Bruce Arena was supposed to be the man to make the American national team great again. Instead, the U.S. finds itself on the outside of the World Cup for the first time in a generation.
Arena stepped down from his post as USMNT head coach on Friday, three days after the team shockingly lost 2-1 to Trinidad & Tobago and sealed its fate as a non-participant at Russia 2018. The 66-year-old shouldered the blame, claiming culpability for an elimination that many thought impossible just a week ago.
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“When I took the job last November, I knew there was a great challenge ahead, probably more than most people could appreciate," Arena said in a statement released by U.S. Soccer. "Everyone involved in the program gave everything they had for the last 11 months and, in the end, we came up short. No excuses. We didn’t get the job done, and I accept responsibility.”
Arena didn't start this failed qualifying cycle as the man in charge. That role was held by big-talking German Jurgen Klinsmann, who guided the U.S. to the World Cup in 2014 and had promised sweeping changes to the American program when he was hired in 2011.
Instead, Klinsmann led the U.S. to its worst start to the final round of qualification (a.k.a the "Hex") in recent memory. A 2-1 loss to Mexico at the Americans' "fortress" in Columbus, Ohio, was followed by a humiliating 4-0 defeat in Costa Rica, leaving the U.S. reeling at 0-2 to start the Hex. A week later, Arena was brought in to replace Klinsmann, charged with the task of steadying the ship and getting the USMNT into the quadrennial tournament as had become the norm.
It started off very well for the U.S. under Arena, with two wins at home accompanied by a pair of draws in Panama and Mexico, respectively. The Americans were seemingly back on track, until a 2-0 loss at home to Costa Rica in September started putting doubts in even the most fervant U.S. supporters' minds.
Could they miss the World Cup? Even with numerous setbacks in the rear-view mirror, it didn't seem plausible.
Arena, the wily veteran of American soccer who has won titles at all levels of the pyramid and led the U.S. to two previous World Cup tournaments, would surely figure things out. His personnel choices and tactics were conservative to say the least, with several old heads called in by the coach to get the job done one more time.
If Klinsmann was the idealistic choice, with talks of overhauling the American system from the ground up and implementing a style of play befitting of a 21st century audience with easy access to the best soccer in the world, then Arena was the safe option. A no-nonsense tactician who favoured the 4-4-2 when the rest of the world had moved on to sexier formations, Arena's reliance on veteran players was notorious.
The LA Galaxy, Arena's team prior to his most recent stint as USMNT boss, was famously populated by over-30s who all knew their roles and implemented them to much success. It was no surprise, then, that Arena would employ the same method for a U.S. team desperate for stability.
"When we considered the possible candidates to take over the men's national team at this time, Bruce was at the top of the list," U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said in a statement announcing Arena's hiring last year.
"His experience at the international level, understanding of the requirements needed to lead a team through World Cup qualifying, and proven ability to build a successful team were all aspects we felt were vital for the next coach. We all know Bruce will be fully committed to preparing the players for the next eight qualifying games and earning a berth to an eighth-straight FIFA World Cup in Russia."
It was always going to be a temporary assignment for Arena, who was signed until the end of the upcoming World Cup. Knowing the hole that his team was in, both at the start and (ultimately) the end of his second tenure in charge, Arena did what he is most-known for: conservative tactics implemented by older, experienced players.
As they did when Arena took over two games into the Hex, things appeared to be fine when the final weekend of games kicked off. An all-too-easy 4-0 thrashing of Panama in Orlando last week put the U.S. back in the driver's seat. Their fate was squarely in their own hands again, with only a draw needed to secure at least a two-game playoff against Australia for the right to go to Russia.
But that's where things went terribly wrong.
On Tuesday in Trinidad, Arena announced his starting lineup ahead of arguably the biggest U.S. game since 1989, and it contained the exact same 11 players who had played in the Florida heat just three days earlier.
Despite carrying a roster of 23 players — of which 13 were 30 years of age or older — Arena stuck with the players who put the U.S. in the position to qualify.
On the surface, the move made sense. Most managers will leave lineups laregly unchanged after a good result, and Arena himself had shown throughout his club coaching career that he was loathe to mess wtith a winning formula.
But the USMNT isn't a club team, and it doesn't have the benefit of a week's rest between games. In a pressure-packed three days, with everything on the line, in two venues where heat and humidity are at the top of the list of pre-game talking points, Arena would have been well-advised to at least dip into the pool of experienced players he had on the bench.
Instead, we all know what happened, and the U.S. has become the main topic of conversation in world soccer for all the wrong reasons.
Ultimately, Arena was brought in by U.S. Soccer to be the safe choice after vocal dreamer Klinsmann had put the USMNT in a massive hole. But in selecting the 66-year-old, the U.S. doomed itself to entrusting a man with old ideas to navigate the program through an entirely new situation.