Arena top candidate for U.S. job
Offer will not come until after MLS season ends
Posted: Thursday October 08, 1998 03:38 PM
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Arena has coached D.C. United to a pair of consecutive MLS titles and has his team in the playofs again this year Scott Halleran/Allsport |
NEW YORK (AP) -- D.C. United coach Bruce Arena is the leading
candidate for the U.S. national team job and likely will be offered
the position after the Major League Soccer championship game, U.S.
federation secretary general Hank Steinbrecher said Thursday.
"We will not do anything during MLS," Steinbrecher said from
the USSF's Chicago headquarters. "Bruce is certainly the leading
candidate with Carlos Queiroz having pulled out.
"After the [MLS Cup], we'll approach Bruce perhaps about
coaching our team. We intend to continue our discussions with
Bruce. I expect an offer will come at the end of MLS."
The MLS Cup is scheduled for October 25 in the Rose Bowl in
Pasadena, California, but the United States has friendly against
Australia Nov. 6 in San Jose, California.
Steinbrecher said he wasn't sure who would coach the U.S. team
for the Australia match.
"We don't know yet," Steinbrecher said. "If Bruce takes the
job, we believe everything can be worked out. If not, a
player-coach or an assistant coach will take the team."
Arena repeatedly has refused to comment on media reports and did
so again Thursday, issuing a statement through the club's media
relations department.
"At the current time I do not wish to make any comments
concerning any speculation about my future," Arena said."'I have
a job and that is coaching D.C. United. I am pleased for all the
interest that is being shown about our sport. I would appreciate if
the entire subject could be dropped until the appropriate time."
D.C. United finished off the Miami Fusion on Sunday in their
first-round playoff series and begins its best-of-3 Eastern
Conference semifinal series against the Columbus Crew on Sunday.
Arena and Queiroz, the former Portuguese national team and
current United Arab Emirates coach, were the leading candidates for
the U.S. job. Earlier this week, USSF presdent Bob Contigulia was
to fly to the United Arab Emirates to meet with Queiroz for an
interview, but reportedly was told by Queiroz not to come if he
didn't have an offer in hand.
Steinbrecher said he spoke to Arena earlier this week.
"In general, we had conversations about philosophy, what the
job is, what direction the national teams and the federation are
going in," said Steinbrecher, who said he would prefer a long-term
contract through the next World Cup.
D.C. United general manager Kevin Payne has said he wants Arena,
who has coached the club to MLS' first two league titles, through
the Interamerican Cup, scheduled for November 14 and December 5.
The Interamerican Cup pits the CONCACAF club champion, D.C.
United, against the South American Copa Libertadores champion,
Brazil's Vasco da Gama, and a victory would be a major credibility
boost for both United and the three-year-old MLS.
Both sides have said they were willing to compromise to allow
Arena to coach both the U.S. team and D.C. United through the end
of the Interamerican Cup.
"We won't do anything until the playoffs are over,"
Steinbrecher said. "This is the day the MLS needs to shine. We're
not going to do anything to take away from that."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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