Bruce Arena, the coach with the most wins for the US men's national soccer team and the only one to lead the team to two World Cups, was discussed as a possible replacement for Gregg Berhalter, who was fired last year. He didn't get the job. It went to Mauricio Pochettino, an Argentine soccer manager who's coached some of Europe's biggest teams, including Chelsea and Tottenham in the English Premier League and Ligue 1's Paris Saint-Germain. But Arena thinks that may have been a mistake. Though Pochettino is "very good," he's not American, and that's a problem, Arena said on an episode of the Unfiltered Soccer podcast, per the New York Times.
Speaking after the team's painful losses to Panama and Canada in the Nations League finals, Arena noted a national team head coach is usually from that same country. Just nine of 32 head coaches at the 2022 World Cup were foreign-born. The US men's national team has actually had numerous coaches from foreign countries over the years, most recently Jurgen Klinsmann, who led the team from 2011 to 2016. But Arena argues US soccer has a unique culture and environment that a head coach needs to understand. "And we're lacking that," he said. "I'm watching, I'm shocked. I'm shocked that we can't beat Panama and Canada."
He continued, "I don't want to be disrespectful, I want them to do great in the World Cup. There's no question about it. But we only have a year left now. Time is running out, and they gotta get going." The team's next major challenge is the Concacaf Gold Cup, a competition of 16 nations kicking off June 14 in the US and Canada. The US will face Trinidad and Tobago, Saudi Arabia, and Haiti in the group stage. Pochettino, who's questioned players' effort and competitive mentality, says he'll be looking beyond talent to find the players with "the right mindset" because "we must compete hard," per ESPN. (More US Soccer stories.)
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