US Men’s National Team names Bruce Arena to replace sacked Jurgen Klinsmann

U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati named current Los Angeles Galaxy coach Bruce Arena as the new head coach of the U.S. men’s national team, replacing Jurgen Klinsmann, who was sacked on Monday.

Arena took over the USMNT gig on Tuesday from the dismissed Jurgen Klinsmann after the United States began the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying with two defeats.

Arena moved quickly to distance himself from prior comments in which he questioned the heavy use of foreign-raised players, mainly from Germany, who were brought in under Klinsmann. He’s a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and has coached a record five MLS Cup-winning teams.

Jürgen Klinsmann has been dismissed as coach of the U.S. men’s national team, U.S. Soccer announced Monday.

Klinsmann took over for Bob Bradley, now coaching Swansea in the English Premier League, in 2011 and coached the usa out of the group phase of the 2014 World Cup.

Arena, 65, is being asked to rescue a national team in crisis following losses in the first two games of the final round of World Cup qualifying.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the most talented players in the world, understanding how they work”.

On the same conference call, Arena expressed confidence that he would be able to get the US team back in contention for a berth at the 2018 World Cup in Russian Federation.

Arena’s contract formally commences on December 1, though in practice he will begin immediately and already spoke to two national team players on Tuesday morning. “Push them in all the qualifiers now coming up, get all the points that we need in order to be in Russian Federation 2018”.

A wisecracking Brooklyn native known for blunt talk and sarcasm, Arena coached the University of Virginia to five NCAA titles from 1978-95, then led D.C. United to titles in Major League Soccer’s first two seasons before losing in the 1998 final. In that tournament, the USMNT not only made it out of the group stage for just the third time in its history, but also earned its first and only win in the knockout stages, defeating continental rival Mexico in the round of 16 by a 2-0 score.

Gulati said the context of such conversations that he’s had with Arena focused on the state of the US player development system, and that the success of players like Johnson, Jones, and Brooks couldn’t be seen as a plus for the USA system since they were all developed overseas.

The US resume their qualification campaign next March with matches against Honduras and Panama. The U.S. has never started the six-team hexagonal round 0-2, leaving a string of seven consecutive World Cup appearances in doubt. “You own that team”, he said. Klinsmann spent a big portion of the two-minute video addressing and thanking the United States national team’s fans.

The 2006 World Cup run was not quite as successful for Arena.

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.

“I embrace all players that are eligible to play”, Arena added.

Arena previously coached the US senior side between 1998 and 2006, having made the step up from managing the under-23 national team at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Jermaine Jones and Pablo Mastroeni react to Klinsmann’s dismissal, and their thoughts on potential replacement Bruce Arena.