It’s been a busy week for the U.S. Soccer Federation. On Monday, president Sunil Gulati announced that he had fired U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann following back-to-back losses in the Hex. Today, Gulati announced LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena as Klinsmann’s replacement, a role that he held from 1998-2006.
Arena is one of the most decorated coaches in American soccer history, having won five MLS Cup titles, three Supporters’ Shields and an Open Cup during his MLS coaching career. He also won two Gold Cups as head coach of the USMNT and led the program to a quarterfinal finish at the 2002 World Cup.
This week’s news has led to many questions surrounding the national team, but one at the forefront is about the player pool. Will Arena continue to call in similar players that featured under Klinsmann? Will Arena look to MLS for reinforcements? Will Arena call in players who under Klinsmann seemed to no longer have a shot with the national team?
The U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer touched on that subject during a media conference call on Tuesday.
“The question regarding players such as [Benny] Feilhaber and [Jonathan] Bornstein, as you mentioned, I think they and others are good players,” Arena told reporters. “We’re going to give those types of players an opportunity to be back in the national team program.”
Feilhaber has enjoyed much success with Sporting KC over the past four years, but had not been called in to a national team camp by Klinsmann since the January camp in 2014. The Brazilian-born midfielder has 41 career appearances for the national team and earned his first call-up under Arena in 2005.
Last week, Feilhaber signed a new contract that will keep him with Sporting KC through the 2018 season. Over the past two years, Feilhaber has a combined 17 goals and 28 assists and was a finalist for the 2015 Landon Donovan MVP Award.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us,” Arena said. "But I’m well aware of the qualities of those two and others. We’re going to look close at those players as we begin a domestic camp in January and ultimately select a roster for the games in March.”
