Bruce Arena returns as US coach, replacing Jurgen Klinsmann

US Soccer on Tuesday confirmed Bruce Arena as the new manager of the United States national team.

Arena, 65, said he’s ready to meet the challenge. “I hate saying this, but today I don’t feel we fully have a national team where all players understand that”.

It won’t make anyone’s heart race, but it may be enough to turn around Klinsmann’s disastrous 0-2 start in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup and produce the occasional upset, much as the 2002 team did.

In a sign of just how much American soccer has grown up, USA national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann was sacked after a pair of losses in the final round World Cup qualifying.

A former star forward for Germany who has lived mostly in Orange County with his American wife since his retirement as a player in 1998, Klinsmann replaced Bob Bradley in July 2011.

“I don’t view it as Bruce 2, but sort of Bruce 2.0”, Gulati said. The national team features many players born in other countries, like Fabian Johnson and Jermaine Jones, both born in Germany.

Arena’s first task could be to mend relations with the team’s contingent of foreign-born players. This will be Arena’s second tour of duty as head coach of the USMNT. He helped the team return to prominence at the World Cup just 14 years ago, and will return to the helm with the most wins in USMNT history. Fast forward one day and that has become the reality.

But Arena’s contract was not renewed after a first-round exit from the 2006 World Cup in Germany where his U.S. team scored twice in three games and finished last in their group. He served as the head coach of D.C. United in 1996, where he led the club to three MLS Cups in a four-year span.

The Americans lost to Jamaica in the semifinals of the 2015 Gold Cup, lost a semifinal World Cup qualifying match to Guatemala, and finished fourth in the 2016 Copa America Centenario.

He takes over a US team still stinging after back-to-back World Cup qualifying losses to Mexico and Costa Rica.

“None of us expected the two results we got”, Gulati said.

“We want to thank Jurgen for his hard work and commitment during these last five years”, read a US Soccer statement.

Arena’s appreciation for MLS players could lead to fresh domestic call-ups, such as Sporting Kansas City’s Benny Feilhaber, who, moments after the USSF announced Klinsmann’s ouster, posted a smiley face on his Twitter page. Five German-Americans were on his 23-man World Cup roster.

Tuesday, Arena backtracked on those comments: “If I made those comments, I don’t believe that’s my attitude”.

“I certainly have a lot of respect for the career that he has had and the way that he has gone about making every team that he has coached better”.