If the USMNT coach really wants to make an impact on US soccer a second time around, he must look at the problems inherent in the American game

Bruce Arena, the Brooklyn-born, no-nonsense manager who once elevated USA as high as fourth in the Fifa rankings, will return to a seat he once occupied for eight years. Between 1998 and 2006, the 65-year-old collected 71 wins for the US national team – including a memorable run to the 2002 World Cup quarter-finals – and became the most successful coach in the history of the national team. He has also proved himself on the domestic stage, winning five MLS Cups with LA Galaxy and DC United.

Bruce Arena's in-tray: the key issues for USA's new coach to address Read more

Arena, however, may well be judged on his decisions off the field, particularly how implements his strong beliefs about the identity of American soccer. Beliefs that are vastly different from Jürgen Klinsmann’s.

To begin with, it will be interesting to see how Arena challenges the notion that USA should imitate a European model and embrace Klinsmann’s obsession with dual-citizen players in foreign leagues. “I think the majority of the national team should come out of Major League Soccer,” said Arena in 2014. “The people that run our governing body think we need to copy what everyone else does, when in reality, our solutions will ultimately come from our culture.”

This year, on Alexi Lalas’s podcast, his opinion changed slightly. Arena said that no matter where someone was born or where they play, they should be proud of to represent the US, something he believes has been lost in recent years. The comments shifted slightly from two years ago but still indicated a questionable slant to Arena’s thoughts on patriotism.

Arena needs to be careful. His words appear to question who qualifies as an American, and this could damage the relationship between him and foreign-based players such as Bobby Wood, Fabian Johnson and of course, Christian Pulisic.

Regardless, it is exciting that Arena values MLS, a league which is still undervalued by the rest of the world. While it’s true that Klinsmann did still look at MLS for options, his reluctance to select players from the league was evident. The recent 26-man squad chosen for matches against Mexico and Costa Rica, for example, had only eight players from MLS. Klinsmann’s decision to ignore MLS-based players who weren’t named Michael Bradley was more because he didn’t do enough to cultivate a strong enough relationship with MLS teams, and less because there was not enough talent in the league.

Arena has a perfect opportunity to go even further and examine the talent pool that could be available for Russia and beyond. In the same way that Klinsmann looked at Germany and Europe for eligible players, Arena could do the same with MLS talent who, despite the fact they are not American by birth, are very much a part of the values of American soccer. Imagine what could happen if Mauro Diaz or Jack Harrison (players who are unlikely to be selected for Argentina or England in the future) decided to – thanks to resident requirements – represent the US.

A final prerogative for Arena, and this is something that is hardly mentioned, should be to help US soccer reevaluate the relationship between the pay-to-play system and the communities that are largely ignored by the academy model. One of the biggest issues within the American youth system is the level of inequality between those who can afford to play the game and those who can’t. Furthermore, under Klinsmann, the academies distanced themselves from high school soccer as they wanted to imitate the European way of coaching – where school soccer was secondary to a developmental academies. The problem is that many talented young players around the country can’t afford the annual fees of a program and therefore end up being completely forgotten and alienated.

Soccer in America is a suburban commodity.

If Arena really wants to make an impact on US soccer a second time around, he must look beyond qualifying for Russia. The boy who began his career playing for his high school can help US Soccer reach communities that have so far been ignored by the pay-to-play system.

That’s where real change will come.