Bruce Arena

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Bruce Arena was a winning college soccer coach at the University of Virginia for 18 years, ultimately achieving five NCAA Championships there (in 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994).

Bruce Arena (born September 21, 1951 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American soccer coach, currently Head Coach and Sporting Director for Red Bull New York of Major League Soccer as well as the former coach of the United States men's national soccer team. According to an article [1] on the official U.S. Soccer website, dated July 18, 2006 it stated that at Arena's request his contract with U.S. Soccer would be terminated early. His contract was set to terminate on December 31, 2006. Bruce Arena started his job as head coach of Red Bull New York on August 12, 2006 in a friendly against FC Barcelona.

Before rising to international stature, Arena was a successful college soccer coach at the University of Virginia. Arena was the head coach of the Virginia program for 18 years, during which he won five national championships and amassed a 295-58-32 record. Additionally, he coached and developed many players at Virginia who would go on to play significant roles in the United States national team, including Claudio Reyna, Jeff Agoos, John Harkes and Tony Meola.

Arena left U.Va. to become the coach of D.C. United for their, and Major League Soccer's, inaugural season in 1996. Arena would lead United to MLS Cup victories in both of the league's first two years, and would win the MLS Coach of the Year Award following his second victory, before losing to the expansion Chicago Fire and his protege Bob Bradley in the 1998 MLS Cup final.

Arena was hired by the U.S. national team to replace Steve Sampson as head coach in October 1998 following the team's disastrous showing in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He forged the team into a successful international side, and is undisputedly the most successful coach in United States history: most international wins; longest home shut-out; best World Cup showing since 1930, reaching the quarterfinals at the 2002 World Cup, before a defeat against Germany; and all-time best international FIFA Ranking (4th place, April 2006). Arena also won two Gold Cup championships in 2002 and 2005, with a third place finish in 2003.

The 2002 World Cup was the high point of Arena's career as the U.S. coach. Heavy underdogs coming into the tournament, they stunned the world by beating a respected Portuguese team 3-2 in their opening game. Arena was lauded afterwards for instilling in his players the confidence to play aggressively against an international powerhouse. A hard-fought tie against host nation South Korea was enough to qualify for the second round, despite a poor loss against Poland in the final group game. Arena and the U.S. met old nemesis Mexico in the Round of 16, and Arena adapted his tactics brilliantly to secure a 2-0 victory and a quarterfinal berth. The U.S. switched from their usual 4-4-2 to a 3-5-2, and it paid dividends almost immediately when Josh Wolff, who Arena had brought in to fill out the formation, set up Brian McBride for the winning goal early in the first half. Arena switched the team back to a 4-4-2 for their quarterfinal against Germany, and the team continued to surprise many by dominating stretches of the game. They were considered very unlucky to lose 1-0 on a Michael Ballack header.

The U.S. national squad fell short of expectations at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, finishing last in Group E with losses to the Czech Republic and Ghana. The United States scored only twice in its three games, a tie against eventual champion Italy on an own goal by Italian Cristian Zaccardo and a goal from Clint Dempsey against Ghana. Some, including former team member and ESPN analyst Eric Wynalda, have blamed the poor performance on questionable coaching decisions by Arena. Arena and Wynalda, however, appear to have reconciled, as both appeared as co-color commentators on ESPN and ABC coverage of the 2006 MLS playoffs following Red Bull's elimination.

Arena was a college All-American in both soccer and lacrosse, playing for Nassau Community College (1969-1971) and Cornell University (1971-1973). He earned one cap for the U.S. national team in a 1973 friendly against Israel, in which he played goalkeeper. He was drafted (but then cut) by the NASL Cosmos, then played professional lacrosse for the NLL Montreal Quebecois (1975) and professional soccer for the American Soccer League's Tacoma Tides (1976).

Bruce's son Kenny was a professional soccer player and spent time with the US youth national teams as well as in Major League Soccer.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Profile at soccertimes.com
• ESPN feature on Arena, part I (part II) by Marc Connolly
• Sports Illustrated profile by Grant Wahl
• Associated Press profile by Ronald Blum
• Article on Arena's visit to boyhood sites by Michael Lewis

	United States squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists
1 Friedel | 2 Hejduk | 3 Berhalter | 4 Mastroeni | 5 O'Brien | 6 Regis | 7 Lewis | 8 Stewart | 9 Moore | 10 Reyna | 11 Mathis | 12 Agoos | 13 Jones | 14 Cherundolo | 15 Wolff | 16 Llamosa | 17 Beasley | 18 Keller | 19 Meola | 20 McBride | 21 Donovan | 22 Sanneh | 23 Pope | Coach: Arena

	United States squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Howard | 2 Albright | 3 Bocanegra | 4 Mastroeni | 5 O'Brien | 6 Cherundolo | 7 Lewis | 8 Dempsey | 9 Johnson | 10 Reyna | 11 Ching | 12 Berhalter | 13 Conrad | 14 Olsen | 15 Convey | 16 Wolff | 17 Beasley | 18 Keller | 19 Hahnemann | 20 McBride | 21 Donovan | 22 Onyewu | 23 Pope | Coach: Arena