Bruce Arena
Bruce Arena
Bruce Arena is a former professional soccer player, and coach of the Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer. Arena is the former coach of the United States men's national soccer team and a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Arena has had a long and distinguished coaching career, and is considered to be one of the most successful coaches in North American soccer history. He was head coach of the U.S. at the 1996 Summer Olympics, the...
couple form games injury late patient played since starting
I think we need to be patient with Eddie. He's just starting to come back. He's only played a couple of games since his injury in late May, so he's not completely in form at the moment.
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We have some extra numbers in positions where we can afford the opportunity to look at some of the European players in this game and rest some of the domestic players. An example of that would be Eddie Pope and Jim Conrad. Based on play over the past month and a half, they would be included in this roster if we were simply basing it on performances. But we have guys we need to look at now.
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Our challenge is a pretty great one. This time around, I like our team on paper better than 2002, but you don't win games on paper. On the field is how the teams will be judged. ... With a good training camp, good preparation games and the right mental approach, this will be a team that will challenge anybody in the World Cup.
clear games italy mean progress replay sat shook stands
I was there, I sat in the stands in Italy and shook my head, and I don't mean that as disrespect. It was clear we had a long way to go. We get to replay those games now, and it'll be interesting to see what kind of progress we've made.
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When you play on a regular basis in top European competition, you improve at a greater rate than you do in our domestic league -- there's no secret about it. The games are more meaningful, more purposeful.
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With a good training camp, good preparation games and the right mental approach, our team will be a team that's going to challenge anybody on the field in this World Cup.
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We view this camp and the games in January and February as critical towards our preparation for Germany.
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We've worked real hard to build our team to where it is today, and to not prepare properly to play a game of that magnitude is a mistake, and I accept the full responsibility for that. If I felt that it wasn't the right time for us to play that game, I should have been a little bit strong in saying this is not the right time to play.
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We're not going to ignore anybody at this point in time. The league will be operating in early April and we'll have a chance to look at those games to see if any of those players are a possibility for our April game or are still considerations for our roster.
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We were able to use this game as an opportunity to see some players. The part that I felt was valid was that we watched our players have to deal with coming from behind, being down a goal.
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What this group has managed to do is not let anything get in the way of their goals in qualifying and winning games. We miss a player due to an injury or a suspension, they don't blink an eye, they just move forward. If they're in games where the officiating may be a little bit questionable, it doesn't bother them. They just keep their concentration and get after the task at hand.
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He scores goals in big games and that's what a real goal scorer is about. Obviously, he's one player that we have to focus on.
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He's a talented kid who is very inexperienced and young so you can't expect too much at this point in time. He's 16 years old any way you look at it. You talk about patience, he clearly needs that. He needs to get a couple of good years under his belt with his club team where he fits in as a regular and sees a bunch of 90-minute games and plays well and deals with all of that. Right now, he has a long way to go.
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We're prepared to play each and every game and, hopefully, I think one could look at our record over the last couple of years and realize that our guys are prepared to play every game. Obviously this is a big game and they'll be ready for it.