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Bradley hired as head coach of Egypt

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photo by Chris Brunskill/ISIphotos.com

Bob Bradley is officially back in the coaching game.

Having been rumored to take over as head coach of Egypt's national team, Bradley has completed his move to coach the Pharoahs. Bradley flew to Cairo and met with Egyptian federation (EFA) officials to finalize the details of his contract on Wednesday, and the federation announced the deal was completed on its website on Thursday.

Details of the deal are expected to be announced on Saturday, Sept. 24 during a press conference that will follow the draw for the final round of African qualifying for the 2012 Olympics.

According to one report, Bradley's contract will run until the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Bradley is reportedly going to make $40.4 thousand per month.

The EFA is still negotiating with Bradley over who will be on his assistant coaching staff, but it is likely to include former U.S. men's national team goalkeepers coach Zak Abdel, who is a former Egyptian national team goalkeeper and has worked with Bradley on the U.S. team and Chivas USA.

What do you think of this development?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Good luck to Bob. He received a lot of undue criticism while at the helm of the US National Team. So much so that he appeared to receive more respect abroad than on the US Team. It never ceases to amaze how people who do not play (manage), have not played (managed) or have long since stopped playing (managing) constantly spew venom toward Bradley. He did a good job with what he had to work with. And as far as his stoic personality and “stone-walling” of the media- his job is to coach and get the best results possible. Not to please press conferences full of journalists by bringing them milk and cookies.

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  2. I think we can say for sure that Bob Bradley doesn’t speak Arabic. I wouldn’t worry about the language thing too much, though. Many Egyptians speak a little English, and many players speak “soccer” English. Quite a few of Egypt’s best players play or have played abroad, so I’d expect that they’ve been through this before. If this doesn’t work out, it will not be for language problems.

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  3. Wonder if Egypt were to make the finals of the next 3 African Cup of Nations (winning one), make the finals of the Confederations Cup, win their World Cup qualifying group by going undefeated in group play but lose in OT in the Rd of 16 to a team from the host continent … if he’ll face the same criticism there that he did here.

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  4. Does anyone know if Bob speaks Arabic? (If not, I’d assume he’s trying to learn quickly right now.) Are Egyptian footballers typically fluent in English?

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  5. Thanks, Cairo, for your informed comments and insight. It will be fascinating to see how Bob’s manner is received by the players, fans and federation execs in Egypt. I wish him the best.

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  6. I don’t know if Bradley is actually as stoic as he appears most of the time. I honestly believe that the stoicism is mostly a public persona he adopts with the media. Considering how almsot all his players have loved him (Dempsey being a very vocal one for example), I get the feeling he is much warmer and emotional with players behind closed doors.

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  7. EGYPT
    *Bob Bradley – did not dress (unless you consider his sweatsuit) in 90 minute match versus Algeria, but did lead several pitch invasions and throwing of rocks at opposition

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  8. Never understood all of the hate on Bradley. The dude regularly met or exceeded reasonable expectations, except for those who play xbox too much. How many coaches can say that. He played conservatively and sometimes boring. Guess what, we don’t have the talent to take on most of the world with beautiful attacking football.

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  9. Considering he told that to CNN, I doubt it was made up.

    That’s a very respected news organization, I seriously doubt they would make up quotes.

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  10. This has to be a first. Has an American ever coached a national team other than the USMNT?

    Hopefully he’ll do well and finally shatter the notion that American coaches can only coach MLS teams or the USMNT.

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  11. Hopefully he’ll now be able to enjoy working with the “naturally talented” Egyptian players rather than with the American players who “rely solely on fitness.”

    Completely invented newspaper quotes aside, I am excited for him.

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  12. This is going to be fascinating. As someone who follows Egyptian football and lived there for several years, I can tell you that Americans have no sense of just how soccer mad Egypt is. In terms of WC Qualification, Egypt is the world’s biggest underachiever. They regularly win the African Cup of Nations, yet always flame out in WC qualifying. In some ways, this is a win-win for Bradley. If he fails to get them to the WC, that’s just par for the course there. But if he gets them there, he’ll be a huge hero and other doors will open. Egypt produces a lot of good talent, has a decent domestic league with two great teams, but the national team is generally lacking in the one thing that Bradley is great at–organization.
    The interesting part will be how Egyptians, who wear their emotions on their sleeve, deal with stoic Bradley. He will be, I think, a little confusing for them. I think this will work IF the Egyptian Federation gives him time, which is certainly not a given.
    Kudos to Bradley for taking such an interesting job. Not only will he be doing what he loves, but he’ll be doing it against the backdrop of a country going through a huge political transformation. I respect him a lot for taking this on.

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  13. I don’t want to go overboard, but I think this is pretty great in every imaginable way.

    1. I like him, and this is a pretty darn good job.

    2. …pretty darn good job, and for a USMNT firee. That’s a great sign for our standing…even as in the “real” standings we slide to 31st, but I digress.

    3. (Perhaps overboard here) This is, possibly, a good sign of at least a non-adversarial attitude towards us in the new Egypt.

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  14. I’m wishing Bradley the best of luck and I appreciated his service. Nobody made him stay on with the USA. It was clear that he was going to stay until he got pushed out (and why not?) by a guy who finally gave in and agreed to grant the keys of the kingdom to the guy that he really wanted.

    Bradley was just keeping that seat warm. He knew it. Gulati knew it. Klinnsman knew it. Heck, everybody knew it…

    I credit him for his successes and his efforts. Time will tell if the “coveted one” will be able to get better results.

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  15. Good for Bob – a class act. Glad for him.

    Potentially great for US soccer. If he does well, maybe it will lead to a solid club job in Europe after the World Cup

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