Bruce Arena resigned as coach of the United States men’s national team on Friday, the first casualty of the team’s failure to qualify for next year’s World Cup in Russia.
U.S. Soccer announced Arena’s departure in a news release. U.S. Soccer’s president, Sunil Gulati, whose job performance — like Arena’s — has been assailed by fans and commentators in the days since the Americans’ embarrassing failure, addressed his own status in a conference call later Friday morning.
Like Arena had on Tuesday, Gulati said he “accepted full responsibility” for the team’s failure to qualify. But unlike Arena, Gulati said, somewhat incongruously with his acceptance of full blame, that he would stay on in his post.