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Klinsmann ‘not afraid’ of potential firing, reflects on USMNT loss to Costa Rica

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Jurgen Klinsmann is still optimistic about his future with the U.S. Men’s National Team despite the disastrous start to the final round of World Cup qualifying.

The USMNT lost their opening two matches to Mexico and Costa Rica, which is the first time this has occurred since the Hex was introduced for the 1998 World Cup cycle. As a result, Klinsmann’s future is up in the air.

In an interview with the New York Times, Klinsmann, who will meet with U.S. Soccer in the coming days, claims that he does not fear a potential firing.

“I’m not afraid,” Klinsmann said. “What you need to do is stick to the facts. Soccer is emotional and a lot of people make conclusions without knowing anything about the inside of the team or the sport. I still believe we will get the points we need to qualify, and I am even confident we could win the group.”

“The fact is, we lost two games. There is a lot of talk from people who don’t understand soccer or the team.”

The USMNT’s next qualifier isn’t until March when it hosts Honduras. Bruce Arena and Peter Vermes are reportedly being eyed as potential replacements for Klinsmann should he lose his job.

Given the manner in which the USMNT lost to Costa Rica last week, Klinsmann faced a lot of criticism. He did admit that he deserves some blame for what transpired in Central America, but he refutes that the team essentially stopped playing in the 4-0 defeat.

“There was nobody giving up at that time,” Klinsmann said. “That was a normal emotional situation when things go wrong. When they get the second goal there, it was like a knock in your neck. I played those games many, many times. The whole stadium goes bananas. It’s totally human to put your head down for a second. And then they counter us for two more. Those games will always happen. We just couldn’t stop it, but the players did not stop trying.”

Klinsmann has been in charge of the USMNT since July 2011. The German has coached in 98 matches, the second-most in team history behind Arena.

Comments

  1. Lets look at some facts.
    His predecessor was fired for failing to win the Gold Cup final. He has failed to advance to the final of that tournament, and has failed to win it twice.
    We failed to qualify for the confed cup next year.
    We are off to our worst start to World Cup qualifying ever since the beginning of the hex.
    We have failed to make the olympics since he took over as technical director. Also massive failures to qualify or advance for the u17s and u20s.
    He has totally failed to deliver on a single promise made at his hiring.
    His captain mentioned twice in as many games that the team lacks a clear idea of what the game plan is supposed to be.

    We may not understand soccer in this country, but we can tell these results suck.

    Reply
      • if you replace the manager I think you give the current a captain a chance to prove himself in the next camp and round of matches. because if it really is a failure of preparing the players, the really every player I think deserved a fresh look under new eyes.

  2. Klinsmann not afraid of losing his job? What has Gulati promised him?

    Jurgen Klinsmann’s B$

    http://www.copa2014.gov.br/en/noticia/jurgen-klinsmann-usa-need-be-proactive

    Klinsmann was going to help the U.S. break free from the defend-and-counter style of Bradley and his predecessor, Bruce Arena. He promised proactive, possession-based play that would elevate the U.S. on the world level. After almost 6 years we are no better under Bradley as we are under Klinsmann and the posture and style of the team has remained extremely similar to past U.S. sides, so it begs the question: Why the hell do we still have Jurgen Klinsmann as the Head coach / Manager of the USMNT???

    USMNT WINS /LOSES/DRAWS

    2000–2009
    172 matches played:
    98 Wins, 42 Losses, 32 Draws
    Between Arena (98-06) and Bradley (06-11)

    2010–2019
    122 matches played:
    64 Wins, 36 Losses, 22 Draws
    (9 wins, 6 draws, 9 loses was Bradley)

    A quote from Gulati
    “One of the reasons we hired Jurgen as our head coach was to advance the program forward and we’ve seen the initial stages of that happening on the field and also off the field in various areas. In the past two years, he has built a strong foundation from the senior team down to the youth teams and we want to continue to build upon that success.”
    Well News flash Gulati we have not advanced or are advancing, yet we have more resources, more talent, more players in the player pool and a better league than before, yet same results (Hence Arena and Bradley attained better / the same results WITH LESS!!!!).
    News flash
    At a time the US had no significant player in their player pool, when we had a league that was just a stepping stone to go to Scandinavian countries (Because Bundesliga and EPL was just too big a dream or made players ride pine), Arena forged the USMNT into a successful international side, and is undisputedly the most successful coach in United States history: most international wins; longest home shut-out; best World Cup showing since 1930, reaching the quarterfinals at the 2002 World Cup, before a controversial defeat against Germany; and all-time best international FIFA Ranking.

    Lets just cut ours loses

    Reply
  3. Odd timing. I don’t think these comments will benefit him in the meeting with Sunil and whomever in US Soccer.

    This was my favorite part of the article:

    “I always made it clear to Sunil, if you really want to move up to the top 15 in the world, you need to have consistency in what you’re doing,” Klinsmann said.

    Reply
    • Evidently it is.

      The new chic thing to do is entertain the old thing to do by hiring a man that appears to be well past his prime in managing, against dual-nationals suddenly (despite employing them during his tenure), and fans conveniently ignoring his own less than flattering assessment of the American soccer fan:

      “Nigel’s a very good player. We don’t have an educated public to understand what he does, but he’s been an important member of our team.” – Bruce Arena

      Spoiler Alert: Nigel was a bad signing, as the educated fans pointed out before the season started and played to his usual classless ways before abandoning the ship like a rat within a season worthy of ridicule for LA. The truly uneducated found themselves ignorantly awarding praise for their horrible off-season signings and transactions by getting older, more expensive and failing to raise any silverware.

      On paper, there could be justifications for firing Arena after the underwhelming performance following the supposed “high expectations” and head scratching swaps of players young and capable for players old and handicapped.

      …but he’s the answer for the national team? Maybe 15 years ago.

      Reply
      • i’m assuming you know that most people are not proposing arena as a long-term solution, but as an experienced hand who can see us through this world cup cycle, which is what he is. (granted, i think you or i could get the usmnt through the hex, so that’s not saying a whole lot.)

      • I haven’t taken an actual/accurate poll, but I’m seeing his name mentioned fairly routinely around SBI in threads related to the topic. To which, I think it’s completely absurd.

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