Over and Done With

Bruce Arena, coach of the U.S. national soccer team for eight years, was visibly disappointed by Thursday’s 2-1 loss to Ghana that eliminated the U.S. from the 2006 World Cup after only three games.

Afterward, he was not sure he wanted to retain the position.

“If you ask me right now, probably not,” he said, when asked if he would want to go through this again. He later elaborated.

“First of all, it’s not my decision,” Arena said. “Secondly, I don’t know how I feel with the whole thing. I have some other opportunities that I need to examine as well. But I don’t think that’s important right now.”

Sunil Gulati, president of U.S. Soccer, said the federation would not make any hasty call on Arena’s future.

“There are going to be some very good teams that go home. I don’t think anyone’s asking about the fate of the sport in the U.S.,” Gulati said.

“It’s been a pretty good four-year period in qualifying and so on, but this is where the entire world is watching, this is where you measure yourself. That didn’t come out well.”

The U.S. was ousted after losing its opener to the Czech Republic, 3-0, then tying Italy, 1-1, before losing to Ghana.

Gulati said Arena’s future would not depend only on what happened in Germany.

“We’re not going to analyze everything based on a penalty kick call, on a missed post, on one poor game against the Czech Republic,” Gulati said. “Inevitably, we all share responsibility, including the coach.”

The penalty kick call Gulati referred to came shortly before the first half ended, when German referee Markus Merk ruled that U.S. defender Oguchi Onyewu had fouled Ghana forward Razak Pimpong while the two battled for the ball in the air.

Television replays suggested no foul had occurred, a point Arena made strongly after the match.

Ghana’s Stephen Appiah scored on the penalty kick.

Other than the questionable penalty call, the most obvious cause of the U.S. loss was the injury to playmaker Claudio Reyna.

Reyna was stripped of the ball by Ghana midfielder Haminu Draman, who clashed knees with Reyna while making the tackle, then went in alone against U.S. goalkeeper Kasey Keller and stuck the ball past him to give Ghana a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute.

Reyna left the game five minutes before halftime, costing the U.S. its best player. He suffered a strained knee ligament, nothing serious, but was expected to announce his retirement from international competition today in Hamburg.

With Reyna sidelined, the U.S. relied on Landon Donovan, but for the second time in three games, he failed to deliver. DaMarcus Beasley was more lively and adventurous. Clint Dempsey showed more initiative and fire.

It was those two who provided the U.S. goal in the 43rd minute. Beasley stole the ball on the left wing, ran toward the Ghana goal and then provided a perfect pass for Dempsey, who slammed a volley past goalkeeper Richard Kingson.

Tied at 1-1 just before the half, things looked brighter for the U.S. Then came the penalty call that Arena said left the U.S. reeling. Furious at the time, he had mellowed later.

“These things happen,” Arena said. “We had chances in the second half, but we were put in a very awkward position, to have to chase the game against a team that was obviously very content to sit back and keep us off the scoreboard....

“We knew it was going to be a grueling three games in group play and there wasn’t a whole lot of room for error.”