Music to listen to: Day Dreamer by The Memorials
This week, U.S. Soccer decided to relieve Bob Bradley of his duties as the head coach of the senior men’s soccer team, wished him well on all of his future endeavors and replaced him with Jurgen Klinsmann.
This move isn’t surprising for several reasons. First, the US team has looked flat lately under Bradley, particularly earlier this summer in the Gold Cup. While the team made the final match against Mexico, which it was thoroughly dominated by El Tri decisively, the US team looked lackluster in many of the contests, including an inexcusable loss to Panama.
For the majority of top international squads, the head coach usually stays at the helm for qualifying for the team’s major tournament, whether its the World Cup, Euro, African Cup, etc. and than leaves when the tournament is over. This time period is usually three to five years.
This concept is counter to what many American fans are used to seeing. We’ve been exposed to people like Joe Paterno, Bobby Bowden, Mike Krzyzewski, Bobby Cox and a variety of others staying in their posts for many, many years if they do a competent job.
To be fair to Bradley, he did lead the US to a group win in World Cup 2010, a victory over Spain in the Confederations Cup and other major accomplishments for the team. Some would argue that Bradley did a lot for initially being an interim coach, had experience with the US youth system and earned the chance to pilot the senior team to the next World Cup in 2014.
However, when I saw the losses to Panama and Mexico in the Gold Cup, it was a major realization that it was time for a change.
By the way, don’t feel bad for Bradley. He’s been pragmatic throughout the process of being head coach of the USMNT, especially after the 2010 World Cup when he entertained offers from various squads in the English Premier League. He’ll find a position with a good squad, its deserved.
Now on to the future with Klinsmann. I’ve never brought into the idea that the USMNT needs a foreigner to lead the squad to success, nor do I believe that the only man qualified to run the team must be American. We’re not electing the President of the country, its the head coach of a soccer team. Klinsmann does satisfy both camps that feel passionately about this issue.
Klinsmann was born and raised in Germany and had a successful playing career, particularly leading his country to victories in the 1990 World Cup and Euro 1996. This will gain the respect of USA players and officials that have the mentality that the man leading the squad should have done it as a player.
More importantly, Klinsmann has been successful as a national coach. When he took over Germany in 2004, the squad had an advanced age, lacked innovation and looked to be one of the weaker top-tier squads in the world. Klinsmann started an overhaul of the entire youth system in Germany that would encourage a more aggressive offensive style that has become mandatory to win international competitions. The end result was a third-place finish in the 2006 World Cup, which was considered a success.
After the World Cup, he was the head coach of Bayern Munich for one year, which some considered a black mark for his managing career because the squad underachieved by their standards. The team didn’t win any championships but they weren’t as bad as people think.
All of this means that Klinsmann is qualified for the job. Furthermore, he’s lived in the United States for years and has as much understanding about the US soccer system as anyone can have as a foreigner.
Looking forward, expect to see some changes in the lineup. This is expected in any sport when a new manger is hired and this will be no exception. We’re going to see many young players we’ve never heard of get a shot at the senior squad, which is needed for the USA.
While I’m not saying that we’ve seen the last of Jon Bornstein, Oguchi Onyewu, Steve Cherundolo and some others but those players won’t have as much leverage with Klinsmann than with Bradley in relation to playing time.
I’ve already read articles about players such as Jose Torres, Robbie Rodgers, Tim Chandler, Justin Braun and even Freedy Adu finally getting a chance to shine in the senior squad because of the changes. I’m not sure about that but its fair to assume that we will see many of those guys playing regularly for the next year or so before qualifying for World Cup 2014 begins.
Along those same lines, I don’t think that Michael Bradley will be affected by this situation. I’m sure he didn’t want to see his father get released from his job but Micael earned his spot on the team no matter who his coach was. Michael Bradley will be a professional and represent his country well like he has for the past few years.
What we’re not going to see is start playing “total football” like the Dutch or Brazilians, installing some funky 3-3-2-1 formation or becoming defensive counter-attackers like the Greeks. Klinsmann will most likely stick with the 4-4-2 formation that some have critique as being too predictable. If you have the right personnel and execute properly, the formation shouldn’t be an issue, which brings me to my final point.
Since Klinnsman had turned down the USMNT head coach position numerous times, most famously before the 2010 World Cup, he’s developed a major following among US soccer fans even before the job was finally accepted recently. He’s a very good manager but miracles shouldn’t be expected from him.
First, this isn’t a domestic team where with some good finances and planning, you can overhaul your squad with better players immediately. Klinsmann will have to work with what he has and to paraphrase Rick Pitino when he was head coach of the Celtics, Messi, Ronaldo, David Villa, Drogba and Eto’o aren’t walking through that door.
However, the US cupboard isn’t completely bare as players such as Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey and even Landon Donovan have shown to be solid players that could hold their own on many of the top international teams.
When Klinsmann was at Germany, he had the benefit of the services of such players as Lehmann, Michael Ballack, Philipp Lahm,Thomas Muller and a cast of others who at those periods were elite international players. The US doesn’t have anyone like that currently.
The hope is that though better coaching from the youth system, the US can develop better players between now and the 2014 World Cup and Klinsmann has shown the ability to do that but it will require patience that fans are going to have to start developing.
Overall, this was a good move for US soccer but don’t expect the squad to be hoisting trophies anytime soon.
Those are my thoughts, what are yours?
The Sports Inquirer 
Leave a comment