Arena tipped to take over as Galaxy head coach

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former United States coach Bruce Arena is widely expected to take charge at the struggling Los Angeles Galaxy in place of Dutchman Ruud Gullit, who quit the post earlier this week.

Although Galaxy officials refused to comment on Friday on the appointment of a new head coach at the Major League Soccer (MLS) club, the 56-year-old Arena was a conspicuous figure at the team's home venue the previous day.

While the Galaxy battled to a 2-2 draw with local rivals Chivas USA, Arena sat in a hospitality suite at the Home Depot Center speaking to Tim Leiweke, president and chief executive of AEG, the entertainment conglomerate that owns the club.

Leiweke, who has described the team as dysfunctional in recent weeks and urged them to take positive steps toward improvement, said luring Arena to the David Beckham-led Galaxy would be a significant coup.

"We have a lot of respect for him," Leiweke told the Los Angeles Times on Friday.

"He's been not only part of the national team program but he's been a part of Major League Soccer from early on so the ability to talk to him about what we're going through here and get his advice and input is invaluable.

"We'd be honored and privileged if Bruce was part of the organization but the conversation was really geared toward his input and his feeling on what we've done right and what we've done wrong with this franchise."

Although the Galaxy made a promising start to this season with Beckham and U.S. international Landon Donovan in good form, they are in the midst of an eight-game winless streak and lie fourth in the MLS Western Conference.

POOR DEFENCE

Their defense has been particularly poor, conceding a league-high 42 goals in 20 games, and they are battling to reach the playoffs for the first time in three seasons.

The Galaxy's flagging fortunes were dealt a further blow on Monday when former European Footballer of the Year Gullit resigned for personal reasons.

Gullit, appointed last November, was replaced on an interim basis by assistant coach Cobi Jones, whose first game in charge was Thursday's derby against city rivals Chivas USA.

In a related move on Monday, Galaxy president and general manager Alexi Lalas, instrumental in bringing Beckham to the club in July last year, was fired from his job.

Arena, who coached the U.S. from 1998 to 2006, would certainly bring a high level of experience to the Galaxy, plus a knowledge of the American game sorely lacked by Gullit.

In his first stint as a coach in MLS, Arena led D.C. United to back-to-back MLS Cup titles in 1996 and 1997.

After standing down as U.S. coach following the 2006 World Cup finals, he took charge of the Red Bulls before leaving the club by "mutual agreement" last November with two years left on his deal.

(Editing by John O'Brien)