MLS' take on Black Monday

Call it a veritable "Black Monday" in MLS, if you will.

Bruce "this Red Bull stuff is harder than I thought" Arena and Frank "curse that David Beckham" Yallop both handed in their resignation papers to the New York Red Bulls and Los Angeles Galaxy, respectively, on Monday, thus ending the tenures of high-profile MLS managers within the course of 24 hours.

Yallop's resignation was no surprise really, given the heightened expectations in the wake of David Beckham's arrival. A projected playoff club, the Galaxy grossly under performed, due in part to Beckham’s injuries, a porous back line, and a veritable scheduling gauntlet that racked up more frequent flier miles than Barack Obama.

Arena's departure from New York was somewhat surprising, although the former US Men's National Team manager failed live up to the expectations that accompany such a title. While he was able to get the club on roll toward the final weeks of the 2006 season, the club's early departure from the playoffs this season led many to question what direction the Red Bulls were charging into.

Of course, perhaps the most glaring aspect of both resignations is that both New York and LA went out and splurged on high-profile designated player allocation signings during the ’06 offseason. While LA went out and got Becks himself, New York signed not one, but two DPAs (one courtesy of a Chivas USA trade) in Claudio Reyna and Juan Pablo Angel. Even without the celebrity of the DPAs, both Arena and Yallop coached in two the league's biggest markets, and while Yallop will coast back down to San Jose, where he managed from 2001-03, to take the reigns in San Jose, Arena's future is a bit more uncertain.

Perhaps the most telling attribute of these resignations is that the MLS managerial position is coming under greater scrutiny as the stakes in MLS continue to rise. It isn’t enough to just “get by” when you have an iconic player on your side. Nor is it enough to simply make it to the playoffs. Certainly not while the bigwigs are doling out cash for the likes of Beckham, Angel, and Reyna.

Though neither gentleman was “fired”, you imagine both had to have felt enormous pressure from the front office to leave on his own terms rather than getting the ax. The profile of both managers probably lent itself to both being “escorted” out of their positions, rather than being “fired”, as was the case of Dave Sarachan, the former man in charge in Chicago. With two vacancies before the end of the postseason, how long will it be before their successors (Jurgen Klinnsman? Paul Mariner?) are named?

The Forgotten Man

He seemed ready to tackle the world's best on the world's biggest stage. He was supposed to help anchor a formidable American defending corps that included Oguchi Onyewu, Steve Cherundolo and Carlos Bocanegra. This was going to be Cory Gibbs' chance to shine in front of millions at the World Cup. Then, before this dream could be fully realized, he injured his knee during a pre-World Cup warmup against Morocco. Dream dashed. There would be no World Cup appearance for the talented defender.

Now nine months removed from Germany '06, where is the Cory Gibbs blip on the US MNT radar? With three international friendlies under its belt this year and one more on tap tonight vs. Guatemala, it appears that Gibbs is presently a non-echo on said radar. Interim manager Bob Bradley has brought in an array of players, both stateside and abroad, in an effort to evaluate those who he plans on unleashing during this summer’s important international tournaments: the Gold Cup and Copa America. However, in each of Bradley's training camps, Gibbs' has been has been inconspicuously absent. Unable to get his foot back in the door, the chances of Gibbs reclaiming a roster spot before Memorial Day appears to be as slim as Lloyd Christmas getting a date with Mary Swanson.

While we know that Bradley is certainly making a concerted effort to try and establish a roster of "his guys", it appears that Gibbs is nowhere near that list. Perhaps there are still concerns that his reputation as an injury-prone player scares some, for he has yet to even appear in a Premiership match this season. It was no secret that Gibbs was a favorite of former MNT manager Bruce Arena, for whom Gibbs accumulated all of his 19 national team caps under, and perhaps, he's simply seen as an "Arena guy" rather than a "Bradley guy." Then again, the team’s depth on its defending line is fairly deep, with Gooch, Conrad, Cherundolo already in place, and an influx of youth in form of Jonathan Bornstein (21), Heath Pearce (22) and Jonathan Spector (21), all of which leaves Gibbs as a very odd man out.

So for argument sake where does Gibbs fit into the picture? Apparently, he does not fit in at all – at least not in the foreseeable future. During his convalescence, Conrad emerged as one of the squad's better defenders while Onyweu, Cherundolo and Carlos Bocanegra have all solidified their spots on the team. Ironically, it was Conrad who was the beneficiary of Gibbs’ knee injury. Unfortunately, it would probably take a series injuries within the defending corps in order for Gibbs just to get a second look at. Until that happens, it appears that we may have seen the last of Mr. Gibbs in the navy, blue, and white kit of the US Men’s National Team.