Bruce Arena has complicated job pulling together USMNT's World Cup qualifying roster
The January camp did not make things simpler for Bruce Arena. If anything, it muddled up the picture he was trying to draw in his head about his United States men’s national team and what shape it would take for the all-important resumption of World Cup qualifiers next month, when the margin for error is close to zero.
“I think it helped confuse a lot of things,” he said in a conference call on Thursday, speaking in his typically frank and breezy Long Island cadence.
You probably know the deal by now: Under Jurgen Klinsmann, the Americans face-planted out of the gate of the Hexagonal – the final phase of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia – with a first-ever home loss to Mexico in the hallowed Columbus stronghold and a 4-0 destruction at the hands of Costa Rica in San Jose.
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Out went Klinsmann and back came Arena after a decade away from the job. With eight games left to play, the U.S. finds itself looking up at every other team in last place. Of the six teams in the Hex, three will qualify automatically and another will reach a playoff with Asia’s fifth-placed qualifier. And so, in short, the Yanks need points, starting against Honduras in the other San Jose, in California, on March 24. Four days later, an away game in Panama awaits. Both aren’t must-win games, definitionally, but at the very least they’re probably-should-win-or-there-will-be-real-trouble games.
Arena has spent the last month in camp with his U.S. and Canadian-based players, getting them ready for the year ahead of their own preseason camps with their Major League Soccer teams. Following three weeks of training were a joyless 0-0 friendly tie with Serbia and a slightly more watchable 1-0 win over Jamaica.
“Serbia played a very defensive game and at that time of the year we were not sharp enough or coordinated enough to break them down and get a goal,” Arena conceded. “Against Jamaica I think we were improved. Our passing was better. We defended well. And we got a win, which was critically important.”
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Critically important is rather overstating things in a soccer sense. But then Arena is trying to rebuild his team’s confidence – and, from the looks of it over the last year and a half, perhaps morale – and wins tend to be helpful on that score.
A slew of players made a good impression on Arena, who had played against plenty of them while coaching the LA Galaxy for the last eight years. But that isn’t even where the real complication in crafting a roster for the March qualifiers arises.
“Now the goal is to merge our players abroad with our domestic players and come up with the best roster for those games against Honduras and Panama,” Arena said.
This process makes for a complicated puzzle of blending European-based players who are in the middle of their seasons and therefore fitter and sharper, with the North America players, who are at the beginning of their club campaigns but have been right under Arena’s gaze for a month.
As it stands, Arena figures he has 40 or so players who are serious contenders for that camp, meaning he has to shed about 15 of them. Off the top of his head, he name-checked seven European-based players who are in play for a call-up, in addition to injured Stoke City defender Geoff Cameron, who might be healthy in time. Forward Bobby Wood; midfielders Christian Pulisic, Julian Green and Fabian Johnson; and defenders DeAndre Yedlin, John Brooks and Timothy Chandler (who is suspended for the first game) were all mentioned by Arena, who then also talked about defender Eric Lichaj and the Mexican-based midfielder Paul Arriola.
“The players in camp for the most part will be the players under consideration for the March roster,” Arena said, but then there’s far too much talent – and match fitness – playing abroad to go unused. ‘There’s some key players in Europe that we’re looking at.”
“We’re going to decide on the best group of players to give us results. It doesn’t matter where they come from,” Arena added. “We have players in Europe that aren’t playing; we have players who are playing a lot. In the U.S., the players have a bit of a jump [on the MLS season, beginning on March 3] and have another six weeks or so to be prepared. Every player is in the mix at this point and it’s our job to evaluate them properly.”
In the meantime, he will have conversations with his players. Via email, over the phone, and in person. Arena and his staff anticipate going to Germany, England and Mexico in the coming weeks, as well as visit MLS games around North America.
“We understand how we’re going to play. We have a depth chart,” Arena said. “We’re going to sit down and have some conversations. Make sure the players understand what we’re trying to do before they even get here. Make sure they’ve bought into that. And then finalize a roster.”
There are a lot of pieces to pull together, hoping that they all fit.
Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.
