Bob Bradley

Bob Bradley will remain as coach of the U.S. men's national soccer team for another four years, U.S. Soccer announced Monday afternoon. The 52-year-old Manhattan Beach resident guided the U.S. into the second round of the World Cup this summer after winning the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2008 and finishing in first place, ahead of Mexico, in regional qualifying for South Africa 2010. His record since taking charge of the American team in 2007 is 38-20-8, and his most notable victory came when the U.S. beat European champion Spain in the semifinals of last year's Confederations Cup in South Africa.

Whether it was mysterious misdirection or merely deft handling of the media, there was no doubt about meeting soccer coach Bora Milutinovic for the first time. The man was an original in every sense of the word. A couple of us soccer newbies had driven to Mission Viejo to what was then the training headquarters of the U.S. men's national team in 1994 to gather material for the upcoming World Cup. (So long ago that it was a soccer world not yet dominated by AEG and so long ago that Alexi Lalas was still playing and defending, not commentating and tweeting.)

The tiresome dance involving U.S. national team Coach Bob Bradley and U.S. Soccer is getting on my nerves. Does he want to stay? Does the federation want him back? Does anyone outside of the small band of U.S. soccer fanatics really give two figs one way or another? Bradley has been a success. So keep him. Stop messing about. Just throw some more money at him — his $600,000 salary, plus bonuses, is a pitiful amount and should at least be doubled — and let him get on with the job. Bradley has been a failure.

The inevitable has come to pass and Bob Bradley is no longer coach of the U.S. men's national soccer team. Is that a sigh of relief heard across the land? Is that a cheer from quarters near and far that a coach much unloved but nonetheless moderately successful has been handed his pink slip? If so, don't sigh too quickly; don't cheer too loudly. "Banality Bob," as Bradley was dubbed by veteran Soccer America columnist Paul Gardner, is not the sole cause of American soccer's inability to raise its game to a higher level.

It's a story that former Seattle Mariners catcher Scott Bradley never tires of telling, a tale of three brothers trumping a father and son. "When I was with the Mariners, at one point I played with both Ken Griffey Jr. and Ken Griffey Sr. at the same time," Bradley said. "Everybody was making such a big deal about having a father and son playing together in professional baseball. "I used to go up to Junior all the time and say, 'You think your family is so special?

Bob Bradley, the only coach the Chicago Fire has had and the man who led the team to the championship of Major League Soccer and the U.S. Open Cup title in 1998, will be named coach of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars today. The Fire would not comment Monday on the move but the MetroStars have called a news conference at Madison Square Garden this afternoon amid widespread reports that Bradley, 44, will be returning to his native New Jersey.

Bob Bradley officially became the 33rd coach in the history of the U.S. men's national soccer team Wednesday, casting off the interim tag that had hung albatross-like around his neck since December. Bradley's contract will keep him in the position through the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. "I'm proud today," Bradley, 49, from nearby Montclair, N.J., said at his introductory news conference in New York. "I'm excited. I'm honored to be named coach of the U.S. national team.

When it came down to it, Bob Bradley practiced what he preached. And for the U.S. men's national soccer team, it means a dose of familiarity after Bradley, 48, was appointed interim coach Friday, replacing his good friend Bruce Arena and forcing him to step down from his post with Chivas USA in Major League Soccer.

Bob Bradley's assignment was clear: Turn Chivas USA around and do it right away. Now, only days from the Major League Soccer team's 2006 opener Sunday afternoon against Real Salt Lake at the Home Depot Center, Chivas USA looks, feels and, indeed, is a much different team from the one that stumbled to a league-worst 4-22-6 record last season. It's not just that the coaches and players have changed, but that the attitude has undergone a transformation.

Bob Bradley, who has won more Major League Soccer games than any other coach, Monday was hired as coach of Chivas USA. Bradley, 47, replaces Hans Westerhof, the Dutch coach who Monday parted ways with the club on somewhat strained terms, less than a month after agreeing to stay for a second season.

Bob Bradley has earned a reputation for being conservative and unimaginative during his time atop the U.S. national soccer team. But Sunday, facing one of the sternest tests in his five years as coach, Bradley rolled the dice and came up huge, with the U.S. beating Jamaica, 2-0, in Washington, D.C., to advance to Gold Cup semifinals. The Americans struggled to score in pool play, failing to win their group for the first time in tournament history. Yet Bradley responded by benching Landon Donovan, the most prolific scorer in U.S. history, and starting a formation heavy in the midfield.

Eighteen days in the middle of the Major League Soccer off-season is hardly enough time to turn a group of virtual strangers into a team, much less one that can challenge the likes of Chile. But that's what U.S. national team Coach Bob Bradley and his assistants have been trying to accomplish for the past three weeks. On Saturday night in Carson, the U.S. team that they have pieced together will play the South Americans at the Home Depot Center. It is the opening game of 2011 for the U.S. in what should be a challenging year, dominated by this summer's Gold Cup. "I think they'll test us, because Chile comes out and presses," Bradley said.

Bob Bradley, who coached the U.S. men's soccer team into the second round at the World Cup in South Africa last summer, might try to do the same thing or better at the Olympic Games in London in 2012. On Wednesday, the opening day of the national team's January camp at the Home Depot Center, Bradley said taking charge of the American Olympic squad is something that is of interest to him. "It is, it just has to fit with everything that we do," he said. "The reason that it is [appealing]

Bob Bradley, whose contract as coach of the U.S. national soccer team has been extended by four years, said Tuesday that he expects the team to be noticeably different at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil compared with the one that played in South Africa this year. Whether it will be as successful is another matter. In this year's tournament, the U.S. finished at the top of a first-round group that included England, Slovenia and Algeria, but it then lost to Ghana in the second round for the second World Cup in a row. "I think it's hard to give a very specific answer on how different the team will look," Bradley said during a conference call from New York.

Bob Bradley will remain as coach of the U.S. men's national soccer team for another four years, U.S. Soccer announced Monday afternoon. The 52-year-old Manhattan Beach resident guided the U.S. into the second round of the World Cup this summer after winning the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2008 and finishing in first place, ahead of Mexico, in regional qualifying for South Africa 2010. His record since taking charge of the American team in 2007 is 38-20-8, and his most notable victory came when the U.S. beat European champion Spain in the semifinals of last year's Confederations Cup in South Africa.

The tiresome dance involving U.S. national team Coach Bob Bradley and U.S. Soccer is getting on my nerves. Does he want to stay? Does the federation want him back? Does anyone outside of the small band of U.S. soccer fanatics really give two figs one way or another? Bradley has been a success. So keep him. Stop messing about. Just throw some more money at him — his $600,000 salary, plus bonuses, is a pitiful amount and should at least be doubled — and let him get on with the job. Bradley has been a failure.

Glassy-eyed, reeking of alcohol and stumbling after falling off his bicycle, embattled Ventura County Superior Court Judge Robert Bradley was arrested again Friday night on an east Ventura street corner, police confirmed Monday. Bradley, 57, suspended from the bench after two drunk-driving arrests last winter, was arrested on suspicion of violating his probation at 9:55 p.m. about two miles from the sober-living house where he has been staying, authorities said.

It has been little more than a month since Bob Bradley's 2010 journey came to an end in South Africa. Enough time, in other words, for the U.S. national team coach to have pondered his options. What next? That's the question facing Bradley. There are all sorts of examples for him to follow — some good, some not so good. He could, for instance, try the Diego Maradona tack and lash out at all and sundry in the event that U.S. Soccer decides not to renew his contract when it expires in December.

Reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa — Bob Bradley's future as the U.S. national team coach will not be decided in the coming days or weeks but only after discussions between him and Sunil Gulati , the president of U.S. Soccer. "I want to hear his views, express some of mine and see what makes sense," Gulati said Monday morning in Johannesburg. "He's done a very good job. I want to make that very clear. . . . The problem is that our expectations have risen pretty sharply and there have been some performances where we didn't play as well as we would have liked."