Arena makes modest US return
AFP
AFP, LOS ANGELES: Bruce Arena was denied a triumphant return to US coaching duties Sunday as the Americans played Serbia to a goal-less draw in an international football friendly.
A Serbian side with only three players over age 25 gave the Americans all they could handle at San Diego in an evaluation match for domestic talent as both sides try to qualify for next years World Cup in Russia.
Its encouraging, Arena said. For this time of year, its not a bad game. I would have liked to have gotten a goal but overall I think thats a fair result.
Arena was hired to replace Germanys Jurgen Klinsmann as US coach after the Americans dropped two World Cup qualifying matches, falling 2-1 at home to Mexico and 4-0 at Costa Rica last November.
The 65-year-old American guided the US team to the 2002 World Cup quarter-finals and oversaw a first-round exit in 2006 in his first USA coaching stint before being replaced by assistant Bob Bradley, who was axed in 2011 to make way for Klinsmann.
The Americans, off to their worst-ever start to the final round of North American (CONCACAF) World Cup qualifying, will return to their quest to reach Russia on March 24 against Honduras at San Jose.
Three of six teams from the hexagonal, which now finds the US lineup at the bottom of the table, will qualify for the 2018 World Cup while a fourth will meet an Asian squad in a playoff to decide a berth.
US players have another friendly on Friday against Jamaica at Chattanooga, Tennessee, but like Sundays match it will feature Major League Soccer players and not talent based on European squads. Those players will not be available to Arena until the crucial qualifiers resume.
Jozy Altidore became the second-youngest US player to reach 100 caps at age 27, older than only Landon Donovan among 17 American centurions.
