Where’s Fire? On Top of MLS
So, the next coach of the U.S. men’s national soccer team walked into the Rose Bowl on Sunday with the best talent in Major League Soccer and lost by two goals to an expansion team.
That’s one way to look at the next four years, U.S. soccer fans, if you are given to pessimism, paranoia, cynicism and negativity . . . and after Team USA’s terrifying tour de France last summer, is there any other way to be?
John Harkes, the D.C. United midfielder who captained the U.S. national squad before Steve Sampson made him the martyr of the 3-6-1 alignment two months before the World Cup, thinks so.
“Anything, really, will be an improvement,” Harkes said as he peeled off his soiled United jersey. “It can’t get any worse than the way we were last tournament. The only way is up right now.”
Bruce Arena, a man unaccustomed to losing, got a whiff of his immediate future Sunday as he winced and grimaced through a 2-0 defeat of his two-time reigning MLS champions at the hands of the nondescript, nonexistent-in-’97 Chicago Fire.
The setting was Pasadena, late October 1998, but listening to Arena in the postmatch interview room, it just as easily could have been Mexico City or San Salvador in the spring of 2000.
Arena complained about a penalty that wasn’t called when D.C.’s Marco Etcheverry, the MLS most valuable player, was tripped in the box early in the first half.
Arena complained about the offside violation that wasn’t called when Chicago’s Ante Razov screened D.C. goalkeeper Tom Presthus on a shot that ricocheted off Fire midfielder Diego Gutierrez into the back of the net.
“I would have liked to have had a game where we felt like we had a chance,” Arena groused.
“Today was not a great soccer game. Maybe it was exciting for the fans, but it was not a good game. There was so much controversy involved.”
And:
“It felt like in some ways we didn’t get a chance to defend our championship.”
Well, Arena had best get used to it, because the friendly confines of RFK Stadium and friendlier defenses in Kansas City and Tampa Bay are about to be traded in for the ever-uneven minefield of on-the-road World Cup qualifying.
In Arena’s defense, he had a point on both non-calls. Lubos Kubik stuck an ankle out in front of Etcheverry in the Chicago 18-yard box--it should have been whistled a penalty. Razov was in an offside position when Peter Nowak wound up and fired the ball off Gutierrez’s pectorals--he should have been flagged.
But, Bruce, until you’ve been down to San Jose, Costa Rica, for a CONCACAF qualifier with biased officiating, corroded batteries, empty whiskey bottles and cups of urine raining down on you, you haven’t seen anything.
Arena’s official appointment as U.S. national coach is expected to be announced Tuesday in New York. Reportedly, he has already agreed to a four-year contract, believed to be worth $1 million a year.
Sunday, Arena wasn’t confirming or denying any such reports, but his silence on the matter spoke volumes.
Reporter: “So, do you have an appointment in New York Tuesday?”
Arena: “I have no comment.”
Reporter: “Is this the end of an era with D.C. United?”
Arena: “I don’t think this is an end to an era. These players will be back next year. They will be back to try and reclaim their championship.”
Reporter: “Will you be back?”
Arena: “I . . . I am not commenting on that at this time.”
Reporter: “I am from San Jose. Will I be seeing you Nov. 6?”
Arena: “What’s in San Jose Nov. 6?”
Reporter: “The national team’s next game. Against Australia.”
Arena stroked his chin and looked off into the distance.
“I may have to see that game,” he deadpanned.
Thus, the Bunsen burner is about to be applied to the latest experiment gurgling in the mad laboratory that is U.S. Soccer: Can the best professional coach in America cut it on the international big stage, where Yankees in this sport are not feared, are not revered, are generally looked upon as rather tasty hors d’oeuvres?
Arena, winner of five NCAA championships at the University of Virginia and the first two MLS titles, has hit the wall in terms of soccer achievement in this country. Within these borders, he has won all there is to win.
The great outdoors is the great unknown, of course. It is the logical next step for Arena, but U.S. Soccer was concerned enough about his lack of international credentials to wave big bags of money in front of former Portuguese national coach Carlos Queiroz and to toy with the concept of Bora Milutinovic: The Sequel.
“A lot of people say he doesn’t have the international experience,” Harkes said, “but Bruce has won on a lot of different levels. I think he’ll be a good one.
“Bruce is strong at organization, which is important on the national level. He understands players--he’s a players’ coach. Over the years, he’s been very successful at picking the right personalities to fit together in a team.
“It’s going to be a rebuilding thing for him. It has to be--we’ve got to forget what happened in ’98. He’s looking at a long haul. I wish him the best.”
Not much of an act to follow--that’s the good news for Arena.
The bad?
Take another look at that Chicago Fire roster.
Podbrozny. Nowak. Kosecki. Kubik.
Already, Arena is 0-1 against the Eastern bloc.
