NEW YORK — Bruce Arena has a message for American soccer fans: Be patient.
Arena took over the struggling New York Red Bulls on Tuesday, but also predicted that his former squad — the U.S. soccer team — would not win consistently at the World Cup until 2018.
"Why did I say 2018? Because I know that it's not going to happen in 2010, 2014," he said at his introductory news conference. "We have a long way to go. To get there, you've got to know where you are. It's the same thing with this team. If I told you, we were going to compete for the MLS Cup right away, if I told you we were going to win a World Cup in 2010 . . . who's going to believe that?
"We made progress in this World Cup. But we do not have players of the quality and experience of the teams in the group that ended up in the last eight."
Red Bulls fans may also have to wait. The club is 3-6-8 this season — the fewest wins in the league — and is last in the Eastern Conference with 17 points. Only Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference has fewer points.
But Arena is in familiar territory. He knows how to rebuild.
Arena took over the U.S. team in October 1998, shortly after the Americans finished last of 32 teams at the World Cup. He brought them to respectability in 2002, taking them to the quarterfinals and raising hopes that the U.S. could field an even better team in 2006.
But those hopes were dashed at the World Cup last month, when the U.S. failed to advance to the second round after losses to the Czech Republic and Ghana and a draw with eventual champion Italy. Last week, Arena and U.S. Soccer agreed to part ways.
Arena believes a growing MLS will eventually help the U.S. compete better at the World Cup, as well as getting more Americans to play in Europe. But after the U.S. was eliminated, some thought Arena took a swipe at MLS because he said more players should go abroad.
When asked about those comments and his return to MLS, Arena declined to say much of anything.
"I'm not going to worry about the league," Arena said. "I'm going to worry about the Red Bulls. When I was technical director of the national team, that was my job. Now, this is my job."