MEXICO CITY — The new coach, Bruce Arena, had taken over a United States national team in turmoil. No unity. No chemistry. No confidence. He was familiar with some of the players, though hardly all, but he knew what he would expect of them, and he knew the deadline for getting it done.
So at his first training camp, held in January in California, Arena preached aggressiveness and tenacity and spirit. The group of players he invited to the camp were from clubs in Canada and the United States; for the ones in Europe, he would have to lay out his plans and his expectations in person, far from the training field, in one-on-one visits.