UNITED STATES vs. GHANA
RBNY Locker room 10am

This was a painful game to sum up a painful tournament. As a fan and supporter of the team, I will admit that I’m extremely disappointed with the outcome of this tournament. I’m disappointed in some players who I know are much, much better than their performance over the last two weeks. I will also say that I don’t particularly agree with the tactical decisions of the coaching staff. I’m not ready to throw Arena under the bus and blame him completely. But, I must admit that a change is now necessary for our national team. Whether you like him or not, whether you agree with his leadership over this World Cup or not, I feel you must always respect his success. Eric Wynalda said that Arena lost his horseshoe this World Cup, but no one can have the success that this man has had over the years and claim it as just luck. I only think that after 8 years with the national team, fresh ideas are a must and a new leader is very much necessary now. At the end of the day, we had the potential to be successful, but collectively, from the coaches to the players, everyone must be held accountable. A new head coach outside of the current U.S coaching establishment may just offer what this country needs to take us to a new (hopefully better) level. But I will add again, to blame just Arena for the team’s performance is naïve and foolish. In questioning Arena, you should always remember 1999 and the team he inherited. We (U.S Soccer) are in a much better place than we were only eight years ago because of his work over the years.

We competed with three of the best teams in the world. But at the end of the day, we just were not good enough.