His hire made all sorts of waves across MLS, but that didn’t stop Bruce Arena from sneaking up on an old friend at Gillette Stadium shortly after he was brought on as head coach and sporting director of the New England Revolution in May.



“I saw him in the hallway and I’m like, ‘What the hell are you doing here?,” said New England Patriots star wide receiver and reigning Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman.



You wouldn’t think it, but the 68-year-old Arena, a curmudgeonly, sarcastic dean of American soccer coaches, and the 33-year-old Edelman, a favorite target of Tom Brady, the subject of a Showtime documentary and a former flame of supermodel Adriana Lima, have been friends for years.



The pair met while Arena was coaching the LA Galaxy and Edelman was working out at the club’s facility in Southern California, a popular spot for NFL players to train during their offseason. Though they look like a bit of an odd...