Yesterday Bob Bradley was fired as the coach of the Men's team. Kind of odd timing, but I can't say it was unreasonable since their post World Cup performances have demonstrated the same holes and inabilities that cost them a favorable opportunity in the last World Cup. Still though you'd think there's not going to be enough time to do any significant shakeup of the talent pool.
I guess there was some method to the madness. Juergen Klinsmann was named the new coach, after turning down the job the last time it was offered. He certainly has soccer credentials. He's got a great soccer mind. He's lived in the US for quite awhile so he should understand American soccer.
How much of an impact can he make on the American team in advance of the upcoming World Cup? Can a change in formation help them out? Possibly moving players into field positions where they can be more effective? Can he find someone who can actually be an effective and scary striker rather than an "up and coming goal scorer?" They need someone to stop being up and coming and actually arrive.
I figure the timing probably comes in the aftermath of American soccer being more in the forefront right now thanks to the US Womens' team and the Women's World Cup. Win or lose (win AND lose as it turned out) we saw the US involved in two of the most scintillating games in international soccer history. You couldn't have asked for more in terms of games being dramatic and compelling. Nobody in the US is going to deny that if the US had to lose in the Final that it was nice that it was Japan. Japan hoisting the trophy and getting to go home as a Cinderella team to a hero's welcome in their beleaguered country was an outcome that was worthy. Now the Men's team has a window of national interest in which they can do whatever they can to rise above their recent stagnation to try to continue the momentum in America. The bottom line is that Americans hop on board winners. The US Men's team made an aggressive looking move that at least makes it look like they're trying to become winners, whether that is legitimate or not.
Pretty much I've lobbed this post out here as a softball for Christopher.
Sorry I didn't get to this earlier. I just noticed it.
ReplyDeleteLooking at it in hindsight shows that the timing was actually pretty perfect; Sunil Gulati and Klinsmann couldn't come to an agreement over his overall control of the program, from the youth level up to the Men's National Team. This was the reason that Klinsmann turned down the offer in 2006 as well as last year. Bradley was always second fiddle to Klinsmann, so it was pretty obvious that as soon as Klinsmann or Gulati cracked on their resolve, he'd be out.
He was given the extension after the World Cup in South Africa because of the Kinsmann drama, but the team's stagnation over the past year simply could not stand. Having a horrible first half of this year had Bradley on the hot seat a couple months ago, but putting on historically awful performances in the Gold Cup sealed the deal. Basically, without having confirmation from the USSF, he was probably still in solid standing until the Gold Cup, and even the forgettable performance against Paraguay, the loss to Panama, and squeaking past Guadeloupe weren't going to cause much desperation as long as we didn't get blown out by Mexico in the final, which we did. I guess that after the shelling in Pasadena, Gulati realized that this was bogus and with that current trend we might not even qualify for Brazil in 2014, so he went hard at Klinsmann and sacrificed a lot of control to get him.
Also, the performance against Spain that was so forgettable I literally forgot to mention it in the last comment.
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