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Entering a new Arena (pt. 5)
SI.com: U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati revealed in his teleconference announcing your departure that you had expressed a desire to stay in the position.
Arena: I didn't rule it out in our meeting the day before, but when he had a press conference scheduled for the next day it was pretty obvious. But if I recall correctly, I said I would entertain coming back under certain conditions. But if that wasn't going to be done, there wasn't any point in doing it anyway.
SI.com: I don't think your voice has gotten out much about what happened during the process that led to your departure.
Arena: I don't know if it needs to. Sunil is a great guy. He's always been a good friend. I think he's a superfan who now is president. That's the way our organization is. That's unfortunate, and you add another micromanager to an organization that's already micromanaged. I don't think that's necessarily good. He's a guy who loves the game, who wants to be important and be around the world of bigwigs at FIFA, and he's going to get that opportunity.
SI.com: Do you think it's going to be harder for U.S. Soccer to take the next step than some people think?
Arena: I don't think they know what they're supposed to do. U.S. Soccer is a governing body. U.S. Soccer should be a body that's neutral and not compromised by anybody. That's the way you govern a sport. Now once you're in bed with anybody else in the sport it's hard to govern. So that's what that is now. I've always felt that the relationship between the federation and the professional league and marketing companies has to be separate, but it's not. So it's hard to really make the right decisions.
SI.com: Who do you think should be the next U.S. coach?
Arena: I don't care, and it's none of my business.
SI.com: You care about the U.S. team, don't you?
Arena: Oh yeah. They're going to win the next World Cup, from what I'm told. So I wish them the best. Because we did so poorly over the last eight years, I'm sure they're going to win the next World Cup.
SI.com: Based on what you said earlier about creating a better training center than U.S. Soccer's with the Red Bulls, that sounds like it's part of your motivation with your new team.
Arena: My motivation is to build a real professional club in the United States.
SI.com: Right, but the way things went down with the U.S. team ...
Arena: My motivation here has nothing ... Do you think I want to show them something? What am I going to show them? I've probably showed them the finest eight years of the national team they're going to see for a long time. I don't need to prove anything to them.
SI.com: The team you've joined has been a black hole for a long time. How much does MLS need for its New York team to do well?
Arena: I think it's certainly important for this league that this franchise get better, no question about that, because for this league to be a real league, the team in the biggest market has to do better. Hopefully it will.
SI.com: Which players on the team now can help you get where you want to go?
Arena: Amado [Guevara] is a very good player. He's our best player. We need Amado playing at his best. The acquisition of Dema [Kovalenko] is going to help this team. We have some good young players, but they need some time: Jeff Parke, Marvell Wynne, Seth Stammler, Mike Magee, Danny O'Rourke. These are still young guys.
SI.com: Do you see any similarities between Guevara and Marco Etcheverry when he played for you at D.C. United?
Arena: There are similarities, but they are certainly different players. I think this team will be as good as Amado lets them be right now. But there's not a team in this league as talented as the D.C. United teams I had.
SI.com: Not the curre
SI.com: U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati revealed in his teleconference announcing your departure that you had expressed a desire to stay in the position.
Arena: I didn't rule it out in our meeting the day before, but when he had a press conference scheduled for the next day it was pretty obvious. But if I recall correctly, I said I would entertain coming back under certain conditions. But if that wasn't going to be done, there wasn't any point in doing it anyway.
SI.com: I don't think your voice has gotten out much about what happened during the process that led to your departure.
Arena: I don't know if it needs to. Sunil is a great guy. He's always been a good friend. I think he's a superfan who now is president. That's the way our organization is. That's unfortunate, and you add another micromanager to an organization that's already micromanaged. I don't think that's necessarily good. He's a guy who loves the game, who wants to be important and be around the world of bigwigs at FIFA, and he's going to get that opportunity.
SI.com: Do you think it's going to be harder for U.S. Soccer to take the next step than some people think?
Arena: I don't think they know what they're supposed to do. U.S. Soccer is a governing body. U.S. Soccer should be a body that's neutral and not compromised by anybody. That's the way you govern a sport. Now once you're in bed with anybody else in the sport it's hard to govern. So that's what that is now. I've always felt that the relationship between the federation and the professional league and marketing companies has to be separate, but it's not. So it's hard to really make the right decisions.
SI.com: Who do you think should be the next U.S. coach?
Arena: I don't care, and it's none of my business.
SI.com: You care about the U.S. team, don't you?
Arena: Oh yeah. They're going to win the next World Cup, from what I'm told. So I wish them the best. Because we did so poorly over the last eight years, I'm sure they're going to win the next World Cup.
SI.com: Based on what you said earlier about creating a better training center than U.S. Soccer's with the Red Bulls, that sounds like it's part of your motivation with your new team.
Arena: My motivation is to build a real professional club in the United States.
SI.com: Right, but the way things went down with the U.S. team ...
Arena: My motivation here has nothing ... Do you think I want to show them something? What am I going to show them? I've probably showed them the finest eight years of the national team they're going to see for a long time. I don't need to prove anything to them.
SI.com: The team you've joined has been a black hole for a long time. How much does MLS need for its New York team to do well?
Arena: I think it's certainly important for this league that this franchise get better, no question about that, because for this league to be a real league, the team in the biggest market has to do better. Hopefully it will.
SI.com: Which players on the team now can help you get where you want to go?
Arena: Amado [Guevara] is a very good player. He's our best player. We need Amado playing at his best. The acquisition of Dema [Kovalenko] is going to help this team. We have some good young players, but they need some time: Jeff Parke, Marvell Wynne, Seth Stammler, Mike Magee, Danny O'Rourke. These are still young guys.
SI.com: Do you see any similarities between Guevara and Marco Etcheverry when he played for you at D.C. United?
Arena: There are similarities, but they are certainly different players. I think this team will be as good as Amado lets them be right now. But there's not a team in this league as talented as the D.C. United teams I had.
SI.com: Not the curre
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