Bruce Arena resigns as USMNT coach after team fails to qualify for World Cup

Bruce Arena has resigned as the head coach of the United States Men’s National Team, U.S. Soccer announced on Friday morning.

The decision came just days after the USMNT fell to Trinidad & Tobago and failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

It was an unsurprising move from Arena, who was hired by U.S. Soccer with a clear goal: come in and qualify for the World Cup after the dismissal of former coach Jurgen Klinsmann. Arena, who previously served as the head coach of the USMNT from 1998-2006, was brought in not for any long-term plans or big vision. He was here for one World Cup cycle — and when he failed to qualify, it was time for him to move on.

Arena will be lambasted for his failure to guide the USMNT to the World Cup, and he did make mistakes in the final games of Hex qualifying. That being said, he was granted no easy road after some calamitous qualifying games for the U.S. under Klinsmann. It was a tough job, and he came up just short. It shouldn’t discredit his accomplishments as a coach for both club and country.

There have been questions about the future of U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati, and demands from American soccer fans for widespread changes across the board. Arena’s resignation was expected; only time will tell if this will be the beginning of more systematic changes or a complete overhaul of the upper echelons of U.S. Soccer.

UPDATE: In a conference call on Friday morning, Gulati said that he will not be resigning his position, and will make a decision about seeking re-election in the coming weeks. Due to new term limits, Gulati is eligible for one more term as president of U.S. Soccer.

For now, the USMNT begins a new head coach search. We’ve thrown out some names already, and it’s unclear where the U.S. will go from here. Two names to keep an eye on: Tab Ramos, the U-20 national team coach, and Peter Vermes, the head coach of Sporting Kansas City.