In a predictable move, the US Soccer Federation and Bruce Arena decided to go their separate ways today. Realistically, even had the Americans done more in the World Cup than get embarassed by the Czechs, bloodied by the Italians, eliminated by Ghana, and screwed by the refs, Arena's tenure would probably have ended - eight years is an eternity as a national team coach. Still, Arena didn't go out as he would have hoped; his team bitched about him, his best players failed to show up, and he looked like a poor sport on the sidelines. If anything, all Arena did in Germany was present a challenge to Phil Mickelson's best man-boobs in sports. For that reason and more important ones, he will be missed.
Like him or not, Arena was the best coach the US national team has ever had. Even in defeat, Arena got it right: after the Cup, he said that the US cannot expect to contend for the World Cup title with players from MLS. It's just not happening. MLS is a good league, a growing one, and it will continue to get better, but there will never be a time in the next 20-30 years when the quality of soccer in MLS will rival anything in Europe, much less the better leagues in Latin America like Brazil's and Argentina's. Now this statement might upset American soccer fans and make Landon Donovan worry about getting homesick, but it's a fact - American players will improve immeasurably more in Europe than in the US. As a growing soccer country, the US has to do figure out how to improve as quickly as possible; the right answer is not to expect a kid playing in Kansas City to show up in Germany and go toe-to-toe with Ronaldinho - it's to get that kid over to Europe, be it to England or Spain or Germany or Holland or wherever, and let him learn to compete with the world's best week in and week out. Look, it might be great that MLS is able to bring world-class players to the league, but who should our best young players be playing with and against - an over-the-hill star like Youri Djorkaeff or an in-his-prime player like Michael Ballack? You can try to make the case that Clint Dempsey (an MLSer) was the Americans' best player in Germany and that Europe-based players like DaMarcus Beasley and Brian McBride failed to impress, but in no way can you say that the competition in MLS can in any way compete with the quality of play in Europe. If the US really wants to continue to improve and grow into a world power, then the country's best players - Donovan, Dempsey, Mastroeni, etc - need to start competing against the world's best players every week, not every four years. If Arena is able to leave a lasting legacy in US soccer, in addition to the accomplishments of 2002, then here's hoping that it's the insistence that US players leave the comfy confines of MLS and go battle it out with the best in Europe.
When it comes to Arena's successor, there are two options: Juergen Klinsmann and everyone else. Like any US soccer fan with half a brain, I'll take the former. Sorry, but coaches who have taken a team to the World Cup semis don't come around every day in the US. If there's any way the US Soccer Federation can get Klinsi, then they have to do it. If not, well, let's not go there right now - I'd rather dream about Coach Klinsi doing his Tinkerbell dance after Adu scores to put the US in the semis of South Africa 2010. Hey, stranger things have happened...
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