Arena Is back With A Different Outlook

As widely expected, Bruce Arena has returned as coach of the U.S. Men's National Team, replacing Jurgen Klinsmann, who was fired yesterday.  Jere Longman writes in today's New York Times that Arena is more receptive now than in the past to foreign-born players with dual citizenship playing for the U.S.  And George Vecsey says in his profile of Arena in the Times that the coach will keep it simple as he takes on the task of qualifying for the 2018 world Cup.

Arena, a member of the Soccer Hall of Fame and a successful MLS coach, begins his second stint as head of the men's team.  He also coached the squad from 1998 through 2006 when he was fired.  He is the winningest national team coach ever with 71 wins, 16 more than Klinsmann.

Soccer America quotes Arena as saying that while he did not expect the coaching job to come about as it did, he would have done it for free.

Arena has until March to get ready for the next World Cup qualifiers.

Klinsmann Gets the Boot as MNT Coach

To the surprise of few - except maybe himself - Men's National Team coach Jurgen Klinsmann was fired today, after the team dropped its first two World Cup 2018 qualifying matches.  Sam Borden has a comprehensive article on the New York Times website.

Klinsmann, a former German international player and coach who saw time as a player and coach at Bayern München and as a player at Inter Milan and Tottenham Hotspurs, began his tenure in July 2011 and compiled a record of 55-27-16.  Perhaps his biggest achievement with the U.S. men came in 2014 when the team advanced out of the "Group of Death" into the Round of 16 where it lost in overtime to Belgium.

The official U.S. Soccer announcement sounded lie any other press release when a coach is fired: thanking him for a great job but we need to go in another direction.

According to Borden, former U.S. coach Bruce Arena is the top candidate to take over the team for the remainder of this World Cup cycle.

Kaine's Jet Does No Better In Post-Campaign Use

The New York Times reported that the aircraft that carried Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine around the country has been "re-purposed" and was used to fly the U.S. men's national team to Costa Rica for a World Cup qualifying match, which it lost, 4-0.  At least Kaine and running mate Hillary Clinton received more votes than their opponents, Donald Trump and Mike Pence.  Too bad they don't have an Electoral College in the World Cup.

And speaking of the men's national team, Sam Borden reports in the Times that after the Costa Rica defeat, which came on the heels of a 2-1 home loss to Mexico, coach Jurgen Klinsmann's job is in jeopardy and that a change could be made this week.