Expansion LAFC hires Bradley
Bob Bradley, father of U.S. captain Michael Bradley, has been named the first coach of the Los Angeles Football Club, the MLS expansion franchise due to begin play next year.
Bradley is the former coach of the U.S. men's national team and the most accomplished American coach in international club soccer history. He had long been rumored to be a target of the deep-pocketed LAFC ownership group, which hopes to make an immediate MLS splash when it enters the nation's second-largest market to compete with the LA Galaxy, the five-time MLS Cup champions.
LAFC will formally introduce Bradley today at the Natural History Museum in downtown Los Angeles, next door to the site of the club's under-construction new stadium.
The 59-year-old Bradley has no players just yet on his new team, but he has a lengthy list of coaching accomplishments. He became the first American coach to lead a Premiership team last season, although his tenure in charge of Swansea City lasted just 11 games.
Bradley coached the U.S. team from 2006-11, winning a CONCACAF Gold Cup title in 2007 before becoming the only coach in 80 years to win a World Cup group and reach the knockout rounds in South Africa in 2010.
After leaving the U.S. team, Bradley eschewed MLS jobs and embarked on an international career. He successfully coached the Egyptian national team and club teams in Norway and France before landing with Swansea late last year.
He went 2-7-2 with the Swans, who replaced him with Paul Clement in January.
The LA Galaxy fired coach Curt Onalfo on Thursday just 20 games into his first season and rehired veteran coach Sigi Schmid to take over the struggling MLS powerhouse.
Onalfo went 6-10-4 after being promoted from the Galaxy's developmental squad last winter when longtime coach Bruce Arena went back to the U.S. national team.
Onalfo never got consistent results from a highpriced roster of international talent including Ashley Cole, Giovani Dos Santos, Romain Alessandrini, Jermaine Jones and Gyasi Zardes.
The Galaxy sit ninth in the Western Conference after losing six consecutive games across all competitions in July, including an embarrassing 4-3 loss to New England last weekend.
Since the inception of the International Champions Cup five years ago, Real Madrid has drawn the two largest crowds in U.S. soccer history, with 109,318 fans flocking to watch the team play at Michigan Stadium in 2014 and 105,826 filling the same venue last summer.
Wednesday night's ICC match against Manchester City was no different, as 93,098 fans filled the Los Angeles Coliseum for the largest soccer crowd in the stadium's history, with the overwhelming majority donning the iconic white kits of “Los Blancos.”
Unfortunately for Real Madrid fans, the night ended in disappointment, with Manchester City defeating Real Madrid, 4-1.