What's Wrong with US?

A Coach’s Blunt Take on the State of American Soccer After a Lifetime on the Touchline

De: Bruce Arena, Steve Kettmann

Narrado por: Fred Sanders

Every four years, Americans turn their attention to the world’s game—soccer. As recently as 1998, the USMNT merely made up the numbers at the biggest sporting tournament of all, but once Bruce Arena took over the team, American soccer started to find its footing. In the 2002 World Cup, a highly-fancied Portugal team, featuring the great Ronaldo, lost to Arena’s US team in a shock 3-2 victory, and but for a handball that wasn’t given, they could well have knocked off eventual winners Germany. But that quarter final appearance proved once and for all that the USMNT, like the women’s team before them, deserved to be considered a worthy opponent--and that’s all thanks to Bruce Arena.

When he took over the USMNT, Arena was already the most successful club team coach in US history, having led DC United to the first two championships of the fledgling MLS. Arena--known for his tactical acumen and no-nonsense approach to coaching—inspired and instilled just enough fear into his teams to make them overachieve. By 2016, however, the national team was in a funk—coach Jurgen Klinsmann had brought the team to near elimination during the qualifying rounds for Russia. Cue Arena’s return to the stage, and the team’s return to form.

Arena’s book will appear just as the team makes its final preparations for the World Cup, and at last fans will learn what makes this hugely successful coach tick. And the thousands of coaches around the country will turn to What's Wrong With Us? to see exactly how they can instill Arena’s blueprint for success on their own bands of young players.

Must read

Incredible content. A must read if you follow soccer in America. Unfortunatley very difficult to listen to. Narration is monotone, robotic, and soft spoken as if he is in a cubicle in a library trying not to disturb anyone.

Good Book by Great Coach With Vibrant Voice Read by a Non-Coach With Sleepy Voice

Excellent Book!
Arena’s story is at the heart of a key era in the history of the sport’s development. One star deducted because he didn’t take time to read it to us himself. One of Arena’s great legacies is that east coast voice rising up on American soil to become a world class coach in a sport where none seemed to exist on that stage before him and Bob Bradley. I mean, fellow Long Islander John McEnroe read his own book.And if you write a book you expect others to read can’t you take the time to read it to us yourself.
Love Bruce Arena. Love this book. But Coach—next time do us the courtesy of narrating your own story yourself, please.

More a memoir than a condemnation of USS

The narrator was not good, would have preferred Bruce Arena's long island inflection. The stories told are fantastic, great insight.

Very insightful

A biography of Bruce Arena that covers his whole career while giving the reader insight into what is right and what is wrong with US soccer. The reader may not have had Bruce's trademark New York accent but he did a good job nonetheless. I could have done without some of the foul language, especially one or two f-bombs but thankfully it wasn't too pervasive.

Misleading Title but still a good read

In reality this book is a biography for Bruce. Only the last two chapters talk about changes he believes need to be made to US soccer to make us more competitive. The rest walks you through his early career as a lacrosse player and then coach.

It details how he got into coaching soccer and his description of his international experiences is very interesting. Having attended a few national coaching schools it’s no mystery to me why we are behind, the training is below standard and focuses too much on someone’s “one true way of coaching”.

Worth the read but the title is less than accurate.