The United States’ earliest exit from the Gold Cup left Coach Bruce Arena without a reading on where the team stands against its World Cup qualification group. Instead, Arena monitored the team’s internal progress and nearly completed his player evaluations.

SOCCER AMERICA: What do you take from the Gold Cup experience overall? BRUCE ARENA: I think we actually played fairly well. Obviously we could have played better, but two wins and a draw is not the worst result. We would have liked to advance, but I think we blew that opportunity because we were certainly in position to get to the semifinals. But I think overall it was OK and it also helped address some question marks I had about certain players. The only disappointing part about the Gold Cup was that we didn’t get a chance to size ourselves up against CONCACAF opponents. It was very strange, and even if we had advanced, it would have been another South American team. SA: What do you think about the number of guest teams in the tournament? BA: The issue there is: Is it a CONCACAF tournament or is it a tournament for Inter-Forever? When you bring in a third party to run a tournament, their interest is not in CONCACAF. Their interest is in making money. If they’re allowed to bring in teams on the basis of making money, it’s not going to be to the benefit of CONCACAF. I think this was an example. In terms of the competition, I was very pleased to have the opportunity to play Peru and Colombia, but at the end of the day I learn nothing about our team in terms of where we stand in CONCACAF. That, to me, is disappointing. SA: You mentioned some other things, such as the roster size, that could have been better about the tournament. BA: To have three games in a week like we played in that environment, I think 18 players is basically ridiculous. That was very demanding on the players. … That’s still not an excuse, but I think a 20-man roster is necessary if we’re going to have the event like this in the future.

‘Defensively we were fine’

SA: What needs to be determined about this team between now and qualifying? BA: We need to find a more dangerous pair of forwards. I think [Brian] McBride has played well. He had a little bit of a medical issue in the Gold Cup and had to come out against Colombia, but overall he graded out pretty well. The last 30 minutes against Colombia was the first time we saw Eric Wynalda look a little bit like a forward, so that was a plus, but overall I’d like to see more from him. Our flank play was OK. [Cobi] Jones and [Eddie] Lewis, in particular, played well. I think [Claudio] Reyna and [Chris] Armas played well. [Jovan] Kirovski getting hurt was disappointing. That’s a position where we need to find a solution. Whether it’s Kirovski down the road or Joe-Max Moore or Reyna – that remains to be seen. Defensively we were fine. The group of players who played in the back for the most part did a solid job and Brad Friedel did a solid job in goal. SA: Most of your chances seemed to come from the flanks. Did you have enough variety in the attack? BA: No, I don’t think there was enough. That needs to get better. It’s a little bit a product of the players you have. If anyone can step up and maybe assume more responsibility in the attack, it would need to be Claudio right now. SA: What about Joe-Max Moore? What can you say about his early success at Everton? BA: First of all, I think some of the comments attributed to me were a bit distorted. The point I made initially is that we know what Joe-Max is about. In two months he didn’t change drastically as a player. Initially he didn’t play, then he played short periods of time in games in which he scored goals. I think that is great and all, but my aim for Joe, and I’m sure it’s his as well, is for him to become a regular. We’ve started to see him start to play regularly in the last couple games and when he puts himself in that position, he’s going to certainly be in a position to improve and add to his game. In the beginning, when he was playing five or six minutes and in some cases got goals, that’s great, but in the long haul, it doesn’t help the national team program. Now that he’s becoming a regular, playing 90 minutes on a fairly regular basis, that’s a major plus. If he continues with that, then he’s a guy who we can count on down the road.

‘Keep exploring other players’

SA: Do you have a narrowed national team pool in mind now, or are you still hoping to get a look at some players you haven’t seen? BA: There’s not too many more out there. We know who the players are and we’re never going to close the door on anybody. We also realize there is a major transition from playing club soccer, notably in MLS, to playing internationally. If we have guys who don’t have any kind of experience at the international level, they’re not going to be able to help us in the next year. The selection process goes in different cycles along the way and as you keep advancing, you keep exploring other players. But at this point in time, after the Tunisia game [March 12], we’re done experimenting. When we play Russia [April 26], we’ll play that game with a roster made up primarily of players in Europe and then the U.S. Cup is going to be as good a team as we are capable of fielding. SA: Who are some of the new players you are looking at against Tunisia? BA: We want to bring David Regis in. We’re looking at the possibility of bringing in John O’Brien, if that can be worked out with his club. Ajax is never one to cooperate. We want to look at [Chris] Albright and [Jason] Kreis up front. We want to look at another flank player, DaMarcus Beasley, and in center midfield at Chad Deering as well as Tom Presthus in the goal. SA: What do you think of the situation with the MLS players’ lawsuit and how it relates to the national team? BA: How it relates to the national team I’m not quite sure. If it ends up that the league folds, it relates greatly to the national team. I think one of the real possibilities of the lawsuit is that the league folds if it loses the lawsuit. That’s my taking on the matter, but I could be completely wrong. I hope in the end it’s a situation where both parties are able to discuss what makes sense out of the courtroom. … Hopefully there will be a compromise at some point in this legal debate – if you can call it that – and it works to the benefit of both the players and the league. I don’t want one winner and one loser. by Soccer America associate editor Will Kuhns