Wahl: Bruce Arena Unplugged

[Grandpa Goal]

Portion of the article concerns US Nats... also alot on the Red Bulls. So much to comment on!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/grant_wahl/08/15/arena.qa/index.html

[JBohland]

Portion of the article concerns US Nats... also alot on the Red Bulls. So much to comment on!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/grant_wahl/08/15/arena.qa/index.html

Bartender, I'll have a pint of bitter please.

Wow, Bruce really went after lots of folks in this one. His ego is really out of control.

[westsidepunk]

Bartender, I'll have a pint of bitter please.

Wow, Bruce really went after lots of folks in this one. His ego is really out of control.
This article really made me want to throw up. While Bruce did have a very successfull time as manager, and I trusted in him completely until after the Gahna game, the comments he has made even now, two months later are so egotistical it is just unreal. He to this day seems unable to shoulder any blame himself. He came off as a real prick in this interview. I think if you are going to call out the league, the fed etc. in such a way, you need to back it up with more than innuendo.

[monster]

I love him. I really do.

I don't agree with him on everything and think he's lost his mind in some respects, but he's awesome.

[JohnR]

On Sunil -

"I think he's a superfan who now is president. That's the way our organization is. That's unfortunate ..."

" ... you add another micromanager to an organization that's already micromanaged. I don't think that's necessarily good."

"He's a guy who loves the game, who wants to be important and be around the world of bigwigs at FIFA ..."

Me-ow.

[JohnR]

This one is a gem, too. On being asked about the U.S. National Team -

"They're going to win the next World Cup, from what I'm told. So I wish them the best. Because we did so poorly over the last eight years, I'm sure they're going to win the next World Cup."

This isn't a guy who deals well with criticism, I'd say.

[Soccernethost]

My god, I'm with Monster. Arena's bitter and comes with an oversized ego and doesn't mince words, but you'd be nuts not to do business with the guy.
Because he is right.

"I'm sure there can be, but we don't have any kind of working relationship right now. That's another area where the league ... I had a league official tell me they didn't want to do anything where you had a competitive advantage. Guess what? That's what sports is. You work all day to have a competitive advantage. They've got to get away from that fantasy-land professional sports league where there's parity and nobody has competitive advantages. To try and legislate it where you can't have an advantage is ridiculous. It's a clash in philosophies for sure. I still enjoy that. So there's some teams that get competitive advantages? That's life. I think fans like that, too. That's why there are people in the stands."

and

"I don't think they know what they're supposed to do. U.S. Soccer is a governing body. U.S. Soccer should be a body that's neutral and not compromised by anybody. That's the way you govern a sport. Now once you're in bed with anybody else in the sport it's hard to govern. So that's what that is now. I've always felt that the relationship between the federation and the professional league and marketing companies has to be separate, but it's not. So it's hard to really make the right decisions."

[Friedel'sAccent]

On the future of the US team--

"SI.com: You care about the U.S. team, don't you?

Arena: Oh yeah. They're going to win the next World Cup, from what I'm told. So I wish them the best. Because we did so poorly over the last eight years, I'm sure they're going to win the next World Cup."

I found myself wincing throughout this entire article, especially at this comment. It reminds me of that line in Seinfeld:
Jerry: So you're gonna burn THAT bridge, too?
George: Flame on!

[rickinva]

I loved Bruce when he was with DC, loved him even more with the Nats, but damn his ego is getting rather large. Great interview.

[2-0 Baby]

Candid, to say the least. :eek:

[nobody]

I agree with him that the league lacks the quality players it used to have.

I love seeing American players get the chances they do in the league, but I'd like to see the foreign allocations be a bit higher in quality. As it stands right now, how many of the foreign allocations are really anything special? Maybe half a dozen? If each team had 1-2 top level international players, the quality of the league as a whole would skyrocket.

A lot of the US stuff sounds more like sour grapes though...which would be expected.

[Nutmeg]

"I've probably showed them the finest eight years of the national team they're going to see for a long time. I don't need to prove anything to them."

Yeah, it was time for him to go.

"They probably wouldn't give me credit for this, because they'll take credit for everything that went right and nothing that went wrong. But I created a winning organization there and forced their hand on it. Because they didn't know how to win. The organization I inherited in '98 was a failure in every possible area. And we worked to make that better."

What fantasy world does Arena live in? It seems if anyone should have been invited to the crucifixion, I would have made the list.

"...Sunil is a great guy. He's always been a good friend."

And he repays that friendship with:

"I think he's a superfan who now is president...

...you add another micromanager to an organization that's already micromanaged. I don't think that's necessarily good.

He's a guy ..who wants to be important and be around the world of bigwigs at FIFA, and he's going to get that opportunity."

With friends like Bruce...

And this still cracks me up:

"But there's not a team in this league as talented as the D.C. United teams I had."

Yes, AJ Wood, Richie Williams, and RDA would still terrorize MLS defenses, folks. My ass.

"I don't think the league's as good as it was in the early going. That's my opinion. I think the American player is better, and there's more of them. But I don't think the quality is as good. You don't find too many Carlos Valderramas and Marco Etcheverrys and Roberto Donadonis, those types of players. In all fairness, you have to look at the way the game has grown globally. The price of doing business has gone up substantially. To do it would be very difficult. It would be the equivalent of bringing [Zinédine] Zidane or Luis Figo here now."

So Valederrama or MAE = Zidane? Bwahahaha!
Donadoni = Figo?

Man, I'm glad Bruce is still around. He's more entertaining than ever.

[FC Uptown]

...the heat just got a little warmer under Gulati...

Better get Klinsmann...

[erikl2]

I agree with him that the league lacks the quality players it used to have.

I love seeing American players get the chances they do in the league, but I'd like to see the foreign allocations be a bit higher in quality. As it stands right now, how many of the foreign allocations are really anything special? Maybe half a dozen? If each team had 1-2 top level international players, the quality of the league as a whole would skyrocket.

A lot of the US stuff sounds more like sour grapes though...which would be expected.

I don't disagree about the talent. But, I find it hard to blame the league too much. I think that most of the clubs don't know how to go about bringing in affordable foreign players who can raise the level of play in the league. Certainly, a few teams have had limited success bringing in foreign talent without breaking the bank. Youri and Christian Gomez are great examples. Moderate priced talent, yet, certainly raised the level of play in the league.

[scarshins]

"But there's not a team in this league as talented as the D.C. United teams I had."[/I]

Yes, AJ Wood, Richie Williams, and RDA would still terrorize MLS defenses, folks. My ass.


Harkes, young Moreno, Sanneh, Etcheverry, Agoos, Llamosa, pope...

He's right, you know. No team has matched that yet. But he does note there are more good-quality Americans now playing in MLS.

Anyway, I agree, the ego has gone haywire...world cup meltdown...the Sampson Syndrome...call it what you like.

[StillKickin]

I used to love Bruce's "way" with the media - cuz he'd stick up for his players and demand respect for himself and his team.

Now he he just sounds like a bitter, out of control egomaniac - a very poor loser. I'm disappointed.

That said, MLS is certainly going to be fun and entertaining with him around. I love it!

[TeamUSA]

On the future of the US team--

"SI.com: You care about the U.S. team, don't you?

Arena: Oh yeah. They're going to win the next World Cup, from what I'm told. So I wish them the best. Because we did so poorly over the last eight years, I'm sure they're going to win the next World Cup."

I found myself wincing throughout this entire article, especially at this comment. It reminds me of that line in Seinfeld:
Jerry: So you're gonna burn THAT bridge, too?
George: Flame on!

Classic Costanza, worthy of rep.

[SideNetting]

Hmmm...where to begin...

What I take away is that Bruce just bought himself 3 or 4 years, whether he realized it or not. He said: 'This place sucks, the people who just fired me didn't realize my brilliance, I need this, this, and that to make this place better, and I'll make this place better, in part, to show my prior employer how it's done.'

So when someone is that brash the only thing I can really do is see what happens. He set the bar so high by himself that there's little to do but to wait and see if he pulls it off. If he doesn't, he's an ass. If he does pull it off, he's an ass who will have earned a boatload of additional credibility.

[nobody]

Is it hypocritical to think US Soccer did the best thing they could have in firing him and still think New York did the best thing they could by hiring him?

[superdave]

Bruce was really a dick in this interview. And what projection!! in the comment about the Fed taking credit for all the successes and none of the blame for failures.

"But there's not a team in this league as talented as the D.C. United teams I had."[/I]

Yes, AJ Wood, Richie Williams, and RDA would still terrorize MLS defenses, folks. My ass.
AJ Wood and Richie Williams didn't terrorize MLS defenses in their heyday...one was a bench player and the other a defender. Please, stop posting while drunk.

Even RDA is just a lesser version of Taylor Twellman, a poacher...and a lesser Taylor Twellman would do right well today if playing in front of a Marco Etcheverry and beside a late-90s Jaime Moreno.

Look, I KNOW you know better. When you post crap you don't believe just to turn up the thermostat, you just lower the level of discourse. This is "news and analysis." "Drunken guy at the bar ranting and raving" is down the hall.

I mean, I agree with you overall; one reason a guy like Etch was so dominant is that the weak links in his day were more common and weaker than they are today. But the examples you use are completely counterfactual, so your argument doesn't make any sense. But it's clever! :rolleyes:

Clever is very overrated.