The United States have come a long way in the last eight years, and the man who deserves most credit is coach Bruce Arena.

When he took over the team in October 1998, they were a fledgling force on the world stage, having reached a level where they could qualify for World Cup finals but - as their straight-defeats exit at France 98 showed - could not yet compete.

While his own playing career was limited to college and all-America honours due to a lack of opportunities during the 1970s - Arena earned just one cap as a goalkeeper in 1973 - as a coach he excelled.

Eighteen seasons at the University of Virginia - one of the USA's footballing factories - yielded four national titles titles as Arena developed such talents as John Harkes and current US captain Claudio Reyna.

He worked in Major League Soccer from its inaugural year in 1996, leading DC United to back-to-back titles in the first two seasons. They added the Open Cup in 1997 and the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 1998 - the first true measure of their strength - before going on to beat Brazilian champions Vasco da Gama to become the Interamerican champions the same year.

Arena was already dipping his toes in the international scene, leading the USA Under-23 side through their 1996 Olympic campaign, working again with Reyna as well as future international stalwart and DC United defender Eddie Pope, now of Real Salt Lake.

He made the step up seamlessly after taking over as national coach, beating Germany twice and Argentina in his first year before finishing third at the 1999 Confederations Cup.

In qualifying for the 2002 World Cup, they beat arch-rivals Mexico twice, scoring five and conceding none - enough in itself to give Arena a place in the hearts of America's small-but-committed band of supporters.

They began the World Cup year by lifting the CONCACAF Cup, but soon eclipsed that in the Far East by reaching the quarter-finals with memorable victories over Portugal and Mexico before losing 1-0 to Germany.

Arena's spell in charge has seen the number of Americans abroad swell, but he continues to pick MLS players in large numbers.

He is no respecter of reputations, and happily drops his big names to fit tactical plans. The focus is on the team's needs from game to game. Often during the European seasons he will compose squads entirely from MLS players.

There is also a commitment to youth that extends beyond Team USA and into the MLS and promises to keep up a production line of young players. Eddie Gaven, Eddie Johnson and Jonathan Spector are already breaking through, and Freddy Adu is racing through the youth ranks, still only 16.

As these players emerge and the MLS continues to improve, the future for the USA looks bright. Arena is still only 54 and will have his eye on World Cups beyond Germany.

Harkes, who earned 90 caps for the United States but retired shortly before Arena's appointment, has no doubts about what his former college coach has done for the national team.

"Bruce has had a major effect," he told PA Sport. "I think he has lifted us to a whole new level. He has raised expectations of what US soccer can achieve. He's very organised in what he does and he's well respected. He's really done a tremendous job to develop the US side to where we are now."

For his part, Arena has usually attempted to deflect the praise onto others working in the national team set-up.

"We've come a long way since '98 and I think you need to recognise a lot of people for the progress of the programme," he said.

"But, obviously, the key people in the success in the drive to get better are the players.

"They are talented players and they have the right kind of character and desire to be successful.

"When you saw this team after the World Cup in '98 and how low the programme was at the time, it took special people to move it forward again and a lot of those people are still here today, from Claudio Reyna to Kasey Keller, Brian McBride.

"I think it's been a collective unit, both on the part of management and the players to say, 'This is a time of disappointment,' in '98 in Paris and 'we want to get better'.

"A lot of people have worked hard to make us successful and I think they all deserve a lot of credit.