News

A few thoughts on a Tuesday morning:

Bellamy: Nature of the beast

During this past weekend's classic Manchester derby the enthusiastic colour commentator David Pleat made the astute observation that Craig Bellamy is at his very best when he is irritated and angry. A great comment and boy was it applicable on this particular day. In typical Bellamy fashion he scored two wonderful individual goals. One was a pinpoint shot and the second a fast, skillful dribble with just enough composure to score a wonderful goal. Along with Ryan Giggs, he was the most influential player on the park (Welsh bias here) in what was a thrilling game.

Now if only it wasn't for that nature of the beast thing everything would be cool. Not to be though. Man U scoring within minutes of Bellamy's equalizer must have irked even the mildest of City fans and when you irritate a "Jack Russell" in the form of Craig Bellamy, look out!

While you cannot condone Bellamy's ultimate actions you can sure have empathy for Mark Hughes, who correctly takes the good with the bad when it comes to his his talented forward-cum-winger. The fact that it was a fan in a place that he should not have been will likely diffuse too harsh a penalty from the FA - and that would be proper in this circumstance. This game and Bellamy's performance in particular needs to be remembered for the classic it was.

Arena is what TFC needs

How refreshing to read Bruce Arena's comments after his LA Galaxy recently lost 6-3 against the Dallas Burn.

"I think that the score tonight was fair,'' Arena said. "We were awful from the opening kickoff and deserved everything we got. I think I have to take full responsibility for this performance tonight. When a team performs like that they obviously haven't been pointed in the right direction. A poor performance . . . an embarrassing performance but a most fair result in my view."

Taking full responsibility for his side's dismal defensive performance has to be admired as it indicates a manager in full control. As a profession, coaching can, without doubt, affect even the most assured, confident people. All too often we have to listen to excuse after excuse or blame being channeled into the wrong areas. As a coach myself I understand and have empathy for it but when you listen to the Wengers and Capellos of the world you recognize the difference between amateurs and true masters of their profession. While I would not put Bruce Areana in the same category as Capello, on the North American soccer landscape at least he is as good as it gets. Have no illusions, the reason the Galaxy are where they are today is in large part due to the performance of their coach. His management of the Beckham/Donovan controversy as an example was a master class in man-management.

If TFC ever want to compete for a championship I suggest they start looking for someone of similar quality. The club needs a coach with a proven track record and with a complete understanding of the North American landscape. While the current TFC team is clearly imbalanced they nevertheless have enough quality pieces that with a shrewd tactical mind and approach they could quite easily be molded into a sustainable contender. Mind you to get the right person Mo Johnston will have to be more open to letting go some control. Not sure his ego can handle that.

And finally

A funny anecdote from a friend of mine, Dave Morrison, who coaches a girls under-8 team in Seattle.

"Tonight my under-8 girls gave me a lesson in the power of mass media,'' wrote Dave. "I've been working with them on teamwork. My bunch is very competitive and at times a little mean to each other. Last game we played really well, but none of the girls celebrated each other's goals. I told them we ought to think about improving our celebrations. I asked for suggestions. One of the girls raised her hand and said, "How about we jump up and down and take our shirts off?"

"We're exploring other celebration options."