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Bruce Reveals All… On Fox Sports En Español

April 26th, 2006 | By: Daryl | 12 Comments »

Apparently there’s an excellent show called “Los Técnicos” on Fox Sports En Español in which they interview all the World Cup coaches at length.

It was Bruce Arena’s turn recently, and it seems he revealed more there than he has at a hundred US press conferences. One kindly individual over at Big Soccer transcribed the highlights to share with the rest of us…

The first big revelation was that Arena named his starting back four, and it was:

Cherundolo, Onyewu, Pope, Lewis

He also named his starting formation by literally writing it down on a piece of paper (!) and it looks like a sort of 4-5-1 with Donovan as an attacking mid/withdrawn forward, a formation that’s been pretty popular here at USA WCB.

——————–Keller———————-
Cherundolo—-Pope—–Onyewu——-Lewis
————–Reyna——?—————–
—-?————–Donovan————–Beasley
———————-McBride——————-

With the two question marks he mentioned either O’Brien or Mastroeni for the defensive mid spot and Dempsey for the right flank.

Bruce also gives his opinion on Italy, Czech Rep. and Ghana. He thinks the Czech team poses more of an attacking threat than Italy since “We already know everything about Italy.” He also thinks Italy’s strentgh is its centre backs but not its outside backs, suggesting he has a plan to get at them. On the other hand “Italy is easy to know, not easy to play against.”

With Ghana, Bruce says they are “not the most disciplined” and “lack World Cup experience” but are “very fast.” The plan is to prepare heavily for the first two games (Czech Rep. and Italy) and wait to see what Ghana has to offer, especially since his tactics for the Ghana game will depend on how the group sits.

On his future: “I would like to look at opportunities in Europe. Obviously, the more obvious place for me to look is England, cause of the language.”

For the complete forum posting go here.

UPDATE: An English version of “Los Tecnicos” called “The Bosses” airs on Fox Soccer Channel at 3 p.m. Eastern on Fridays, though the time jumps around a little.

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Comments

By Trent | April 26th, 2006 at 2:29 pm

Interesting. It would be great to see Arena coaching in England, if they’d give him a chance.

Posted from United States

By Seamus | April 26th, 2006 at 2:33 pm

Quick comment about Czech Republic: SI.com’s Truths & Rumors reports that Nedved is definitely retiring BEFORE the World Cup.

Posted from United States

By Evan | April 26th, 2006 at 4:48 pm

This show is also on Fox Soccer Channel, dubbed into English. Can’t remember the exact title–it’s something like “The Bosses” or “The Managers”.

Posted from United States

By Razzle | April 26th, 2006 at 4:54 pm

I was watching the interview and kept hoping they’d pull him off. As smart as Bruce is I hope no one else was watching the telecast. Gave away all that strategy to everybody!!

Posted from United States

By daryl | April 26th, 2006 at 5:20 pm

I’ve had a look and it’s called “The Bosses” and airs Fridays at 3pm Eastern on FSC, although the time jumps around a bit.

Posted from United States

By Angelo Mattiello | April 26th, 2006 at 9:00 pm

Pretty solid and flexible line up… I would personally place O’brien, since he’s played in Europe and knows what to expect from European teams, but I guess that’ll be up to Arena…

I believe the States will be able to advance through in this difficult group… I can only wish you success…

Let’s show them what the CONCACAF teams are made of…

Posted from Mexico

By colin | April 27th, 2006 at 10:26 am

no Cherundolo??!?! What?!?!

By daryl | April 27th, 2006 at 2:33 pm

Cherundolo will 100% definitely start at right back.

With O’Brien it all depends on him getting match fit in time for the tournament. He played 90 minutes in a Chivas USA scrimmage last weekend (they had a bye week in MLS) so he’s definitley getting there.

Posted from United States

By Evan | April 27th, 2006 at 3:34 pm

I’m a bit worried with the feeling that some seem to have that a healthy O’Brien will be our savior, and everything will be okay.

I thought O’Brien was decent at best, poor in some moments, in the Jamaica game. He needs to get in more games–right now, I’d have Mastroeini as the starter.

Posted from United States

By eric | April 27th, 2006 at 4:59 pm

“I’m a bit worried with the feeling that some seem to have that a healthy O’Brien will be our savior, and everything will be okay.”

Evan I think if he can get some of his touch back in the next five weeks he is a person who is capable of controlling a game like Reyna. That is something we can use more of. Some one who settles and holds the ball long enogh for something to develope and make the great pass.

If he does not get his toch back then no I do not think he is a good choice to start because Mastroni will be more game ready.

Posted from United States

By John | April 27th, 2006 at 11:35 pm

I agree with eric. O’Brien will not necessarily be a savior, but he if can play the way he did last World Cup, he will certainly make a huge contribution.

I think this year’s starters make a better lineup than what we had last year. (Hopefully, despite the competition, we do as well) More experience and additions like Onyewu and Cherundolo gives us some more strength. Arena’s lineup featured people who have proven themselves internationally (at the club level) and a couple MLS stand-outs who should be or soon will be proving themselves internationally soon. However, we still lack the depth in our national team pool to make us comparable to the top teams in the world. (We also lack a genuine star) That makes the presence of every starter who really measures up to the competition more important. Mastroeni won’t be a detriment, he’ll hold his ground, but he doesn’t have the offensive ability to control the ball that O’Brien has and that we are in short supply of.

Posted from United States

By Relying on Brian - FIFA World Cup 2006 - USA World Cup Team Blog | April 28th, 2006 at 1:47 am

[...] With Bruce revealing that he will more than likely run a 4-5-1 formation, it seems he’ll be relying heavily on Brian McBride. His strength in the air and ability to hold up the ball are key ingredients to any one-up-front game plan. [...]

Posted from United States

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