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 team’s 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 would’ve 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 we’ve just got to get them working together as a team.”

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.