I’m not one to kick Bob Bradley when he’s down, but there is no question that it was time for him to go as the coach of the US Men’s national Soccer Team. I respect his stress on fitness, but the lack of creative play and the ongoing problems on defense, especially the slowness and age of players like Carlos Bocanegra and precious little seeming to be done to remedy it.
I never understood his fetishizing some players, in particular, Jonathan Bornstein who never seemed to look comfortable at all and Ricardo Clark, who not only fizzled badly in the 2009 Confederations Cup, but was rewarded for that dreadful outing with even more opportunities to screw up, Steven Gerrard’s goal in the US v England game in the 2010 WC rested squarely on his shoulders, as did his gifting Ghana control of the ball in the fifth minute of the round of sixteen game that led to the Black Stars’ early goal.
What I hope Jurgen Klinsmann will bring to the USMNT is a lot more creativity and better skill as well as some speed in defense. Cross your fingers . . .
Comrade Kevin
I sure hope so.
JWL
Be thankful that you’re not a fan of the San Francisco 49er’s.
Because it’s going to be another long, long season.
Bnut
High risk, high reward. They made a good point on ESPN today, good players don’t usually make good coaches. I also think Michael Bradley will do better now that Dad is not his coach.
benjoya
bah, the day when we can learn something from the yurps is the day we have more prisoners than china or something. remember, we INVENTED calling soccer by its rightful name. okay, we probably didn’t invent it, but you get my drift. klinsman is great, though.
JGabriel
Soccer. That’s the game with the ball, right?
.
cleek
i blame Obama.
Pangloss
Bradley appears to be a good developmental coach, but not so great at tactics or strategy. US is taken seriously now, but we need to get to the next level. Not so sure that Klinsman is going to keep the same developmental structure that Bradley had– I guess we’ll just have to trust in the market to keep things going.
tomvox1
I like the move. Maybe now we can learn how to play with a lead in the 2nd half, i.e. hold the fucking ball like every other big time contender in the world.
sb
Apparently, Klinsman is going to do much more than coach. If I read right, he’s the final word on everything soccer in these here United States: national team, development, scouting, coaches for the younger teams… it all falls on him.
A few years ago, I would have been ecstatic with this move but that was before Jurgen’s disastrous time at Bayern-Munich. He was practically ridden out on a rail there. For a US Soccer fan, that’s disconcerting to say the least.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
I like. What took so long, though? Have they been banging out the deal since the loss to El Tri?
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
sb
I think the disaster at Bayern was due to his inability to find a way to overcome a clash of egos between the players there. The head coach of any of the giant clubs of Europe almost has to have a personality larger than the squad if he wants to succeed these days. Klinsmann’s not that guy.
IMO, the USMNT has stars, but not superstars, and they’re all pretty humble…relatively speaking. I think Klinsmann’s the right fit here.
sb
MattR
@tomvox1:
I’d be quite happy with not playing like shit (and often conceding a goal) in the first 15 minutes.
Linkmeister
You might be interested in what Dave Brockington says about Bradley’s departure and Klinsmann’s hiring over at Lawyers Guns & Money.
Bender
Gee. Thanks for reminding me. I saw Clark play every game with the Dynamo and when I saw he was starting for the US as a holding midfielder at the WC, I told everybody that I already knew how we were going to lose. He’s still the most un-instinctive defender I’ve ever seen, and his ball skills are tragic. Yes, he’s a strong athlete, but since when has that ever been enough?
Bradley’s using Clark was inexcusable, especially when there was a better holding midfielder on our bench, who just had a great season playing both attacking and holding mid (depending on team health) in the best league in the world before he got hurt. He led the Premiership in tackles for awhile, and led his team in tackles and pass interceptions despite not playing a full season.
If you wonder why Bolton was in the top 6 or 7 of the EPL until Stuart Holden — another ex-Dynamo — got hurt (disgraceful challenge by ManU’s Jonny Evans) in late March, and then crashed to 14th in the 6 weeks he didn’t play, now you know. English media and fans are calling a 25-year-old American “talismanic” and a “revelation,” but Bradley (who always finds a shirt for his son, I notice — a son who’s been mediocre-to-terrible for two years now) wouldn’t give him a sniff.
Klinsmann: Hope And Change!
Bender
The needle has swung on Lando? He has been MUCH better since his spell at Everton.
mcd410x
If Michael Bradley is still in the team, we’ve hired the wrong man.
jp2
The USMNT has been poorly run and Bradley has been a horrific coach in terms of youth development. This expresses it better than I can:
“The goal of the USMNT should be very simple: To win a World Cup. Every single decision Bob Bradley and U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati make should be considered with that idea in mind. Instead, the minds in charge of the USMNT have consistently employed a strategy based around quick fixes and short-term victories.”
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6707994/hard-lessons
Valdivia
I admire what he did with the German Team.
OT but today I am going to see the Barcelona play Manchester United in Baltimore so I am very excited. Even better I was at the gym two days ago and the whole Barcelona team (minus Messi) came in and I had the pleasure of working out next to them for an hour+. Incredible!!!
dollared
I’ll say a good word for Michael Bradley, at least for his holding ability in the WC.
Completely agree with the defense issues, but at bottom it is all about the fact that we’re not there yet. We can now field a team that has first division players at every position. That is new. But not one of those players, except the odd keeper, would be on an all star team for any european league.
Ten more years…..if ever.
meh
say what you want about Klinsmann. I was firmly on the side of this hire due solely to THIS goal
One of the most creative goals I’ve ever seen (and I’ve played for close to 20 years).
It’s a goal that I remember, and can describe in vivid detail 15 years later.
Larv
“The goal of the USMNT should be very simple: To win a World Cup. Every single decision Bob Bradley and U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati make should be considered with that idea in mind. Instead, the minds in charge of the USMNT have consistently employed a strategy based around quick fixes and short-term victories.”
I”m not sure what this really means in practice. In reality, I think our chances of winning a WC in the next, say, 20 years is extremely small. First, I think we need a much better national league. When’s the last time a country without a first or maybe second tier national league won the WC? Uruguay in 1950? I love MLS, but it’s just not a big time sport here, their cash flow reflects that, and the level of players and play also reflects with that. Until that changes, I think our chances of winning a WC will be fairly remote. I’d be happy with a goal of consistently making the FIFA top ten.
Randinho
Jp2, thanks for that link. That article nails it.
Larv, it’s an aspirational goal to be sure, but I believe it still needs to be the goal.
Bender, excellent, excellent point about Stuart Holden.
Randinho
It’s worth remembering, by the way, that only five nations in Europe and three in South America have won the WC. Also, when France won in 1998, it marked a break of twenty years since the last nation had been a first time winner (Argentina in 1978).
Bill Murray
I guess we’ll see. Klinsman, I think, needs a strong assistant manager as he has very little experience as a manager.
Holden did not play central midfield during his pro career until last season so faulting Bradley for not playing him there is pretty weak.
tomvox1
MattR @ 13: Touche. Also the sign of an immature team.
pseudonymous in nc
Youth development, youth development, youth development. It’s what kept Klinsmann from taking the job a while back.
But that Grantland piece is right about the need for a long-term strategy, and Bradley’s reliance upon veterans and short-term fixes. It doesn’t make sense for the US international team. First of all, CONCACAF is inherently weak, and while the Gold Cup opens the door to the Confederations Cup, neither of those should be priorities over the goal of developing a World Cup team.
Let’s see how much leeway Klinsmann gets to use young players from the MLS (and beyond) in the Olympic tournament next year. That’s basically FIFA’s under-23 championship, and it needs to be treated as a building exercise for the World Cup.
JP Stormcrow
What I hope Jurgen Klinsmann will bring to the USMNT is a lot more creativity and better skill as well as some speed in defense.
I’m sure he’s still pretty fast, but you think he’ll actually put himself in at defense?
Randinho
As it’s pretty clear what I meant, I do believe he would probably beat several of the current back four in a foot race.
JP Stormcrow
I was
being an assholejoking.Randinho
Oh, I know. Unfortunately, I wasn’t regarding the speed deficit of the defenders.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Bender
I never thought he was an asshole, just a mincing pretty boy- Landycakes- who needed to get over his OCD and take those free kicks. And I let that go when he called out Mr. Posh Spice for all the whining.
burnspbesq
The most important step in the process has already been taken. Reyna has player development moving in the right direction.
Short-term, some good things are happening at the senior team level. Lichaj was very impressive at left back during the Gold Cup. Altidore has finally landed at a club where he will get regular playing time. Who expected Freddy to be a difference-maker, the way he was in the Gold Cup? Despite being abused by Man Utd on Wednesday, Sean Franklin is showing signs that he might be the next right back when Dolo can no longer get it done (FWIW, I’m not convinced that Dolo won’t still be the guy in 2014). Bedoya looks pretty comfortable on the right flank.
I’m interested to see what Klinsmann does about Jose Torres. He had an absolute shite 10-11 season at Pachuca, which fully justified Bradley in ignoring him for the Gold Cup. However, if he returns to form, I think he has to be recalled. I’m also interested to see what he does about Diskerud.
burnspbesq
@Randinho:
You can’t coach speed. You have to find it.
We have plenty of speed in this country, but I don’t think Marvell Wynne is the answer to any question you might care to ask.
brad
I’ve always thought it was important to find a domestic coach. I could still see Jason Kreis there in a few years. Since Klinsman had lived here for so long I think he’s a good choice. He did a great job with Germany. I hope he can develop a consistent system throughout the development levels, so young players can step right in and whats expected.
PanAmerican
Fire Klinsmann!
Randinho
Burnsbspeq,
Re: speed. Precisely. I don’t believe Bradley really looked for speed in defense.
aretino
I would like to believe that there is a hidden well of untapped American speed and soccer skill waiting to be pumped, but I am too attached to reality to pull it off. Left back, for instance, has been a bleeding hole in the United States defense for at least a decade and a half. The idea that hiring Crazy Klinsy is magically going to make the second coming of Patrice Evra appear in an American uniform seems like the worst bet since Enron stock. Unfortunately, when that reality and Crazy Klinsy’s flakiness becomes evident in six months to the poobahs at the USSF, we will be out of options. We simply won’t be able to afford to fire Crazy Klinsy and hire someone else, because the USSF certainly can’t afford to pay the salaries of three head coaches at once.
I am not sure we are going to make it to the final round of CONCACAF qualifying for the 2014 World Cup now. Bad times.
Paul in KY
I’m very happy. To me, the US main problem is we don’t score enough. Our players are not very skilled offensively.
If there’s one man who can teach that, and knows all there is about scoring, it’s Klinsmann.