Miami (AFP) – Former USA head coach Bruce Arena has criticised the appointment of Argentina’s Mauricio Pochettino to the role, saying that foreign coaches can’t understand the importance of the job. Pochettino, the former Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain, and Chelsea manager, was appointed to the USA role in September 2024, replacing American Gregg Berhalter.
“You know if you look at every national team in the world, the coach is usually a domestic coach,” Arena said during the “Unfiltered Soccer” podcast with former American internationals Landon Donovan and Tim Howard. “And I think when you have coaches that don’t know our culture, our environment, our players, it’s hard. I’m sure our coach is a very good coach, but coaching international football is different than club football; it’s a completely different job,” he said.
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Arena, 73, led the USA to the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup — their best finish in the modern era — but he flopped in a second spell in 2017 when his team failed to qualify for the following year’s World Cup in Russia. The San Jose Earthquakes coach, who has won MLS five times, suggested that Pochettino does not understand the culture of the USA national team.
“I think when you’re a national team coach, you need to know your environment, you need to know the animals you coach, and we’re lacking that,” he said. “If you’re an American coaching the U.S. team, you know the culture, you know the pride and how important the national team is. I think when you bring in somebody from the outside, they don’t understand it, especially in our country, because we’re so different.”
A long-time coach in Major League Soccer, Arena joined the Earthquakes this season following a departure from the New England Revolution in 2023, where he was placed on administrative leave after allegations of “insensitive and inappropriate remarks.” Arena, who had two spells as national team coach and was also a critic of German Jurgen Klinsmann’s reign in charge of the team, said he was “shocked” at last month’s losses to Panama and Canada in the CONCACAF Nations League.
“I’m watching and I’m shocked. I’m shocked that we can’t beat Panama and Canada. It was shocking to me,” he said. “I don’t want to be disrespectful. I want them to do great in the World Cup, there’s no question about it. But we only have a year left now. Time is running out, and they got to get going,” he added. The USA co-hosts the World Cup next year with Canada and Mexico.
© 2024 AFP
