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NEW YORK -- Bruce Arena was a decade removed from the U.S. national team when he received a telephone call from U.S. Soccer Federation Secretary General Dan Flynn on Sunday asking him to meet with USSF President Sunil Gulati the following day.By midday Tuesday, the winningest coach in the teams history regained the job he had not wanted to give up.I never expected to be back in this role the way it came about over the last 48 hours, Arena explained. I hate to say this now to Sunil: I wouldve done this for free.A day after Jurgen Klinsmann was fired following two losses that began the final round of World Cup qualifying, Arena agreed to a contract running through the 2018 tournament in Russia.With the Americans 0-2 at this stage for the first time, the USSF wants to spark a turnaround when competition resumes March 24 with a home game against Honduras followed four days later with a match at Panama. The 65-year-old Arena, inducted into the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2010, starts work Dec. 1.We need to build the chemistry of this team and have a common goal and really work on a team concept, he said during a telephone news conference. I really believe individually and positionally we have good players and weve just got to get them working together as a team.There are no real secrets on how you build good teams: It takes a lot of hard work, it takes communication, it takes discipline and it takes some talent, and I think we have enough talent to build a good team and end up in Russia 2018. Its going to take a little time, a little bit patience and a lot of hard work.Arena first took over as national team coach after the 1998 World Cup and led the U.S. to a 71-30-29 record. Gulati fired him, failed to reach a deal with Klinsmann and then brought in Bob Bradley.I dont view it as Bruce 2, but sort of Bruce 2.0, Gulati said. I think hes got far more experience than he did when he had the national team the first go-round. Hes proven and re-proven many times at all levels of the game in the United States that hes an extraordinarily capable and successful coach.A wisecracking Brooklynite known for blunt talk and sarcasm, Arena coached the University of Virginia to five NCAA titles from 1978-95, then led D.C. United to championships in Major League Soccers first two seasons before losing in the 1998 final. He guided the Americans to the teams best World Cup finish since 1930, a 1-0 loss to Germany in the 2002 quarterfinals.Arena was let go after the teams first-round elimination by Ghana in 2006. He coached MLSs New York Red Bulls from July 2006 to November 2007, then was hired the following August by the Galaxy. He led that team to MLS titles in 2011, 2012 and 2014.I think 10 years later Im better prepared for this job than I was in 1998 and 2002 and ultimately 2006, so Im hopeful the experiences I had are going to benefit the program, he said. One of the things you learn from experience is you see things a lot clearer and a lot quicker than you did previously, and the game has slowed down a bit, where I can see as a coach in my position how things are happening on the field.Hired by Gulati in 2011, Klinsmann coached the U.S. to the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup title and the second round of the 2014 World Cup, where the Americans lost to Belgium 2-1 in extra time.Gulati cited three disappointments that led to Klinsmanns firing: not qualifying for the 2017 Confederations Cup, the under-23 teams failure to reach this years Olympics and the poor start to the final round of qualifying in the North and Central American and Caribbean region.The U.S. would have reached the Confederations Cup by winning last years Gold Cup, but Jamaica upset the Americans in the semifinals, and the U.S. lost a playoff to Mexico.Really starting at the Gold Cup, weve had some very up-and-down results, Gulati said. The Gold Cup was a big disappointment for everyone: for Jurgen, for the players, for our fans.Two weeks ago, Gulati said he expected Klinsmann to keep his job through the 2018 World Cup. But Mexico won 2-1 in Columbus, Ohio, the first U.S. home loss in qualifying since 2001. That was followed by a 4-0 defeat last week in Costa Rica, the Americans first four-goal loss in qualifying since 1980.None of us expected the two results we got, Gulati said.He held a series of conversations with USSF board members after last Tuesdays defeat, made the decision Sunday and joined Flynn for a Monday meeting in Los Angeles with Klinsmann.While Gulati returned to New York, Flynn remained in Los Angeles to negotiate Arenas contract, which was agreed to at 11:30 a.m. EST Tuesday and approved by the board 15 minutes later. Arenas return was announced at 1:21 p.m.A star forward for Germany in the 1990s, Klinsmann was criticized by some -- including Arena -- for his use of foreign-born players. Five German-Americans were on his 23-man World Cup roster.If I made those comments, I certainly dont believe that thats my attitude, Arena said. I believe anyone that has a passport in the United States is certainly eligible to play for our national team, and I embrace all players that are eligible to play. I just want to make sure their heart is in the right place and when they place that U.S. jersey on theyre playing for that crest on their shirt.NHL Jerseys Canada .com) - The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks both take aim at their first wins of the season on Saturday, as the Canucks open their home slate at Rogers Arena. Wholesale NHL Jerseys Canada . Isner, ranked No. 14, won his eighth career singles title and took the title in New Zealand for the second time after his victory in 2010. The match was similar to Isners quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber which went to three sets, all tiebreaks and contained no breaks of serve. http://www.cheapnhljerseys.ca/ . -- Hunter Smith scored the winner with just 12 seconds remaining in the third period as the Oshawa Generals edged the host Sarnia Sting 5-4 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Cheap NHL Hockey Jerseys . Defenceman Yannick Weber scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Canucks breathed a sigh of relief with a 2-1 win on Saturday night. Cheap NHL Adidas Jerseys . The 28-year-old from Calgary matched his career best after missing just one shot in his two rounds of shooting in the mens 10-kilometre sprint competition. Smith finished in 23 minutes 15.BARCELONA, Spain -- Former Barcelona president Joan Laporta defended Lionel Messi against allegations of tax fraud on Thursday, a case that experts say could carry a prison sentence for the Argentina star. A Spanish state prosecutor filed a fraud complaint on Wednesday alleging that Messi and his father Jorge avoided paying 4 million euros ($5.3 million) in back taxes through illegal overseas tax havens. "I am convinced that neither Leo nor his father have committed any infraction," Laporta told Cope radio. "The situation could be that they dont have any responsibility in these events. There can be third parties who are responsible. "I know them and they have always wanted to act within the law, and thats how they acted with the club, at least when I was president." Laporta said that Messi and his family lacked the financial know-how necessary to have set up the network of shell companies and tax havens in countries including Belize and Uruguay described in the prosecutors complaint. "They were always careful, lets say even wary, when faced with these situations that were over their heads because they didnt have the knowledge of a lawyer or a tax expert, and so they went out and got advisers," he said. Messi has denied any wrongdoing and his lawyers issued a statement on Thursday saying that he "has always punctually attended to his fiscal obligations." The case was submitted at the court in Gava, near the Mediterranean coastal town where Messi lives. A judge at the court must accept the prosecutors complaint before charges can be brought against Messi and his father. A court official told The Associated Press that a decision should come in a matter of days. If found guilty and barring an out-of-court deal with the tax office, Messi and his father could face 2-6 years in jail, according to Professor Sandalio Gomez, a sports finance analyst at the IESE Business School. In the complaint, state prosecutor Raquel Amado alleges that from 2006-09 Messi "obtained significant revenue derived from the transfer to third parties of his image rights, income which should have been taxed." Gomez told the AP that the prosecutors complaint appeared to be strong, while noting that hiring or establishing a company-- even overseas--- to manage players image rights was legal as long as they met their tax burdens in Spain.dddddddddddd "(The complaint) is well argued," he said, adding that it reminded him of the investigation of Inaki Urdangarin, the son-in-law of Spains King Juan Carlos who is under investigation for possible tax fraud and money laundering. Laporta, who was Barcelonas president from 2003-10 and is considering running again in 2016 after his foray into politics, said that under his mandate Messi directly controlled 100 per cent of earnings from his image rights. But, Laporta said, Barcelona did follow a common practice of paying 15% of Messis salary to a company that controlled his image rights. He said that he didnt remember where that company was based. "If it was a company based outside Spain it would have been a registered company and in that sense a lawful company," Laporta said. Messi is not the first athlete to be investigated in Spain for taxes. Last year former Portugal star Luis Figo was forced to pay 2.45 million euros in income tax pertaining to image rights from 1997-99 while playing for Barcelona. In 2009, former top-ranked womens player Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario had to pay millions in back taxes. The 25-year-old Messi is widely considered the best player of his generation and one of the best in history after winning an unprecedented four straight FIFA world player of the year awards. He has scored 133 goals for Barcelona over the last two seasons and helped it win its fourth Spanish league title in five seasons this year. Messi, who is rated by Forbes as the worlds 10th highest-paid athlete, reportedly earned $41.3 million to June this year; with $20.3 coming from his club salary and $21 million in endorsements. Messi leads an apparently quiet life focused on his family-- he became a father last year-- and has never been linked to any unsavoury episodes, making him a universally liked figure in Spain and abroad. Spain has been cracking down on tax evasion as it fights to repair the countrys public finances amid recession and the collapse of its once-booming real estate sector. The country has been further hurt by a series of corruption and financial fraud cases which until now had been limited to the worlds of business and politics. ' ' '