The couches inside the lobby of the New England Revolution’s Manhattan Beach, California hotel sit awkwardly low, to the point that your butt sinks below your knees. The cushions are also problematically floofy, so leaning too far back risks being swallowed whole by a tasteful piece of furniture.



To combat that risk, most people tentatively lower themselves onto the front edge of the seat, backs straight. Bruce Arena, though? He kind of just plops right down, leaning on his elbows with hands crossed over his stomach, somehow looking right at home.



The five-time MLS Cup champion and former coach of the U.S. national team is not easily perturbed — particularly not in familiar settings such as this. Though a New Yorker by berth, Arena has long since become an adopted Angeleno via his long and successful stint with the Galaxy. He was just here over the holidays, and has grandkids who live less than a mile from the Revs’ hotel.



But even more than...