Bradley rues poor run that cost Klinsmann his job, but welcomes working with Arena

MONTREAL — Michael Bradley said all the right things in his first public comments on U.S. Soccer’s choice to replace coach Jurgen Klinsmann with Bruce Arena.

The U.S. captain lamented that anyone had to lose their job, rued the 4-0 World Cup qualifying loss in Costa Rica that preceded the firing and spoke warmly of working with Arena.

“It’s never a good thing when a coach gets fired. It’s never a good thing when we have to go through a night like we did in Costa Rica on Tuesday night,” Bradley said after Toronto FC’s 3-2 loss to Montreal in Game 1 of the MLS Eastern Conference final at Olympic Stadium.

“The reality of sports is that the coach is the one that takes the fall and again, as players, that’s not a nice thing, because we understand we’re the ones on the field and we ultimately have to look at ourselves in the mirror and be very honest and just say that it’s not been what’s it’s needed to be in this last stretch.”

“As captain, nobody takes that harder than me,” he added.

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Bradley said now that the change has been made, “the reality of sports is you have to turn the page quickly.”

“I can only speak for myself but I’m very excited to work with Bruce again. He was the coach who gave me my first opportunities with the national team. He and I have always maintained a little bit of a relationship from afar. I certainly have a lot for respect from the career he’s had and the way that he has he’s gone about making every team he’s coached better. His record speaks for itself and again. I’m very excited to work with him again.”

The 65-year-old Arena, who starts on the job Dec. 1, first took over as U.S. coach after the 1998 World Cup. He departed after the team’s first-round elimination by Ghana in the 2006 World Cup.

Arena subsequently coached the New York Red Bulls and Los Angeles Galaxy, winning MLS titles in 2011, 2012 and 2014.

Bradley said he had not had any communication with either Klinsmann or Arena since the change, saying he had been “focusing 1,000 per cent” on Toronto FC’s playoff run.

“There’ll be time for all those types of things in the next stretch.”

Bradley, whose father Bob once coached the U.S. team, has won 116 caps for his country since 2006.

The U.S. (0-2-0) languishes at the bottom of the so-called Hex group, the final stage of qualifying in the CONCACAF region, but still has eight more games to right the ship.

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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press