Bruce Arena---the all time US Men's soccer revolutionary

Thanks for your well written and informative post.
I was happy the day he was signed. Happier after he went to work. Thrilled with what his done so far. Very happy when he was re-signed and looking forward to what I know he'll do in the future.

 

I agree completely. I can't help but think that 20 years from now Bruce Arena will be seen as one of the world's all-time greats. He's already done the unthinkable - he used 19 players and 4 different tactical setups in 5 World Cup matches, and showed that his team was capable of playing any style effectively on a moment's notice. I haven't seen any other coach, of any nationality, do that successfully.

 

I often disagree with Wanderer but not about this. Bruce is da man, as they say. The right man for the job.

It's funny how before the World Cup he was known for his surliness and afterwards for his humor. It also helps his team got a little luck in the WC (Korea over Portugal), but if the ol' lacrosse coach continues to carry his rabbit foot, more power to him.

I agree with Wanderer that Arena learned A LOT from his first four years (managing players, tactics, which teams to play friendlies with, etc.), and this will help him exponentially for '06. And it would take a minor miracle for a foreign coach to be able to produce the same results. As American soccerophiles (including the players), WE ALL KNOW the rest of the world looks down on us for our soccer, and I can't help but think this would effect the MNT if it had a foreign coach, even at only a subconscious level.

Probably a stupid theory, given Bora and all, but I'll stick by it at least for a minute or two.

 

Above I highlight from your post one of Bruce's best qualities. He has displayed the willingness you describe from the minute he took over a Div. I NCAA team.

He's like a great entrepeneur who's not afraid to fail, and uses temporary setbacks to improve his organization and win even bigger victories next time around.

There have been many valid criticisms of BA over the past few years. But people who wanted to hang him for making a mistake here and there missed the point of how valuable these lessons were, under the guidance of a truly great competitor who is dedicated to learning and moving forward.

Wanderer, great post.

 

that last post gave me a thought about bruce evolving as his players evolved

not to overstate the importance of bigsoccer or the media, but without people letting him have it when he did make mistakes, would he have recognized his mistakes? For instance, if people hadn't really let him have it about the inclusion of richie williams on a roster, would we have seen richie on the WC roster? Maybe, maybe not, but I do think criticizing him and his mistakes is part of the process and although I can eat my fair share of crow, I still will continue to jump on his mistakes as is the duty of any passionate fan .

 

As one who criticized Arena heavily during qualification (and I believe rightfully so), I am willing to believe that he has learned from the previous qualies -- but that still remains to be verified in the next qualification cycle.

If Arena performs like he did during the World Cup, then I think we'll not have anything to worry about as we make it to our 5th WC in a row!

I like the way Arena has convened the *troops* so far in these camps and if he continues to make these good decisions, I'll continue to put my full support behind him. However, I still reserve the right to criticize what I believe are mistakes he and his staff make ... (having said that, so far, no mistakes yet this time around!)

I do agree with Crazy though -- would Arena have corrected some of his mistakes without the outcry and pressure of fans?

 

Re: Re: Bruce Arena---the all time US Men's soccer revolutionary

And people like to call Bruce an ego maniac. Somehow I doubt Bruce is coming to BS to read up on the expert critics of his formation and substitution patterns.

Whose to say he didn't realize 10 minutes into the CR game he had made a huge mistake with his lineup.

 

I think Bruce is one of the best coaches in the world, in any sport. He is certainly not the best soccer coach, i.e. not the best strategically and tactically, but in terms of basic coaching skills (building team spirit, player motivation, etc.), he is second to none.

All this and now he is more experienced and more soccer intelligent. The sky's the limit in 2006.

 

Wonderful thread. Agree with all comments above. Sounds like we don't even need the perspective of hindsight to realize the impact Bruce has had on the trajectory of US Soccer. And of course criticism of mistakes of judgment is always fair. Mods, can we get some stars on this one?

One word of caution as we head into pre-qualifying and qualifying. I recall prior to WC'02 how much Bruce said he was looking forward to getting the players into an extended camp so they could begin to gel. Getting the MLSers and the Euros together. Building the fitness of the off-season Euros up to WC levels. Developing the intuition between the players. It's clear that was a huge benefit for Bruce's prep of the WC squad. You could see it with the combination play in tight spaces. You could see it in the successful unexpected passes into onrushing players.

BUT... This level of team cohesion is something we're probably not going to enjoy again until 2006. And I think this impacts the US more than our top CONCACAF competition (Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras). The qualifying road is going to be bumpy, and the inevitable down days are going to be very hard to swallow. I think it may be 2006 again before we see Bruce with the squad that can work magic. Until then? Duck tape and bailing wire. But at least this time around Bruce will be a little more seasoned at making do with what he's got.

 

I agree with this to a point, however, while our Euro players certainly make the squad better, the level of the MLS players is such that they are now better prepared to handle our concacaf responsibilities. An all MLS team is going to be pretty strong and will have the opportunity to gel, and I would suggest it has already begun to do so.

 

Man I just scrolled through these 19 messages looking for at least one of the Arena-haters. Where are they? They seemed to be all over the place in June.

I think that Coach Arena's decision to take the Nats for another cycle was extremely bold on his part. The pressure is going to be huge. The expectations will be high. And he's probably going to have rely on a younger, less internationally experienced team. (I know that last sentence is somewhat arguable depending on how you define experienced.)

I wish him luck! But I think his success is going to be largely determined by how the players react this time around to the increased pressure and focus on them. There's more of a chance for a '98 style meltdown by individuals on and off the national team. Hopefully Coach Arena can keep everybody in line and deal with the players better than Steve Sampson.


j

 

Re: Re: Re: Bruce Arena---the all time US Men's soccer revolutionary

well no, but where does the media go to gauge the public opinion? Bigsoccer. And who asks Bruce the tough question putting pressure on him? The media. So indirectly, I think he has faced some pressure from bigsoccer.

In any case, what I'm looking at now is what happens when Armas comes back healthy. You can be sure that if he replaces Mastroeni, I'll be the first to jump all over him. Remember during this praise fest that Mastroeni was one of our best players in the Portugal game and certainly in the Mexico game. Remember how worried we were about armas(some of us)? Well, the switch wasn't any brilliant insight on bruce's part, it was pure luck.

but again, I must reiterate that he did an excellent job with what he had with the exception of perhaps Poland.

 

it could be said that bruce is the "ditka" of soccer.

minus the "new orleans experiment" of course.

 

if i'm not mistaken Bruce has admitted he reads BigSoccer from time to time; or someone who knows Bruce revealed that Bruce read BigSoccer.

i could be wrong, but i seem to remember reading this somewhere.

 

I know he does, because I've obviously influenced his thinking about, let's see: Presthus, Brown, Reyna, Regis, Vanney, Donovan, Beasely, Mathis, Wolff, Cunningham, Ralston...

(He always liked Hejduk and Jones on his own, it was everybody else who hated those guys.)

Now how do you make that wink symbol again?

 

I think Arena's greatest asset is his "flexibility."

It has been pointed out that he used different lineups, formations, strategies in each game. This was no surprise to me. At United, he often adopted his system depending on the players available.

Many coaches at this level seem to think it is about them and their system. They set the formation, and the players are forced to mold to it.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Bruce Arena---the all time US Men's soccer revolutionary

I must have missed it, but I don't seem to recall the media ever asking him tough questions or putting pressure on him. He has complained about the dealing with the press in the past, but IMO all he gets from the american soccer press, if he has to answer any questions at all, are softballs.

If he does happen to read bigsoccer, I'm sure its for a laugh or maybe to keep track of his oversees crew. I doubt he feels pressure from Segroves posting McBride is crap, or Ntumeg posting Armas sucks. If that is the case, Arena certainly isn't the man we all think he is.

Arena works in a bubble compared to most other coaches at the international level.

 

Re: Re: Re: Bruce Arena---the all time US Men's soccer revolutionary

Bingo.

I love all the after-the-fact, almost, but not quite, "I was wrong," from the Bruce Bashers of 2000 and 2001.

Seagroves is an idiot, but at least he ate his full helping of McBride Crow.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Bruce Arena---the all time US Men's soccer revolutionary

I remember one interview for, I believe Soccer America, that had a big long 100+ thread dedicated to it where the interviewer let him have it about topics like regis and playing players out of position and what not. I agree with you that most of the time, he gets it pretty easy, but every once and a while he gets some heat.

 

Well it hardly follows that the interviewer was in anyway influenced by our rantings here on BS. It may be true, but I'm fairly confident Bruce doesn't need us to point out his mistakes.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Bruce Arena---the all time US Men's soccer revolutionary

I love the fact that Bruce himself realized that after the Jamaica WCQ in Foxboro, the team was not good enough to get to the second round of the WC, and he had some work to do.

But most of all, I love the fact that the guy calling someone else an idiot can't even get their name right. SZ - douche bag without an original thought from day one.