Bruce Arena returns as U.S. national soccer coach

Bruce Arena has been confirmed as the new coach of the US, replacing Jürgen Klinsmann who was sacked on Monday.

Bruce Arena has been handed the tall order of getting the United States’ qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup back on track after being named head coach of the national team, U.S. Soccer said on Tuesday.

The 52-year-old former German player was a member of his country’s World Cup winning team in 1990.

Jürgen Klinsmann has been dismissed as coach of the U.S. men’s national team, U.S. Soccer announced Monday. “You own that team”, he said.

“But having said that, I think that if you play for the national team, regardless of your background and how you got that passport, it’s gotta be important to you. As captain nobody takes that harder than me”.

Arena was let go after the team’s first-round elimination by Ghana in 2006. It is highly unlikely we will bring many new players into the program.

Bruce Arena’s appointment was widely expected as both a steadying presence following defeats to Mexico and Costa Rica and as a reconciliation between the federation and its top domestic league Major League Soccer.

“Many are aware of the historic victories, including leading us out of the Group of Death to the Round of 16 in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but there were also lesser publicized efforts behind the scenes”. It can be reevaluated and potentially extended at the end of that tournament. As ever, such perceptions can rapidly switch with a couple of positive performances.

“If I made those comments, I certainly don’t believe that that’s my attitude”, Arena said.

Hi everyone, thanks so much for taking the time to watch this quick message.

Arena holds the record for the most games won by the coach of the US, with 71 wins from 130 matches. All the text messages, all the calls I received from the players of support is very emotional for me, and I really, really appreciate it. “I embrace (that) all players are eligible to play”.

He’s the only head coach in the MLS to win five championships.

What Klinsmann left behind, though, is a team with no discernible style that is even less American – measured by home-grown-or-developed players – and hardly more competitive than the one he inherited. “But [it was] something I felt we had to do in order to put ourselves in the best possible position going forward”. “Your style is dictated by the quality of your players”.

“We’ll develop an identity over the next couple of months and hopefully feel comfortable working with each other, and understand that the goal we have is important for the entire group”.