Bruce Arena interview

[AreliusIV]

Fox Sports en Espanol has a show called Los Tecnicos in which it does 1 hour interviews with each of the 32 World Cup bound coaches. The following is a rundown of the Bruce Arena interview:


These are all direct statements by Bruce, if not exact quotations:

----The Czech Republic is more unpredictable and dangerous than Italy in attack. "We already know everything about Italy."

----Sorry, Gibbs fans, Bruce is going to stick with Pope, if healthy.

He says his back four is Cherundolo, Gooch, Pope, Lewis

He says McBride in attack, with Donovan and Beasley behind him. (giving credence to some sort of 4-5-1), and Reyna and Mastro in the midfield, possibly JOB.

Wow, this is a frickin' goldmine, but that's why I watch this show (Los Tecnicos) religiously. You get this kind of detail from every World Cup coach. I've never seen Arena open up like this, tactically speaking.

He's drawing all of this on a piece of paper that the camera focuses on.

He and the Argentine interviewer are sitting poolside in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

I'm now at about 10 minutes and I had to post again, so much stuff:

1. Ghana is "not the most disciplined" team and has a "lack of WC experience" but are "very fast".

--Bruce makes the point that he only prepares heavily for games 1 and 2, that Ghana will show everything it has to show in their first two matches which he can see and besides, he'll have separate tactics for the Ghana match based on group positioning.

2. On Italy, a classic quote following his first statement about Italy compared to the Czechs--"Italy is easy to know, not easy to play against."

--He does NOT think Totti will be ready, at least not to start. He pencils in Del Piero as the attacking mid based on the left side (much like Nedved), but says Del Piero's position makes Italy either a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2.

--The Argentine asks him about Camoranesi, "one of ours", the guy says, meaning he was born in Argentina. Bruce says he knows all about him, that he played in Mexico with Cruz Azul. The guy says, "He's fast". Bruce demurs...."He's QUICK" The Argentine's English doesn't allow him to understand the difference, but we do.

--Then Bruce says, to clarify, IN SPANISH, "Delanteros" and he points out Toni and Gilardino. He says Toni might be the fastest guy on the team. I found this hard to believe, at 6-5, but whatever....

--Bruce says the two central backs are a strength for Italy.

--Bruce says the outside backs for Italy (Grosso and Zambrotta) are NOT a strength, and seems to emphasize this.

At the end of the section on Italy, the Argentine interviewer asks:

"Do you study?"

Bruce smiles and says, "Yes."

The guy asks about the Germany loss.

Bruce responds that we had a good 45, that we made a horrible mistake on the second half kickoff, that it was mostly our second team.

Then he says that playing the Poland friendly and the German friendly were about getting acclimatized to Germany itself and the stadia: "we felt it was good to be in Germany to understand the stadiums, to understand the lay of the land."

As opposed to his saying playing Germany was a mistake, in this interview he says all of both trips was "a positive experience."

The guy wonders why we're going to play Jamaica. Bruce responds "just as a friendly" to see some local players for the final 23 man roster.

The U.S. arrives in Germany June 2nd (did we know this?), plays Angola June 5th behind closed doors.

"Why?" the guy asks, "Because they're like Ghana?"

Bruce says definitively NOT, but that they're just a team to get some practice against, they could be Asian, etc., it wouldn't matter.

The guy keeps asking about Howard, and Bruce keeps reassuring him that Keller is the starter. More experience, he's currently playing, Tim hasn't played recently for ManU. I don't know where they get their talking points...

OK, so then the guy asks about Donovan--"Will he be the star?"

Bruce says "We hope so." Then corrects himself, "We hope he'll be one of eleven stars." Calls Donovan "Flexible" (position-wise), good speed, great passer of the ball.

McBride?

"VERY, VERY important" Can hold the ball, score goals, key to the attack.

Is Leh-vis the key to your formation?

Bruce is stupefied.

LEH-VIS? He play on de lef.

Still stupefied.

De lef. De lef.

"Oh, Eddie Lewis. The left back. Yes, we like him to get into the attack. We also have Beasley on the left. He plays for PSV."

(I'm assuming the guy went back and looked at 2nd goal vs. Mex in 2002 again)

Po?

Pope. And I quote, "IF INJURY FREE, HE SHOULD PLAY."

Claudio Reyna?

"Our captain." Good two-way player, passer, etc.

He's bringing out the paper for the U.S., now.

And this is it.

"Keller."

Defense?

Direct quote, "Always play with four backs." Said as if speaking to a child, which linguistically (in English) his interviewer is..


"Cherundolo......Pope (MLS)....Gooch......Lewis (Leeds)"

Midfield?


"Definitely Reyna"

Uh..

"Up here (draws up top) definitely McBride"

"Definitely Donovan" (to start)

He DRAWS a CLEAR 4-5-1.

Reyna is paired up with another d-mid with a "?" and Bruce says, "Maybe Mastroeni, maybe John O'Brien"

"Beasley, for PSV, can play either left or centrally" (he draws him on the left)

Donovan is drawn in a withdrawn position to McBride.

Then Bruce puts another question mark out on the right-hand side and says, "Maybe Clint Dempsey", but he doesn't suggest another name!

The guy had also specifically asked about Dempsey, but Bruce's response wasn't really direct, more in the form of the diagram.

Then he pointed at Landon and said, "Maybe Donovan up here, with McBride."

This last means that the first and only drawn diagram, as I clearly read it, had Landon playing an A-mid role and McBride up top by himself. Donovan as 2nd striker was offered as the "maybe" alternative.

He asked Bruce about Adu, if he'd be at the World Cup, Bruce said he was still too young, but making progress. He said to ask Jaime Moreno about Freddy!

What about the ages of your players?

Then, without hesitation, Bruce pointed at the sheet of paper he'd drawn on and went straight down the list of the exact age of EVERY single player. I don't know if he was prepped for this question, but probably not. It sounded like he knew this verbatim (as if it were his own theory on balance):

Onyewu, 23,
Donovan, 23
Beasley, 23
Reyna, 33
Pope, 33
McBride, 33
Keller, 36
etc.
A mixture of young and old.

The guy then asked about the importance of the first match, and Bruce responded with what we know he's said before--we have to get one point out of the first two matches to have a chance.

He was then asked about his glory days at DC United (apropos of the forthcoming Marco Etcheverry testimonial) and he said there were great foreign players like Etcheverry and Moreno, but also great American players like Harkes, Agoos, Pope, Sanneh, and Richie Williams (!)

OK, here's more:

After the very brief mention of DC United days, the guy asks about Arena's coaching the 1996 Olympic team. Arena says they had Reyna, Lalas and Keller, but still lost to Argentina. The guy's English is so bad I swear he was about to credit Bruce with the 1995 Copa America victory over Argentina, but then Bruce was like "no, 3-1, Argentina won. The Olympics" Beat Tunisia, tied Portugal and got through (? I have no idea...)

The guy then asks, for no reason I could see, about Luis Felipe Scolari (Portugal coach) for some reason, and Bruce admits to speaking with him and having a cordial relationship. Speaking to him often at various "coaches meetings" (?). (I'm thinking Felipao, as he's called, might've had just a FEW questions about Mexico for The Bruce....

--Next question--AFRICAN TEAMS. Bruce flat out says that Africa has no chance in this World Cup. None. I mean, I'll have to go back to get the exact quote, but this is the clear meaning of what he says. He again reiterates their "inexperience" at the World Cup, and says Nigeria was the best team from Africa and they're not there.

--Coaches...Bruce, who do you think is the best coach in the world, and who were your "mirrors" the guys asks, I think he means mentors or something.

For the first, Bruce says, "Scolari, as you mentioned before. Perreira. Hiddink. AUSTRALIA WILL SURPRISE SOME PEOPLE. Eriksson doesn't get enough credit."

And for you?

Bruce says he looks at American sports. " I look at basketball, football, baseball, hockey, all of the sports we play in the U.S. to try to understand how to build a team."

[AreliusIV]

OK, more, and I took the time to get direct quotes from Bruce, some of which may surprise a little:

On coaches, "You must give Houllier credit with how he has come back from the Liverpool experience and done well with Lyon."

"Benitez has done an excellent job at Liverpool."

"Mourinho is a man that wins."

"I would like to look at opportunities in Europe. Obviously, the more obvious place for me to look is England, cause of the language."

Q: Is the Premier League the greatest in the world?

A: "NO"

And I quote, "Spain One, Italy Two, Premier League Three, France or Germany Four."

That's a direct quote from Bruce.

I guess he doesn't want that job in England too badly

"Italy is very serious, Spain more open."

Bundesliga "getting better". Bayern good, Werder Bremen played well vs. Milan in Champs League (OK, the man watches some 'ball).

--Bruce, do you watch the South American leagues?

"A little bit. Hard to follow (the league in) Brazil."

And then my favorite statement from Bruce on this subject.

"I FOLLOW ALL LEAGUES."

And you know what, I bet he does!

I also forgot to mention that the guy, in Spanish, says to his audience that he thinks he's getting more from Bruce than just the "4-4-2" reiteration that most coaches give. They say this often on Los Tecnicos to talk up the show, but it's often true.

More quotes:

Bruce, "I think this will be the best World Cup ever. When World Cups are held in Europe, it becomes much more competitive, because the European countries play much better in Europe and make it much more challenging for the countries like Brazil and Argentina. So I think it'll be very exciting."

--The U.S. will be the surprise?

--"We hope to be the surprise. We think the challenge is difficult for us; however, if healthy, and if we have a good training camp, we have a chance to win."

--And your dreams about the World Cup?

--"My first dream is to get out of our group. Enter the knockout round. If we do that, this a fantastic achievement for us, because, as everyone knows, our group is very strong."

Bruce's favorites: Brazil--until someone beats them.

Euro favorites, in order:

Italy
Holland
France
England
Portugal


If Bruce was manager of a top club, top picks:

Int'l, Ronaldinho and Shevchenko

Domestic, Donovan, Beasley and Onyewu (I think we clearly see that Beasley is not going to the bench in favor of Convey, as some have suggested)

Reason for the U.S. improvement?

--Domestic league

On foreign leagues, again, "I think the best league in the world is La Liga."

You can cut that and print it.

Also says again he knows Hiddink. Australia can be a surprise.

Bruce says he also thinks Argentina is "dangerous"

The guy asks about Paraguay and Ecuador and Bruce tries to be nice, saying he thinks they're capable of winning World Cup games.

He says he thinks Guima has improved the D at Costa Rica.

He thinks T&T are "athletic". The guy says Beenhakker is a great coach and Bruce rebuts that "At the end of the day, it's all about the players."

When asked if we are in Mexico's shadow, or vice versa, Bruce says we've beaten Mexico too many times recently to be in their shadow. When asked if he speaks with LaVolpe, he says, "I never speak with LaVolpe. (and joking) I don't think I'm allowed to speak to the coach of Mexico. I don't think anyone allows that."

Finally, when asked again about the 3 teams in his group, and about where he see the U.S. finishing, he says "one or two."

He ends with "Muchas gracias."

To recap and clarify a little, this is how he wrote it on the paper that he showed the guy and the camera:

--------------------Keller----------------------
Cherundolo----Pope-----Onyewu-------Lewis
--------------Reyna------?-----------------
----?--------------Donovan--------------Beasley
----------------------McBride-------------------

Reyna and the d-mid "?" were written tightly together in the middle. It really looked to me like a 4-2-3-1.

1. There were no "maybes" in goal or on the backline.

2. For the first question mark, he said "maybe mastroeni, maybe o'brien"

3. For the second question mark, he said "maybe Dempsey", offering no other name.

4. When he mentioned Beasley, he said "can play centrally or on the left." Make of that what you will.

5. Looking at the formation he had laid out, Bruce then said that this was it, but that "maybe Donovan up with McBride"

6. I heard no mention during the entire interview of EJ, Wolff, Convey, Gibbs, Boca, Hahnemann, Ching, Twellman, or anybody not on that piece of paper or mentioned above other than the couple of Tim Howard questions and the inevitable Adu question.

[BroncsBomber]

Awesome posts. Thanks for that breakdown. I'm surprized the Bruce would even hint at a lineup before the World Cup. No reason to give the competition something to focus on.

[kc_13]

Originally Posted by AreliusIV

When asked if we are in Mexico's shadow, or vice versa, Bruce says we've beaten Mexico too many times recently to be in their shadow. When asked if he speaks with LaVolpe, he says, "I never speak with LaVolpe. (and joking) I don't think I'm allowed to speak to the coach of Mexico. I don't think anyone allows that."

media bs!
(sorry but it is!)
🥫

[El Chalan]

Wow that was a veritable treasure trove of goodness! Thanks so much for posting that. I can't believe the Bruce was so forthcomming with his thoughts and opinions, I have never heard him talk like that. Awesome post!!!!

[montgjules]

Not a word about being in talks to coach RSL? Dang. 😉

[Jose Luis Luviano]

Originally Posted by kc_13

media bs!
(sorry but it is!)
🥫

Bruce is jealous because Lavolpe makes more money.

[beaveman]

Too bad we don't have rep any more. I'd give all my rep points for a few weeks to you. Thanks!
🕺 🕺 🕺 🕺

[AreliusIV]

While watching the UEFA Cup Middlesbrough match last night, I saw a commerical that states that this show is in English on FSC. It airs Friday's at 1:00 pm. The English version is called "The Bosses."

[AreliusIV]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/grant_wahl/04/27/arena/index.html