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Bruce Arena: “We failed”

When Bruce Arena began his stint as U.S. Men’s National Team manager in January, he was brought in with one goal in mind. He was not hired to bring in some overarching ideologies or push the game to a new stratosphere. He was hired to navigate World Cup qualifying and book a ticket to Russia.

On Tuesday, that goal came crashing down in Trinidad & Tobago.

Needing just a single point to all but lock up a World Cup berth, Arena’s USMNT put together a flat, lethargic performance in a 2-1 defeat to Trinidad & Tobago. The loss ended the USMNT’s World Cup dream in the qualifying stage as the U.S. will now miss the globe’s largest soccer tournament for the first time since 1986.

“This game, in my view, was perfectly positioned for the U.S. team,” Arena said. “We failed on the day. We have no excuses. We failed today. We should have walked off this field with at least a point.”

After throttling Panama, 4-0, on Friday, Arena went with an unchanged lineup for Tuesday’s match. It was an XI that featured a number of World Cup veterans, including the centerback duo of Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler, forward Jozy Altidore and captain Michael Bradley.

From the onset, that lineup looked a step off the pace. Arena said that, heading into the match, he was looking forward to giving the group a second runout following a standout performance. However, what followed was a performance that saw the U.S. eliminated from World Cup contention.

Despite the disaster of Tuesday night and all of the issues that preceded it, Arena says he does not regret taking the USMNT job. As for what his future holds, Arena added that he wasn’t sure of the next step in the aftermath of the darkest moment in USMNT history.

“We didn’t qualify for the World Cup,” he said. “That was my job: to qualify for the World Cup.

“It’s disappointing,” he added. “We should not be staying home from this World Cup, and I take responsibility for that.”

Comments

  1. This game was lost because we gave up 2 goals to a team of players, most of whom aren’t good enough for MLS. I said at the beginning of the game that it was more important to keep them from scoring than to score ourselves and yet Arena didn’t play another defensive mid and it made the difference. Here’s another fact to consider. We have 5 defensive players who are regulars in a top 5 European league and another who plays regularly in Holland. 5 of these players were available, but only 1 was on the field. 3 weren’t even called in and probably our best was on the bench. This is gross incompetence on the part of Arena who seemed hell bent on relying on MLS players. In a game that was unimportant 4 years ago with lesser players, when Panama needed to win, we beat them anyway. Yet this time, needing only a draw against a team that had won only 1 game in 9, we lost. The team was ill managed, unprepared, and lacking effort. I can’t help but note that I said Dempsey should start ahead of Wood (Dempsey did more in 25 or so minutes than Wood did all game), a defensive mid be inserted , Cameron should have started over OG, and I would have called in FJ and Chandler and FJ would have been on the field.

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    • @Gary, thanks for saying it too. The narrative being push by Twellman and others is that the player pool wasn’t good enough. But its not true we have the talent it just wasn’t either properly motivated(JK and BA) , or used bad tactics(mostly BA), or wasn’t called in(mostly BA).

      Not calling Chandler in when Yedlin was hurt was fireable, been saying this since last window. Not calling in FJ and motivating him to play LB again was bad. Not starting Cameron over Gonzalez was bad and lead to disaster. BA’s MLS bias or bias for his former players in Gonzalez was obvious.

      I really hope we hear the real story which I firmly believe is the influence of the MLS/SUM money machine over USSF as well as the rift between the German American coaches/players and native born players. Hopefully, we don’t have to wait 10 years for a Wynalda gaff on a tv/radio show to learn about what really happened this time.

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    • Agreed! “Il Bruce” makes me ill. He less with more. His ego got in the way an it’s gonna cost us more than we can imagine. The ramifications over the next three years in loss of revenue and reputation alone will be hurtful to the sports progress. MLS players should be pissed! As the USMNT does well and the appetite grows so does their paychecks; as evidenced by the post SA and Brazil bumps.

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  2. I almost feel sorry for Bruce..

    He knew he was on a different playing field field from day one..

    He knows full well the capabilities of each senior player in the pool (including those based overseas)

    He chose to play politics with the roster and trotted out a B/C USMNT side at best..

    That team was a mess..

    Top heavy with so-called leaders with a selfish individualistic point to prove..

    While the younger (and in some cases more talented) players sort of sat back and waited for fading and B-level guys to win lead the team to Russia.

    Simply put, Bruce (who openly criticized MLSs mandatory coaching certification program) was outcoached in each and every crucial game..

    Some of these guys are spot on:

    This sport needs a critical investigative media..

    Not just studio suit and tie media, but books.. Reports.. Full time studio programming.. Stuff from the player’s mouths..

    MLS pulls NHL/NBA type gate reciepts

    USSF 7 straight World Cups and an established track record..

    Wheres the accountability..

    We’ll here about this on espn and other station s for a week or two..

    Then its back to Twellman, Keller soccer blogs and fan opinion..

    No one should be surprised if Arena is around for the January camp

    And Zusi.. McCarty and Feilhaber for that matter..

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  3. You know another problem is older US players that must realize they are past need to start retiring from international football. You don’t see Arjen Robben saying well i can contribute to a euros campaign at 34 (even though he likely could). He straight up just says I’m done move on to the next generation. Would have been nice if players like Dempsey and Beasley did that after last cycle. Our players don’t because they know being a USMNT player increases their compensation in MLS and with sponsors.

    I’m tired of relying on past prime players to transition because it actually prevents the transitions as mangers get stubborn because they try and get results in useless “competitions” like the gold cup and and associated friendlies.

    The following players have put in good service and deserve to be honored by US fans but should retire from international duty to force the hand of the next coach breaking in the next generation: Cameron (great player but hes 32 and we need to season his replacement because you cannot rely on a 35 centerback in qualifying or WC). Fabian Johnson, He is already declining and again I’m not going to rely on a 32 years old stealing minutes from someone 3 years from now when we start qualifying again. Clint Dempsey (you are a candidate for GOAT, sorry you didn’t get the scoring record but it’s over). Omar Gonzalez Old and it was clear he was way to inconsistent for international play where one mistake can cost you everything. Altidore, often unfairly criticized IMO but thoroughly displayed that he can’t produce the energy for games in close succession, I’ve never seen more walking in a 1st half and he will be well past prim during next cycle, next. Besler, again you shined during the previous cycle and were adequate for this cycle but it’s time to move on. Howard, Guzan,and Rimado. All are past their prime and taken a significant step back. There are plenty of young keepers getting first team minutes that are at least more athletic than each of these 3 players currently. Ream you are not good enough and you will be to old for next cycle, retire to save your self from being cut. And Finally MB, I think a lot of the criticism has been unfair and ignorant but at 30 you can’t be the spine of the team going forward. I’m one who believes that the US didn’t really have an option to replace you during this cycle but since we have 3 years before we start playing matches we need to win time to find someone else.

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  4. I can’t say I didn’t see this coming and I hate this hate this hate this, not calling in Chandler when Yedlin was hurt was fireable, scrambling for a point in Honduras being bailed out by a lucky goal in the 85′ I said was when we should have fired Bruce. Everyone on here called me crazy.

    I’ve consistently called out MB for not being a CDM/true#6, he doesn’t fit a diamond midfield and that’s why he always works better with a partner. I’ve said this one over and over again and get flamed most of the time for it.

    After last window I said we need a real journalist to investigate the influence that MLS/SUM has on USSF and the autonomy of the US manager. JK mentioned autonomy was the sticking point why him and Sunil never got a deal done after the 2006 WC after his stint with BM in 2007. People here thought I was wearing a tin foil hat.

    We had a manager who either was being controlled in his callups to favor MLS players and was complicit in it, or we had a manager who legitimately rated MLS veterans over players starting in the EPL, Bundesliga, and other euro leagues. I believe it is both combined with an anti German American bias that slowly built the fire JK movement and eventually got their man in charge in BA. Way to go fellas. Still rocking my tin foil hat.

    Your going to hear and lot about we didn’t have the players and some of that is true, we have a talent gap in birth years 1990-1994, but even with that gap we had a more talented pool this cycle than any other cycle with the possible exception of 2002. A lot of out best talent (FJ, Chandler, Miazaga, Williams, Gooch, McKennie, Gonzolez, Hyndman, Green, etc) were overlooked for MLS veterans. Any competent soccer professional scout overseas will laugh at you if you say MLS is a higher level than English Championship or 2.Bundesliga or Eredivisie. You will get laughed at.

    As for the 90-94 birth years those kids where going thru their most formative years at the exact time we made the switch from using ODP to using the DA to develop talent. It was transitional and we had kids fall thru the cracks but DA is worlds better than ODP as seen by the number of kids pushing thru at the 17-21 year age now. As DA builds we need to find a way to remove the pay to play system to expand the scouting field, this is the true next level.

    Its the managers job to get the most talented players to work together to be the best team. Both JK and BA failed to do this in the hex, but JK has done it before with more or less the same pool at the Copa.


    Say all this for one reason fellas, so that you listen to me now. Here is what we need to do:

    1. USSF board asks for (because he has to be voted out not fired, vote is next Feb) Sunil to resign immediately. Find an interim placeholder president and fire BA and hire interim placeholder manager with no chance to become full time manager.

    2. MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL I SAY HERE, board and interim ussf president need to hire an outside (preferably non US) firm like Deloitte or something like that to investigate and give USSF a clear view and evidence of the cronyism going on between MLS/SUM and USSF and what type of old boys network hierarchy are we dealing. This investigative firm needs to interview all the actors involved in the debacle, from JK to BA to Gulati to the players to the scouts to assistants, everybody. I would recommend a committee of former USSF actors be formed to act as a liason during the investigation but they would not have authority over the investigating body, could include persons like JK, Bocanegra, Reyna, Freidal, Wynalda, Rongen.

    3. Once investigative firm makes their findings and recommendations on how to restructure USSF those need to be followed and not brushed aside. Its about removing the cronyism and rooting it out. The old boys network has to go and needs to be outed for the public to see what type of favoritism and corruption was taking place and for who’s benefit so we know in the future what certain actors motives will be.

    4. Development. Need to keep progressing with DA and eventually find a way to make the money work where we can remove the pay to play system and thereby expand the scouting pool. Also need to invest in local soccer fields for kids in urban areas to play. Atl United has done this in downtown Atlanta with a few spots and inner city kids are playing pickup now. This could be revolutionary long term if expanded to other inner cities.

    5. We need a full time USSF president not a part time president who teaches economics at university with no footballing experience. This should be obvious to any other footballing nation and kind of reinforces the cronyism/boys network that USSF has, in no other nation would a person with Sunil lack of footballing experience make it that high in the federation, same goes for Chuck Blazer in the past too.

    6. We need a full time Technical Director separate and autonomous from the US manager. The Technical Director needs to determine style of play, long term vision,and coaching emphasis at developmental levels thru senior team and hire the various managers at different age levels up to including senior team to implement the greater vision.

    7. Remember fellas it sucks now, but the future is bright. We’ve got a lot of talent coming thru at the 15-21 year old age range that will be primed for 2022. Heads up fu-k the haters.

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  5. Empty words from the coach, same as the empty words from the players. I am so tired of this team realizing after the fact that they did not come to play. How many times can that happen before you realize you were not ready to play, you did not prepare correctly, and that you did not bring the proper attitude into the game. Arena, Bradley, Altidore, Howard and the rest of the “experienced group” need to stop talking, it is just hot air at this point. The world cup is earned, not given to you because the past says you deserve it, and this entire team did not realize this until after the game last night. I cannot be more disappointed than I am this morning!!!

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  6. Sure, this team should have qualified for the World Cup but let’s not ignore the fact that after 20 plus years of MLS we’re still looking abroad for talent and Bradley, Guzan, Howard, Altidore etc. have nobody challenging them for a starting sport.
    Get rid of Garber and bring somebody that understands that there needs to be some level of commitment from the league towards the national team.

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  7. If I were writing this article, I’d have included, word for word, that entire statement by Arena about how “what we’re doing is working, we don’t need to make any changes, it would be a mistake to make any changes, etc”
    I just listened to Twellman again on Sportscenter and they played that entire Arena clip again… and after listening a second time I was even more infuriated…
    I remember JK saying once that when you lost a game you didn’t even want to leave the house for days to get groceries, that there was that high of a level of pressure and accountability….
    And Arenas statements show with abject clarity WHY the rest of us will have to wait 5 years, while the tattooed millionaires collect their checks.
    “Nothing to see here, move along” Frank Drebin woulda been a better choice
    8 games, 12 points… that we just got owned by the TnT back-up team was just the icing on the cake.
    Whatever hole he inherited was NOTHING compared to the hole he just created for the sport in the US…

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  8. what I think: rimando and guzan: no more. Howard:
    just to have a decent farewell. beasley, zusi and
    villafana: never again. yedlin should continue.
    Cameron: must continue to lead our young
    supporters in the beginning. besler and Gonzalez:
    never again. ream: only in sporadic situations. acosta: should
    continue to have chances. mccarty, nagbe and
    feilhaber: never again, bedoya: only in sporadic
    situations. Bradley: despite the flaws, must be kept
    to see what he can do. arriola and wood: should be
    maintained. Pulisic: sums up our dreams and hopes.
    wondo: never again. Altidore: should continue but
    need to decide what he wants. Dempsey: deserves a
    decent farewell

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  9. The stubborness of Arena and the overboard/pro-MLS mentality leads me to speculate that Christian Pulisic would never have been given the chance at this level, had he not already been capped and showed flashes prior to Arena’s hire.
    —-
    That’s everything wrong with his hire, that’s everything wrong with his mentality, and that’s everything wrong with believing “nothing needs to change”. Now, more than ever, we need management in place that is willing to take risks cultivating young talent over safe options like Dax McCarty.

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      • For me Bradley should get plenty of blame for his failure as captain and leader of this group of players.
        I don’t think we can ignore a few things though. Bradley is not a great player. He is a solid player for the US, but nothing more. He despereately needed help in midfield and got 0 support. That failure falls on Bruce’s shoulders. Its been clear for a very long time that we needed to bolster our midfield with numbers, because we did not have the individual talent to play the formation we were deploying. I get that Bradley will deservedly get criticism here, but the midfield failure blame needs to be shared. Bruce set them up poorly. Nagbe did not put the work in defensivly needed. Arriola was completely invisible in his 45 mins.

      • Reply to BigRed
        Had a better quality player been called in they could have been trusted to start the game next to Bradley and bolster the midfield. Bruce clearly didn’t trust Dax without a three-goal lead.

    • Arena said in his post game interview that this squad was too old or the World Cup and he had plans to integrate some youth to the team before next summer. Day late and a dollar short Bruce.
      Complete and utter failure from the players. Despite the shortcomings of the squad and coaching we had more than enough talent on the field to qualify for this World Cup. The inconsistency and lack of heart shown from many of our “leaders” was dumbfounding. You could feel the entitlement oozing from them at every turn this cycle when it was clear their were major flaws to this team. They all expected things to fall into place for them. They did not imagine not qualifying. They did not realize the ship was sinking below their feet until they were under water. Not once did you hear we haven’t been playing well and need to step up. Its all our fault and must do better…..until it was too late. Again, day late and a dollar short from top to bottom.

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  10. I genuinely woke up happy this morning. Happy that I’ll never have to read the names Michael Bradley, Jozy Altidore, Chris Wondolowski, Graham Zusi, and Omar Gonzalez on a US roster ever again.

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    • You’re kidding yourself if you don’t think you will see MB or Jozy again. Zusi was there simply to fill in and had no business being a real piece of the puzzle. Omar is absolutely atrocious, always has been. His fan boys are eating crow right now and will be until 2022. Waking up happy only means one thing, you’re not a real fan. I’m pissed, way more pissed than I ever should be over sports.

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      • Agree. If you’re happy you are not a fan. This is not a video game. The World Cup matters. If you get joy from a missed a World Cup simply becuase you might not have to watch some of the players you don’t like then you simply do not get it. That is the most selfish bs I have heard about this. GTFO

    • SiF: That’s a ridiculous, to cut off the nose to spite the face. I hate the very idea of Wondo even being on the 23-man roster, but I would have watched the USMNT in Russia even if it had featured Wondo, his son, his drunk uncle, and his gardener, if it would mean being able to root for our team and give us a chance to make some noise.

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  11. I am and have been a supporter of Bruce Arena whom I believe to be the best coach we have ever had but on this one he screwed up. From a pre game interview he said their approach was going to be to remain cautious and be deliberate. Which the players took to heart and played defensively and cautious. This was reflected by the sleep walking throughout the game. If anyone has the statestics, please tell me that we did not lose 90% of the 50-50 balls. Shameful, we need to win or lose based on an attack minded team not a bunch of cowering, slow, back passing players.

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