at least compared to other U.S. pro sports.
The season ended for most teams in late October or early November. Most training camps will begin on or just after Feb. 1.
But the offseason was especially brief for a couple of Real Salt Lake players, Robbie Findley and Kyle Beckerman, and for talented Los Angeles Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez.
All three were last seen in the MLS Cup Final in late November. Now they are all in Carson, Calif., where Bob Bradley's national team is into its annual January camp.
Gonzalez turned 21 less than three months ago. He's a youngster and doesn't have as much tread on the tires, so to speak, as the other two. So he'll have the legs to bounce back without much of a problem. Findley, 23, didn't always log starter's minutes in 2009 (even if he was RSL's leading scorer with 12 goals.) So he shouldn't be too bad off.
But what about Beckerman? That man's hairstyle belies his age somewhat; he's 27 years old. Plus, Beckerman got his first pro contract at a young age, so he's about to enter his 10th year as a pro. Add the fact that he's a bulldog of a central midfielder, known for his tough tackling and constant harassing. A guy like that needs to give his body a break.
But Beckerman can't really afford one right now. Bradley is using the January training camp for its annual purpose, to build depth and continue to assess the progress of some fringe national team figures. The stakes are particularly high for Beckerman; with Maurice Edu still not playing regularly in Scotland and German-born Jermaine Jones still miles away from full health, there could be an opportunity for Beckerman (or another fringe central midfielder) to land on the 23-man roster for South Africa.
So RSL's veteran, the midfield linchpin for his team's 2009 MLS title, went home to Maryland for a quick visit before the holidays. Then he hung out in Phoenix for a few days with Findley. The two are good friends and both recognized the importance of reporting to the national team camp in reasonably good shape. So they worked out together in Phoenix, Findley's hometown, in the days leading up to the camp.
Not much of a window for rest and recuperation, eh?
"I got enough of a break," Beckerman said Thursday from The Home Depot Center, where he was nearer the front of the pack than the back on fitness work that closed out the morning session. "I was ready to get back into a set schedule and ready to start playing some soccer again."
Does he feel like he needs more of a break? Maybe. But he said he'll get one of those soon enough -- after the 2010 season.
2. The potential "winners" in Carson: The current group training in Carson is heavy with MLS influence, as 25 of the 30 players in camp play in domestic soccer's top tier league.
There aren't many "sure things" here when it comes to roster spots for South Africa, especially when it comes to the MLS talent. But a handful have a legitimate shot, depending on showings in spring games and other factors, such as injuries or form slippage for competitors.
Jonathan Bornstein, Jimmy Conrad, Chad Marshall, Heath Pearce, Beckerman, Sacha Kljestan, Robbie Rogers, Conor Casey and Robbie Findley all stand a reasonable shot. Bornstein is closer than the others to securing his place on the roster.
Guys like Marvell Wynne, Geoff Cameron, Brad Davis, Brad Evans, Eddie Gaven and Jeff Cunningham have an outside shot, but would probably need some "help" to create movement in the pecking order.
Still others, like Dax McCarty, Kevin Alston and a few more, have a much better chance at fulfilling the World Cup dream during the next four-year cycle. They are young enough and promising enough to like their chances at gaining a bigger role moving forward -- assuming they take advantage of opportunities like they one they have right now under the bright California sunshine.
So, there's surely something at stake for players all across the board.
"This is always an important part of the process of assessing players as they move along, as we try to see where the progress is with some of these guys," Bradley said of the long, annual January camp. It wraps up after a Jan. 23 friendly against fellow World Cup qualifier Honduras.
3. Huge year for Kljestan: Whether his name lands on that magic 23-man list Bradley will name later for South African adventure, this is a huge year for Kljestan, Chivas USA's long-legged, slashing midfield attacker.
Simply put, 2009 is a year Kljestan would prefer to forget. What began with so much promise in a trial with one of Scotland's giants unraveled spectacularly for the young Chivas USA talent. For whatever reason, Kljestan just couldn't shake the poor form. He was nowhere near the attacking force he had been for Chivas in 2008, a year that put him squarely on Bradley's national team radar.
His deflated performance for the MLS side in 2009 carried over to the national program, where first-team opportunities became increasingly sparse.
As if there wasn't enough to think about, he enters the last year of his current MLS contract in 2010. The so-called "contract year" means a lot for pro athletes in any sport. In soccer, it means even more. It means more options, as the prospect of a free transfer to another country pushes leverage in contract negotiations from the league's side to the player's side. Kljestan is well aware that he could essentially move on a free transfer this summer (although he probably wouldn't physically change addresses until the winter window, one year from now.)
"But for me, what I'm thinking about right now is just being a dominant player in MLS again," he said.
Kljestan knows first-hand of the dangers of focusing on contracts rather than performance. After all, performance drives contract negotiations at the end of the day. He looks at Landon Donovan's situation as the best example of how the process works most seamlessly. Donovan was a world-beater during the early part of the 2009 MLS season. (He did fine on the back half, too, but he was especially destructive for MLS opposition in the early going.)
All that impressive play drove the contract talks that just netted Donovan a plump new MLS deal. He has talked to Donovan occasionally, setting aside the Home Depot Center rivalry to seek the Galaxy captain's thoughts on the subject.
"I feel really good that I stepped up my game a little bit toward the end of last year, scored a couple of goals and helped my team get into the playoffs," Kljestan said. "So I feel good about this year."
4. For flux, Chicago tops the list: If you had to rank the teams on the offseason flux factor, Chicago would surely be at the top of that dubious list.
Would the last one out of Bridgeview, turn out the lights?
OK, it's not exactly that bad. But it's not great, either.
The men of Bridgeview are still looking for a manager to head up the effort. With less than a week to go before the MLS draft, that's hardly ideal. Chris Rolfe is gone. Cuauhtemoc Blanco is gone -- with perhaps a smidge of a chance that he'll return, but nothing that can be counted upon. Brandon Prideaux has retired. Who knows whether Justin Mapp can re-discover the form that once made him such a promising, young MLS talent?
Now comes word out of Toyota Park that left back Gonzalo Segares -- arguably the league's best at the position -- is close to signing a deal with Cypriot team Apollon FC. The sides have reportedly agreed to terms. That would leave a huge hole for some manager to fill, whenever he finally comes aboard.
Yes, significant attacking might still exist, although there are questions there, too. Brian McBride, for all his heroics through the years, will be one of Major League Soccer's oldest starters this year. That means injuries will increasingly be a concern. At the other end of the spectrum, Marco Pappa and Patrick Nyarko represent fine young talent -- albeit talent that is subject to the ups and downs of youth.
There might be no team in MLS whose fortunes could so easily swing either way. It could be a memorable year in Chicago for the all the right reasons or all the wrong ones.
5. A new chief (Red) Bull: Who knows if Hans Backe is the man who can finally get Red Bull New York pointed in the right direction? This much is certain: if Backe, who was named Thursday as the new Red Bulls manager, can put a winner in that splashy new park, he'll be defeating some historical trends in doing so.
It's been written before -- but it deserves to be said again -- foreign managers have a tough time adjusting in MLS. That's especially true with the New York club, which has spun the foreign manager wheel more often than any other club.
Backe has almost three decades of managerial experience. And he'll apparently retain highly respected assistant Richie Williams as part of his Red Bulls staff (as well as goalkeeper coach Des McAleenan). That's sure to help.
Backe knows soccer, no doubt. But does he understand the U.S. athlete mentality? Does he get the tricky nuance of personnel comings and goings within the single-entity league structure? Does he understand how taxing travel and summer heat can be in the United States? Does he understand how to exploit the draft? Can he work side-by-side with the national programs, where the international dates don't always line up? The list of variables goes on and on.
The roster of past Red Bull managers is a mini-who's who of foreign soccer big shots. The problem is that none of them are among the top coaches at the club in terms of winning percentages. Eddie Firmani, Carlos Queiroz, Carlos Alberto Parreira, Alfonso Mondelo, Bora Milutinovic and Juan Carlos Osorio all failed to reach .500 in career winning percentage for the club.
Meanwhile, three U.S. managers did get there -- three, that is, if you include Williams. He served in two interim stints, which together equal to about a half-season's worth of service. Williams was 6-6-4 in those two short terms and his .500 winning percentage is right there with former managers Bob Bradley and Bruce Arena on the Red Bull ledger. The former and present U.S. manager each finished his time with the Red Bulls right around the .500 mark.
By the way, reports keep drifting out of Chicago that former Salvadoran national team boss Carlos de los Cobos will be the choice to succeed Denis Hamlett as the man in charge at Toyota Park when the Fire announce their new head coach on Monday. He's from Mexico, so he would also join the roster of foreign bosses trying to sort out the ways of MLS on the fly.
Steve Davis is a freelance writer who has covered Major League Soccer since its inception. Steve writes for www.DailySoccerFix.com and can be reached at BigTexSoccer@yahoo.com. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
