Burning questions for new U.S. coach Arena
Bruce Arena has returned as coach of the U.S. men’s national soccer team, and as he surveys the team he left a decade ago, there are pressing questions he needs to address:
1. WHAT’S THE SOLUTION TO THE CENTRAL MIDFIELD? Under Jurgen Klinsmann, the USA’s central midfield had a steady presence. More or less every game, it was Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones, and against good competition Klinsmann would toss Kyle Beckerman in there to provide cover. Jones is 35, Beckerman is 34, and all three lack the creativity you’d expect from a playmaker or another primarily offensive player.
Will Parchman wrote a lovely piece in Top Drawer Soccer this week about the team under Arena in his first stint (1998-2006) and how the squad has never found a creative, pace-defining central midfielder since Claudio Reyna left a decade ago. Will Arena take a chance on someone such as Benny Feilhaber or Sacha Kljestan in that role? Will he roll the dice with 19-year-old Gedion Zelalem? Or will he bank on the same old Bradley-Jones duo to carry him through one more tournament?
2. WHO’S THE STARTING GOALKEEPER? This is a weird one and not a question we thought Arena would have to answer. After years of Tim Howard’s greatness, most pundits and fans assumed backup Brad Guzan would step comfortably into the role of starting U.S. goalkeeper. But Guzan is mired in a backup role with Middlesbrough of the English Premier League, not seeing regular firstteam action and on the wrong side of 30.
Does he retain the starting spot anyway? Does Howard come back into the fold at 37? Or does Arena look at a younger goalkeeper, perhaps calling in 26-year-old Bill Hamid, who was forever discredited by Klinsmann?
3. DOES HE BRING IN THE YOUTH? Arena has been given a simple task as U.S. coach — get the team to the 2018 World Cup. That’s it. U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati did not hire Arena to craft a bold vision for the future or overhaul the youth development program. Arena has to do one thing, and that’s win. Now.
Accepted wisdom says the way to win now is to trust the established players, the guys in their late 20s and early 30s who have seen it all and know how to get a result. But with this team, Arena might not have that option. His best attacking player is 18-yearold Christian Pulisic. Zelalem could be an answer in central midfield. Arena might have to go young, if only because the current crop of in-their-prime players (ages 26 to 31) just isn’t strong enough.
4. WHO PLAYS LEFT BACK? If there’s one question that has perpetually lingered over the U.S. team, it’s this: Who on earth is going to play left back? The position has been a quagmire for decades. In recent years, some players have been forced into the spot and stepped up admirably (Fabian Johnson, Da Marcus Beasley), while others have failed to live up to expectations (Timmy Chandler, who can never seem to figure it out in a U.S. uniform).
Arena has options, and none is great. As coach of the Los Angeles Galaxy, he converted Robbie Rogers into a left back, a gambit that has worked well and provides him with one option. Kellyn Acosta isn’t really a left back, but he has played there before and can do a job. For my mark, I think Eric Lichaj, 28, has played better for Nottingham Forest and deserves another look.
5. WHAT IS THE TEAM’S IDENTITY? The big question. Arena will have to decide the best way to win. Is the key to World Cup qualifying to continue on the path that Bob Bradley and Klinsmann set the team on, defending in numbers and hoping for a moment of brilliance in the counterattack? Or does Arena try to bring in more creative, attacking players to take it to opponents and get out of qualifying?
Arena is traveling around Europe, meeting with established U.S. players and discussing the makeup of the team he’s been watching from afar for the last decade. From there, he’ll have a camp in January to assess players and make tough decisions, but at least he won’t have too much to think about — he has one goal, qualification, and he’ll have to decide what’s the best way to get there. Nothing else matters.