Has Bruce Arena redeemed himself after his USMNT failure?

After taking the blame for the USMNT failure, it appears Bruce Arena has come out on the other side and is redeeming himself in MLS.

Bruce Arena, along with a number of his former US Men’s National Team players, probably need want to return to Couva. It was there almost exactly two years ago where American soccer faced something of a watershed moment, where the USA after years and years of climbing came back down the other side of the mountain.

That defeat to Trinidad and Tobago, which saw the USA miss their first World Cup since 1986, is still frequently spoken about in American soccer circles such was the damage it did to the soccer psyche in the country. The effects of that one catastrophic result are still being felt. US Soccer has yet to truly recover.

Of course, it wasn’t just one result that stopped the US from being in Russia for the 2018 World Cup. What happened in Couva was just the final blow in what was a dreadful ‘Hex’ campaign. Arena was drafted in as a perceived safe pair of hands after defeats to Mexico and Costa Rica under Jurgen Klinsmann. Arena, however, allowed qualification to slip through his hands.

At this point, the American soccer veteran looked to have come to the end of his career. Arena is the most successful coach in the history of the sport in the country, winning five MLS Cups, three Supporters’ Shields and seven conference titles in MLS as well as three Gold Cups as USMNT head coach over two spells.

Arena was the man who led the US to the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup, only just missing out on a place in the semifinals. That still stands as a peak for the national team on the world stage, but 2017 tainted Arena’s legacy. At 68 years old, the former DC United and LA Galaxy coach surely must have considered retirement.

Instead, he was lured back into the game by the New England Revolution in May of this year, hired as the Foxborough club’s head coach and sporting director. The Revs had suffered a pitiful start to the 2019 season. They were, with just eight points and a minus-19 goal differential from 12 games, a team with no direction and no hope. Now, however, New England are preparing for their first playoff game this weekend.

Make no mistake, the Revolution will be underdogs against defending MLS Cup champions Atlanta United at Mercedes Benz Stadium on Saturday, but the fact that they even made the play-offs underlines the capacity Arena still possesses for getting the very best from players. If 2017 tainted his reputation and legacy, 2019 has reminded American soccer why Arena was so lauded in the first place.

“Of all the teams I’ve had all the years, this is as good as any of them to coach every day, to deal with away from the field. That says a lot,” Arena explained in an interview ahead of this weekend’s play-off fixture. “I give them nothing but high marks, even if we didn’t make the playoffs this year and kind of failed towards the end. I still think this season has been a real positive.”

A New England victory at Mercedes Benz Stadium this weekend would provide one of the stories of the season, but that would pale in comparison to the drastic improvement that has occurred at the club since Arena took the reins. The Revs don’t have the match-winners, the difference-makers of Atlanta United or Los Angeles FC, but they are tough to beat. They don’t give much away. And they can spring a surprise. The New England Revolution have made a habit of that under Arena, even after all this time and what happened in Couva a giant of the American game.