Gulati Defends Arena

Arena is a good coach and has done a lot for the US team.

HOWEVER, just not enough. It’s time we get an upgrade!

It’s not that Arena is a bad coach. He has done a lot for soccer in America and the national team. It is now time for someone new how can take the American team to the next level.

In addition to getting a new coach, it is also time for the U.S. to play more friendlies with European and South American teams. That is how the U.S. will become better able to play at an international level.

Posted from  United States

Let’s be clear, Arena is the best coach the US has ever had. In 8 years he as upgraded the US game from a struggling side to a solid 11-20th in the world. But, we don’t want to be a second tier team, we want to be mentioned with England, Argentina, Germany et al and be considered a real contender for the World Cup. Time to move on and move up.

Posted from  United States

Arena has done well. The problem is the players have little European experience and the balance between strengthening the MLS and sending players overseas has to be reset. The US got caught out by an in form Czech team and needed a few matches to get up to their best. They are well drilled and good athletes. Top line European coaches are necessary to perform. Look at Australia.With a home grown coach we would have been eliminated.

Posted from  Australia

Bruce Arena, has done all He can for US Soccer but now we need a world class coach, like Argentinian coach Pekerman, or a Brasilian coach, but we need a leader that will not choke in a difficult game and one who knows when to make substitutions and what to do, to inspire his players.
Thank you Mr. Arena but your era has come to an end.
US Soccer has to move on and up.

Posted from  United States

I think the Federation should decide to extend Arena’s contract based on whether he can propose a new direction and overall framework for the national team. What needs to be done now to analyse what happened in the WC and make strong decisions on how things can be improved.

My overall impression is that the USA did not come into this competition as well prepared as in 2002. I’m not sure why that is, but a very good rule to follow is: if you don’t learn from the mistakes of history, you are doomed to repeat them.

Posted from  Singapore

Great for America. I understand expectations are always high in this country, but has the Federations done a lot to get better soccer schools. How many good players do not have access to good training, How much support from the government is there?. I know a group of kids that love soccer. They practically sleep with the ball, they do not have good coaches however. If they want to get good training they must paid big $$$. Why America does not have little leagues programs where good talent can be recruited and trained properly. Why many teams still have coaches that got a diploma but they never have played soccer in their lives. Some of this coaches are just there to make money but in reality they do not care about the “game” They do not have the passion. If you look around you will find that in many of soccer countries is coachin at minor leagues is for free and for fun. Ask one player in those countries how much they pay for playing. My friend :NOTHING. SOCCER IS A NON-CAPITALIST GAME. SOCCER IS A PASSION. PEOPLE COACH FOR FREE, AND PLAYER NEVER PAY FOR PLAYING.

Posted from  United States

Holy crap, did anyone notice all the big shot teams employing a 4-5-1 formation during quarterfinal games this WC? Yeah, Arena really was an idiot because we had great attacking players and Arena ruined it with his formation. Even portugal who plays fantastic attacking soccer used a 4-5-1 formation. France dominated Brazil!!! They too used a 4-5-1. Damn that Arena he ruined everything.

Posted from  United States

Romario, I agree with a lot of what you and others said. The reason those kids don’t have good coaches and the reason we have a poor team (forget about those ridiculous rankings; if we had play in the Europe or South American region we would not even qualify for the Cup) is largely because soccer is still a upper middle class sport in the US. It is making headway into places where kids view sports as a way out of poor neighborhoods but those soccer dads want to coach their sons to “spend time” with them but not push them towards serious soccer. In fact, many soccer leagues are focused on “fun.” And are sometimes co-ed. Please.

And Landon and the other MLS boys on the US National team need to go to Europe - even with a second league team (witness Cherundolo) and then maybe they may be they will perform better.

Guus Hiddink or Juergen Klinsmann should be our next coach. Arena has been ok but he has mental lapses. Why didn’t he prep the team on the stricter calling of fouls? It was common knowledge the refs would be harsh. Fifa even had a website for players on the topic! He should have known that going from MLS to the World Cup would require adjustment. Pope and Mastroeni did not know what they did wrong in the Italy game because those are barely fouls in MLS!

Posted from  United States

Peter–

Mastroenni’s tackle would be a red card in any league. Look at Rooney–whether he was ejected for the stomp or the push, he knew not to do it, but in the heat of competition, he did it anyway. Can’t blame Eriksson for Rooney, and can’t blame Arena for the two red cards v Italy.

Posted from  United States

Peter-

It was very clear that the problem was the mental lapses the players had and not the coaches. You can’t blame Bruce for every mistake his players make when they know better. The players play, and they didn’t play well enough under the circumstances they were given.

It’s not the end of the world. If anything, it is a good indication of how far american soccer has come, led by Bruce. Who would have thought even 4 years ago, that USA fans would be so irrate to the point of idiocy at their team not making it out of the toughest group in the WC and tying Italy with 9 players. Someone said, it’s good to be Ukraine. After getting hammered by Spain, they play Saudia Arabia and Tunisia. USA was not that lucky.

Posted from  United States

The sad reality on this world cup, is that the USA team did not got very far, dont blame the players, mr Sunil Gulati,put his bet by putting a heavy responsability on Bruce Arena, I wrote about this before
on the last World Cup held in France, back then it was Mr Sampson, after the patetic USA performance in FRance, it should it been a wake up call, You can not put the responsability of preparing a USA national team for a World class event like the World Cup with a second rate coach, Mr Arena might be good to train a high school team for cheering soccer moms to watch, but not for the World Cup,after that lost at the Worl Cup in France, four years ago, I wrote them and suggested, if you people want the US Team to be among the best in the World, you most get the best coach in the world that money can buy, any way the Us Soccer Federation can afford the best, but no!! they wasted four years and valuable time to prepare for this World Cup with Mr Arena, let me tell you the sad reality is that he is very far from being a World Class Coach that has the confidence and the true knowledge that it takes to guide a national team to the finals against the best and tougher teams of the world, currently there are several reputed high class coachs on the world available to take the US Team to Victory, dont seatle for a second rate coach when you can get the best there is, get a Brazilian Argentinian, or a British Coach with World Cup experience and proven track records, and start working and trainning hard,if you want to see results and achived goals on the international soccer fields, the US can not afford to waste four more years at the hands of an Amateur Wannabe World Cup Coach, once again I tell you dont blame the players,and start by putting your feet on solid ground and face the reality and start looking for the Best Coach Now!!

Posted from  United States

Arena’s folly was to have two slow dopes like Pope and Oyewenu Iguchi as defenders, these 2 guys are totally clueless and never saw the Czech republic guys. His fowards never scored a single goal and Arena choked and never made the correct changes at the correct times.
We need a world class coach to take our team to the top.
I believe Arena has done all he can.

Posted from  United States

The only leader that I know made useless people be leaders was Christ. Come on!!. We can not blame a coach who has made miracles recruiting a few guys that are trying to do their best. Where is the US Soccer Federation? How can you win when the resources you have are a few guys with a lot of love for this country but skills. How did these guys make the National team? Times changes my friends ,and the question is how much are you doing for the game. What are you doing for your little league in your neighborhood?.

Posted from  United States

Guys, here’s an NBA example.

Three years ago, Pat Riley coached the Miami Heat. They were god awful and missed the playoffs.

This year, they have Shaq and Dwayne Wade, and Pat Riley wins a championship. Did Pat Riley magically become a better coach in two years?

Posted from  Dominican Republic

ETucker, your analogy is, to a certain extent, quite apt. As Davies and others have said, we lack bona fide, transcendent star players. In that respect, your point is very well taken and it’s true that any coach can only take a so-so team so far.
But, can’t it also be said that international experience of the highest caliber is exactly what the US team really needs? It’s true that we need more talented players, but several teams in Germany got by when they were short on talent. I guess what I’m saying is that a coach who has succeeded at the highest levels has at least some knowledge to impart to players who: are reluctant to take a risk playing in Europe, might need to move to a stronger European league, or who lack that extra something to make the A-team for their club?

Posted from  France

Soccer is less about coaching and more about playing than most American sports, which tend to feature the coach as the chessmaster manipulating the pawns on the field. The most attractive thing about soccer to me as a spectator is that the players must constantly make decisions in a very fluid environment. Some of those decisions will be poor ones. Some not. The coach must look for players who make more good choices than bad. Success on the field directly results from the availability and identification of such players.

Face it, none of the high-flying, very competent, European coaches are likely to do much better than Coach Arena because the fabric from which the team is to be woven is not likely to be much stronger four years from now.

Whatever faults it might have, the MLS has contributed greatly to the improvement in the MNT and that team has definitely improved. We no longer field a semi-pro mixture of Europeon based players and amatuers; we field a professional team. For the improved fitness levels alone, the MLS deserves our sincere thanks. Improvement in our professional league is the only path I see to an improved national team. When I watch an MLS game on TV and see 5000 fans, I worry about the survival of the league. When I still lived in the US, I was living about 2-1/2 hours from Foxboro but tried to travel to at least 2 or 3 games a year. Before that, when the league first formed, I did the same from OKC to Dallas (about 4 hours by the time one got into the Cotton Bowl). I think as fans and citizens, we owe support to the league at whatever level time and other resources permit. Like it or not, they are the future on the MNT.

Martin sey: Face it, none of the high-flying, very competent, European coaches are likely to do much better than Coach Arena because the fabric from which the team is to be woven is not likely to be much stronger four years from now.
…………………………..
Your assuming that Arena selected the best players available…Based on our results, that assumption is highly questionable.

Posted from  United States

HELLO

Posted from  Canada

This place is boring. Smells like the US soccer team really have no talents, good luck in the next four years.