacked the entire
selection committee, according to Mike Procter, the former convenor of selectors.
Procter told Talk Radio 702
this morning that Cricket SA
has dismissed the entire selection panel and that an interim
selection committee would be
appointed until 19 February.
“It came as a huge shock to
us all,” Procter told the radio
station.
There has been speculation
that the surprise resignation
of Proteas coach Mickey
Arthur, together with the dismissal of the selection panel,
is linked to the sticky issue of
transformation and team
selections.
Procter told Talk Radio 702
that only Cricket SA could
answer the question of
whether transformation was
the reason the selectors were
fired.
Arthur is expected to
speak to the media with
Cricket South Africa chief
executive Gerald Majola at
11am today in East London.
the former Dutch star was hired with much fanfare
in November 2007. He left just nine months into a
three-year contract, the Galaxy further adrift than
when he arrived.
Now a television commentator for Sky Sports
in England, the long dreadlocks of his playing days
replaced by a close-cropped look, the 47-year-old
Gullit is preparing to be an analyst for ESPN at
this year’s World Cup. He’ll be paired in
Johannesburg with his former Galaxy boss, Alexi
Lalas.
To prepare, Gullit made his first trip to ESPN’s
studios this week. During a 30-minute interview on
Monday, he was willing for the first time to publicly discuss what went awry during his time in
Los Angeles.
“It was too much of a clash between my way of
being used to working and the rules of the MLS,”
he said.
Gullit couldn’t cope with restrictions such as
Major League Soccer’s salary cap and its draft.
Having coached previously at Chelsea, Newcastle
and Feyenoord, he was accustomed to how the rest
of the football world operates: When you want a
player, you go out and buy him.
His three-year contract was said to be worth $6
million, and he said that was so out of line with
MLS standards that it created an uncomfortable
situation.
“For the amount of money that they normally
pay, I don’t go from Europe all the way to live here.
So therefore they need to find sponsors. But who
knows Ruud Gullit in America? Who would pay
that amount of money? And the moment that you
find out nobody wants to pay that, that’s where all
the trouble starts,” he said.
Lalas was let go as the Galaxy president and
general manager on the same day Gullit departed,
the team winning just six of 19 matches. The
Galaxy missed the playoffs for the second straight
season before reaching the MLS Cup final in 2009
under Gullit’s successor, former U.S. coach Bruce
Arena.
“I think he’s being a little hard on himself to
be honest with you. I think there’s plenty of blame
to go around,” Lalas said in a telephone interview
on Tuesday. “I probably should have done things
differently to at least help more in some ways. But
I think ultimately the learning curve was so big,
and he came into a situation that was so different
than anything he’d ever been associated with, that
it was going to take a long time. And unfortunately
for Galaxy, we didn’t have that time. And that’s our
fault also.”
In some ways, Gullit is dismayed by the lack of
a football culture in the United States.
“When USA is playing at home, they don’t play
at home. It’s unbelievable,” he said. “Certain people don’t want to acknowledge it so much because
everybody wants to protect the American sports,
and I can understand that. But everybody knows
football is coming. Everybody plays it everywhere.
I think it will be two generations - then people will
get used to it, understand the game more. This generation still doesn’t understand it.”
He also can’t get used to the American system
of playoffs that MLS uses. Gullit thinks it creates
an atmosphere that’s not conducive to top football,
clashing with the rest of the world, where the team
that finishes first automatically is the champion.
“Every week you have to play well to be the
champion. But here it’s just a matter of getting in
the playoffs, and how you get there is not so much
important as long as you play well in the knockout
stages,” he said.
As for the World Cup, Gullit predicts Brazil will
reach the final in South Africa. He has high hopes
for the Netherlands, the team he captained to the
1988 European Championship. But he also has
doubts.
And then there is Italy, the defending champion.
“The thing is always with the Italians, they
don’t need to play well to get to the final,” he said.
NZ opts for private security at WC
WELLINGTON, New
Zealand (AP) - New Zealand
has hired a private security
firm to guard its players during this year’s World Cup in
South Africa, New Zealand
Football told local media on
Wednesday.
Chief executive Michael
Glading told the New Zealand
Herald his organization had
engaged a South African con-
tractor whose firm had previously provided security within
South Africa for the All Blacks
and the Wellington Hurricanes
rugby teams.
World Cup organizers have
spent an estimated $220 million on security around the
Cup and have assured competing teams that every step will
be taken to ensure their safety
at the tournament.
Tottenham beats
Fulham, Liverpool
held by Wolves
by Rob Harris
LONDON (AP) - Tottenham stayed fourth
with a 2-0 victory over Fulham as
Liverpool’s bid to rejoin the English
Premier League’s elite group faltered further with a 0-0 draw at Wolverhampton on
Tuesday.
Peter Crouch and David Bentley scored
to deliver Tottenham’s first league win in a
month. While Liverpool did move up to fifth
with a draw, Manchester City is a place
behind and level on points with two games
in hand.
“It’s important for us that the teams
around us are dropping points and we keep
picking up points,” Crouch said.
The point for Wolves against Liverpool
moved them out of the relegation zone
along with Bolton, whose new manager
Owen Coyle masterminded a 1-0 win over
former club Burnley. Portsmouth remained
lodged to the bottom after drawing 1-1 with
West Ham.
The focus returns to the title race on
Wednesday when second-place Arsenal goes
to Aston Villa and Chelsea hosts in-form
Birmingham, while leader Manchester
United is playing Man City in the semifinals
of the League Cup.
At the start of the match at White Hart
Lane, Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer
had to be instantly alert as Spurs came close
three times inside two minutes through
Tom Huddlestone, Jermain Defoe and
Crouch.
Schwarzer was finally beaten in the 27th
minute when Crouch slipped the ball in
from close range. The instigator was out-offavor midfielder Bentley whose cross from
the right was clipped over Bjorn Helge Riise
by Luka Modric from the byline. Modric
then volleyed to Crouch, who found the net
despite pressure from Schwarzer.
Bentley, on a rare league start, put
Tottenham further ahead on the hour with
his first goal in five months from a free kick
that deflected off Riise’s head.
The victory enabled Spurs to move further clear of Liverpool in the race for the
four Champions League spots.
On a freezing night in central England,
Liverpool couldn’t find a way past Wolves
despite captain Steven Gerrard returning
from a two-match injury absence and new
midfielder Maxi Rodriguez making a first
start.
What the Reds lacked was the cutting
edge provided by striker Fernando Torres,
who was injured.
Liverpool dominated the first half but
found the home side difficult to break down
and the closest the visitors came after the
break was Rodriguez and Dirk Kuyt striking
speculatively from distance.
“We didn’t create clear chances and the
final pass in the final third was the difference,” Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez said.
“In the second half they were pushing harder and we had to defend, but we still had
some good counterattacks. Again the final
pass was the difference. If you analyze the
game, then the result is fair.”
In the battle against relegation, Coyle’s
Bolton moved out of the drop zone at the
expense of Burnley, which he left this
month.
The manager had to put up with abusive
chants from the about 5,000 visiting supporters, but they were silenced in the 34th by
Chung-Yong Lee’s fifth goal of the season.
Bolton moved up to 15th, a point ahead
of West Ham, which led at Portsmouth
through Matthew Upson’s goal, but home
substitute Danny Webber canceled it out
with his first league goal.
The ETI-MCA “C” Division 50 Overs League tournament came to a completion with the final being played at the P. Sara Oval, recently. LB Finance beat Commercial Bank “A” by 34 runs in the final.
(Picture on right): The winning captain of LB Finance, Chaminda Weerasinghe receives the ETI trophy from the chief guest, Executive Director/ETI, Nalaka Edirisinghe (3rd from right). Others in the picture; from
L to R: Wasanthalal Fernando, Chairman Tournament Committee/MCA, guest of honour, CEO/ETI, Mahendra de Silva, Snr. Vice President, Mahesh Wijewardena and Vice President, Ashley Ratnayake (Both from
MCA). (Picture on left): The skipper of Commercial Bank “A”, Hemal Peiris, receives the ETI trophy from Snr. VP, MCA, Mahesh Wijewardena.