According to Arena’s agent, various unnamed Premiership and Nationwide clubs have been enquiring about his availability. Now this could just be typical agent blather, but it did get me thinking. For the non-US dopers, how highly would you rate Arena based on what you’ve seen at this World Cup? If your club made an offer for him would you support it (this is assuming you don’t want to, or can’t, hold on to the manager you already have)? And for the Yanks, if he does go, who should replace him?
Personally I’m just short of thinking he walks on water, but as an American and a DC United fan, obviously I’m a little bit biased.
Sorry for interrupting the thread but I personally think that the USA have no idea how to play football at all. This is my opinion. I am English so obvioulsy I support england. Hey we are out now too. I really think the usa have done well to get as far as they got… but please stick to baseball…
That’s right, football/soccer should be left to the people who really know it, like the French, Argentinians and Dutch. Face it tigeress, it’s the world’s game, and that includes everyone, from South Korea to Turkey to the good ol’ US of A.
As for Bruce Arena, I think he’s an excellent coach. He pulled the team together and got them to play about as well as they possibly could have. The USA did better in this World Cup than they have in 72 years- I think that speaks for itself. Aside from his coaching skills, I like that he’s honest rather than political. The example that comes to mind is, when he was asked if the US team was on the level of European giants like Germany, he answered “not even close.” A lot of people would have sidestepped the question, but Arena answered it honestly- the US is good and getting better, but still isn’t world-class. I hope he remains with the US national team.
It’s the world’s game indeed, and America is more than welcome to the party.
I don’t know much about Arena. But is it terribly wrong when I think a lot of the US success can be explained by the players’ experience in the higher echelons of the better European leagues? O’Brien, Stewart, Friedel, they all rose to greatness due to their playing in Europe. They had the talent from the start, but could only fully grow in the right environment. OK, so Stewart is more Dutch than American, but that’s besides the point.
Arena, on the other hand, chose to keep fielding an obvious fluke like Agoos. Doesn’t bode well for his coaching skills, methinks.
I’m not bashing MLS or American “soccer” in the broader sense, but it’s fair to say that professional football in the US still has to shred its image of a league of moderately talented Americans and over-the-top European and South-American star players raking in the last few bucks. It’s just that the MLS isn’t on par with the Euro and South American leagues yet, and it shows on a tactical level. Less and less, and I’m sure the US play in this world cup will boost the game, but still.
Seeing as Arena’s background lies in the MLS, I’d say he might not be on par with top European coaches yet. But hey, I could be wrong. Personally, I think guys like O’Brien and Stewart will make the great US coaches of tomorrow. Player experience in top teams in top leagues counts for a lot. With the possible exception of Louis van Gaal, of course.
Yeah Coldie, I agree that the players’ experience in Europe helped quite a bit. But we saw a lot of great performances from people like Beasley (never in Europe), Jones (in England ages ago but that never really seemed to benefit him), Donovan (not much European experience), so you can’t put it all down to that.
I think Arena made a lot of very good calls tactically and in use of substitutes. Agoos being the obvious exception, but hey, he did cut him when it became indisputable he was a liability (wish Mick McCarthy had had the cojones to do that with Ian Harte!). I also think Arena managed to get some very good performances out of players I never really rated before, like Friedel, Sanneh, and especially Jones - like probably most American fans I groaned when I heard Jones had made the squad again but he more than justified his inclusion. This is, of course, a very crucial qualification for a manager of average players so I can easily see a Nationwide club being interested in Arena. Of course, the top level clubs would be beyond him at this point … and of course, I don’t really want him to go anywhere
O’Brien is a good and useful player in the Netherlands, also pretty smart because he mastered Dutch in a couple of years. Stewart is a mediocre player and is playing for a mediocre Dutch side. But a great player doesn’t always make a great coach. Stewart is a nice guy so everything is possible.
The US Soccer Federation is encouraging a lot of young stars to go to Europe to learn the game instead of playing at US colleges. The Federation feels that the training is better in Europe, and it undoubtedly is.
Arena will likely get to stay as national coach of the US for as long as he likes after this World Cup. If he wants to go to Europe to coach, that could only help the US national team as the coach will then become more experienced. Arena has already had great success at both the college level and with DC United of the MLS.
I don’t think so. Even before the next World Cup, how would he possibly be able to manage the States in the Gold Cup plus whatever friendlies we were playing while he still had full-time duties in Europe?
The Mexicans didn’t seem to want Jones there either. What was that all about?
I think there are other points that might score against Arena as a team manager. The most successful ones have plenty of knowledge of other teams’ players, the transfer market, contracts and the rest both within Britain and abroad. Arena would need plenty of help sussing out which players were available and snapping them up cheaply before the big fish got there (this was Walter Smith’s only skill as far as I could see). Reputation as a former player also counts for a lot when attracting players.
But tactically, and for the motivational skills you mentioned, I’m sure he could cut it as a coach at plenty of clubs, or maybe as a manager of a club with a good director of football behind him.
