Sarachan great complement to LA's Arena
Assistant coach provides invaluable help to Galaxy sideline
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Or is it left-hand man?
Ah, it doesn't matter, as long as Dave Sarachan is with Arena, dispensing his advice and helping running whatever soccer team they have in front of them.
Sarachan has been an invaluable assistant to Arena at the college, professional and international level. These days, Sarachan is his No. 1 man with the Los Angeles Galaxy, who take on Real Salt Lake in MLS Cup Sunday.
"We're the dream team," Sarachan said after practice at Qwest Field Friday. "He's a long-time friend and colleague and it seems to work. It's been a lot of fun."
No one has to remind Arena of that. He knows a good thing when he sees one.
"Dave's not only a good coach, but he's a good friend," he said. "In all these situations, you need to have the right people around you to complement you and Dave's always been a complement to me. He's a perfect match for me. We're a little bit like The Odd Couple in some ways. I don't know which one of us is Felix. He's just a great complement and he's an invaluable part of our team and organization."
Sunday will be Sarachan's fourth MLS Cup in his third team. He was there as an assistant with D.C. United in 1998 and 1999 and as the head man with the Chicago Fire in 2003. The '99 United team was the only MLS champion with which Sarachan was associated.
"It doesn't get old, I'll tell you that," he said of returning to MLS Cup.
And apparently the same goes for working with Arena. Some people might claim the acerbic Arena can be difficult to work with. But the 55-year-old Sarachan somehow became the perfect fit. Arena first hired Sarachan to be his assistant at the University of Virginia in 1984. He brought him on his No. 2 man with D.C. United in 1998 and was an assistant coach on the U.S. national team during its surprising quarterfinal finish at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan. While they have achieved much success, they have never won a championship together, as Sarachan left UVa before the Cavaliers dominated college soccer and Arena split United to take on the national team reins in 1998.
So why do the two get along so well?
"That's a great question, actually," Sarachan said. "Bruce is a guy that I've been able to establish a relationship with, that I can challenge him. We can have an open dialogue and discussion on things. I understand how he ticks and he can kind of understands the qualities I bring him. It's one of those things that just works."
Since he was a head coach at Cornell and with the Fire, Sarachan realized he wasn't going to call the shots. But saying that, he probably gets more responsibility than most MLS assistants because of his experience and the trust that Arena has in him.
"This time around was a little bit different for me, having left Bruce a while ago and run my own programs collegiately and then professionally," Sarachan said. "Coming back at first was a little bit of an adjustment. He gives me a lot of freedom. He's still who he is in terms of running things. I think being the GM has been good for Bruce, too, because he can wear a couple of different hats. It allows me to do a lot when he's not around downstairs. It was a little bit of an adjustment at first."
As it turns out, they both played soccer at Cornell, Arena graduating in 1973 and Sarachan coming in as a transfer student in 1974.
"We missed each other when we were at Cornell," Sarachan said. "But since that moment when we were together at Virginia it's been a 25-year relationship. It's like an old married couple sometimes. We sometimes bicker, we sometimes get after it. But there's a mutual respect between us. We get things covered."
They got an opportunity to plan and to bicker again in August 2008 when Ruud Gullit was fired as Galaxy coach. Arena had been let go as New York Red Bulls coach the previous offseason and Sarachan has been axed by the Fire in 2007.
"He was unemployed, that's what he brought to the table," Arena quipped.
"He had called and asked 'what would it take for you to come out with me if things worked out,'" Sarachan said. "I said 'here's what I think might work' and within 48 hours I was on a plane and in track suit and it it worked."
It certainly has, but there was a lot of work and rebuilding to do. The Galaxy might have had a pair of prized possessions in Landon Donovan and David Beckham, but very little around them.
"It took some time for us to sit in and watch and get a sense of the locker room, get a sense of the personnel," Sarachan said. "We knew there was a need for a lot of changes. Being in this league as long as I have and Bruce has, honestly, those changes don't happen that quickly. You can make personnel changes, but how it comes together we weren't sure how long it would take. If you ask Bruce, I'm sure he will say he would probably agree that it was a two-, three-year reclamation project. So we knew we had to upgrade our roster in a lot of ways and we were able to do that."
They accomplished that faster than that imagined. That two-year reclamation project became a one-year rebuilding plan. The Galaxy finished the regular season atop the Western Conference with a 12-6-12 record and 48 points.
"I'm not surprised now, given what I know over the last several months with this team," Sarachan said. "If you asked me this back during preseason, I probably wouldn't have made a lot wagering we would have been in MLS Cup. But I would say that we would be in a position to compete.
"You just have to have a little bit of luck along the way, a little bit of breaks along the way. We have quality, too. Dave and Landon, they're difference-makers. And now if you surround them with the right personnel, a good goalkeeper and defending, it makes sense why we're here now."
Sarachan said he felt the Galaxy could be a serious title contender after L.A. managed a scoreless draw in Houston Oct. 18.
"We had come off a couple of rocky results and going to Houston was a big game for us because that's a tough place to play," he said. "We got a result there. I think that was one of the moments that I felt that we could really turn things around."
As it turned out, the Galaxy defeated the Dynamo in the Western Conference final, 2-0, to earn the right to take on RSL.
Asked what he admired about RSL, Sarachan replied, "Their ability not to get caught up in a lot of structure. They're very free flowing. They're very attack-oriented with a commitment of sometimes five, six, seven players and I respect that. They have different ways to get at you, through combination passing, through balls over the top, speed. So I respect that a lot."
Saying that, Sarachan likes the Galaxy's chances.
"I think we have quality," he said. "I think we have experience and I think we have what I feel is what it takes to play in big games. The occasion is not going to get to too many of our guys. I think we're pretty grounded. I think we're pretty insulated from a lot of distractions. To us, it's a soccer game. I think we match up well. We respect Real. I think we can finish this off."
Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News and is editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He can be reached at SoccerWriter516@aol.com. Views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
