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Bradley to remain USMNT head coach through 2014

Bob Bradley (ISIphotos.com)

Photo by ISIphotos.com


Bob Bradley will remain the US men's national team coach through 2014 after reaching an agreement with U.S. Soccer on Monday.

The sides reached an agreement to extend Bradley's contract as head coach through 2014 after discussions last week. Bradley's contract was due to expire at the end of 2010.

Bradley helped guide the United States to a first-place finish in its group at the 2010 World Cup before the team was eliminated in an overtime defeat against Ghana in the Round of 16.

Bradley had been linked to a handful of club coaching positions in Europe, and was believed to be seriously considering a move to Europe before agreeing to extend his contract with U.S. Soccer.

U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati had reportedly met with Juergen Klinsmann about the possibility of him replacing Bradley, but ultimately chose to stick with Bradley.

My initial thoughts? As I wrote on Fox Soccer last month, Bradley earned the right to come back if he wanted to. He did a good job during his four years with the team, and while many fans will question some of his decisions and player preferences, the fact remains he has led the team to good results. Klinsmann would have been an intriguing option to be sure, but Bradley has done a good enough job to merit another four years.

What do you think of this development? Glad to have Bradley back? Disappointed Klinsmann wasn't hired?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Amen. There is plenty of blame to go around in the loss to Ghana. Clark made a huge blunder, but then so did Howard giving up the near post and DeMerit AND BOCA who blew it in OT…no reason to hold that debacle to only Clark.

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  2. I agree that we were suppose to get of the group as expected because this was the most favorable draw of all world cups since ’90.
    I don’t know why people are acting as if BB did anything more than what was already expected.

    It’s obvious fans know the shortcomings of players like Finley and Clark, so who/how they are suppose to gain new knowledge or skills? You expect BB to teach them that when he hasn’t even progressed further than them?

    This is what it means to go to the next level. A coach that can actually add value to the players’ abilities, not just a father figure who pats them on the back and says well done.

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  3. Irrelevant point about Italy and France. They flamed out…badly. It was clear that they needed to rebuild. That’s not our situation. Again, we topped our group.

    We won it with a couple of horrendous calls that would have given us 7 points instead of 5.

    @smokedgouda–curious…what would have been convincing? Seven points? Nine points?

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  4. I couldn’t agree more. This move shows no vision, acceptance of the status quo. If you accept for the moment the Fifa rankings – we were ranked 13th (?) going into the WC and got to the round of 16 – where we should have gone and only because of a couple of moments of brilliance by Landon?

    We want more from our team and I don’t see how this move will bring it.

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  5. Ridiculous. College is holding American soccer back. If anything, our top players should avoid college ball at all costs. Get a clue.

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  6. He means the same type of player…. And btw France and Italy are loaded but their coaches played their guys and flames out of the WC and then were fired….. So I am sure that was what he meant.

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  7. Sorry Ives, you’ve absoutely lost the plot. Don’t insult me and tell me that BBs love for Richaro and Robbie didn’t kill our chances down in SA…ultimately we should have and could have done better and that comes down to the Coach.

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  8. Posting from wikipedia great…. 16-6-7 and second place is not disastorous, or is Bradley’s tenure disaterious since most of his games are played in the second worst region in soccer? Common knowledge was that klinsman had less then a year, put together a BM team that did amazing the following year with his players mind you, had intense owner interference with team selection, and you say disastrous?

    It’s a wonder how SAF kept his job after not winning everything every year with that talent pool? You crack me up

    Maybe you and mtf should follow BL, learn that other teams in the league are good before posting such vomit

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  9. And we should have lost to England ( putting us in second), since we managed one of the easiest and softest goals I have ever seen, you know if we wanna live in “what if’s”.

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  10. What did both France and Italy do immediately after the world cup…… Oh yeah the fired their coaches. Crazy how that works.

    This was the US’s easiest draw in the World Cup ever. It also helped that England couldn’t score on anyone asides the US and Solvinia.

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  11. I’m stunned. Another four years of my life gone. Why do we reward this tool with four more years when its so obvious he cannot take us one step further then he already has.

    Time to get rid of Sunil

    Bornstein must be happy…

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  12. meh…maybe another Gold Cup win, a WC qualification, and an exit in the group stages of 2014.

    Bradley is a good coach, but the constant mistakes in the first 15 minutes of the W.C. seemed to me like poor mental preparation. Those are the goals you give up if you are not focused and ready to play…and it happened to us in almost every game. Sure the team kept bouncing back, but a U.S. team that does not and will not have superior talent can’t let that happen repeatedly.

    I would have liked to seen someone new, but as others have mentioned Bradley will be adequate.

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  13. All you boycotters….get some sort of tattoo on your face so we can easily recognize you when Bradley builds on the huge wave of momentum that he instilled in not just the national team but the entire culture of soccer in this country. LD’s LAST MINUTE goal, that one, the greatest goal in the history of US soccer, that goal that actually gave us authentic soccer glory on the world stage and was the arrival of our great American field player, came from FIGHT.

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  14. +1!

    It was common knowledge that the Bayern locker room was a disaster under Jurgen. Moreover, the club’s offense was completely impotent all season. Anyone who followed Bayern under Klinsy would think twice about making him coach of your national team.

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  15. I have no beef with Bradley. He made some bad moves but what coach doesn’t? But I think it was time for a new coach. Our squad has peaked with Bradley. It was time to start fresh. Oh well. It’s done and I will move on. GO USA!

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  16. BB is good enough. MLS and the success of our Euro and mexican league players will determine our success at the next world cup, not BB’s tactics. Honestly, the idea of Jurgen coming in and changing the way we do everything sounds a little idealistic… Particularly a coach who took Germany’s best team and turned it into a mid-table club before becoming an announcer.

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  17. I’m a supporter of the guy and think he’s done a good job for the 2010 cycle. In many ways you could say the man made lemonade (from quite a few lemons)…

    That said, there were some really bizarre personnel decisions that simply didn’t make sense or produce a positive result, and it almost always took him the entire game to figure it out.

    It would be different to me at least had he seen something wrong and made changes at the half, but he stubbornly plodded on with the same lineup, producing lackluster play and waiting until it was simply too late to matter.

    The World Cup isn’t like the MLS season Bob – you gotta play every game like it is your only game. There’s no “best of four” with each opponent!

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  18. Wake me up on June 17th, 2014, when we’re eliminated on the 2nd day of the group stage. Until then, my interest in the Nats has waned considerably.

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  19. I think you’re missing the point. We don’t know how interested Klinsmann was in the job. It is just speculation as of now. The idea of a 1-3-2-1-2-1 is just ludicrous. Maybe you should expand on what exactly that is.

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  20. Also, when he tried his little experiments with players like findley and clark, it was proven not to work in the world cup warm up games and group games. So what does he do when it’s all on the line? Tries the same thing all over again, then makes the necessary changes when its way too late, wasting time at the beginning and burning subs.

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  21. Yeah definitely. There are so many obvious choices to coach the team like sigi and dom kinnear and… oh wait… No one knows what happened in that meeting between Klinsmann and Gulati so saying that Klinsmann should have been hired is just posturing. Also one should remember that Gulati is major part in the world cup bid, so if it is won I am not sure how one can gripe against him considering hosting a world cup is much bigger than a world cup cycle.

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  22. 4-3-3.. no But how about a 4-2-3-1

    Change your tactic and involve more of your strength (ie midfielers). Instead Bob stuck with the formation when he had Charlie.

    My fear is that a Jones / Holden or Torres lineup may be better than Jones/Bradley or Bradley / Holden or Torres.. but it will never be tried.

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  23. So you think Robbie Findley or Ricardo Clark deserved to play in the World Cup? Another coach would’ve put out his best 11 and not go with his “favorites.” Any “idiot on this board” probably couldv’e put out a better starting 11. So come back when you know something

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  24. Rico didnt play well in that game over-all. He had a wonder strike true. But the ball had a nice lucky dip or else it was right at the keeper.

    I also remember a red card in 09.

    The truth is, Bradley doesnt like change. Which is a dangerous trait.

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  25. I would have at least tried in the friendlies leading to the WC a 4 – 2 – 3 – 1

    Holden played v England and he played for Bolton pre WC, so I dont buy he wasnt fit enough to be the middle of the 3. Coyle saw it in March and in August. Bob never picked up on it.

    Also, I would have 100% packed the back for the first 15 of the game. It wasn’t just in the WC the US had a trend of giving the early goal.

    Bob will not discover something new to improve the team. He is good at squeezing blood from a stone, but he is not good at solving the personnel puzzle.

    Who cares if he caps 100 players if he couldnt figure out Davies was better than Ching, Holden can play in the middle, he couldnt finnish a 2-0 lead in a final and couldnt get to PKs v Ghana.

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