PANAMA CITY -- Bruce Arena says there is no magic wand that he waved to improve the performance of the United States.
After dropping their first two matches of the final round of World Cup qualifying, the U.S. got their campaign back on track with a 6-0 hammering of Honduras last Friday. Now Arena's side will look to continue that momentum when they face Panama on Tuesday.
Granted, Friday's match was just one game, but the U.S. have looked a more confident, fluid side than what they showed in the final days of Jurgen Klinsmann's tenure with the team.
"It's nothing I can write a book on," Arena said about the increased belief in his side. "You have a sense of your group, and you go about doing your business. There's no secret formulas to this stuff. Work together, take ownership in what you're doing, treat them like responsible professional athletes, and you get on with your business.
"They want to be successful. They want to play in a World Cup. Is that a recipe for success? I don't know. I'm sure Honduras wants to play in a World Cup too."
Arena has long had a reputation as being a player's coach -- one who didn't have a lot of rules. In fact he says he has just one or two.
"Be on time and be respectful," he said during a roundtable with reporters.
To be fair, Klinsmann didn't have many rules either, but the German World Cup-winner did believe in having a jam-packed day and keeping players on edge. Arena opts for an approach where players know what to expect and roles are clearly defined. He also relies heavily on his veterans to make sure everyone stays in line.
"Lead the way. I really believe in that. It's their team, it's not my team," Arena said. "They've got to take ownership in the team. I don't think [the veterans] are checking curfew and all the other stuff. They're just being good professionals. It becomes contagious in the group.
"If you have a bunch of people that are [jerks], it tends to be what your team looks like. If it's my job to control them all day, then I don't think we have a chance, and I'm basically not interested in doing that. I'll open up a preschool somewhere and do that."
But Arena refused to be drawn into any comparisons with his predecessor, and he knows full well how quickly things can change in World Cup qualifying.
"I'm not doing anything differently," he said. "I'm not taking a survey [of the players]. I know it's different. We lose tomorrow, there will be articles written that, 'This a------ is letting these guys run loose.'"
He added, "I have spent no time on the past. There's nothing I can do about it. I kind of have a sense about things, but there's no point in me spending time investigating what went on in the past. The idea was to get it going the right way from the start."
Given that Arena took over mid-cycle, that has proven to be more challenging than when he began his first tenure as U.S. manager back in 1998. He recalled back then there was simply more time to bring the program along. Not so nowadays.
"The first time we were together as a group was [eight days ago]," he said. "That's challenging. We had to do a lot of work to get caught up to speed as a group, and we had to be pretty clear how we were going to go about doing things and having it right. That's a big difference.
"When I came in, in November of '98, obviously there was a lot of time to work with player and program and move them forward and get them ready for World Cup qualifying. It's a little different getting thrown right into it."
Now, with one World Cup qualifying match down, it's on to face a Panama side coming off a disheartening 1-0 defeat to Trinidad and Tobago.
"Our team is well aware," Arena said of the challenge. "The game isn't going to look like Friday, they know that. That's the reality of qualifying."