Dear Coach Bruce Arena

Written by Korey Donahoo, Co-Founder of American Outlaws

Coach Arena,

Allow us to re-introduce ourselves! We are the American Outlaws, and you’re going to be seeing a lot of us the next few years. Although we weren’t around when you last coached the national team, you helped many of us become obsessed with this team, and for that we are already forever grateful. But, that’s all in the past, and we are more excited for the future.

As die-hard fans of the USMNT from all walks of life, we have a lot of goals for our team. We also have a billion opinions on how to achieve those goals, but given that you’re the winningest coach in U.S. Soccer history, we want you to know that “In Bruce We Trust!” We are gonna do everything we can to help you and the guys, whether it be singing our hearts out behind the goal, screaming from our local chapter bar, or getting our fellow Americans to watch along with us; but as a bonus, we thought we’d send you a handy-dandy wishlist of our hopes and dreams for you and the team to hang up on the fridge in case you’re ever going through a rough patch.

Our hopes and dreams for you and the boys:

1) Steady the ship, get through the Hex and qualify. It was never going to be easy, but we know you’re the guy to get us through the next year.

2) Make the USMNT greater than the sum of it's parts. Wearing the U.S. jersey used to give our players super-powers, giving them abilities above and beyond what they do for their club teams. Let’s get that mojo back.

3) Convert potential to ability in our younger players. At times, it feels like we have all the talent in the world coming through our ranks, and at other times, not so much. Make it the former, all the time. Easy, right?!

4) Embrace the support. We’re working hard every day to make sure that the whole country is proud of our support, that the players are proud of the atmosphere, and that the opposition isn’t excited to come here. We hope you’ll do whatever you can also. And consider this a standing invitation to visit any of our night before parties...we would love to have you!

5) Get excited, and get the players excited. You guys are representing the greatest country in the world, and we know you won't let them forget that. Just get the players to be half as excited to play as we are to be in the stands cheering for them, and the rest will take care of itself.

6) Go ahead and win the World Cup. Why not, right?! We’ve got great goalkeepers, tough defenders, adept midfielders, and promising forwards. Should be easy! Now let's lift that Cup.

Coach, we welcome you to our family, the #AOFamily. Our support for the team is unwavering, and we're ready to do great work together over the next year. Here's to a great 2017!

December 11, 2016