Arena football

U.S. coach rides instinct into round of eight

SEOUL -- On Saturday night, less than 24 hours after losing to Poland, U.S. coach Bruce Arena slumped into a chair across from me on the 30th floor of the JW Marriott hotel. Not even the majestic view of the hills and skyscrapers of Seoul could make him forget the Americans' dismal performance, yet he was also looking forward to Monday's second-round showdown against Mexico.

"In a variety of sports you face some adversity, you lose some games that kind of don't matter, but the question is, Can you regroup and get after the next one that means something?" Arena told me. "This is a wakeup call that will have us ready for Mexico, a team I believe we can beat if we play well. And then we'd be in the last eight. Who'd ever think of that? The spin 72 hours later could be ridiculous."

Sure enough, in three days the spin has reversed as profoundly as the sauce on Eddie Lewis's perfect second-half cross, the one that Landon Donovan headed home for the final goal in the U.S.'s historic 2-0 victory on Monday. Suddenly, Arena is once again a master tactician, a bold risktaker who outcoached Javier Aguirre by using four new starters and a three-back formation for the first time since beating Barbados in November 2000.

"It was the hottest game we've played in so far, so having some fresh legs helped," said Claudio Reyna, who himself was moved from the central midfield to the right wing. "Maybe that was a disadvantage for Mexico because they didn't make any changes."

Indeed, Arena told me on Saturday that he was kicking himself for not having mixed things up more against Poland. (His only change in that lineup was to bring back Earnie Stewart and sit DaMarcus Beasley, who has been playing the entire tournament with a deep bone bruise in his knee.) "My instincts were to make more changes, and I was kind of talked out of it," Arena said. "Probably the input from my coaching staff didn't help me on that, but that's a copout because the responsibility is mine."

By Saturday night, Arena had resolved to follow his instincts and bring on the new guys for Mexico. After all, his inner voice has served him well over the years. During the 1999 Confederations Cup, the altitude and absurdly short downtime between games caused Arena to use two separate squads, and it paid off: A rested B team (featuring such luminaries as C.J. Brown, Matt McKeon, Richie Williams and Paul Bravo) beat Germany 2-0, and the Yanks went on to take third place behind Mexico and Brazil.

It was the first evidence that Arena was unafraid to roll the dice in an international tournament. Moreover, when he made changes he got them right. Remember, nobody praised Steve Sampson after he introduced five new starters for the U.S.'s 2-1 loss to Iran in World Cup '98. The difference is that Arena has been able to sell his players on those changes, not least through his outsized, fill-the-room personality.

"That's definitely part of it," says defender Eddie Pope. "In '98 guys were moved here, moved there, and it became an issue with people's attitudes. When Bruce came in, he said team chemistry was going to be our No. 1 focus. With the team we have, everyone believes in one another, so it's easy for us to accept the next guy starting and trust the guy who's playing next to you."

Who will be in the U.S. lineup against Germany on Friday? Who knows? As Arena told reporters on Tuesday, he could probably name the Germans' starting lineup if he had to ... while the Germans would have a hard time doing the same for the Americans.

Hey, whatever works. And at this World Cup, nearly everything Arena has done has worked splendidly.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Grant Wahl covers soccer for the magazine and will contribute frequently to CNNSI.com throughout the World Cup tournament.

 

Related information

Stories

Grant Wahl's Insider Archive

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video