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Arena returns as US team’s head coach
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BRUCE Arena was a decade removed from the US national team when he received a telephone call from US Soccer Federation Secretary General Dan Flynn on Sunday asking him to meet with USSF President Sunil Gulati the following day.
By midday on Tuesday, the winningest coach in the team’s history regained the job he had not wanted to give up.
“I never expected to be back in this role the way it came about over the last 48 hours,” Arena explained. “I hate to say this now to Sunil: I would’ve done this for free.”
A day after Juergen Klinsmann was fired following two losses that began the final round of World Cup qualifying, Arena agreed to a contract running through the 2018 tournament in Russia.
With the Americans 0-2 at this stage for the first time, the USSF wants to spark a turnaround when competition resumes on March 24 with a home game against Honduras followed four days later with a match at Panama. The 65-year-old Arena, inducted into the US National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2010, starts work on December 1.
“We need to build the chemistry of this team and have a common goal and really work on a team concept,” he said during a telephone news conference. “I really believe individually and positionally we have good players and we’ve just got to get them working together as a team.
“There are no real secrets on how you build good teams: It takes a lot of hard work, it takes communication, it takes discipline and it takes some talent, and I think we have enough talent to build a good team and end up in Russia 2018. It’s going to take a little time, a little bit patience and a lot of hard work.”
Arena first took over as the team coach after the 1998 World Cup and led the US to a 71-30-29 record. Gulati fired him, failed to reach a deal with Klinsmann and then brought in Bob Bradley.
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