Brian Kleiban sits back in his chair during our conversation. His assistant coach, Cesar Santos, and his academy director, Vanie Clarke, sit ahead of his desk in similar positions.

The conversation touches on success, an urge to win, even a hunger for it, but there is an air of fun to it. Kleiban believes that the sport should be fun — it should be loved — it should be lived.

Kleiban is the head coach of AV Alta FC, the first-year USL League One team based in Southern California’s Antelope Valley in the western Mojave Desert.

AV Alta is Kleiban’s first chance as a head coach of a professional first team after making a name for himself in the youth game.

In 2015-19, he coached dazzling LA Galaxy Academy teams that featured a slew of players selected for U.S. youth national teams and current pros, including Efrain Alvarez and Julian Araujo, Californian natives who’ve since played for the Mexican national team.

Long before that he was an Argentine-American with a love for the sport — an identity that Kleiban sees as the catalyst for his success.

“In Argentina, soccer is beyond a sport, it’s life, maybe too much, too much passion, too much crazy,” Kleiban said. “But on a day-to-day culture it matters. Here in the U.S., soccer is growing, it is evolving, it’s got better … but, it’s just a game. Everybody tells you, ‘It’s OK, Brian. It’s just a game.’”

It was supporting the Argentina men’s national team in the early 2000s that inspired the way Kleiban would go on to coach. At the time, Marcelo Bielsa was the head coach. His tactics motivated Kleiban.

Kleiban said, “When I first started coaching was when Bielsa was coaching the Argentina team. Argentina didn’t win the World Cup. They got eliminated, ironically, in the first round that year. But, the whole process, the [2002] World Cup qualifiers, every time they stepped on the field, they would go to destroy, they would eat the opponent, full-court press, verticality, and the opponent had no chance. So I want my team to be this way. … If I want to coach, I’m going to coach like this.”

From the moment he arrived in the Antelope Valley in March 2024, he set out to institute his version of Bielsa’s high-flying system.

For Kleiban, that means attacking soccer. It means possessing the ball, pressing all over the field, and playing to win regardless of opponents. He loves the tactics, he also feels they are representative of the club’s Antelope Valley community.

Photo courtesy Baylee Gossman/AV ALTA FC

“The identity that we take pride in is having the vision of being a dominant team in the USL and being the protagonist every single game, home or away,” Kleiban said. “Having the people here come to the stadium and taking pride that these guys are a reflection of [them], they’re hard-working, they dedicate themselves, they want to win. No matter if we go down … the people love that never say die attitude … We are a reflection of the people of this community and that is what we want to be.”