The most successful USMNT World Cup manager of this era believes Gregg Berhalter did not adequately prepare the current squad.
Bruce Arena, who previously led the United States from 1998-2006 and 2016-17, was critical of the team’s World Cup preparation following the USMNT’s poor 1-1 tie with Wales in Group B’s opening match.
“It is also evident that this squad, in this cycle, did not have enough experiences against strong foreign teams to be properly prepared for a World Cup,” Arena said on the official MLS website Monday evening. “This is primarily due to the epidemic, so assigning fault is difficult, but it is also true that we played a number of Concacaf games that were far too easy. You need those elite opponents that truly test you.”
In 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, the USMNT played friendlies against Concacaf opponents El Salvador, Panama, and Costa Rica — the latter of which was the only team from the group to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. The United States did play a friendly against Wales, which also ended in a tie.
Gregg Berhalter reacts to the draw between the United States and Wales.
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Bruce Arena served as USMNT manager on two separate occasions.
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In 2021, the United States men’s national team met Costa Rica from Concacaf again, as well as European teams Switzerland and Northern Ireland in friendly, with Switzerland presently competing in the World Cup. After qualifying this year, the U.S. men’s national team defeated non-Concacaf opponents Morocco and Uruguay in friendly, but suffered significantly in their final tune-up games against Saudi Arabia and Japan. The final four pre-World Cup friendly were played against countries that qualified for the tournament.
Arena coached two World Cup teams, guiding the 2002 squad to the quarterfinals before falling to eventual runners-up Germany, and then failing to advance the 2006 squad out of the group stage. During Arena’s second tenure in command, the team embarrassingly failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup under his watch.
New York Post coverage of the whole 2022 World Cup tournament.
With his inconsistent record, he is aware of how expensive it may be for the USMNT to fail to cling on and get a victory against Wales.
“The opening game of a World Cup is extremely crucial, something I’ve experienced twice with the United States men’s national team,” wrote Arena. “In 2002, we defeated Portugal 3-2 to advance to the quarterfinals.” Then, in 2006, we lost 3-0 to the Czech Republic, resulting in an exit from the group stage.
The United States men’s national team opened the 2022 World Cup with a 1-1 draw against Wales on Monday. This young squad should have won 2-0 and not allowed Gareth Bale’s group to stay in the game. “A point to start their Qatar 2022 trip isn’t the worst thing that could have happened, but they should have won 2-0 and not allowed Gareth Bale’s group to hang around.”
Berhalter has also been criticized for his substitution decisions, particularly the length of time it took him to make substitutions and for leaving Claudio Reyna’s son, Giovanni Reyna, who played under Arena, on the bench.
Sarachan succeeded Arena briefly before Berhalter took over.