Bruce Arena, the most decorated coach in U.S. Soccer history is returning to the helm of U.S. National Team in hopes of leading the USMNT to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati announced on Tuesday that Arena will take over the USMNT coaching duties from Jurgen Klinsmann, who was dismissed by the federation a day earlier. The former LA Galaxy head coach and general manager assumes the position with the U.S. squad in peril after starting the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying with a pair of losses to Mexico and Costa Rica.
Although the road ahead to take the Americans to their eight-consecutive World Cup appearance will be a difficult one, Arena is eager to take the reins.
“I’m thrilled to be back with the national team. It’s the greatest honor for a coach in our country,” Arena told reporters in a teleconference. “We have a great challenge ahead but we have a great pool of players to reach our goal of qualifying for Russia in 2018.
"I hate to say this now, but, Sunil, I would've done this for free," he later added. "It didn't work out that way, but we did agree to a contract."
The move is a return home for Arena, who held the national team position from 1998 to 2006. During his previous tenure, the ex-Galaxy boss became the winningest coach in U.S. Soccer history with 71 wins, a pair of CONCACAF Gold Cup titles as well as two World Cup appearances.
In his first tournament in charge, the Americans reached the quarterfinals of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, the USMNT’s best showing in 80 years. However, in the 2006 edition, the Americans failed to advance from the group stage, ultimately leading to Arena’s dismissal.
Now nearly a decade after Arena’s discharge, Gulati is confident that the 65-year-old is the right man to take the USMNT to the promise land.
"I don't view it as Bruce 2, but sort of Bruce 2.0," Gulati said. "I think he's got far more experience than he did when he had the national team the first go-round. He's proven and re-proven many times at all levels of the game in the United States that he's an extraordinarily capable and successful coach."
And Gulati’s sentiment is certainly one that Arena agrees with after eight highly successful years with the Galaxy that saw Arena led Los Angeles to three MLS Cups and eight straight postseason appearances.
"I think 10 years later I'm better prepared for this job than I was in 1998 and 2002, and ultimately 2006, so I'm hopeful the experiences I had are going to benefit the program," he said. "One of the things you learn from experience is you see things a lot clearer and a lot quicker than you did previously, and the game has slowed down a bit, where I can see as a coach in my position how things are happening on the field. … This time around, it’s going to be a great challenge. "
The challenge for the USMNT truly begins in 2017 when they hold their annual January camp and then turns their attention to a pair of World Cup qualifiers against Honduras at home and then Panama on the road. Sticking true to his “tell it like it is” style, Arena isn’t providing a prediction for how the team will fare in those matches, but he does believe improvement will occur.
"The only thing I can tell you is that we're going to make it better," Arena said.
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog atwww.LAGalaxy.com/Insiderand contact him atLAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com
