Arena gets U.S. team camp off to good start

Bruce Arena’s second stint as coach of the U.S. national soccer team got off to a trouble-free start Wednesday, with the former Galaxy manager opening a month-long winter training camp with a brisk morning workout at StubHub Center.

“I was pleased with the enthusiasm of the players. We got through the first session with no injuries,” joked Arena, who coached the U.S. team from 1998 to 2006. “It’s good to see up close and personal some of these players. It’s always when you get on the field and you get an opportunity to work with them up close.”

Even the weather cooperated, with Tuesday’s rain giving way to cool, mostly cloudy skies.

“There was good effort, good concentration,” Arena said of the first practice. “I told them before training, I don’t think anyone’s winning a starting position in today’s training session. I have an open mind about how we’re going to look at this group and the other players that are in our pool as well.”

The camp, which will feature nine World Cup veterans, began with 28 players after D.C. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid pulled out Tuesday with a knee injury.

Seattle defender Brad Evans was expected to arrive in Southern California later Wednesday, and Toronto striker Jozy Altidore and New York Red Bulls midfielder Dax McCarty are expected to report later this week.

Three more World Cup veterans — Seattle forward Clint Dempsey, Sporting Kansas City defender Matt Besler and Colorado goalkeeper Tim Howard — were all left off the roster with injuries.

Arena replaced Jurgen Klinsmann as coach of the national team last month, after Klinsmann was fired following losses to Mexico and Costa Rica in World Cup qualifying.

And though Arena, who spent the last 81⁄2 seasons with the Galaxy, has made little mention of Klinsmann since taking over, he has moved quickly to differentiate himself from his predecessor.

While Klinsmann’s training sessions were closed, for example, Arena’s first practice Wednesday was open to the media.

Arena also ditched Klinsmann’s elaborate — and unpopular — fitness and diet regimen; called up a handful of players who were either ignored or had fallen out of favor with the old coach; then held a Facebook chat with fans and wrote an open letter asking for their support.

“Right away the mood and the spirit and the mentality was very good,” said captain Michael Bradley, who played under Klinsmann for the last five years.

“It’s exciting again to get going. Any time you come back from a period of time off, any time there’s a new coach it gives the whole thing new energy, new life. I can see it in everybody’s eyes. We’re excited for the next few weeks.”

Arena takes over a U.S. team that is in last place in the six-team World Cup qualifying tournament after two of its 10 games.

Given that precarious start, March’s matches with Honduras and Panama are crucial if the team hopes to play in Russia in 2018.

The U.S. is one of just seven countries that have played in each of the last seven World Cups.

“It’s an important time for this team,” said Arena, the most successful manager in U.S. soccer history and the only American to coach in two World Cups. “Our goal is pretty clear: We need to qualify for Russia in 2018.”

The January camp will end with friendlies against Serbia and Jamaica, and Arena said part of the focus leading up to that will be on instilling on “the right kind of mentality in the program.”

As far as the team on the field, Arena said he’s looking to find depth at left back, right back and goalkeeper and wants to make the team more creative in the midfield.

“We want to be aggressive,” Arena said. “When we have the ball, we want to be aggressive going forward. And when our opponents have the ball, we want to get around it real quick and get it back.

“We’ve lost some of that aggressive in the qualifying games and want to build in that as we begin this camp.”

U.S. Soccer said Vancouver midfielder Kekuta Manneh, who was born in Gambia, has become a U.S. citizen but must still receive clearance from FIFA before he can play for the U.S.

Seattle keeper Stefan Frei, a Swiss national, is in the process of earning his U.S. citizenship.