A year after Arena quit, USMNT still without full-time boss

Bruce Arena resigned as head coach of the United States Men's national team (USMNT) on 13th October 2017, after his team fell to a 2-1 defeat against Trinidad and Tobago, which saw them crash out of qualifying for the World Cup in Russia this past summer. 

11 days later, Arena's second in command Dave Sarachan, was named as interim Head coach, as the United States Soccer federation began searching for a long-term replacement for the disgraced manager.  He still sits at the helm, while the federation are still searching. 

Eight matches and counting in the dugout for Sarachan, a who may count himself slightly unlucky to have not been named Arena's successor himself, after spending over a year in 'temporary' charge of the side. 

Sarachan has brought results to the side; in the eight matches he had taken charge of, the USMNT have won three, drawn three and only lost two, arguably against bigger nation Ireland, and the vastly superior Brazil. 

 

October 1, 2018

Interim head coach Sarachan will be in charge for the next two fixtures at least; friendly matches against Colombia on Tuesday, and then Peru the following week.

Furthermore, there is a decent chance that the Sarachan, whose only previous first team manager role was for MLS side Chicago Fire from 2002 to 2007, will be at the helm when the USMNT travel to Europe to face England and Italy in November. 

 

September 7, 2018

Sarachan has not just simply been keeping the team ticking over in the absence of a nominated head coach. 

The New York native has overseen a mini-revolution within the USMNT squad; he has given debuts to 18 players so far, with promising talents Timothy Weah, Matt Miazga and Weston McKennie all flourishing under the interim coach, in their maiden years as part of the national team set up. 

64 year old Sarachan also refuted claims that he is simply just a stop gap while the federation find a full time manager, telling the media on Wednesday: "I think looking back on all of these friendlies since Trinidad until now, there’s been a progression. It’s by no means a finished progression, but it’s moving along in a good direction."

And so, in light of the progress made by the youthful USMNT squad under the stewardship of Sarachan, it begs the question, why not give Sarachan the job full-time? If not, a new appointment will surely undo all the progress made and dent the confidence garnered throughout this transitional period. 

 

October 10, 2018

After such a long-search, any new appointment will most certainly be underwhelming for USMNT supporters, even if the new man is a well known MLS face, such as Peter Vermes (Sporting Kansas City), or Gregg Berhalter (Columbus Crew).  Either way, the chance to make a clean break from the past problems of Arena or even his predecessor Jurgen Klinsmann, was lost as soon as Sarachan's tenure eclipsed the three match mark. 

Nevertheless, should the United States Soccer Federation decide to appoint a new face, it will hopefully kickstart the beginning of a successful new era for the USMNT.