Three straight losses in World Cup 2002 qualifying have dropped the United States from first to fourth place in the Hexagonal. The Americans still control their own destiny, though. They will qualify with wins over Jamaica Oct. 7 in Foxboro, Mass., and Trinidad & Tobago Nov. 11 in Port of Spain. Bruce Arena looks back at the recent slide and ahead to the task at hand.
SOCCER AMERICA: Your thoughts on the Costa Rica game, in hindsight?
BRUCE ARENA: Nothing different from what I said down there.
SA: That being that you would have liked to see the team press more?
ARENA: Well, not drop as deep.
SA: Is there anything that you would have done differently?
ARENA: Yeah, I might have made one or two changes, but it’s not anything that I want to make public. But that’s the easiest thing to do – to reflect back. That’s why there are reporters. That’s what reporters and fans do. They question everything after games. But those are things you put behind you and move forward.
I think the idea of going in there the way we did was right, and it didn’t work. They were the better team. We leave it at that and move forward.
SA: As far as taking lessons for the next two games, what are some of your thoughts?
ARENA: Well, the next two games are different than the past two. It’s not just apples to oranges. It’s a different challenge, different opponents. We’re not going to spend a whole lot of time beating ourselves up over the last three games.
SA: How are the next two games different?
ARENA: Well, the opponents play differently, we might even be playing a home game, and we know exactly what the challenge is. At this stage, it’s clearly three points.
SA: In the past two games you used two relatively new lineups. Obviously there were guys hurt, but …
ARENA: There weren’t two relatively new lineups.
SA: What do you mean?
ARENA: How were they relatively new lineups?
“There were 11 players on the field. The formations had nothing to do with why we won or lost those games.”
SA: Well, you hadn’t played a 4-3-3 like you did against Honduras in any other qualifier.
ARENA: Again, you’re getting all worried about the numbers. There were 11 players on the field. The formations had nothing to do with why we won or lost those games.
SA: It just seemed there were more changes of roles than in a lot of the previous qualifiers, where you stuck with the same back line, the same basic shape. These two games had more changes.
ARENA: Well, go ahead and pick a 4-4-2 for us to play against Honduras, given the players we had available. Then, the field in Costa Rica is 80 by 125 [yards], and we thought we had to do a much better job dealing with the width of the field.
SA: I bring this up is because I know it was an advantage for Honduras and Costa Rica to have been together playing games [in Copa America] in the past two months.
ARENA: What is an advantage to them – our lineup?
SA: No. It’s an advantage that they are familiar with each other.
ARENA: Yeah, so what are you going to do? We weren’t able to train together for two or three months. What are you going to do?
SA: Maybe you play people in roles that they are more familiar with.
ARENA: Which players played in roles they weren’t familiar with?
SA: David [Regis] against Honduras – we’ll take that game first.
ARENA: David Regis played left back.
SA: But he played without a midfielder in front of him.
ARENA: Oh really? Now how many times has he played with a midfielder in front of him?
SA: You’re right that Earnie Stewart doesn’t …
ARENA: Well, you’re the one who asked the question. [Regis] has never played with a midfielder in front of him, if you watched any of the previous games. Do you think Earnie Stewart was playing as a left-sided midfielder?
“The reason they had numbers up at times were counterattacks. It had nothing to do with whether we were playing with a left-sided midfielder or not.”
SA: Not a strictly left-sided midfielder, but [Regis] got more defensive help in those other games than he did in the Honduras game. They came against him two-on-one at times.
ARENA: That’s a ridiculous statement. Landon Donovan took care of players on that side of the field. Regis had to play [Milton] Reyes, whom he had to play when we were in Honduras. There was nothing any different. The reason they had numbers up at times were counterattacks. It had nothing to do with whether we were playing with a left-sided midfielder or not. There is a left-sided player there, a left-sided forward.
SA: Why did the counterattacks happen more often [at RFK] than they did in Honduras?
ARENA: A better team. The three biggest counters at the start of the second half were off of throw-ins. How do you explain that? The goal Costa Rica scored, the penalty kick, was off of our throw-in. It was just bad plays, bad decisions. It doesn’t matter what formation you’re in.
SA: OK. That’s why I was asking. If those teams were more familiar with each other and their roles, maybe moving people around …
ARENA: Their team is one thing. Being away for two months, you’re going to have problems regardless.
SA: Against Costa Rica, there were players who hadn’t played qualifiers in a long time. So that’s another question.
ARENA: So go ahead, question. You’re the authority on Monday morning.
SA: (Laughs) … It’s just my job to ask the questions that fans are asking, just because they want to hear what you would say. Another one might be why Steve Cherundolo didn’t play in Costa Rica.
ARENA: Because we had a more experienced player to play in that spot for that game. He was playing like a half-midfielder, half-defender, which Cherundolo is not.
SA: But then on the other side, you went with the less experienced player in Greg Vanney over Regis. Why?
ARENA: Because I thought that [Vanney] would be more compatible in the defensive alignment than Regis would be and he would be a little fresher. And in all honesty, the biggest reason for having Vanney was to have a guy who could hit some restarts, which we don’t have on this team when we have [Clint] Mathis and some others gone. I thought if it was a game where we get to halftime 0-0, a restart might make a difference.
SA: And it almost did make a difference. Certainly [Vanney] took his one opportunity well. What about Donovan? Why not start him in Costa Rica?
ARENA: Just that he hasn’t had that experience before. But he did a good job in the Honduras game.
SA: And Jovan [Kirovski] over the two games?
ARENA: He was part of two plays in the first game that created goal opportunities. Second game, nothing. Not a good performance.
“We’ve had too many players that have worried about themselves – and their playing time – as opposed to the team.”
SA: Can you talk about recovering the mental edge – is it harder to work under the heavy pressure of needing points?
ARENA: It is and it isn’t. When you need points, it makes things pretty clear about what the objective is, so you get everybody on the same page. We’ve had too many players that have worried about themselves – and their playing time – as opposed to the team. I think this helps put everything into perspective.
SA: Did that start to change when the results started to change?
ARENA: When things were moving along smoothly, they certainly began to concern themselves more with themselves than the team. Which is human nature, to get complacent. That’s why when all the authorities such as yourself and others said 13 points, 14 points will get you through, I never believed that was the case. I’ve been in this thing for the long haul, and if you told me going into the ninth game we’d be in position to qualify for the World Cup, I’d say we were in pretty good shape. We’re not as desperate as people think we are.
SA: Still, there’s that tension that can form during the course of a game, if things don’t go right against Jamaica …
ARENA: That’s what the challenge is.
SA: Do you think the experience in Barbados last round helps, then, having been in a similar situation?
ARENA: I don’t think they’re remotely similar at this point. It might be similar as you get to Trinidad, but not for the next game. I don’t think that’s the same.
SA: Do you try to get the guys to avoid thinking about the ramifications of not qualifying?
ARENA: And how do you do that? How do you monitor their minds 24 hours a day? That’s been the reality of the situation since we started last year. That’s why they’re the ones on the field. They’re used to those pressures. That’s what being a professional athlete is. That’s why we don’t listen to the people that aren’t on the field.
SA: So what do you have to do to beat Jamaica?
ARENA: Score more goals than they do.
“The thing we need to do is get three points. We can determine our own destiny, which is a nice position to be in.”
SA: Oh, here we go. (Laughs)
ARENA: We don’t know much about Jamaica at this point because they’re going to have a new coach. It may be similar to our experience in Mexico, where we show up the day of the game and see an entirely new team with new faces across from us. So the focus has to be entirely on our team. We have no idea what they’re going to be like and what attitude they’ll have when they step on the field. The thing we need to do is get three points. We can determine our own destiny, which is a nice position to be in.
by Soccer America associate editor Will Kuhns