With five NCAA titles at Virginia, two Major League Soccer championships with D.C. United and three more MLS crowns with the LA Galaxy, the 65-year-old Arena is a proven winner. He was inducted into the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame six years ago.
But he inherits a roster frequently outmatched, one that appeared dysfunctional in losses to Mexico and Costa Rica opening the final round of World Cup qualifying in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Both his World Cup rosters included 12 players from European clubs and 11 from Major League Soccer. The U.S. remains a team partly suffering from jet lag when it gathers.
"This group will not see each other again until Sunday or Monday before a Friday qualifier in March," captain Michael Bradley said after last week's 4-0 loss in Costa Rica, which led to Klinsmann's firing.
Arena will have to juggle his lineup right from the start: midfielder Jermaine Jones and right back Timmy Chandler are suspended for the March 24 home qualifier against Honduras because of yellow-card accumulation.
Arena's national team was known for emphasis on defense and counterattacks. As he takes over, the priority will be on grinding out wins to wipe out the deficit in the Americans' eight remaining games of the hexagonal. The top three teams qualify and the fourth-place finisher advances to a playoff against Asia's No. 5 team.
If the U.S. wins at home against Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Panama, and picks up a few points on the road, it should qualify for its eighth straight World Cup.
Christian Pulisic, just 18, already has shown himself to be one of the more formidable dribblers on the team, able to get past several defenders. But he still lacks judgment on when to take on the third or fourth defender or to pass.
Klinsmann had targeted 18-year-old defender Cameron Carter-Vickers and 20-year-old midfielder Lynden Gooch as players of the future. Coaches — and fans — want to look ahead, but Arena's focus will be earning points.