What's Wrong with US?
A Coach's Blunt Take on the State of American Soccer After a Lifetime on the Touchline
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
Outspoken, honest, game changing—ultimate soccer insider and legendary coach Bruce Arena looks back on an extraordinary career, and forward to what the United States needs to do to compete successfully on the world stage once again.
“Arena depicts the human side of managing elite athletes.… [US soccer] fans will definitely want to pick this up.”—Publishers Weekly
At around 8:37 p.m. EST on October 10, 2017, an unheralded Trinidadian right back, Alvin Jones, received possession of the football in a World Cup qualifier against the United States. Looking up, he took one touch and unleashed an extraordinary shot toward the American goal. No one in the stadium—least of all US coach Bruce Arena, standing ten yards away on the touchline—thought the ball would hit the back of the net. But hit the back of the net it did. And so, on that fateful muggy night at Ato Boldon Stadium, in Trinidad, Alvin Jones doomed the United States to miss the World Cup for the first time in thirty-two years. Cue hand-wringing and moans of pain from the legions of US Men’s National Team fans. With that ultimate 2–1 defeat and ouster from the World Cup, American soccer realized it had to take a long, hard look at itself.
In What’s Wrong with US?, Bruce Arena begins that painful but much-needed process. Arena has won everything there is to win in sports, including college championships and Major League Soccer triumphs—he has even excelled as a coach of lacrosse, his first passion. His 2002 World Cup soccer team came a non-called handball away from the semifinals; and, having worked with the likes of David Beckham, Landon Donovan, and Christian Pulisic, he has had a storied life as a coach. Now, though, it’s time to take stock and have an honest discussion about what’s wrong with soccer in the United States. Arena casts his eye on recruiting, coaching, the structure of Major League Soccer, the integration of overseas players, and the role of money in the modern game. He looks back at the 2018 qualifying campaign, reveals what went wrong, and looks forward to a new way of soccer in America.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Former U.S. Men's National Team (USMNT) coach Arena argues for an overhaul of how soccer is managed in the United States in this coach's memoir cum road map to making America competitive on the world soccer stage. Clearly, this would have been a different book had the Arena-managed USMNT not failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, and the bulk of the book is a straightforward and fairly good coach's memoir. Arena depicts the human side of managing elite athletes, and a host of inside-the-dressing room moments add color, as when the national team sang an impromptu karaoke version of "My Way" on the team bus after losing to Germany in the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals. Arena's prescription to fix soccer is commonsensical and hinges mostly on hiring people to run the league and national team who have a better technical understanding of the sport and can do more to develop young players. G the book's title, the relative lack of pages dedicated to the topic is disappointing. USMNT fans will definitely want to pick this up, but those looking for a comprehensive plan for reform will find only an outline of one here.
