Bruce Arena names his USMNT coaching staff
USMNT coach Bruce Arena has finally announced who will be on his coaching staff ahead of a tough World Cup Qualifying campaign.
With World Cup Qualifiers and a January Training Camp near us, former LA Galaxy manager Bruce Arena has named his United States men national team coaching staff for the upcoming international cycle.
Arena made the announcement on Wednesday that he will bring along four members of his former Galaxy coaching staff with him as he embarks on his second tenure as USMNT coach.
Joining Arena on the U.S national team is former Galaxy assistant coach Dave Sarachan, assistant’s Pat Noonan and Kenny Arena (Bruce’s son) and former Galaxy goalie coach Matt Reis. Arena also announced that former USMNT U-20 coach Thomas Rongen will be his new chief scout.
Arena told ussoccer.com that, “The entire staff has a great amount of playing and coaching experience both at the international and professional level.”
“With the need to hit the ground running, it’s even more critical that we have a staff that knows the player pool, shares a philosophy on how we approach the game, and has knowledge and experience in the international arena. In different ways this group ticks all those boxes, and we are already hard at work getting ready for the January Camp and the World Cup Qualifiers in March.”
It may seem like Arena is just bringing his friends along to his new job, but his staff has plenty of experience in big matches. Both Sarachan and Arena have a long tenure working together, as Sarachan worked with Arena at the University of Virginia, D.C United and the LA Galaxy. Not to forget that he helped guide the U.S to a quarter-final berth in the 2002 World Cup in Japan/South Korea. Sarachan is also four-time MLS Cup champion and served as Arena’s national team assistant from 2000-2002.
Both Noonan and Reis have international caps with the United States, and have worked with Arena in Los Angeles for the past couple of seasons. Their previous experience will be key moving forward.
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Arena’s son Kenny has worked with his dad for the past couple of years as his one of his assistant coaches in LA. Kenny Arena was an assistant at Virginia, George Mason University and UCLA. He then moved to LA Galaxy U-16 coach and guided them to the 2011 U.S Soccer Development Academy National Championship.
With the January camp fast approaching, friendlies against Serbia (Jan. 29) and Jamaica (Feb. 3) and World Cup Qualifiers in March, Arena and his staff have to turn the U.S soccer program fast in hopes that they can qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.