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Klinsmann speaks about USMNT in Sarajevo

JurgenKlinsmannUSMNTBosnia1 (ISIPhotos)

By DAN KARELL

U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has selected a diverse squad for the Wednesday friendly match against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Within the side are plenty of fresh faces such as Aron Johannsson and John Anthony Brooks, who both have chosen the USMNT as their future national team, and old faces such as Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley, and Tim Howard, who are preparing for four key World Cup qualifiers in September and October, as well as their upcoming club seasons.

In a video from U.S. Soccer on Youtube, Klinsmann discusses his squad selection, the additions of Brooks and Johannsson, and what he thinks of the Bosnia and Herzegovina squad.

Watch the video after the jump:

 

Comments

  1. These conversations about dual nationals keep escalating with each post. Why can’t we just agree to support whoever wears our shirt?

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  2. All of these comments are missing the most important point, which is that Aron Johansson looks like a young Kevin Bacon. Six degrees of Johansson! Go!

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  3. Xenophobic “fans” of the USMNT just suck and aren’t real fans. Carry on!

    Does anyone know why Eric Lichaj didn’t get called up (again)?

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    • I am imagining the Lichaj omission stems from any combination of the following: hardly has played at the club level over the past few season. When he has played he has ranged from bad to just okay. Recently joined a new side and needs to establish himself in the team. Not ever featured in WCQ or GC, so has no base with the squad. Is he a right back? A left back? Or a guy who can play either position if the first choice player is out?

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    • Cause he’s N. American!… I kid, just poking fun on some of the citizenship ambassadors dictators we have on board.

      Eric not being called up is a mystery as of now. I really believe Eric & Adu should have been called up for a while now considering we have been calling in bench warmers and pre injured players with no reason. If we are going to continue to call up Sasha the clown, I believe others should get a little sniff to prove themselves.. Adu has done more with a U.S jersey in 5 minutes on the field than Sasha has done in a dozen games.. It kills me to see this clown get a call up… But agree with the Eric situation

      Reply
  4. Most impressive to me has been Klinsmann’s impact already on the next group who will play in 2018. Some of that has been recruiting, but it goes a lot broader and deeper. Brazil may suddenly look intriguing, but 2018 is already looking awesome. A lot of the arguing on these threads is about which of the players who will be reaching their primes in 2018 might see minutes as early as next year in Brazil.

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      • The thread is loaded with debate about whether Klinsmann should be replaced after 2014 before he goes stale, also whether recruiting “pseudo-Americans” is somehow cheating. I’m suggesting that those making those points slow down and take the long view. He is executing against a long-term plan and will just be getting warmed up when the bags are packed in Brazil. That’s why US Soccer hired him.

      • I tend to agree but I think we’re all just excited that as a program, we’re not just lurching for cycle to cycle anymore, which is how it often felt in the past. We actually have enough depth — and young depth, too — that we can talk about the next 10 years of U.S. soccer with optimism (even if that optimism is based in a great deal of speculation). It’s sort of a new thing that’s been a long time coming, so you’ll have to cut us some slack.

        As for the dual nationals thing, though, yea, that’s just garbage.

      • It’s a hard thing to measure, but it appears that JK is raising the profile of American soccer internationally. He’s also shown everyone in the pool that if given an opportunity you can play your way in. As a player there’s not much more you can ask for.

        I would however point out that the progression of the MLS along with the implementation of MLS academies and the home grown player system seems to be greatly impacting the development of young talent. But JK has pushed many of the right buttons.

      • It was only 6 months ago that we lost to Honduras at Honduras, looked terrible, and the sky was falling. It is a very exciting time to be a USMNT fan. LIke many of the folks here, I have followed them since the days of Bruce Murray, Dooley, etc…

        I don’t know what to expect today w/o Dempsey and Donovan, except that I know the guys will go out and compete. They won’t bunker, but they will try to play the game. For THIS I am very excited, and for what it means going forward.

      • Gotcha! (I was just joking with you anyways!!)

        What’s up with the comments being flipped with newest on top?

        It’s kinda sucks if you want to read from the beginning and you need to find the original post then read the replies before going to the next post.

  5. Maybe what Klinsmann has added is a more attractive style of soccer. The Gold Cup team played interesting, entertaining soccer. Of course, doing it against major European or South American teams is another matter. But at least the direction is right.

    Added years for Klinsmann allows him to influence the youth development programs so that the kids coming up have more technical proficiency and a more exciting vision of the game.

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  6. I give JK credit for his work getting the newer guys to commit to our program but IF he can get Parker, then I really, really be impressed.

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  7. I’m curious… A hypothetical question. If let’s say the USMNT scouts find eleven good footballers in Brazil tomorrow who will claim to have American fathers and hence being eligible for the US citizenship. Let’s say none of those guys have ever been to the US, speak any English, have no ties to the US other than the sperm donor, etc. And let’s say those 11 players all play different positions and are good enough to make the USMNT starting line-up. And so, next year in Brazil, they all take the field for the first US group stage game.

    Is everyone here would be rooting for that team just the same as they would if the starting line-up had Dempsey, Donovan, Howard, Altidore, Onyewu, et al?

    If possible, please limit your answers to simple yes/no, unless, of course, you feel you can’t live without the obligatory mudslinging.

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      • wow, that really wasn’t the point of the comment. just pretend that they were born on a theoretical us military base in brasil.

      • Yes but the whole point is that they WERE born on a military base. That makes them just as American as anyone else, maybe more so.

      • what? who are you talking about? there’s not actually 11 brazilians claiming to be american, are there? i don’t think you understood my comment to mason.

      • You remind me of my 4 year old nephew playing the what if game..in real life we have things called Military Bases with people more American then me and probably you. They aren’t going from random country to random country trying to find anyone with American fathers.

      • Johansson’s father wasn’t in the US military – he was some Icelandic dude who happened to be studying here when his kid was born.

      • it sounds like your 4-year-old nephew could teach you about hypothetical situations. which is what the OP was referring to, and which is what i was trying to get mason to understand.

      • Well, who are we to say whether a particular player is worthy to wear the USMNT jersey? I recall Jermaine Jones, one of those dual nationals, battled it out in the snow-storm WCQ game against Costa Rica even after spraining his ankle and receiving stitches at halftime. Should I root for him any less than for Landon Donovan? And while we are at it, does anyone want to question whether Donovan is “American enough” since his father is originally from Canada?

      • That old canard? The fact someone has foreign parents isn’t the issue. Landon lived his whole life here. The Germericans and Johansson have barely set foot in the US.

      • The player, whom you labeled Germerican, was playing for this country through an injury in blizzard like conditions in a critical WCQ game, when his country needed him. By your logic, Eusebio, who is revered in Portugal, should not have been capped by Portugal at the age of 19 since all but one year of his life he lived in Africa. His primary connection to Portugal was a job with Benfica.

      • I have a friend who works for Diplomatic Security ( State Department) If he doesn’t get killed he will probably have spent more than half of his adult life outside of the US. There are quite a few people like that.

        Are they less American because of that?

      • Go read up on them. Johansson spent a lot of time in the US. Lived here until he was 3, then came back every summer. When he turned 16 he picked up a residency at IMG Academy.

        Not defending his Americanness as that’s ridiculous, just pointing out that he has “stepped foot” in this country.

    • No, I wouldn’t root for this team as much, but not because the players would be any less American. I think, at least in part, we root for the current guys on the team because we’ve seen them develop, go from hyped prospects to international players, come back from injuries, work through difficult transfers, achieve historic wins, score big goals, etc. We’re emotionally invested in them. I’m not as invested in new guys who come into the team, regardless of their background. As I follow their careers and they become more integrated into the team, then I’m more emotionally invested in them.

      If we discovered a previously closed-off community of fantastic Amish players in the middle of nowhere in PA who all happened to be world-class and displaced all of our current starters right now, I wouldn’t be as attached to that team either simply because I have no emotional investment in those players. I would still root for them, since they represent the US, but full-level fan commitment would take a while to build up.

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    • “Jurgen Klinsmann has selected a diverse squad”

      “Diverse” is the new “amazing,” which was the new “awesome.”

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      • There has to be a rule about who is eligible and who is not. Right? No matter the rule, you will always be able to find some impossible extreme example of that rule to call it into question.

        How else do you determine eligibility? They have to know lyrics to a Bruce Springsteen song or something? You can’t say that they would have to live here for a certain amount of time, because the good players are going to oversees academies. So, they have to pass some history test or something. No. The rule is fine, every country plays by the same rule. It is only making us better, giving the “traditional” players more competition, and the MLS players are doing pretty damn good in comparison lately. Why worry about it unless you are Xenophobic, of course.

      • Shall we ban this guy too? After all, you’re in charge of deciding what’s acceptable speech right?

      • Slow, I can only speak for myself, but I’ve noticed you commenting a lot lately on this site and almost all of your comments are obnoxious or aimed at getting a reaction about dual-national players not being “american enough” in your view.

        Try adding something to the discussion rather than being a bother.

    • I think all this parsing of who is an American is a little bizarre. If a player has one grand parent born overseas, is he still an American?

      If you are into American purity, root for an all Native American team.

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      • How is that comparable? No one is saying people have to be 100% American for generations to play for the USMNT. Johansson has spent maybe a couple of months here since he was a baby. He’s an opportunist, nothing more. Plus he isn’t even that good. I don’t know why people are so stoked. Personally, I think it’s because deep down a lot of people still think foreign players are better. That’s a pretty outdated view but I guess these kind of things die hard.

      • 1. Johannsson said himself that he has come to the US on vacation almost every year since he left after 3 or 4 years of living here as a child. He also spent a year at the IMG Academy in Florida.

        2. How much have you watched him play? He’s looked pretty dam.n good in the 3 games I’ve watched this season and looked good as well in the pair of games when I watched him come on as a sub last season. Consider Jozy, who performed poorly in his first few years in Europe. Jozy is now one of our most promising players and AJ is probably ahead of him in development considering his age. I guess it’s close but still, AJ has performed well at every level vs. JA who has really started to put it together again over the last 2 years.

        3. Besides all that though, I think I speak for 95% of the people on this site when I say that your comments add very little that can be considered constructive. In the end, we all want the same thing: for the USMNT to be a great team. However, your comments never address any of that. I understand that people will differ on opinions from time to time but your opinions are limited strictly to the fact that dual nationals don’t belong on the squad. Simply stated, you only show up for arguments about dual nationals. Based on the fact that I can’t recall a single comment from you regarding the actual results of the team, I’m led to believe you’re only hear to troll everyone else.

      • If you are talking about Aron he is not a foreign player. He is an American player. That is what FIFA says and those are the rules by which national teams operate.
        People can talk all they want about their preferred realities but right now the reality is if you have an American passport you are an American according to FIFA and according to US law. You should focus your ire on them.
        If Aron is an opportunist so is the USSF. It is a mutual thing. This nothing new using foreigners or newly minted Americans to achieve US goals. The US developed the atom bomb and put a man on the moon pretty much on the backs of German and Nazi scientists…

    • I get that your question is a hypothetical, but it’s not totally relevant as nothing like that will ever happen. As a nation of immigrants with a huge military, we will always have a mix of dual nationals and born/raised here on our team – but never all from one country, not even Germany. The stream of German dual nationals is an historical blip that will stop soon. We pulled our troops (or most of our troops) out of Germany when the berlin wall fell – so the dual national baby making train has got to be slowing down.

      Since the focus of the US military for the past two decades has been the middle east – in the future perhaps we can expect a surge of Afgani and Iraqi dual national players….. But I don’t think they let our guys have babies with the ladies in burqas anyway…

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    • Good question David. Of course my answer is hell no because in the context of international football, that’s straight up cheating.

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    • Instead of a hypo, here’s a real life scenario. Though born and raised in the US, through school and work, I’ve lived in England longer than Johansson has lived in the US. Should I be eligible to play for England (leaving aside my lack of ability as a player)? If not, is it just because I wasn’t born there? What’s the big significance with being born somewhere? Especially when you leave as a baby.

      I think these are interesting questions, I don’t know why they scare some people.

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      • I think you’ve just described the opposite of the Johansson scenario, but if you can get British citizenship, then yes, by all means, go ahead. Or choose to rep the U.S., if that’s what feels right to you. It’s your choice and it should be. I think the reason people aren’t reacting well to your comments isn’t that they’re scared of the question. It’s that, compared to the topic of what these guys can do on the field, the question really isn’t that interesting.

    • I like this question. Having a parent that is a US citizen doesn’t make you American..it makes you a citizen. Nothing more. Living in the United States, participating in the culture, proactively defining the national identity by integrating with the culture here…that makes you American. Being a part of the national identity, believing the United States is the greatest country on earth, yearning for freedom and opportunity…that makes you American. If the only connection is a piece of paper then I would rather pass. I want them to bleed red white and blue. Merica!

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      • Hypocrisy (noun) – ex. fans of a nations built by immigrants complaining about the national team in a sport whose popularity is driven by immigrants because the team includes players who are immigrants.

      • Totally disagree! Identity is complex, and politically contentious, but ultimately personal thing. Living in the US doesn’t make you a citizen or American just as not living here doesn’t make you any less of a citizen/American. I have known plenty of Americans who were born overseas to U.S. parents or spent a significant amount of their youth in foreign countries because their parents were military, or diplomats, or worked for USAID, or a mining conglomerate, or whatever and only returned to the States for college and/or get a job. I think it is insulting to these good people that you would insinuate that they are somehow less American or don’t share in our national identity. Likewise, for someone like Aron Johansson why don’t you let him decide how “American” he is and let the law of the land sort out the citizenship issue. If he feels American enough to play for the team, his citizenship is in order (however he or anybody else came by it), and he’s good enough — then there really is no debate here. (and @slowleftarm have you heard the expression “stop flogging a dead horse”? I think that is why people are getting irritated. Honestly, how many times do we need to revisit these tired tropes about identity politics on what should be a site dedicated to soccer?)

    • Merely claiming to have an American father would not be enough to gain citizenship. The father would have to claim them and/or they would have had to have been born here in the US.

      But, to the substance of your question, do i distinguish between American citizens and “real Americans” when it comes to rooting for the USMNT? No, because I’m not Sarah Palin.

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    • So I know someone whose father was born in US and had a US family, married a Brasilian citizen while she was legally in the US,, moved to Brasil for twenty years, had kids who grew up dual citizens but lived in Brasil until their twenties, before they all moved to the US. One of the kids played soccer in Brasil as a kid and was scouted until he blew out his knee. So if that kid, a US citizen, wanted to play for his father’s country when it came time, I’d say good for him. This is a big interconnected world with lots of individual stories. If you are eligible, all that should matter is whether you wear the colors with pride and work hard.

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    • David M,

      I presume you want to start all eleven together even though they do not play as a team now.

      The answer is no.

      I’m a shallow front runner and I like rooting for teams with a chance to win.
      You said they would play all the positions and have talent that was USMNT starting lineup level but is that Donovan level or Parkhurst level talent? Because Parkhurst is currently a starter.

      I like Michael but a team of eleven guys with his level of talent does not excite me. And if your Amerilians have never played together, they will get killed by the first decent team they play in the World Cup.

      JK has spent nearly two years very carefully building this team up to the World Cup and I wouldn’t trade them for your Sunday rec league pickup team.

      It takes more than talent to win.

      Now if you could get them picked up by Chivas USA and have them play as a unit, for maybe half a season then maybe you would have something there.

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    • No, I wouldn’t root the same. But if there were a couple guys like that on the team, I’ve got no problem with it. Its how international soccer works these days.

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  8. US Soccer Federation just announced Johannsson is cleared to play tomorrow. There is a post on Facebook with the announcement and a pic of AJ holding up a #7 jersey!

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    • FANTASTIC NEWS! I’d realistically have him above E. Johnson and Bedoya. The only reason I’d play Corona over him is due to Corona being in in-season form. I see Aron as one of our winged options for the time being, though he could compete with Jozy by next year.

      But Aron can play out wide so I’d imagine he replaces F. Johnson around the 60th mark and Boyd takes over from Jozy.

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      • I think he would replace whomever is playing dempsey’s spot for this game. AJ game is the SS position, which would complement Jozy, obviously he is going to be the back up to Dempsey for the time being. AJ can play the wing but he made his reputation as a striker.

  9. so JAB is kinda tall and physically imposing … he’s like a younger, more skilled version of Gooch with 2 healthy knees. i’m intrigued

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    • I thought I was the only one thinking this.

      younger, more skilled version of Gooch with 2 healthy knees.” + he has passing skills but less dominate in the air.

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  10. I don’t think Klinsmann gets enough credit for the number of dual citizens who are choosing to play for the U.S. over their other choices.

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      • Not agreed. Klinsmann should be let go after World Cup 2014 so he can move on to new challenges and a new coach should be brought in to take over the USMNT for the next four years.

      • Teams that do well in the first cycle tend to do worse under the same coach in the second cycle. However, I haven’t seen or heard any evidence that the average WC team performs better in the second cycle with a different coach than with the same coach. And even if that was the case, it might be beneficial in certain situations to retain the head coach.
        To be honest, I don’t see the US recruiting a better head coach, so I would like to see Klinsmann in there through 2018. Maybe by then, we’ll have enough respect to get a great head coach in 2022, especially if the WC is moved here like it should be.

      • I tend to agree with this, though I have been wanting JK to coach us for many years and am happy with his ability as coach.

        8 years is too long for a coach of a national team. It pays to have a fresh look at the system, the new talent coming up through the program, new tactics, etc.

        I would love to keep JK around as some director of football position or whatever, so he can continue to work on our youth programs and overall vision.

      • I agree with Biff. However, I think its more likely that klinsmann chooses to leave at the end of the cycle. He’s always talking about how players need to take that next step and continue challenging themselves, and I believe he practices what he preaches. Bring in a new coach and let the pool continue developing under new challenges.

        Now if I was choosing his next challenge, I’d pick technical director for US Soccer. Klinsy is a big picture guy, and he is very progressive. Put him in charge of overseeing the development of soccer in this country for the next few years

      • @C C: For the same reason I was glad to see Bob Bradley get fired. I don’t like coaching dynasties when it comes to national teams. National teams do not benefit from keeping the same coach for much more than a cycle and coaches have their favorites and those on the out don’t get chances. You can see it now starting to unravel with Jogi Low at Germany and Del Bosque at Spain.

        It’s good to shake things up, freshen things up. Let’s not forget Klinsmann was dealing with a player mutiny in March. If that story Sporting News story had not been published forcing the whole mess out in the open I think chances are high the team would have lost both games in March and Klinsmann would have been fired and a lot of players would have been happy.

      • I will say, to Klinsmann’s credit, he reacted well to the Sporting News story, took the complaints to heart and became more flexible. The team chemistry during the Gold Cup was obviously excellent.

      • The German national team might disagree with your sentiment about coaching dynasties. Brazil have gone back to a proven manager as have Spain.

        It’s tough to do, but if you have a good manager and things are working out, you ride the wave. Klinsi has been absolutely fantastic for the national team, MLS, and US soccer. He’s constantly pushing the whole system to do better, constantly talking up all three, and has been utilizing his connections abroad to their maximum potential.

      • Jogi Low has lost it, is becoming clueless, and a majority of fans are tired of him and if he is still coach in Brazil next summer I predict Germany will not make it out of the quarter-finals. Juergen Klopp is twice the coach Low is and most likely will be Low’s successor.

      • That Italy game showed Jogi’s weakness. He set up like Italy had better players than Germany.

        Tactical over reaction…

        BTW Italy is good, just saying they are mortals.

      • Bruce Arena has proven to be a good coach, led the team to the quarterfinals, but 2006 was bad. I wouldn’t be against him taking over again, but the second cycle did not go well. To a lesser extent, Bradley falls into the same category. They shoudl get a cycle, and then move on. If they did well, they should get another opportunity, but not the very next cycle.

      • Bruce Arena should never get another shot. He was the reason we lost to Ghana when the Uruguyan ref went berserk…why didn’t he sub in EJ sooner??

      • National teams that “go back to a proven manager” successfully still tend not to use the same manager in consecutive World Cup cycles. Usually it’s someone who comes back with a fresh perspective after spending enough time away for the player pool to change.

      • Do we actually trust the reporting of the player mutiny?

        I was skeptical of it at the time, and the way the teams (WCQ and GC were basically different squads) have played, my skepticism has not been quashed.

      • Yeah, Jogi Low has been there too long. Hes been good. But I would also agree its time to go.

        I kinda wish it had been after the Euros. That Italy game had such a strange set up. Germany didn’t need to make a bunch of weird tactical changes but he did it.

        I admit though… Mario still needed a Boss game to win it for Italy. That second goal was just amazing.

      • I think it really depends on who is available after the 2014 cycle. It was definitely time to move on from Bob Bradley after last cycle, but it helped a great deal that Klinsmann was essentially waiting in the wings — he was living in California, had a passing knowledge of our player pool, and wanted to play a more possession-oriented brand of football at a time when the program needed to transition.

        In 2015, will we have a new candidate to replace Klinsmann and bring something new to the program? If we perform well at the World Cup, that, combined with our growing stock of young players and improving domestic league, should make us attractive to a wider variety of candidates than in the past. But I wouldn’t drop Klinsmann just because we’re “supposed to.” We need to look (behind the scenes) at who’s on the market and plan accordingly.

        That said, I’m guessing Klinsmann leaves on his own after 2014. A successful World Cup with the U.S. would solidify his reputation as an international coach (erasing some of the debate over his time at Bayern Munich), meaning that he leaves for a more attractive job elsewhere.

      • biff,

        What player mutiny? Are you talking about Tampa?
        I thought they went under.

        “National teams do not benefit from keeping the same coach for much more than a cycle and coaches have their favorites and those on the out don’t get chances”
        That is ridiculous. It is also lazy thinking.
        Del Bosque has a good chance to win his second World Cup in a row in 2014.
        The real issue with a coaches staying on, for any country, is not the coaches, it’s the players.
        If you assemble 23 players good enough to win the 2010 World Cup what are the chances that those 23 are still good enough four years later to do it again? Slim? None?
        What are the chances you will have enough players in reserve to adequately replace the ones in decline?
        Player development is cyclical and very few countries have player pools productive enough to keep up with that four year cycle. Spain might do it and maybe Brazil but that is about it.
        If that “teams do not benefit from keeping the same coach for much more than a cycle” pseudo wisdom were true, how do you explain Greg Popovich, Coach K, Phil Jackson, Joe Torre, and SAF?

      • I think that a problem with national team coaches staying on too long is that in order for them to develop the team chemistry needed, they must show loyalty to players (I personally think that coaches who do not demonstrate such loyalty fail to produce good teams). The time frame for a national team is 4 years, not one so that players who were important to the teams success may be fading in 4 years. It is difficult for anyone to switch loyalties and for a coach to drop a player who has played well for him in the past can be both necessary, fraught with dangers to the trust that the players must have in the coach to support them and a difficult personal decision for the coach. It is just so much easier for a “new” guy to come in and drop those players since there is much less of a personal connection.

      • A lot rides on the next 11 months, but look where our team is now. 19th in the world, 11 straight wins, and having won 60% of our games since JK took over.

      • Disagree. Anything can happen at the World Cup. Failure to progress out of the group stages would be a HUGE failure. However, if Klinsi has, up to then, maintained this winning mentality and developing players and our system, I think he stays on.

        If we get thrown into a group of death (there is one every year), then people won’t be so hard. The World Cup is the golden ticket, but looking at where our team is now, I’d take developing to 2018 over shortsightedness for 2014.

        I.e. most of the players we have now will be in the 2018 squad.

      • Most of the players?
        These probably won’t be around for 2018….
        DOLO, Howard, JJ, LD, CD, Gomez, Goodson, EJ, that is half the starting 11.

      • You can add Beasley & likely Cameron to the cut mark as well.
        Good thing is there is a very good core for the 2018 squad to develop around.
        Bradley, F. Johnson, Jozy, Guzan, Besler, Gonazlez.
        Some very exciting players currently gaining experience in Brook, Chandler, Lichaj, Mix, Corona, Johannsson, Boyd, Williams.
        While I don’t want to get too far ahead….2018 cycle could be a real breakout for the US.

      • Josh D.

        ” I’d take developing to 2018 over shortsightedness for 2014.”

        You have a rough idea of what you will have in 2014 in terms of the US players and their opponents. You are only a game or two from qualifying for the World Cup. Brazil appears to be set, alleged problems notwithstanding.
        In terms of 2018 you have no idea whether any of our so called prospects will pan out or wind up playing part time indoor soccer for the Milwaukee Wave. The US might not qualify for the World Cup. Relations with Russia could be so bad the US will boycott the World Cup. MLS could go bust. Clint will have a second career as a rapper and Donovan will be in Mexico playing for Club America.

        No way JK will waste one second thinking about 2018 nor should he.

      • By that token, we were ranked even higher, had finished 2nd at teh Confederation’s Cup and ended upwinning our group for the first itme ever and finishing #13 at the World Cup, yet everybody called for Bradley’s head. I thought it was time for Bob to go, as I agree with Bif about brining in hew blood, but he accomplished a lot.

        Right now we have the Gold Cup, winning streak and friendlies to bank ona nd that is grat. it will be based on next summer and even then might be time for a change.

      • Bob Bradley was one injury and a bad sub away from winning the GC before he was fired.

        He’d filled out a bad lineup card against Ghana by including Redcardo Clark.

      • zzzzz and yes a last second goal by evans saved us from tying in Jamaica and starting the streak. I didn’t say it was perfect, just people refuse to give credit where credit is due. By that token you can say the car accident of Davies and Gooch’s injury derailed Bradley as well.

      • I say Klingsy till maybe the next Gold cup. I think that would be a good time to switch out. 8 years in 1 job is a long time.

      • I’m kind of torn on this. Generally, I don’t think it’s good to keep the same coach for two WC cycles. However, it seems like the fast-paced, high-pressure, possession-based style that Klinsmann has been preaching is finally starting to take hold, and it would be a shame to see that progress lost if a new coach comes in with a different style. It might work if Klinsmann is replaced by someone like Kreis, Vermes, or Porter, but I worry the team would take a step back if a bigger name foreign coach who wants to put his own stamp on the team is brought in or a more “traditional” American coach like Arena, Bradley, or Kinnear comes in.

      • Pep Guardiola just said he wants to coach the US national team (5-10 yrs out). And Mourinho has said the same thing.

      • Not enough media lip service is paid to the fact that his name carries significant weight in the footballing world, and this influences the decisions of young players weighing their international options. Speculative question, but do you think JAB, Aron Johansson, and a handful of others would have chosen to play for Bradley or Arena?

      • not sure why you mention left back, because fabian was already switching over to us when bradley was coach.

      • who are the handful of others besides brooks and johansson?

        i’m sure they’re not the only ones, but i’m actually having trouble thinking of anyone else klinsmann’s been responsible for bringing over.

      • If Bradley can get Egypt to the WC, and get out of the group stage, then yeah, I think Bradley might be able to get future JABs or AJs to pledge allegiance to the USMNT.

      • I think they would definately play for Bradley or Arena. Their main concern is the opportunity to play in the World Cup. Not who the coach is when it comes to choosing to play for a national team. Its not as though any of these players had a personal relationship with Klinnsmann before.

      • I think what JK did was make it a personal relationship. I read somewhere that JK doesn’t think twice to call a prospective player. During BB tenure he would have someone call the player to get a feel how the player feels about the US. Didn’t FJ said he didn’t spoke to BB until AFTER he filled his switch?

      • I would also argue that he’s a much better marketer of the USMNT than either of his predecessors- it’s clear his enthusiasm is infectious, he’s dedicated to raising the technical level of play, and he believes that the sport has massive growth potential here.

    • that’s weird; i think he gets more credit than he should. i still hear people talking about how he convinced chandler, fabian, and boyd to play for us.

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    • Credit should probably be shared a bit. Many of them were identified under Bradley and were already being recruited in, but JK has certainly done a good job of closing some of the more high profile ones (JAB, AJ). Getting a call from Jurgen is certainly a big deal to many of these players (he’s even reached out to Zelalem, who doesn’t have citizenship yet).

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    • @TomM: Well, and Klinsmann is also fully responsible for the Timothy Chandler fiasco. It is well documented that Klinsmann and Chandler spent a lot of time on the phone the past 20 months during which Timothy has played on two games. But despite Timothy breaking his original promise made in autumn of 2011 that he was fully committed and ready to be cap-tied and instead trying to entice Jogi Low into calling him up, Klinsmann continued to pursue him and try to talk him into being cap-tied, although from the outside it appeared (to me and others) that Chandler’s chemistry with the team was not good. So what does Klinsmann do, call Timothy up for the Russia friendly and then appeared to be pressuring him to accept the cap-tie call-up for Honduras in February.

      As already noted, I think it would have been far wiser for Klinsmann to have simply ignored Chandler when he broke his first promise because it has now become a total mess with Chandler, who tomorrow’s game has either 1) declined Klinsmann’s call-up yet again or 2) was not called up because Klinsmann is fed up with him.

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      • He is also not playing very well for his club, which has been a widely over looked factor. The last few months of last season he was playing right wing not right back. Seemed to almost be playing forward at the end of a couple games. He wasn’t all that effective then was in and out of the line up. To start this season he was at right back again and had an awful game and now appears to have been benched.

        He is still a young player and not nearly as established as many American fans seemed to think. Everyone was just in a bit of rush, seeing he was starting in the Bundesliga. I say give him a fresh start at the start of the next cycle.

    • I think this is such a red herring. Many dual citizens chose the US before Juergen. His name does carry weight, but other factors are likely more important (could any of them play for germany.. maybe but not definitely.. it is highly doubtful and in fact Rongen and US youth players plying their trade in Germany’s youth teams were largely responsible for unearthing some of them)

      Edgar Castillo
      Joe Corona (Bradley named him to the roster)
      Mix Diskerud
      Jermaine Jones
      Michael orozco Fiscal
      Omar Gonzalez
      Jose Francisco Torres
      there are otehrs that are duals that were already in the youth set up.

      I give full credit to Juergen for the recent accomplishments of the team, but dual citizens existed before as well.

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    • I don’t think you know what you’re talking about. Jones, Castillo, Corona, Fabian Johnson and Chandler all switched or were on their way to switching under Bradley.

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      • You need to not just look at the number of dual nationals who switched under one coaching regime or another (and yes, a number were in transition), but the quality of the other options, and the level of pursuit from the competitors….

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