LAFC picks first coach and it’s Bob Bradley
The Los Angeles Football Club began laying the foundation for its inaugural MLS season on Thursday, hiring Bob Bradley, a former national team coach, as its first manager.
Bradley, 59, who guided the U. S. to the knockout stage of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, returns to MLS after successful stints with the Egyptian national team and club teams in Norway and France. Last fall, he became the first American to coach an English Premier League club when he was hired by Swansea City, but he lasted just 85 days and 11 games, going 2-7-2, before being sacked.
At LAFC, which will enter MLS play next season, Bradley joins a franchise with an ambitious, well-funded ownership group and a blank slate on which to build. And with its coach in place, the team, which has been tied to talks with several big-name European players, could begin announcing its initial first-team signings next month.
In his first stint in MLS, Bradley won a league title and two U. S. Open Cups with the Chicago Fire before moving on to the MetroStars and Chivas USA. In 2006 he replaced Bruce Arena with the national team, capturing the CONCACAF Gold Cup a year later. In South Africa he became the only U. S. coach to win his group in World Cup play.
His 43 wins with the national team trail only Arena and Jurgen Klinsmann, all time, while his .612 winning percentage is second-best among coaches who worked at least five games.
His son, Michael Bradley, is the current captain of the U. S. team.
kevin.baxter@latimes.com
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