Bruce Arena is gone, Keane and Gerrard have gone, and Landon Donovan isn’t coming back. But, reports Matt Pentz, the club’s aim is still the same: successThe five trophies are hard to miss, by placement and sheer number.Walking into the StubHub Center through the players’ entrance, past the tunnel that leads on to the field, they’re off to your left. The two comet-like statuettes commemorate titles from Major League Soccer’s early years, and the three cups that complete the quintet speak to the LA Galaxy’s staying power. Related: Steven Gerrard was a much better tourist than a player in LA Continue reading...
Bruce Arena will be happy after the USMNT steadied the ship with a win and a draw – and attention came back to a certain Borussia Dortmund player againIn a lot of ways Bruce Arena inherited a very generous brief from Jürgen Klinsmann. After the leaking away of the German’s authority, the two losses that opened World Cup qualifying had reduced the grander ambitions of the Klinsmann project to the stark triage mode of “getting out of the Hex”. Related: USA fail to hit the heights but pick up useful point against Panama Continue reading...
The US should beat Honduras but if they fail then the pressure is likely to tell on a team left floundering at the end of the Jürgen Klinsmann eraLet’s start with the obvious — Honduras is a must win game. Concacaf qualifying may appear to present a ridiculously forgiving format, but there’s only so far that forgiveness stretches when you’ve lost your first two games and dropped points in the third. And no team has ever secured an automatic qualifying spot after losing its first three games, so unless the US team fancy playing in a wild card game after the Hex (and that’s a best case scenario…), they need to win on Friday. Continue reading...
After the draw with Serbia and the win over Jamaica, USA’s new coach has several issues to address before the must-win game against Honduras in MarchJanuary team camps are MLS-dominated affairs that tend to be a mix of the experimental and a participation prize event. Players who’ve performed well for their clubs but have rarely featured for the national team get some recognition and some minutes – but that rarely turns into a platform for further time with the national team. Continue reading...
After the uncertainty of the Klinsmann era, the sight of players being played in their best positions was a welcome oneWith all the drama and (often unfortunate) symbolism of the regime change at the USMNT, coupled with the urgency with which the US needs to find results, the game against Serbia was freighted with way more sense of expectation than it could ever be reasonably expected to bear. And that’s before we even contemplate the rhetoric around national identity from Tim Howard, or the comments on American ideals from Michael Bradley. Related: Bruce Arena's return to USMNT ends in goalless draw with Serbia Continue reading...