What's Wrong with US?: A Coach's Blunt Take on the State of American Soccer After a Lifetime on the Touchline

by Bruce Arena, Steve Kettmann

Overview

Outspoken, honest, game changing—ultimate soccer insider and legendary coach Bruce Arena looks back on an extraordinary career, and forward to what the United States needs to do to compete successfully on the world stage once again.

“Arena depicts the human side of managing elite athletes.… [US soccer] fans will definitely want to pick this up.”—Publishers Weekly

At around 8:37 p.m. EST on October 10, 2017, an unheralded Trinidadian right back, Alvin Jones, received possession of the football in a World Cup qualifier against the United States. Looking up, he took one touch and unleashed an extraordinary shot toward the American goal. No one in the stadium—least of all US coach Bruce Arena, standing ten yards away on the touchline—thought the ball would hit the back of the net. But hit the back of the net it did. And so, on that fateful muggy night at Ato Boldon Stadium, in Trinidad, Alvin Jones doomed the United States to miss the World Cup for the first time in thirty-two years. Cue hand-wringing and moans of pain from the legions of US Men’s National Team fans. With that ultimate 2–1 defeat and ouster from the World Cup, American soccer realized it had to take a long, hard look at itself.

In What’s Wrong with US?, Bruce Arena begins that painful but much-needed process. Arena has won everything there is to win in sports, including college championships and Major League Soccer triumphs—he has even excelled as a coach of lacrosse, his first passion. His 2002 World Cup soccer team came a non-called handball away from the semifinals; and, having worked with the likes of David Beckham, Landon Donovan, and Christian Pulisic, he has had a storied life as a coach. Now, though, it’s time to take stock and have an honest discussion about what’s wrong with soccer in the United States. Arena casts his eye on recruiting, coaching, the structure of Major League Soccer, the integration of overseas players, and the role of money in the modern game. He looks back at the 2018 qualifying campaign, reveals what went wrong, and looks forward to a new way of soccer in America.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062803948
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/12/2018
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Bruce Arena is the winningest coach in US soccer history. As head coach at the University of Virginia, he led the Cavaliers to five ACC Tournament Championships and five National Championships. Arena first became the head coach of the US Men’s National Team in 1998, is the first coach in history to win three CONCACAF Gold Cups, and has coached teams to five MLS Cup championships. A member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Arena has thrice been named the MLS Coach of the Year, and in 2014 he received the Werner Fricker Builder Award, the highest honor that an individual can receive from the US Soccer Federation.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Time for Long-Overdue Changes ix

Part I The Making of a Coach

Chapter 1 Coaching 3

Chapter 2 Under Shep Messing's Wing 11

Chapter 3 "Animal House" at Cornell 17

Chapter 4 The National Team 25

Chapter 5 UVA 37

Chapter 6 DC United 57

Part II Breakthrough at the World Cup

Chapter 7 National Team Coach 73

Chapter 8 Landon 83

Chapter 9 2002 World Cup 91

Chapter 10 Germany 105

Part III Turnaround in LA

Chapter 11 Back in MLS 117

Chapter 12 LA 125

Chapter 13 David and Landon 133

Chapter 14 Robbie Keane 143

Chapter 15 The Call Comes 155

Part IV Disappointment on the Road to Russia

Chapter 16 A Game of Catch-up 167

Chapter 17 Learning the Players 177

Chapter 18 A Fresh Start 189

Chapter 19 Azteca 195

Chapter 20 Gold Cup 2017 207

Chapter 21 A Nightmare 215

Chapter 22 My Worst Day 225

Part V A Bold Plan for the Future

Chapter 23 The American Problem 237

Chapter 24 The Shrinking Pool 247

Chapter 25 Past, Present, and Future 253

Chapter 26 MLS and US Soccer 259

Checklist 265

Acknowledgments 267

Editorial Reviews

05/21/2018
Former U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT) coach Arena argues for an overhaul of how soccer is managed in the United States in this coach’s memoir cum road map to making America competitive on the world soccer stage. Clearly, this would have been a different book had the Arena-managed USMNT not failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, and the bulk of the book is a straightforward and fairly good coach’s memoir. Arena depicts the human side of managing elite athletes, and a host of inside-the-dressing room moments add color, as when the national team sang an impromptu karaoke version of “My Way” on the team bus after losing to Germany in the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals. Arena’s prescription to fix soccer is commonsensical and hinges mostly on hiring people to run the league and national team who have a better technical understanding of the sport and can do more to develop young players. G the book’s title, the relative lack of pages dedicated to the topic is disappointing. USMNT fans will definitely want to pick this up, but those looking for a comprehensive plan for reform will find only an outline of one here. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Arena depicts the human side of managing elite athletes… [US soccer] fans will definitely want to pick this up.” — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher