Football
ESPN staff 6y

Sol Campbell interested in becoming United States' coach

Sol Campbell, Trinidad & Tobago's assistant manager, has told ESPN that he would be interested in becoming the United States' coach and gave his perspective on the team's failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

U.S. coach Bruce Arena quit after the failure to make it to the finals in Russia next summer, and former Arsenal and England defender Campbell urged the USMNT to have an open mind when considering a successor. He even suggested he would be willing to help.

He said: "I think there is a lot of soul-searching [for the U.S. to do]. I think the main thing you've got to look at [with] America is where do they go now? They've invested a lot of money, and I think sometimes you've got to look in different areas. You can't always look in the same places.

"Yes, they want to keep it local, and they want to keep as much in USA with the players and the staff, but sometimes you've got to open up. I think there's guys around the world who could contribute.

"Maybe not [people] on their hit list, maybe not on the paper list, maybe not on the agent's list, but guys who probably could help them in different ways on the field: attack-wise, defence-wise.

"Who knows? If they came to me, maybe I could help them out. Who knows? But I think they have got to start looking in different directions."

Campbell also said the U.S.' margin of defeat could have been bigger because of their complacency.

"I think they thought they had won the game before they actually turned up," he said. "I'm not saying every single player thought that.

"There was a lot of rain the day before, and there was a lot of commotion. Different changing rooms as well, [but] the next day the sun was out, and it was a perfect pitch [and] everything around the track had dried up.

"The trouble is I feel like there were far too many excuses. Also, Trinidad, we played extremely well. Really well. It could have been 4-1."

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