Questions for Bruce Arena

[natewhd]

I sent a correspondance to a producer for Fox soccer channel offering to put together a list of challenging questions to ask him in a candid interview.
I'll preface this by saying that I like Bruce Arena. I grew up in Va and attended his development camps at UVA. I feel like he is a very good coach.
I also feel like he is allowed to make mistakes without critics. He has been given a free pass by an uneducated media, and Us soccer content with his results, not pushing for more.
So, I'm looking for suggestions

Here are a few of mine
What if any involvement did you have in Friedels retirement form international football?
Why has the US capped more players than any other country in the last 2 1/2 years ?
Do you feel it is important to build team continuity by playing the true starting 11 as much as possible?
Why dont you?
Do you feel it is proper to bring European based players over for friendlies and not play them?
Why has Jemal Johnson never been capped at the youth level?
Do you fear that England will recruit him for their national team?
Why has Wade Barrett, and MLS all star and defender of the year, as well as regular starter for his club side only recieved 1 cap while we struggle to find a quality left back?
Is it because he left camp to sign a lucrative club contract after making only 35K per year in MLS?
I'd be happy to get input from everyone!
Lets try to make this happen

[mtr8967]

Why has the US capped more players than any other country in the last 2 1/2 years ?

Really? Does TAKK want to comment on this? :)

[metx]

So, I'm looking for suggestions

Suggestion: do not do the folowing questions.


Q.-Why has the US capped more players than any other country in the last 2 1/2 years ?

A.-Why the chiking cross de road? .......becouse is there

Q.-Do you feel it is proper to bring European based players over for friendlies and not play them?

A.-You never know wich player is in condictions, not after you do see them in practics

[JohnR]

Really? Does TAKK want to comment on this? :)

I'll be TAKK. The stat is irrelevant when the U.S. lines up the 30 something brigade for a real game, as it did at Jamaica.

That said, I thought Arena did a fine job of reacting after the Jamaica game. He immediately pulled the plug on Earnie, and he started working the younger guys in nicely in the later qualifiers.

[monster]

Regular or Honey Nut Cheerios?

Dick Sargent or Dick York?

Trapper or B.J.?

Fat Chandler or Skinny Chandler?

PC or Mac?

Jenna Jameson or Tera Patrick?

[Sachin]

If he doesn't answer Both to the last one, he may have to turn in his man card.

Sachin

[I. Tristeza]

A.-You never know wich player is in condictions, not after you do see them in practics

Practics? We're talkin about practics?

[metro24freak]

OK originally it sounded like a great idea, but all these questions are gonna make bruce sound like a horrible person. Yes he's done some questionable things but these questions make it look like bruce just sucks, and he obviously doesn't.


What if any involvement did you have in Friedels retirement form international football?

Little or none, he retired on his own, for his own reasons, and it's not like we don't have any good keepers besides him.

Why has the US capped more players than any other country in the last 2 1/2 years ?

Cause we have an unbelievably huge player pool with very talented young players who can compete at this level and some old farts who are well old farts who can't play at this level as well as they used to.

Do you feel it is important to build team continuity by playing the true starting 11 as much as possible?[/QUOTE

true starting 11? The team's so talented there could be 5 true starting 11 with various players in different positions. Plus, we're still not losing so what's the big deal?

[QUOTE]Do you feel it is proper to bring European based players over for friendlies and not play them?

Do you really think he does that intentionally? He probably has some idea of who he wants to play, they come to camp, he watches and sees someone else do something better than the European player and the European player sits out. I don't think he intentionally drags players across the ocean to not play them and then send them back over a week or so later.

Why has Jemal Johnson never been capped at the youth level?

Why has anybody never been capped, coach didn't feel the need to or they just weren't good enough. Anyways the youths are also doing fine without him. It's not like he's in more danger of dying next week than the rest of us are. Does Bruce really have all that much to do with the youth teams?

Do you fear that England will recruit him for their national team?

No, England has all the good players they could possibly need. Between the David Beckhams, Michael Owens, and Wayne Ronney's they've got I think they're good to go for awhile.

Why has Wade Barrett, and MLS all star and defender of the year, as well as regular starter for his club side only recieved 1 cap while we struggle to find a quality left back?

Because Bruce didn't find him quality enough. He'll probably be back anyways. just because you're an MLS all star doesn't mean you should be getting called into every USMNT camp and playing every game. You're good, you should be proud of what you've done, but still Bruce makes the final call and unless he starts doing something stupid like calling up the U-17's to play a WCQ and as long as we keep on winning or drawing I don't see what the big deal is. The left back will come, there are enough of them out there.

Is it because he left camp to sign a lucrative club contract after making only 35K per year in MLS?

No, cause bruce didn't find him qulality enough, get over it.

[monster]

Paper or plastic?

Do you want fries with that?

Would you like some fresh ground pepper?

Can I get you a refill?

Can you break a hundred?

Who farted?

Did Tony really eat all the pies?

[TAKK]

I'll be TAKK. The stat is irrelevant when the U.S. lines up the 30 something brigade for a real game, as it did at Jamaica.

That said, I thought Arena did a fine job of reacting after the Jamaica game. He immediately pulled the plug on Earnie, and he started working the younger guys in nicely in the later qualifiers.

Oh boy! I'm a star!
Thank you JR.

Can also ask - With so many players capped, why are there the same 4 or 5 who are locks no matter how poorly they play?
Do you feel a sense of loyalty to some even when they have shown that they are obviously on career downsides and have had several poor Nats performances?
If Armas and CR were healthy for Pan & El Sal would they have started both?Would the team, and players, we are all excited about today be the team we would actually have right now if they had started both?
Do you ever admit piss poor amateur decisions on your part (tactical and subs), or are you smug enough to know that no one will ask you? Worse, do you even recognize these schoolboy mistakes?

Of course no one will dare as BA these. He would have to come up with answers.

[sidefootsitter]

You have to be more direct and then think of a follow-up.

Example: "Eddie Pope semeed to have difficulties matching with physical forwards like Jason Roberts throughout 2,004 and yet he seems to be a guaranteed starter ahead of Oguchi Onyewu, who is considered a tremendous talent. At what point will you decide to replace Eddie, so he doesn't become another Jeff Agoos?"

Arena's likely response: "It is not fair to compare Eddie to anyone. He's the greatest central defender in the US history."

Follow-up, "You've once that soccer is a young man's game and Eddie did not have a good 2,004 MLS season and was traded to an expansion team. Do you think then that it's better to introduce a young defender with great potential too early than leave a veteran in too late?"

And whatever he answers, you drop it and repeat the same with Brian McBride.

[RUUDVN]

what is this thread about ? i'm lazy to read all the posts ....

[TAKK]

You have to be more direct and then think of a follow-up.

Example: "Eddie Pope semeed to have difficulties matching with physical forwards like Jason Roberts throughout 2,004 and yet he seems to be a guaranteed starter ahead of Oguchi Onyewu, who is considered a tremendous talent. At what point will you decide to replace Eddie, so he doesn't become another Jeff Agoos?"

Arena's likely response: "It is not fair to compare Eddie to anyone. He's the greatest central defender in the US history."

Follow-up, "You've once that soccer is a young man's game and Eddie did not have a good 2,004 MLS season and was traded to an expansion team. Do you think then that it's better to introduce a young defender with great potential too early than leave a veteran in too late?"

And whatever he answers, you drop it and repeat the same with Brian McBride.

Yup, I was just to lazy to do it (specifics). Been done ad nauseum, but quite a few don't see, and what is worse, do not want to see, so what's the point?

The one I'm still waiting for an answer for is - Bruce, in Panama things were going fairly well for us until Pan made a sub in minute 35. The impact was immediate and changed the whole game. Why did you do nothing to counter this for the first 25 minutes of half two (and the last 10 of one) when Pan was running all over us?
Then your subs did nothing to try and even addrss this issue, and probably made it worse. Do you feel you completely were let off the hook when Cobi score an extremely lucky goal? Why didn't you address something that was so obvious and in coaching terms...schoolboy like to see?

BA - Every match is different. It's impossible to explain this to someone who obviously doesn't grasp the nuances of the game. Sometimes you work hard get lucky...sometimes it doesn't go yopur way. Any road point is a great one. No matter how it is achieved. (Rolleyes at reporter) When are they actually going to get someone to cover the team who knows the game? No one in this country but me has a clue. That's for sure.

Of course you notice that I did name Armas/Reyna above. Why? They are healthy...they play. Always have. Maybe LD plays forward and we don't even see GAM. Maybe Dempsey still is sitting on his ass. We would still be wondering if LD could actually run the middle right now. Na, just like BA planned it.

Gotta admit one thing. With his guys he is consistent. He tried forcing Albright down our throat at forward. Then at mid, and now at fullback.
How much longer? Since he had a decent outing against Jamaica I'm sure he will get 20 more chances.
Then again, Chris starts for his club team. I guess you have to live with BA for a while to still be part of the Nats when you only play reserve ball.

I could go on of course, but I am pretty happy with where the team is now. I'll be very curious to see what happens moving forward, and I will be paying very close attention to his subs and in game tactics. He hasn't looked all that bright in qualies with those so far away form home.

So BA, did you have so little faith in MLS, it's young players and regulars, that you didn't feel that one or two of them couldn't get on the field for mighty Grenada and in Jamaica? Are those countries so good or is MLS that piss poor? Please answer.

[careerender]

http://www.yanks-abroad.com/content.php?mode=opinion&id=000602

My question would be why hasn't he called up the Philipakos kid. The comment about Heyduck is, in the words of Tony Kornheiser, 'klaasic'

[Adam Zebrowski]

some people just acn't give arena any credit can they!! :;

[natewhd]

.[/QUOTE]Because Bruce didn't find him quality enough. He'll probably be back anyways. just because you're an MLS all star doesn't mean you should be getting called into every USMNT camp and playing every game. You're good, you should be proud of what you've done, but still Bruce makes the final call and unless he starts doing something stupid like calling up the U-17's to play a WCQ and as long as we keep on winning or drawing I don't see what the big deal is. The left back will come, there are enough of them out there.

That explains Bobby Convey. He' just a better back than Wade Barrett eh?
I could go down the laundry list, but this ones the most glaringly obvious.

No, cause bruce didn't find him qulality enough, get over it.[/QUOTE]

But the other 100 players he's capped in the last years are all better?

[natewhd]

People misunderstand this subject as not giving Arena credit. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We're just getting tired of him getting a hall pass.
Playing favorites with players like Convey and Albright. Too much loyalty for some veterans. Not enough for others. Its easy to critisize Arena from an armchair prospective, but we're fans! Thats what we're supposed to do!

I believe the best fans offer objective critcism, not blind faith.

We need to stop this merry-go-round player pool and start our best eleven at every opportunity. This is the HEX! We aren't soo good that we can expect to walk through CONCACAF with our "B" team.
For those who remember, we almost failed to qualify for the last cup when we lost 2-1 to Honduras at RFK stadium in 2001.