Should Bruce Arena be fired from the US national team?

Arena definately made some choices, and the players just didn't seem fired up. They seemed maybe frustrated. I don't know. They definately seemed to lack uumph most of the time. I'm very disapointed.

Hopefully we'll do better next time.

It seemed like the only player that was fired up was clint Dempsey all the other players did not seem to want to step up. Arena should have put in players who would play with passion and give it their all. I am very disappointed by how Arena managed our US team this world cup.

The lack of fire I saw from the players is THE reason I would fire him. They were clearly complacent.

Also not using his last substitution in the Italy game showed a complete lack of understanding of the situation.

he has been there too long, and frankly, the boys weren't ready to play against the Czechs, which killed them. That 3-0 looks especially pathetic given the recent showing by the Czechs (imagine starting the group with a +3 and finishing -1) It's time to have a non-US coach, I think

get the US to the quarters...

and no, we don't need Sven for another two years...

Jürgen Klinsmann mentioned as a possible replacement since he live sin Southern CA. Although I'm sure his availability will depend on how far Germany can go.

and that he wants another 4 years with Germany (he said it this week, so it's either recent news, or world cup psychobabble, you pick.)

and didn't seem carbonated enough to win.

:evilgrin:

U.S. Soccer needs a "Miracle on Fescue."

something's gotta change, for a team that was ranked, what #5 seed? c'mon!!

...mostly because firing him would be pointless. He was probably headed on to a different job after this World Cup, regardless of how the US fared.

I think the USA should hire Guus Hiddink (of Australia) or Jurgen Klinsmann (of Germany, but lives in the US).

No need to fire him. He's going to leave on his own, and his contract is only through December. Let him leave of his own accord and then just let the contract run out. He worked for us for 8 years and even though it's time to move on, there is no reason to disrespect him.

Don't fire him. Just don't renew his contract and let him leave on his own terms.

:wtf:

I am a disgruntled Knicks fan.

The US team was in a hard group; many teams not nearly as good advanced to the next phase. Even despite that situation, the squad could have done it - with better luck and another referee.

The real problem wasn't the trainer, though - for understandable commercial reasons, players were hyped to a level above their heads. They suffered from the same overblown expectations as the Torino winter athletes - maybe dumping Nike and their artificial and damaging hypes would be a better start than dumping Arena.

There is not a better coach than Bruce Arena to coach the US. He knows the American player, has a great eye for people in
certain positions (Mastroeni was a huge surprise in 2002 when selected, and now look at him), and has been a winner at
every possible level he's coached. Our group sucked people. No, it didn't' just suck. It suckity suck sucked. I think
we get out of just about any other group except ours. I'm sure there are things he would do differently, but for the most
part he had the team in position to advance. That's about all you can ask for. I think the problem is that after 2002,
everyone was demanding another miracle out of this team, and it just wasn't in the cards.

And I would like to say one more thing: ERIC WYNALDA IS A DUMB ASS!!!!

the Czechs were paper tigers, and we got spooked by them. We would have been spanked by any team in the first game, we played so horribly.

My problem with Arena is more a problem with US Soccer as a whole. we are so focused on building our precious little MLS, with it's abysmally boring play, instead of building a national team. I had the misfortune of watching a DC United (best team in the league, again) game on Saturday after watching World Cup, and it was PATHETIC. It was ugly, slow and boring in comparison, like going from watching the NFL to a pee wee game in Minnesota. ugh. You don't get better playing against mediocre competition, you get better playing against the best. So two years ago, Arena should have taken Landon Donovan aside and told him to go back to Europe. Even playing on a third tier team in Germany is better than MLS for player development.

And then why don't we play in Copa America? oh, right, it would interfere with MLS. You think the US would have been as shellshocked against the Czechs if two years ago we'd been playing Argentina in BA, and Ecuador in Quito? but it interferes with MLS, so no dice. ugly.

1) Our players suffer from playing in the MLS. It's beyond minor league. It's filled with ex-euro castoffs, and guys who can't make a good Mexican squad. Maybe someday the quality will increase, but for now it's detrimental to our players.

2) Our best players need to be convinced to go to Europe. Some try and come home. They'd rather be a star in the MLS in their home country than a minor leaguer in a place they can't speak the language. It's hard to play over in Europe for Americans, but unless they do, they won't get better.

3) We need to get involved in the America's stuff and do exactly what you say. Our national league is off kilter with the rest of the world to take advantage of the lull in our other sports, but it prevents us from doing anything else interesting.

...WITH MLS than without. Is it the highest level of competition? Not hardly. BUT...it has created a bigger pool of professional-level players from which the national team can be chosen. Keep in mind that in the glory years of the late, lamented NASL (with its higher standard of play), the USA never made the World Cup, largely because there were so few Americans playing in the league.

but the best players in the world don't play in MLS, and no amount of wishing will make that come true for the forseeable future. Frankly, MLS is boring to watch, compared to international class soccer (it's barely third rate, on a consistent scale) and our top players aren't getting any better playing in Kansas City, right now it's a developmental and retirement league, which is fine, but the 11 who start for the US on the international stage are too good for MLS, they need to be playing, every week, against the other best players in the game in Europe.

As a comparison, think of basketball. Does the existance of a German basketball league help the prospects for that country internationally? yes. does the fact that Dirk Nowitzki is playing, not in Germany, but in Dallas, against the best in the world help even more? yup. Sure, he coud be a superstar in Dortmund, but who gives a crap about that? Is Landon Donovan getting any better playing for the LA Galaxy than he would be struggling to play for a team in Europe? probably not. MLS is good enough to get us through the really weak CONCACAF, but no further.

The really interesting games are the UEFA tournaments, i.e. the Champion's League and the UEFA cup. Playing there is the key to become great, for players and for teams. The reason is simple: a closed league tends to cause stagnation, while the international leagues force the clubs to be better than just adequate. Also, for adequate clubs there's always the danger of relegation - European club soccer is a harsh environment for clubs and for players.

IMHO no league will ever develop into a worthy thing without facing international competition.

...the continental club competitions are next to worthless. Outside of the US and Mexico, most of the other national leagues are little more than glorified beer leagues. Typically, it's 2 MLS teams against two Mexican teams in the semifinals.

But I still have a problem with the coach because he put in players that did not step up and you can also blame that on the MLS because they were not ready to play in Europe.

Prior to the first game agains the Czechs, the team received a call from Bush. Wynalda then made a stupid comparison to the game being a war (I wonder how the guys in Iraq feel about that) and said, "If you're going into a war, that's the man you want on the phone - someone who knows all about war."

Idiot.

Oh god, that was painful. I wished I'd never hear about that one.
Jesus...