Thursday, September 9, 2010

Arena: U.S. Soccer didn’t support Bradley enough

Bruce Arena has criticized U.S. Soccer chiefs for failing to give head coach Bob Bradley adequate support despite the federation’s four-year extension of Bradley’s contract this week.

U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati and Bradley finally agreed to an extended deal on Monday, more than two months after the team’s exit from the World Cup due to a round-of-16 defeat to Ghana. But the signing only served to bring a fresh wave of criticism from fans, many of whom wanted to see a foreign coach such as Juergen Klinsmann installed in place of Bradley.

Arena, the former national team boss who is now in charge of the Los Angeles Galaxy, believes the federation must accept its share of the blame for the often-vitriolic public antipathy aimed at Bradley.

“That criticism comes if you are not given the right support from top to bottom,” Arena told Yahoo! Sports in his office at the Home Depot Center. “You need to support your guy and that comes from the top. When that support is not there it brings questions.

“Whether you like the decision or not, England said ‘Fabio Capello is our guy’ and didn’t deviate from it.”

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