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Gulati gives Klinsmann full backing despite Gold Cup failure

Jurgen Klinsmann Sunil Gulati USMNT 84

 

By IVES GALARCEP

The calls for Jurgen Klinsmann’s job are starting to grow among U.S. Men’s National Team fans, but the one man who could actually fire the German coach sounds like he’s nowhere close to considering such a move.

Speaking to media after Saturday’s U.S. loss to Panama, Gulati made it clear that just because Bob Bradley was fired in 2011 after a Gold Cup final loss doesn’t mean Klinsmann is facing a similar fate after seeing his team finish in fourth place, the worst U.S. finish since 2000.

“No I don’t think that’s a reasonable assumption,” Gulati told reporters. “I said it the last time: We don’t make judgements based on one game. We don’t go in and renew a contract because we beat Germany and Holland away from home and we won’t make a change here. There’s no parallels in all of this.”

Klinsmann spoke about the state of the team after Saturday’s loss and tried his best to remind people that he is in the process of rebuilding the team after the 2014 World Cup.

“This is the year one after Brazil, and our goal is to go further in the next World Cup than we did in Brazil, and this is a working process now,” Klinsmann said. “This will give us, here and there, some kickbacks, some situations where you make a step back maybe, and you hopefully make two forward. That process is ongoing.

“We had the discussion now on Wednesday night after the game with Jamaica and this team will grow. This team will get better,” Klinsmann said. “The youngsters will learn out of mistakes that they make on the field. They will become more responsible, more accountable, more personalities.

“I can’t blame anybody for the last four weeks. No way, because they really showed great character, the spirit was very good throughout the tournament. They kept going. Our goal is to move things forward, to become a little bit more proactive, and not reactive. This process will keep on going.”

Klinsmann sounded very much like someone who knows his job is safe, and Gulati’s comments backed up that notion.

“The Gold Cup was a very big competition. Jurgen knows it, the players know it, we all know it,” Gulati said. “We didn’t achieve what we wanted. Now, we’ll go onto the next thing which is the playoff game and the start of World Cup qualifying.”

What do you think of Gulati’s comments supporting Klinsmann? Feel Klinsmann should be replaced? Think Gulati’s patient approach is the way to go?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. @GaryPage
    ‘re. Klinsmann tactical issues, I’ve personally been documenting them here on this board for years now…and the successes. Many are able to identify these now
    as for calling for his head, whoever does so is practicing a clearly pointless endeavor in any case, whether merited or not…Gulati has made that clear. JK’s spot is reserved

    Reply
  2. The Jurgen lovers need to give SBI a standing ovation for creating another opportunity for them to parade their devotion to Jurgen der Grosser. I am sure that they have felt really repressed the last couple weeks without a meaningful opportunity to lecture us all that the tide is about to turn, there’s light at the end of the tunnel, the law of averages is on our side and so on….

    And we can all thank Jurgen for another quote that I suspect will come back to bite him. You will remember his claim that we would win the Gold Cup. Now he is talking about “going further’ in the WC. Now I know all coaches feel compelled to say things like that and we need to set ambitious goals, blah, blah, blah. But the chances of this US team getting to the quarterfinals cannot be particularly good and going beyond borders on the impossible. And frankly it does not matter who the coach is.

    Reply
    • OM,

      “Now he is talking about “going further’ in the WC.”

      JK beat you to it. He publicly set a target of making the semis in 2018 a while ago.

      “But the chances of this US team getting to the quarterfinals cannot be particularly good and going beyond borders on the impossible.”

      It’s too early to tell. It’s still three years away.

      People could die,planes and cars crash ( see Davies, Charlie) and there are natural disasters. The other shoe has yet to fall on the FIFA business and who knows how that will affect things?

      You don’t know what the USMNT or it’s opposition will look like.

      Most important of all the draws for the groups has not been held yet.

      Reply
      • Right, if we get out of group and then have a soft run, we could get to the semis. It might take a relatively easy first game and then catching someone on a bad day in the quarters – like we almost did in 2002. But we also could not get out of group. After two World Cups in a row of advancing from group play, I wonder how many fans just assume that’s a birthright now?

      • No odds on the quarterfinals seem to be available, but the odds for the U.S. to win the WC are either 50/1 or 66/1 much the same as Poland and Uruguay.

  3. What I would like to see more….is a conversation about the possibility that the USMNT players don’t like each other. I was in Nashville when Chandler scored on that beautiful left footed strike…and Michael Bradley look almost disappointed and never trotted over to congratulate him…
    The lack of energy thru this whole Gold Cup has been disturbing….could it have been driven by pathetic team unity?

    Reply
  4. I love the way Klinsmann spins things….. “Remember, I’m rebuilding the team” What a crock. Looked very much like the same cast of clowns he’s been calling for a long time. How is he rebuilding with Dempsey, Zusi, Beckerman, Wondo, Gordon, and Beasley. Has Klinsmann discovered a fountain of Youth in his backyard in Cali? Cause none of the above will be there next time out.

    JK REALLY needs to take a long look at the people he’s calling and toss about 2/3 of them. They simply are not good enough and won’t get any better

    Reply
    • Danko,

      So who do you have that are better than the guys you named?

      You named Dempsey. Who is your American striker who is a more reliable goalscorer on the big stage?

      Reply
  5. Here’s an interesting question. How many teams have won the World Cup with a foreign coach?

    Answer – zero.

    Maybe that is just a product of low statistical sample size. But maybe it reflects a competitive advantage gained from familiarity with the situations in which that pool of players was developed. An American USMNT coach, for instance, preferably one with extensive USMNT playing experience, might better know the capabilities and limitations of his American roster. He also might know how to better communicate with his players.

    Not a sermon; just a thought.

    Reply
    • Of course, I don’t mean to imply USMNT is only the hiring of an American away from winning the World Cup. It’s all about realistic expectations, and then whether you can surpass those or fall short. All teams look for every competitive advantage they can find to help them surpass expectations. For us at this point in our development, winning a World Cup isn’t a realistic expectation. Maybe winning a quarter finals game is, like JK is aiming for, but after this Gold Cup that is now sounding a bit more unrealistic.

      Reply
      • Paul,

        “after this Gold Cup that is now sounding a bit more unrealistic.”

        Winning a World Cup, in Russia, could be a realistic expectation for Germany, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands, France and Italy.

        That’s it.

        Outside of those guys it is aim for the semis and hope to get hot and lucky.

        This talk about whether the USMNT has regressed is beside the point.

        It is irrelevant how “good” the USMNT is today.

        The US and Mexico have taken turns beating up on the rest of CONCACAF and looking good at this point in the cycle. What good has it gotten them in terms of the World Cup? One quarterfinal appearance apiece in the modern era. That is lame.

        I care about how good it will be in 2018. I want to see the USMNT in the semis.

        And if that means letting Brooks and Alvarado take their lumps will make them a better CB pair in 2018 then I’m fine with that.

        As for the USMNT players, the talk seems to be US player pool is better now than it used to be.

        That is true but that is only in relation to itself.

        For example, AJ, Jozy , Zardes and Dempsey are a better group than Jeff Cunningham, Conor Casey, Kenny Cooper Jr. and Brian Ching but that doesn’t mean the present group would make the final 23 of any of the World Cup contenders I mentioned. previously.

        And most of all, this edition of the USMNT don’t have a Donovan, a player who, in his prime, because of his sheer genius, could paper over the cracks of an otherwise shaky USMNT. In American sports cliche, a game changer.

        Clint is a better finisher, an excellent terminator. He is the closest thing to a game changer but he’s not as good at it as LD was.

        Mikey is probably a better professional than both of them and he gets the most out of what he as but at the end of the day he is just a very good international midfielder, not a great one.

        The opposition that the USMNT will have to face, if they get the chance, to make noise in Copa America, The Confederations Cup and ultimately the World Cup, has not gotten any weaker since BB and the Bruce left.

        So those who want one of them back,go ahead and bring back Bruce or Bob but then tell me who will be their Landon, the guy who saved their posteriors more often than not?

      • “The US and Mexico have taken turns beating up on the rest of CONCACAF and looking good at this point in the cycle. What good has it gotten them in terms of the World Cup? One quarterfinal appearance apiece in the modern era. That is lame.”

        I can see your point. Hopefully you can see mine, too. I remember a time when just qualifying to go to the World Cup seemed like a pipe dream. From that perspective, it is great to now be expected to qualify, and to reach the point where no one is surprised when we play out of group. Winning a knockout game like we did against Mexico that one time, and arguably playing Germany even with the semis on the line(according to Beckenbauer, we even outplayed Germany in that quarterfinal, though lost) is just icing on the top.

        We’re still not elite. Our players can’t play at the same speed, don’t have the same skills… on and on. But we’re a whole lot closer than we were.

      • Agree with your player assessments across the board, by the way. I don’t know who the next ‘game changer’ will be.

        However, Donovan’s game changing effects were primarily felt in CONCACAF situations, outside the 2009 Confederations Cup win over Spain and the 2010 heroics that got us out of group. The 2014 group was more difficult, and we still advanced.

    • I think it’s because countries strong enough to win a world cup also are strong enough to produce quality coaches. I don’t have any problem with a foreign coach but I don’t think the current foreign coach is the right one for the job.

      Reply
    • Losing to Mexico, in a Bob Bradley-esque manner (like blowing a 2 nil lead by giving up 4 unanswered goals) might be enough to trigger a firing. If we play as poorly against El Tri as we did Panama on Saturday then it could happen. I’m not part of the fire Klinsi bandwagon but I think he must take full responsibility for the poor performance on the pitch against Panama. Getting outshot 25-5 is embarrassing, especially to a second rate team like Panama which was playing a lot of second stringers.

      Reply
      • Couldn’t care less what happened in the 3rd place game but the performances the rest of the tournament were poor. Still doubt he will be fired though.

  6. I don’t understand how people say JK throws his players under the bus. He could have said hey Jozy stinks. That’s what most people on this very site were saying all season and especially after the group stage. Then bam he’s cut and everyone jumps to his defense. I think he was very clear with LD, he had to earn his place on the team. What did people want him to do say everyone has to earn their spot and then put him on because he was great. That would be not telling the truth.

    Disagree with his tactics if you want, but to attack his ethics and character, because he didn’t put your favorite player on the team seems questionable.

    Reply
    • Johnny, this is how JK throws his players under the bus.

      1) In a NYTimes interview he said Dempsey hasn’t done s*!@t in his career
      2) Donovan did earn his way back on the team by winning Klinsmann his first trophy as a manager – the 2013 Gold Cup. Landon was named MVP for that tournament. Then when JK doesn’t name him to the WC squad Donovan is shocked. That is not how you treat a player who has done so much for the growth of the game in this country. If you aren’t taking him fine, but he shouldn’t have been shocked and humiliated by saying other players are better. And Klinsmann lied about it too by saying Donovan was a forward but yet when he described Donovan as a player, he described a midfielder. Why because there is no way he can claim Brad Davis “was a little bit better” than Donovan.
      3). Bocanegra was the USMNT captain for years and still performing well in WCQ. Out of the blue Klinsmann doesn’t start him and then doesn’t call him up again. Boca was shocked and had no idea why. Not how you treat a human being who had been a fixture in the team.
      4) Klinsmann has on multiple occasions blamed results on the players, their fitness, or not being “nasty” enough but has never accepted any blame himself.
      5) He claims he’s not calling up certain players because they’re not getting time with their club but then calls up players not getting time with their second division club, playing in NASL or are amatuers
      5) When he does have supportive words for his players it is because he is covering his own a$$ or because they are German developed.

      Reply
      • wood chip zip :

        “Johnny, this is how JK throws his players under the bus.

        1) In a NYTimes interview he said Dempsey hasn’t done s*!@t in his career”

        Dempsey was part of the 2005 Gold Cup winning team. I don’t know how much he played. Other than that his teams have won nothing. For that matter Mikey’s teams have never won anything either.

        “2) Donovan did earn his way back on the team by winning Klinsmann his first trophy as a manager – the 2013 Gold Cup. Landon was named MVP for that tournament. Then when JK doesn’t name him to the WC squad Donovan is shocked. That is not how you treat a player who has done so much for the growth of the game in this country. If you aren’t taking him fine, but he shouldn’t have been shocked and humiliated by saying other players are better. And Klinsmann lied about it too by saying Donovan was a forward but yet when he described Donovan as a player, he described a midfielder. Why because there is no way he can claim Brad Davis “was a little bit better” than Donovan”.

        This is all highly debatable.

        “3). Bocanegra was the USMNT captain for years and still performing well in WCQ. Out of the blue Klinsmann doesn’t start him and then doesn’t call him up again. Boca was shocked and had no idea why. Not how you treat a human being who had been a fixture in the team.”

        That was not out of the blue. He was starting to lose it. Boca had a turbulent club situation. In the space of one or two years, with Rangers falling apart, he had to move to Spain with Racing Santander and then had to move back to MLS with Chivas. He was left off of the 2013 Gold Cup squad so he could concentrate on getting club situation sorted out .

        “4) Klinsmann has on multiple occasions blamed results on the players, their fitness, or not being “nasty” enough but has never accepted any blame himself.”

        Without JJ around USMNT players need to be nastier, They let Jamaica push them around. But where are the quotes where he has named individual players? He said Jozy wasn’t fit but everyone knew that the idea was to try and get him fit for the Gold Cup. It did not work out.

        “5) He claims he’s not calling up certain players because they’re not getting time with their club but then calls up players not getting time with their second division club, playing in NASL or are amatuers”

        So what? How well informed are you about how good these players actually are at that time? Name me a young forward who has played better for the USMNT than Jordan Morris?

        “5) When he does have supportive words for his players it is because he is covering his own a$$ or because they are German developed.”

        Shea isn’t German developed, neither are Zardes,Guzan, Alvarado, Yarborough, DMB, Jordan Morris,Clint Dempsey, or Jozy, some of the players JK has had supportive words for.

      • 1) He was challenging his captain, the man he defended and kept on the team when people were calling for his dismissal for the ref incident and removed the captaincy so he wouldn’t have to be asked about it over and over at the press conferences during the tournament.

        2) You are correct LD played great in the 2013 Gold Cup, but that was 2013, and by 2014 LD had lost a step maybe 2 or 3. Yes, he finished strong in MLS, but WC defenses are stronger than MLS. Would he have knocked home Wondo’s wiff maybe, but he wouldn’t have been playing that position.

        3)Boca was done, could he have handled it better yes. It was clear he wouldn’t have what it took to make Brazil and it was time to move on. Besler and Omar were able to develop because Boca was moved out. The National Team isn’t about being sentimental its about winning.

        4)Fit is JKs, attempt at trying not to say “he stunk”, he doesn’t mean he couldn’t run up and down the field he means he couldn’t make the correct pass or tackle after running up and down the field. And other than Jones and Beckerman, the US does lack for Nasty. Could he fall on the sword a little bit more maybe, but then the naysayers would say see even Jurgi thinks he stinks.

        5) Supportive of Dempsey, Beckerman, Bedoya, constantly bragging on how good Bradley is as an attacker. Morris, Gyasi, he gushed all about DMB this weekend. Bob defended Ricardo Clark endlessly as well as Bornstien, every coach has players he believes in more than fans or the media.

    • JK is the sole of Bruce’s shoe, and is as bad as Bob Bradley was, or worst, with his fkn experimentations and leaving Landon Donovan off the World Cup on an ego trip.

      Reply
  7. Quizzol, Diego,
    Please stop wasting your time with rational, polite arguments. You are dealing with delusional, short-sighted, xenophobic US fans. While I applaud your attempts at raising their levels of awareness, as you can see, it falls on deaf ears. Give up and let them wallow in their own hysteria and ignorance!

    Reply
  8. Gregg Berhalter should be the next USMT coach… knows German, plays a style more friendly on the eyes, and actually may be able to help the defense. Look what he has done with Columbus with not much resources….

    Klinsi has to go. That was evident when he left out Donovan on the WC roster. He holds grudges and isn’t a players coach.

    End of…

    Reply
      • A year and a half at Hammerby, 4th place first year, let go mid-year in 8th. First American ever to manage in Europe.

      • His style of play is based on Europe though since he spent his whole career there. Captained Cottbus to the Bundesliga, has tons of playing experience. He is also very tied to US Soccer so don’t be surprised if it happens sooner rather than later…

    • Donovan tried to take Marquez one on one in the friendly last spring and he couldn’t get by him, that’s why he didn’t make the team. If he couldn’t beat Rafa Marquez he couldn’t play. Get over it, he’s the best American field player ever, but he would have been no help at the WC.

      Reply
      • Then why was he in the 30 man squad? Another bizarre explanation, this one even stranger than the sabbatical explanation. His son’s tweet confirms it was a personal grudge if we didn’t already know. Clearly, LD would have been a better choice than Davis or Wondo.

      • If one play is the reason Donovan didn’t make the team, Klinsmann is a bigger fool than I thought.

        Btw, Donovan proved with the Galaxy last summer that he wasn’t some washed up has been.

      • SBI Troll,

        When you apply for a job you don’t try to impress them AFTER the job interview.

        Playing well for the Galaxy that summer doesn’t prove anything.
        other than LD has a bad sense of timing.

      • MLS success doesn’t mean WC success. Giovinco, David Villa, Kaka are all at the top of the MLS score sheet and are not playing for their national teams.

  9. Abuse? Your soccer knowledge is pure comedy. And I did learn that according to you Jose Agudelo and Mix are among the 5 players who have improved most under Klinsmann, that Tab Ramos is JK’s successor, and that we should all email our thoughts to US Soccer because they definitely will listen to a bunch of guys on a website at the US Soccer executive board.

    Mostly when OMG asked me what I knew about the locker room you would not acknowledge anything I wrote because you bury your head in the sand when you don’t like the truth. So I learned you are weak. Until next time you embarrass yourself…good night

    Reply
  10. Oh and the players want Diego’s Mardoughnuts to take all of your thoughts and email them to Sunil so we can have HIM as our national coach and Technical Director.

    Reply
  11. Okay, here you go.

    This should not come as a suprise but most of the team think the coach is an airhead, spacy, inconsistent and not trustworthy.
    The young guys listen because they are too scared not to follow his almighty word.
    The veterans are the guys the young players listen to once the game starts. The veterans hold the locker room together and if the vets were bad guys (like the 1998 veterans were) there would be a total mutiny. The rest of the coaching staff is just mediocre.
    But the veterans are so frustrated and you can see that in their play. A classic sign is how many 50-50 balls we did not compete for. A fighting team with good team chemistry usually wins those battles.
    This is what is going on and I could care less if you believe it or not.
    My question is, why would you not believe it?
    Can it get better? Yes but only the senior players can save this ship right now.

    Reply
    • Gee, why was Dempsey the best player on the pitch yesterday, the one fighting the hardest? Are you saying Bradley didn’t play hard? He didn’t play well, but he certainly played hard. Those two are the captain and the previous captain. Isn’t that what qualifies as veteran leadership? Wouldn’t the other players look up to those two, or would they follow other, gee, more veteran and qualified leaders, whoever that would be? You see, when compared to actual evidence like the play in yesterday’s game, your assertions ring hollow.

      Reply
      • Just thought I would add thart DMB un-retired at Klinsmann’s request to joing for the Gold Cup. I can’t imnagine he would do that if he didn’t respect Klinsmann. Now Tim Howard wants to un-retire. I checked and confirmed my impression that Beckerman has played a lot more for Klinsmann than for Bradley. Beckerman, in 2007, 2009, and 2010 played a total of 12 times for the US. Since 2011 through 2014 he played 30 more times. I can’t imagine that a player wouldn’t play hard for a coach who gives him a lot more playing time. When you look at the veterans on the team, it’s hard to see where your alleged discontent would come from outside of Besler or maybe Gonzalez. Since Besler isn’t on the roster, it’s hard to see how he could affect the atmosphere in the locker room.

    • What senior players? Beckerman? Jones? Tim Howard? Brad Evans? Beasley? Dempsey? Those guys are all but done, except for maybe Demps.

      Or the 4-strong group of 25-33-year-old players who are worth anything…Bradley, Bedoya, Guzan, and Fabian?

      What senior players do you speak of here? Are we going to recycle Gooch, Edu, and Feilhaber and hope they lead us to the promised land?

      Where are these core guys you speak of? There’s a bunch of older guys aging out of the pool and a bunch of babies who aren’t ready and a big hole in the middle.

      Seriously, who are these veteran guys who can “save” the team?

      Reply
    • Does your inside source say anything about a few of the basic fundamentals of soccer?
      I don’t think any coach is going to progress with this team when the vast majority of them didn’t trap the ball within 10 yards of their first touch. Most of our guys looked like they had the first touch of Edward Scissorhands, passed the ball harder than Brett Favre, and hit long balls like Albert Pujols.
      How about the ridiculous number of wasted turnovers?
      It’s popular to dump on Chandler, but how many balls did MB and Beck give away?
      At what point do players have to take some responsibility for not executing the most basic of fundamentals?
      Dump on JK all you want, but everyone had the same field and heat conditions, if Nat Team players can’t pass or trap a ball without lead feet, JK ain’t the only issue.

      Reply
      • Bradley was dreadful on Sat., especially on the counter. He consistently tried to dribble through the defense despite having open men on either side of him. However, he was not the only player prone to turnovers on the pitch. IMO most if not all the men seemingly gave away countless unforced turnovers.

  12. David M that sounds like Sunil BS. just like him saying “we showed great character and spirit was good throughout the tournament”
    What a bunch of Political BS
    That lockeroom is a group of guys that have ZERO confidence in their coach. God as my witness I have people in the know who have direct access to players and personnell and I wish I could print what I know

    Reply
    • I see a lot of claims by a lot of people on the internet. We don’t even know your real name, so your word is worth nothing. I have always been up front. I don’t claim specialized knowledge, only the experience of watching several thousand high level professional soccer games over the last 40 years. If anyone wants to find out about me, I’m on Facebook. I forget what Gary Page I am, something like 46, but if you look for retired City of San Diego administrator you’ll find me. I don’t pretend to be anything I’m not. In journalims you are not supposed to use anonymous sources unless you get it verified by at least two other sources. So, provide us some verification or just shut up.

      Reply
  13. The Sunil Gulati / Jurgen Klinnsman boiler room must work Sundays. You guys are classic and I would not be surprised if you guys were actually Sunil / JK.

    It’s true that we face a lack of talent at this point but let’s be real. Both Arena and Bradley were able to coax similar/better results with teams that had less depth, although possibly, possibly more front line talent.

    Somehow, someway they were able to turn Freddie Adu into a more than capable player in Gold Cup matches. They turned guys like Cobi Jones, Frankie Heduk, and Alexi Lalas into extremely capable international players. Your boy has done none of this.

    I asked yesterday, who has gotten markedly better in a national team jersey under JK and heard crickets.
    So I put it to the Klinnsy fan club, name one player who has improved in a nats jersey under JK.

    Name one tournament where we have improved as play progressed under JK.

    There aren’t any. That’s on him. If we lose the playoff game, he must go.

    Reply
    • Silver good post. You won’t get an answer from Maranonuts or Davis, Lennon, McCartney, Ringo and Associates.
      They hide under their beds like they did yesterday. They only come out when you call them out
      So I want them to answer your question
      Who has improved under JK?
      This ought to be a classic

      Reply
    • “Name one player who has improved in a nats jersey under JK”

      Dumb question. Jermaine Jones clearly. So you’ve already lost.

      Throw in Fabian Johnson and Kyle Beckerman. Diskerud as well. Oh yeah also Agudelo. Wait a sec….also Bedoya. There might be some others…. I’ll get back to you.

      Reply
      • Did I say name ONE player who improved under JK
        Read the post again. I said “WHO has improved under JK”

        And your answer is JJ and Fabian. I will give you that but they also do whatever the hell they want to out there and at times hurt the team chemistry. You wouldn’t understand.

        But for a moron who lists Mixed up Diskerud and Jose Agudelo as his top 5 (how’d the Gold Cup work out for them?) I can only continue to say Please please keep the comedy coming
        Everybody loves a clown

      • I was one of those who insisted that DMB would be a failure at LB because he had been under Bradley. I was wrong and Klinsmann was right and DMB improved tremendously at that position. Because he has been injured a fair bit lately, it is too early to say for sure, but it looks like Brek Shea is improving under Klinsmann as a left back. He has, in fact, played better for the men’s team under Klinsmann, even as a winger than he did in MLS or EPL, IMO.

  14. “This is the year one after Brazil, and our goal is to go further in the next World Cup than we did in Brazil…”

    I’m pretty sure those were Gulati’s exact words in 2011 when hiring Klinsmann. The goal was to go further in the next WC that we did in South Africa. Not finishing fourth playing at home in the Gold Cup was also a goal.

    How did both of those goals work out with the Messiah who’s making at least five times more money than his predecessor?

    Reply
    • “I’m pretty sure those were Gulati’s exact words in 2011 when hiring Klinsmann.”

      I’m actually very sure that they were NOT Gulati’s words, given the 2010 World Cup was held in South Africa.

      Reply
  15. Teams go through up phases and down phases. Sometimes in the course of a week. Bruce Arena and LA Galaxy just got pummeled 3-0 by the Houston Dynamo last night. Can Arena suddenly not coach? Of course not. He’s short players, after all…of course, so was Owen Coyle, in fact was short Giles Barnes and now Damarcus Beasley.

    Right now I really believe the USMNT is going through a down cycle owing to the lack of talent in the 32-to-25-year-old age group, the period when a player should be entering their “primes”. Our key guys are either a little too old – Beckerman, Beasley, Jermaine Jones, even Dempsey (though he hasn’t slowed down yet) – or a little too young. Again, WHY there is such a gap there, I don’t know – aside from Michael Bradley, Bedoya, Altidore, Fabian Johnson (a German product), and Guzan, there isn’t a single regular in the bunch in that age group.

    What happened? No idea. I do think injury had some impact on it; losing Stuart Holden, Charlie Davies (a poster pointed this out yesterday), and some other intriguing prospects like Josh Gatt to injuries certainly didn’t help.

    So let’s go down the list.
    Strikers Internationally, there are zero American strikers playing regularly in any of the four biggest European leagues right now. That leaves MLS. Here’s a link to the top scorers in MLS:
    http://www.mlssoccer.com/stats/season?sort=asc&order=G&season_year=2015&group=GOALS

    The only forwards on that list who are American, and scoring regularly, are Bruin (9), Wondo (9), Dempsey (7), Altidore (7), and kinda-sorta Davies (6). Does anybody think Bruin or a Charlie Davies missing an inch of his leg are the answer?

    Midfielders. Only Bedoya and FJ play regularly in a Big 4 Euro league. Alfredo Morales just got a promotion with his squad and will be…and he’s already been called up. Julian Green and Gedion Zelalem are very young fringe players who haven’t gotten regular club minutes. Only Bedoya and FJ are in that 25-33 age bracket. Am I missing anyone? In MLS, Benny Feilhaber is impactful but he’s now 30 and he played his way off the USMNT for a couple different coaches…maybe Klinsmann should give him another go, but we obviously need a ton of help here. Danny Williams (Reading) and Emerson Hyndman (Fulham) have also gotten looks and may factor…only Williams is in that 25-33 bracket as well…and again, he’s a German product. Joe Corona gets regular PT in Mexico…but has he struck anyone as a real answer?

    Defenders Timmy Chandler, Jon Brooks, and Fabian Johnson all play Bundesliga 1. Only Johnson’s over 25. Venturo Alvarado starts for Club America, also impressive. Geoff Cameron starts (at right back) for a defensive-minded Stoke City side; Tim Ream starts at left back for Bolton in the Championship…neither really have the speed Klinsmann likes at outside back or feature at CB for their clubs so that leaves JK in the position of either starting them at a spot they don’t play, or starting a guy without speed at outside back. After that it’s pretty much all MLS guys like Gonzalez and Besler. Brek Shea, I think, is 25 now but he’s out hurt and that seems to happen to Shea a lot. Gregg Garza (still 23) was distinctly Not Ready in the group stage of the Gold Cup. Yedlin plays RW for Klinsmann, and like seemingly every American who goes into the EPL, is looking for somewhere, anywhere he can get PT.

    Who else we got, who is remotely established?

    Again, the list of true International-caliber American players in their prime years is very small right now, for whatever reason. Which means Klinsmann either has to go very young, or very old. Young guys make mistakes. Old guys tend to hit a wall physically during long tournaments. Which is exactly what happened to us this Gold Cup.

    And that’s why the team is down. The drop-off between, say, Dempsey, Yedlin, and even Damarcus Beasley and the guys Klinsmann was trying to play against Panama was obvious to anyone with eyes. But where are the replacements? Where are those guys, age 25-33, in the “prime years” of their careers, whom Klinsmann can just plug in and achieve results with?

    Just my own opinion, and I don’t see an easy short-term fix, regardless of who’s coaching this bunch. You’d ideally want a coach who’s really working hard to develop the young guys and Klinsmann seems to be doing that already; he’s put just way more emphasis on the U23’s and U20’s than I’ve ever seen a prior American coach do. I think this “donut hole” of missing talent just seems to work its way through and we concentrate on getting the young guys worked in ASAP, which seems to have been Klinsmann’s plan already; he was shuffling young guys – and getting some intriguing results with them – in the friendlies prior to the Gold Cup.

    If that’s not reactive enough, sorry.

    Reply
    • One thing I’ve kind of wondered is, does Klinsmann have a responsibility to use the National team as a spot light to get younger players attention abroad? Is continuing to play guys like Beckerman and not giving a chance to Kitchen holding him back? Are clubs scouting MLS at all or do they just wait until they are good enough for the National team? With work permit rules as they are, is it really fair to judge players on the league they are in? Also how does Chandler play in the Bundesliga?

      Reply
      • Jack

        “does Klinsmann have a responsibility to use the National team as a spot light to get younger players attention abroad?”

        Bob Bradley did that with Benny and Freddy. If JK did that you would criticize him for not fielding the “best” player.

        “Is continuing to play guys like Beckerman and not giving a chance to Kitchen holding him back?”

        If JK plays Beckerman because he thinks he is better than Kitchen then what is your problem? If Kitchen can’t outplay Beckerman in training enough to force JK’s hand then why should he play ahead of him?

        “Are clubs scouting MLS at all or do they just wait until they are good enough for the National team?”

        What clubs are you referring to? If you are referring to English clubs, depending on the player, the permit rules about numbers of caps and so on apply. If there were no work permit rules you probably would have seen a lot more American players in the UK over the last 10-15 years.

        “With work permit rules as they are, is it really fair to judge players on the league they are in?”

        I judge players by how well they play for the USMNT. Jozy played well for the USMNT when he was stinking up the EPL and he was garbage for the US when he was tearing it up in Holland.

        “Also how does Chandler play in the Bundesliga?”

        Very well. He’s a regular for his club. Club and league form does not always translate to the national team. Not to put too fine a point on it but the USMNT has different players, schemes and opponents from Chandler’s BL team.

        Until very recently Messi scored goals for Argentina at almost exactly half the rate he did for Barca. It’s a team game.

      • Could it be that one reason Bobby Wood was brought in against Holland and Germany was to help him get a team? Klinsmann knows a lot of coaches in Europe. My suspicion is that he showcased both Zardes and Morris in Denmark and Switzerland in order to promote their careers as well as give them valuable experience. I will be very surprised if there aren’t some European teams interested in those two.

      • Jack,

        By the way, one of the best US forwards this year has been Morris who doesn’t even play in a pro league.

        The NCAA thought Leo Stolz was a better player. What does that tell you?

      • GW as you stated above its a team game. My guess is with Morris’s speed he’s offside a lot for Standford because his teammates don’t have the passing ability of professionals. I know its Standford, but still surprises me he hasn’t turned pro.

      • GW, not sure what you mean by, “The NCAA thought Leo Stolz was a better player. What does that tell you?”, but just in case, just want to say that Leo Stolz was absolutely a better player than Morris in college the last two years. Not even close.

        If that wasn’t your point than disregard.

      • UCBG,

        Jack said:

        “With work permit rules as they are, is it really fair to judge players on the league they are in?”

        The point about Morris is that he was not regarded as the best player in his league, an amateur league at that, yet based on what he has done with the USMNT he looks very promising as a future international, assuming he continues to develop and he recovers his health.

        The league a player plays in will tell you only so much about him.

        It still gets down to a case by case basis.

      • Got it. I agree. Same reason I get mad about Omar Gonzalez not starting just because he plays in MLS (assuming that is the case). No doubt Klinsmann regards both Bundesliga and Liga MX as a higher level.

    • Some very good insights, as always.

      One thing that is striking– it would be easy to blame Bob Bradley for this “hole” in our talent pool. It’s true that we don’t have many players in the “prime years” (25-29) who Bradley shepherded in to the first team.

      But that would be harsh. Bradley did not blood many youngsters, but he placed a high degree of faith in a few cases that turned out very badly through not fault of his. Stu Holden, Charlie Davies, Gooch, Adu. Perhaps he had a very reasonable vision that involved all of these guys.

      Overhauling development is the entire goal, and it’s worth it, as I’m sure you’d agree. The end-game (whether it’ 5 or 50 years away) has to be to be like Germany, who lost a frigging CM during warm-ups of a World Cup Final, lost his replacement within 25 minutes, and still cruised on as though nothing had happened.

      Reply
      • Bradley did not have dual role to Head Coach and Technical director

        Do you understand what a GOOD technical director would do?
        No you don’t so I will explain

        He would have a vision and a long term plan for player development from age 6 all the way up to senior level
        JK has no vision at all
        BB would spend 18 hours a day and he is much smarter of a person than JK

        BB would surround himself with the best people that he could including a youth technical director, director of coaching education, etc.
        JK has people like Javier Perez who basically is an imposter and other bafoons on his staff

        Actually if bafoons are a criteria email your boy Sunil. You stand a good chance of getting on staff

        Keep em coming Maranonothing. It’s a great laugh

      • How can you say Klinsmann has no vision? He is the first US coach that I am aware of who insisted that all the youth teams play in the same style as the national team. He picked the youth coaches so that they would install that same style. He has encouraged promising youth players to go to Europe. He wasn’t going to take the job unless USSF instituted a unified approach to developing national team players from the youth teams on up. Maybe you could say it hasn’t been implemented properly, but to say it doesn’t exist and it wasn’t the result of Klinsmann shows that your criticism is not rational nor relevant.

      • I know that Bradley spoke with the national team youth coaches often and they held long discussions about the best way to push the soccer along. (The Development Academy’s adaptation of more training vs game time and playing in fewer games, but games that mattered more were one outcome of those discussions. I am sure there were others.)

        Bob understood that a lot of team and player (and coach) management involves inclusion in the thought process, not simply a command uttered in the press to “do it this way”.

      • Diego,

        BB was a temporary fill in until Sunil could convince JK to come on board.

        He never had the kind of backing JK currently enjoys.

        Therefore his job was to re-build the 2006 for 2010 and get results at the same time. He was on a short leash.

        His conservative tactics were the result of a crap player pool and the need to get results.

        And with all that what eventually did him in was injuries. The 2009 Confederations Cup team was a fine side and would have done even better in 2010 but Adu ( lack of commitment) Davies (entire body) , Demerit (eye) , Gooch ( knee) and finally Holden ( leg) all got injured badly enough to seriously hamper the 2010 WC team. Jay and Gooch played but were not as sharp as they should have been and Holden only got a few minutes vs England.

        One wonders what would have happened if all of them had been fit, sharp, healthy and ready to go in the 2010 World Cup.

    • spot on. this is that biggest part of why I don’t think JK should be fired right now. and also why i wasn’t THAT disappointed to not win the Gold Cup; also because of the playoff (that JK earned…).

      Reply
    • in reference to your link to MLS strikers, I then ranked it by goals per 90 mins and thought the info was intriguing to our stoker hierarchy in perspective to other known great players.

      removing essentially outliers with less than 10 games (lletget, ty harden, etc) the list is as follows:
      Keane
      Kamara
      Giovinco
      Martins
      David Villa
      Altidore
      Cyle Larin
      Adi
      Dempsey
      Wondo
      Bruin

      playing in the same league the most efficient US striker so far this season in Altidore, just thought it was interesting.

      Reply
      • honeslty? probably the same as Keane, Giovinco and David Villa; they take PKs as well.

        from my memory i’ve seen Villa score on at least 2 or 3, Gio one 2 or 3, Jozy on 2, Dempsey and Wondo on a couple.

        scoring a PK shouldn’t count against someone, it’s still scoring; especially since Jozy has mainly only taken the PKs that he’s won, Seba has taken others–generally the ones he wins.

      • It used to be that everyone considered penalty kicks easy and automatic. They never were of course, but it has gotten harder since the refs have gotten far more liberal on allowing keepers to move around.

        If scoring from a penalty is counted against you then scoring by accident should be counted against you as well. Players would be grilled afterwards as to whether they meant to shoot or was it just a cross that happened to go in. If it was a wayward cross then it would be awarded as an own goal. No sense in rewarding a player if he didn’t mean to score right?

        I am against going down the path of turning goal scoring into a subjective exercise like the judging in figure skating.

        A goal should be a goal regardless of how you scored it or how hard or easy it was to score or how ugly or pretty it was.

      • One thing I will say though is that being the designated pk taker for your team gifts you high-quality scoring chances that you would not have had otherwise. Hypothetical example: Rogers springs Zardes which gets taken down in the box; which leads to a Keane pk attempt and goal. So a Rogers and Zardes play that Keane wasn’t even involved in, ends up netting Keane another goal.

        So I think it is fair to bring up and ask the question about how many goals came from the penalty spot.

      • i see your point but in that instance, Keane still made the PK, it should still be counted as a positive; perhaps a slightly less positive than a screamer from outside of the box, but a positive nonetheless. It’s similar to a free throw in basketball. it’s an easier shot than a 3-pointer but it still is a useful occurrence. so sure it’s somewhat fair to bring up but it seemed that “johnny razor” was attempting a stab at Jozy insinuating that he could ‘only score from PKs’; hence why I replied to him. Keane, and co don’t get points deducted for making PKs so why should anyone else (Jozy)?

      • Dwyer needs that citizenship fast tracked, not a world beater but a harder worker than anyone we field and has some talent

      • He’s publicly stated everything’s in the works for him to be US eligible in 2017; enough time to hopefully still be playing well and get a call up to perhaps work his way into the NT. He has been very clear in wanting to play for the US, similar-ish story to his ex-Canadian wife, Sydney Leroux.

        imho he would be the best striker on our roster by a slightly comfortable margin… I hope it all works out

      • The same Rossi who sees his surgeon more than his coaches. Please quit bringing him up. Might as well talk about Stuart Holden or Charlie Davies.

    • You are doing something revolutionary here. You are getting into specifics and providing actual analysis of specific players and what alternatives exist. Don’t you know you are just supposed to throw out conclusions without bothering to provide any facts or alternatives?

      Reply
    • I think this is a great analysis, but…

      I’m one to give CONCACAF teams the credit they deserve (and rarely get), but I still feel like we should be at the point where we can bring an off-day side to a game against Jamaica on home soil and win.

      You’re analysis is certainly valid for the World Cup, but I’m not so sure I’m buying in this case.

      Reply
    • Except for traditional powers, most countries go through cycles and they will have Golden Generations. I mentioned a week or so ago ion response to someone else, that maybe Donovan,Beasley, Dolo, Boca, Dempsey, etc. was our Golden Generation and that was a bit of a highpoint.Ev en Brazil seems down now when compared to past Brazilian teams. I remember when Brazil’s B team probably was the second best team in the world. Their thrashing by Germany at home was really a black mark for them. There are numerous examples of teams which go up and down and even examples of teams with a Golden Generation that don’t come close to reaching their potential (England, Portugal are candidates). The recent performance of our youth teams show promise. They might not hit their peak until 2022, however. I think some fans aren’t realistic. Klinsmann has deepened the pool and we now have quite a lot of good players at a similart level, but not too many who are really outstanding. I think overall the team is better, but prior teams had the ability to over achieve due to outstanding efforts by a couple of outstanding players. Also, in the past, we weren’t expected to beat a lot of teams. Now our fans are expecting that we are best in the region and should always beat teams in our region.

      Reply
      • Yes, but our cycles should be cycling higher by now.

        Our low points shouldn’t be so low we can’t beat Jamaica in an important home game.

      • “Also, in the past, we weren’t expected to beat a lot of teams. Now our fans are expecting that we are best in the region and should always beat teams in our region.”

        I have noticed this as well. It’s almost a package-deal with fandom increasing while expectations increase. But more people wanting us to be good doesn’t directly make us any better. I understand the “shoot for the stars” mentally but one must also have a foot in reality.

  16. I get not making rash decisions based on one game.

    But imagine the scenario that the USMNT fails to get a result in the next two friendlies (quite possible against Peru and Brazil) and then loses the confed cup playoff.

    That would be five games AT HOME without win, three of them competitive games. Explain to me how JK keeps his job if that happens.

    Reply
    • It’s possible that he wouldn’t. Perhaps deservedly.

      But you’ve asked for the rationale, so I will give it to you. The point that you (and many others) are making involves a basic assumption– that a coach should be “punished” (via firing/demotion etc.) for bad results.

      This is not strategic thinking. It does not account for successors. It does not consider the long-term view of the organization. It is reactive. :Punishment” for the manager who failed to deliver, rather than considerate of the future. It is done in certain countries to appease the angry masses. It is not done here, for a couple of reasons: (1) we do not yet have “angry masses” in our soccer culture, and more importantly (2) replacement and succession planning are far more effective than “shoot and and questions later”.

      People speculate that Bob Bradley was fired as penance for losing the 2011 Gold Cup Final. These people are b00bs. All the credible commentary from the parties involved (as stated in New York Times, etc) suggests that it was an inevitable step. Gulati had a vision that involved a rebuild. And Klinsmann was the man for the job, in his mind. Probably the replacement would’ve come years earlier, except Bob was pesky and kept succeeding.

      Stop thinking of firing the coach as a punishment. It solves nothing. Creates even more questions. Stop thinking about “Logic for why we should feel justified in firing Jurgen” and start thinking about “what is the next step, and why is it better”?

      Reply
      • Because Klinnsman has worn out his welcome. The players have tuned him out. He has seemingly sucked out any sense of camaraderie and spirit from this team. The youth teams have not markedly improved in his time. One game playoff, win it he stays, lose it he goes.

      • He has worn out his welcome. With you. And some imagined internet “majority” that you can never prove.

        He has not worn out his welcome with the people who matter.

        I don’t matter. But I will tell you this anyway. We will beat Mexico in October. We will beat them like dogs. And it will be glorious,.

        So where do you want to be in that moment?

      • There are any number of coaches who have underperformed much worse than Klinsmann who are still on the job. Roy Hodgson comes immediately to mind. A few years ago I thought he would have been an excellent choice for the US, but England was a major fail in the 2014 WC. Pinto took Costa Rica to the quarterfinals, then took over honduras. Honduras came in last in the group. You have to be careful what you wish for.

  17. Yeah, it really is unfortunate. They really blew it.

    Now what?

    I really would like to see Bob back. I was on this board unhappy to see him go. I’m not sure what he’d say, yes or no, but I would sure ask…. I’m sure Norway is keeping him real busy…

    That said, without bob I do want to see Klinsi gone, assuming we can find someone better. That shouldn’t be hard, honestly, check leagues like Norway and you can find them.

    Reply
      • No, I don’t think it is. That list represents the inferiority complex many American fans still feel toward this game. “We need an accent, because those guys know all the secrets we don’t.” Rubbish.

        I’d rather have someone with more knowledge of how a somewhat limited American player pool has produced teams that have risen to the top of our confederation in varying competitions. That experience is priceless. An accent is just someone who has probably never experienced a qualifier in Panama City, with all-night fireworks just outside the hotel being used by the American team.

        Former players – that’s our coaching pool – like Boca and Dolo.

      • Don’t disagree. But you’d better include Ramos then, cos I think he’s probably “first in line” as far as the powers that be are concerned

      • Tabare?

        The guy who was eviscerated on SBI for his ham fisted management of the Under 20’s?

        Why not Rongen? He could bring in Adu.

        Tab, Boca, Dolo, Ben.

        The most accomplished manager of the bunch is Ben, who is finally getting the hang of MLS management after a rough start amongst. What makes you think there won’t be a steep learning curve jumping from MLS to the international game?

        If anyone takes over from JK tomorrow he better be good at working with younger players like the ones JK has been cultivating since I don’t know where else the US is going to get the new players it will need.

      • Don’t point the gun at me bud. All I’m saying is if that you don’t think JK and Gulati have Ramos on the radar, you should re-evaluate.

      • Mara no nothing why don’t you listen to GW? Tab Ramos as successor?
        God you are a fool
        Have you ever seen him coach? I have, about 25 times
        Dude, his CLUB team was on the bubble to get kicked out of the US Developmental Academy!!!
        You are a clown my man

      • Paul,

        “I’d rather have someone with more knowledge of how a somewhat limited American player pool has produced teams that have risen to the top of our confederation in varying competitions. That experience is priceless. An accent is just someone who has probably never experienced a qualifier in Panama City, with all-night fireworks just outside the hotel being used by the American team.”

        You already had that with Bob and Bruce and you fired them. The USSF wanted to be more than just a CONCACAF bully

        “Former players – that’s our coaching pool – like Boca and Dolo”.

        If you fire JK and replace him with Boca, Dolo or Ben I fail to see how that puts the USMNT in a better position for 2018.

        It’s fine to promote a newbie coach who was a former player, like Germany did with JK and Argentina did with Maradona,,if you have that kind of deep, powerful player pool. The US does not have anything like that. In fact when BB left the player pool cupboard was pretty thin. It is better now but so are the player pools of our opponents. So I don’t see that much of a net gain over time.

        JK was hired because the USSF felt that they wanted something more than CONCACAF domination.

        And say what you want about JK he has managed a team to third place in the World Cup something few managers of any description, let alone Bob or Bruce, have ever done.

        The US and Mexico have alternately dominated CONCACAF for years.

        All it has gotten both Mexico and the US is one QF spot a piece in the modern World Cup era. As we have seen, winning the Gold Cup in and of itself does not appear to do much, either way, for World Cup performance.

        While JK clearly wanted to win this tournament he was willing to risk blooding his new young guys because he had the backup of the playoff game. This will make them better for 2018.

        The US got to the semis and the third place games so they got to play the maximum number of games. The players got a chance to show us what they are really like under pressure and where they need to get better.
        They are now under enormous pressure to produce in the playoff game. Again this advances the 2018 agenda.

        Overall I see this as a good thing.

        Besides, Bob wants to be the first American to manage a club in the top flight in Europe. I guess that makes him a Euro snob. Managing the USMNT would be a lateral move for him and he ain’t getting any younger.

      • Thanks wasn’t meant for you GW
        Dolo and Boca or Ben Olsen is ridiculous
        Thanks for making that guy awre

      • I didn’t fire Arena or Bradley. But for how many cycles would you have had either coach?

        Yes, US Soccer wants to be more than the CONCACAF power. Yet, it is through CONCACAF we qualify for the world competitions. Just think – if our fourth place in the Gold Cup is replicated in World Cup qualifiers, we would miss the automatic bid and would have to play off against a bubble team from another confederation. Right about now, focusing on retaining our position in CONCACAF doesn’t seem like such a bad thing.

        Would firing JK now and replacing him with a former player put us in better position for 2018? I don’t know. There’s no way to tell. The reality is that JK will take us through the cycle barring something really dramatic. I was merely pointing out that we don’t need Arena or Bradley back because the pool of potential coaches is bigger than some might realize.

        So, a newbie coach is alright for Germany and Argentina, but not for USMNT? I don’t see why. Your argument seems to be that anyone can coach a team pulled from a deeper pool but only a handful can coach a team pulled from our more shallow pool? I think a better way to look at it is who knows the pool best. Boca and Dolo are recent enough that they know many of these players. Plus, they know what it takes to compete and arguably overachieve both in qualifiers and at the World Cup.

        You say that U.S. Soccer wants more, yet simultaneously argue that our pool doesn’t allow for more. I’m confused exactly what point you are making.

      • No. This team needs a disciplined manager, capable of boosting the young and gaining the respect of the veterans, i.e. Bradley and Altidore. It’s evident that they have tuned Klinnsman out. Unfortunately, outside of Tab Ramos, and he’s not there yet, I’m not sure any of our former players are at that level yet. Bruce Arena and Bob Bradley are the only American coaches capable of this at this point. I’ll put up Roberto Martinez as someone the USSF should be contacting. He has built successful squads at Wigan and Everton. Appears to have the respect of Tim Howard and I’m sure others in the EPL. He seems to have the qualities that are needed for the US job, positive but steady. Just seems that Klinsmann has alienated and divided this group.

      • I sure don’t get the imnpression that Altidore and Bradley tuned out Klinsmann. Don’t you remember how during the first round of qualifying for the 2014 WC Klinsmann refused to call up Altidore saying he wasn’t wshowing enough. Altidore re-dedicated himself and got back into the squad and has been a starter since as long as he’s healthy. And people are now sayhing he throws players under the bus. Half the p[osters here have said Altidore is garbage and shouldn’t play and Klinsmann has consistently supported him. He made Bradley captain and supported Dempsey after his referee incident. If you dont’ remember, a bunch of poster here said Dempsey shouldn’t play for the US in the Gold Cup because of the referee incident, but Klinsmann supported him and Dempsey scored 7 goals. Again, I see posts that are uninformesd about history and ignorant of what other postgers have written.

      • The list of good international coaches that have turned down the US is not short. Again, people seem ignorant. Klinsmann has an American wife and he settled in Southern California after he retired. This is where his wife is from. If he had a German wife he’d probably be living in Germany and never would have been interested in the US job. While he was here in his early days, Bruce Arena thought enough of him that he hired him as a consultant for a couple of seasons. He turned down USSF the first time he was offered the job. The idea that all these great coaches are anxious to work here is not realistic. I think the main attraction for a top coach to work here is that he wouldn’t be under as much pressure as he would get in most other countries.

      • As I recall Bob’s basic message was “Hey guys we don’t have any skill, we aren’t as athletic as the other teams, so if we just play really hard maybe we’ll catch them on a counter and earn a draw or sneak out an undeserved victory.

      • He was called Bunker Bob by some for a reason. The whole reason Klinsmann was hired was to get beyond that approach. It’s a whole different level and it should seem obvious that a transition to the new style of play wouldn’t always be smooth and a case of uninterrupted success.

      • You never actually listened to Bob. He was always about pushing things along to play better soccer. He also knew knew at the national team level getting results was important (unlike youth soccer where development was paramount.)

        It is hard to score goals against good defenses so if you want to win games, it is essential to defend well (and with numbers), Bob understood that.

        Simply willing your team to play attacking soccer is not a recipe for success against teams ableto defend (basically nearly all national teams).

      • This is grossly inaccurate. American coaches are more involved in tactics and rigid plans than Euro coaches, to include Klinsmann. Euro coaches coach on concepts and form (things like, “go out there and express yourself”), whereas American managers are much more involved in how exactly an attack and defense will be designed.
        Bradley, like Arena before him, was a great tactician, something the Norwegians are finding out quickly. The play has the appearance of raw athleticism and hard work because it is rigid in form, but there is still an underlying plan and design in the movements of the players.

    • Honestly, I feel like I can’t say it enough. If this is how you feel (and it’s fair, even if I don’t agree), why don’t you do something meaningful about it? Posting on SBI is a w@nk.

      Read up. There are coaches available. Find one you like. And then email your suggestion and reasoning to the folks in charge. Their emails aren’t hard to find.

      Sometimes I don’t understand what it is people want here. All you are doing is complaining to people who don’t matter. If you want a discussion about who might be a good choice, then that’s one thing. But jeez man… this is just complaining. All I can say is remember you are still a US soccer fan– one of the very few sports left where you, as a fan, can interact with the top folks via email etc and actually expect a response. Use it!

      Reply
      • yeah, like Gulati and Flynn are going to listen to a fan email

        Oh, Ben Olsen? I never thought about that! Yes, I know I did have a soccer fantasy crush on JK and to stay president I caved and continued to act like a spinless jellyfish.
        Well let me talk to Dan and we’ll see about getting Benny on board by next Friday. Thanks again Diego. I knew I could count on your input

        Keep these post coming dude. It is better than a comedy club

      • Nice attitude. Defeatist is always popular.

        I’ll be a lot of things “happen to you”.

      • Okay…. What is the point of writing an article on SBI? Is the author talking to fans or talking to Gulati? Are the fans now expected to skip over the conversation with the author and the fans and go to imaginary convos with Gulati? What a strange comment.

        How many letters have you written to Gulati this week telling him to keep Klinsmann? A bazillion million of course. Why else would you post here when you can just write Gulati?!

    • Dream on.

      JK is getting paid 2.5 million dollars not pounds or euros per year.

      Here are the latest EPL manager salaries:

      Mourinho £8.37 Million
      Van Gaal £7 Million
      Wenger £6.6 million
      Pelligrini £5.5 Million
      Rodgers £3.25 Million
      Koeman £2 Million
      Allardyce £2 Million
      Pochettino £3 Million
      Carver £800K
      Monk £500K
      Hughes £900K
      Martínez £1.5 Million

      The top end for recent international managers is probably Capello who was getting something like 11 million Euros for the Russia but they might be in the middle of firing him after a rather pedestrian tenure. He replaced the much ballyhooed Hiddink whose magic touch did not do much for Russia

      The USMNT job is not what you would call a destination job for well regarded foreign coaches.

      International managers elsewhere usually fall into the following rough categories:

      1. Hired gun short term mercenaries ( examples, Bora, Hiddink,)
      2. Older guys looking for a retirement gig ( examples Hodgson, Del Bosque)
      3. Recently fired managers waiting for their next club gig (numerous)
      4. New guys looking to make a mark (anyone managing Wales)

      The problem for the foreign manager is that unless they are looking to make their permanent home here, like JK has, then there is no real incentive to take the US job.

      In terms of World football it is not a high profile job. Most of the good ambitious managers outside the US want what Bob Bradley wants, a job managing a club in a top flight league in Europe.

      That is where the fame and fortune and the best players and competition are.

      And the expectations are ridiculous. The only real improvement would be if they were to take the USMNT to the semi finals of the World Cup and I’ll bet most foreign managers don’t think the US has the players to do that. Winning the Gold Cup or even the Confederations Cup would not impress too many people outside CONCACAF.
      .
      The US is on a four year cycle which means they would have to wait until after 2018 to have impressed everyone and then move on to the next big gig

      So logically a replacement for JK would either be a hired gun Hiddink type in the short term with a provision to groom someone like Petke to replace him

      Or the USSF would go all out and hire Peter Vermes, Ben Olsen or the moral equivalent and go that route.

      Short of an all out emergency I can’t see any of the older guys getting a call. Bruce and Sigi have great deals where they are and would have to be crazy to take the job.

      I don’t want BB back.

      He has suffered enough and deserves a better fan base than the mob that ran him out of town last time.. Bob Bradley wants that Euro job, may be close to getting it and coming back would derail that dream perhaps permanently.

      Reply
      • I didn’t see your post before posting my similar thoughts. Unrealistic expectations run rampant.

      • It’s a good post.

        I still want Klinsi gone, still think Bob was better, and agree it’s unfortunate they ran him off.

      • ThaDeuce,

        You want JK out?

        Here’s what you do. Get your self some “soccer media credentials”. Maybe starting your own blog will do the trick.

        Approach JK somewhere.

        In front of the media get him to punch you out .Make sure you have video coverage.

        How you get him to do that is your problem but it should work.

      • Hilarious.

        But do you think they would actually give him the boot after our illustrious recent 4th place finish?

      • What Herrera did put him outside the protection of the Mexican FA ( not that they loved him all that much) and into the legal system.

        So if JK beats you, Grant Wah, Leander Schaerlaeckens, or Ives up then yeah the USSF wouldn’t be able to protect him.

  18. Fire klinsmann and re-hire Bradley. Their records shows that swap was a mistake. If only we had a time machine….

    By the way, how much more credit and pay does Klinsi get than Bob?

    Reply
      • Agreed that Bob is a stand-up guy who was willing to take the heat for the players. I don’t think that retreading either Bradley or Arena is the answer.

        I am not that impressed by Ramos results as a coach and other more recent players are mostl untested as coaches. So there is no obvious right-away replacement for Klinsmann, well maybe Kreis who did well at RSL, but so far NYC is still a work in progress.

        If he continues to have success with the Red Bull, Marsch could be an interesting choice (he learned from Arena and Bradley), but I think he is probably a few years away from being ready for the USMNT head job.

    • Ugh. It is becoming truly sad.

      So your recommendation is that we should tell US Soccer (who has moved on) to call up Bob Bradley (who has moved on) and tell them that we want our safety blankie back?

      It has been really depressing to see that the only recommendations people can come up with amongst those who detest JK are “Bob Bradley and Bruce Arena”.

      I will go fetch the DeLorean for you guys. Damarcus, you drive!

      Reply
      • We don’t need a coach repeat. There’s a conversation on another article that talks about Boco or Dolo as coach, just as out of the blue examples of how deep the potential pool might be.

        A national team position is far less complicated in many ways than club management. Germany and Argentina – with national team histories far more impressive than our own – both placed little experienced former players in charge in recent years. They were Klinsmann and Maradona.

        Yet we feel the need to find the master tactician of perfect pedigree… why?

        Olsen is another possibility, though I think it should be someone with more caps and more experience in varying competitions than Olsen has. I’d put that USMNT player experience as more important than Olsen’s now fairly impressive record coaching DC United. Both Boca and Dolo are respected by fans, respected by players, have corporate knowledge of what a Gold Cup and qualifying in CONCACAF are like. Why bring in an outsider who knows how to manage a club well but who would have to learn the ins and outs of USMNT?

      • I agree that a master tactician is not the answer.

        But if you are willing to consider Dolo and Olsen, why not Ramos (who appears in my view to be the “successor of choice” to the current regime)?

      • Ramos is another candidate. But as you said, he would appear to be the successor of choice. If we are looking for continuity, then his application looks better. If we’re looking for a clean break and new approach, his application might be looked at more skeptically.

      • One of the biggest criticisms of Klinsmann is his “lack of tactical awareness.” I have read that from at least a dozen different posters. Now two or you are saying tactical awareness isn’t that important. This is the problem I have with the fire Klinsmann crowd. They are so inconsistent and all over the map on what is wrong and what is important and who should play, it’s hard to take them seriously. I see this in the political sphere where a lot of criticism is directed at an official or a policy, but the critic never says exactly what is wrong or how the policy should be changed specifically. What it gets down to, is the critic just doesn’t like the object of his criticism. If you and others are going to keep urging that Klinsmann be fired, you need to come up with a credible alternative and how you would change Klinsmann’s policies. For example, what would Dolo or Boca do differently? How do you know they would do better if they have no coaching record? About two years ago, a lot of DC fans wanted to fire Olsen. Fans are so fickle it is exasperating.

      • I’m not saying JK should be fired. He’s done things that have baffled me, but also has gotten some results. So I’m mixed on that. I also have said repeatedly he won’t be fired unless something odd happens, like a public player revolt.

        My point was that we don’t need Arena or Bradley back, because we have former USMNT players who could be tapped as the next coach – either this year, or in three years.

        What would they do differently? Who can say, and hopefully they will be asked during interviews for the job, assuming either wanted to interview. What I would like to see done differently is a little more consistency with backline personnel for starters. Granted, a national team coach is always at the mercy of club conflicts, geography, injuries, and all that. And I do recognize that the starters need to have a chemistry and that the coach is also responsible for giving young players a look. I personally think JK has ventured too far into giving players looks and not far enough into building chemistry among expected starters. Would Boca or Dolo be any better? Can’t say. And JK does have some results under his belt, which a different coach might not have.

        But remember that the initial criticism of JK’s tactical abilities (as far as I know) were from his time with Bayern Munich. A club team plays with far more sophisticated tactics than does a national team – the kind of tactical approaches you can build when you have players almost every day for a season, with carry overs from multiple previous seasons. I remember reading once that Lalas in Italy would spend time every practice doing situational walk-throughs with his other defenders – every practice. That backline knew exactly what it was supposed to do in any given situation. A national team doesn’t have time to build tactical awareness like that.

      • You are out of your mind. Klinsmann had much more experience and success than either of your candidates. All former US coaches have had more experience.You say it was a mistake to hire inexperienced managers like Klinsmann and Maradonna, then recommend two guys with no managerial experience. This is verging on delusional.

      • When did I say it was a mistake for Germany to hire Klinsmann or for Argentina to hire Maradona? I’m pretty sure I never said that about either hiring.

        I do think it might have been a mistake on Argentina’s part, but I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve posted that. Maradona is an odd bird. But, the team did a whole lot better last time than the time before.

        My point from the start has been to evaluate experience differently for a national team coach than for a club coach. Caps as a player for that team is more relevant experience than the ability to manage a club, in my view. Could Boca jump in and do what Olsen did in D.C.? Don’t know, and that’s a lot tougher. Does Boca have the experience that could enable him to be a successful USMNT coach? I think so – in fact, more so than Olsen. He’s been through qualifying, he’s been to World Cups, he knows the abilities and limitations of our pool of players better.

      • If you are going to judge potential coaches based on playing experience, Klinsmann had far more than either US player you mention. While Boca did play in England, Scotland, and Spain (second division), Klinsmann played in Germany, Italy, France, and England and won a WC championship and a Euro championship. By whatever metric you care to choose, Klinsmann would seem to be better qualified. I wonder if you are even aware of all his background.

      • I want to apologize to Bocanegra and his supporters. I forgot to include his time in France where he played with two different teams in Ligue 1

      • Yes, Klinsmann was a more accomplished player. No argument there. Boca has more experience as a developing American youth and later playing on USMNT.

        Besides, he’s a defender, which means by definition he’s smarter than Klinsmann.

      • You did not specificzlly state that it was a mistake to hire Maradonna and Klinsmann. However, I haven’t seen one commentator who hasn’t said the Maradonna hire was a disaster. Are you now saying he wasn’t? And then you grouped the two together, implying that they were of the same quality, when Klinsmann’s results were clearly much better. I apologize if I read too much into your comments, but it seems to me to be a defensible inference given the situation.

      • The Maradona hiring was pretty bad, because his ego seemed to derail everything else. Perhaps most importantly, he build an attack for himself and then expected Messi to fit that mold. And like a lot of attackers, seemed to have a disproportionate affinity for that phase of play.

        JK was an attacker, too, and also arguably has a disproportionate affinity for attack phase, but it worked out much better – when he was managing the player pool he knew best. It hasn’t worked out terribly here, as evidenced by the rousing debates on whether he should be fired. In other words, there are people still arguing he shouldn’t be.

        Boca is less a player than both Maradona and JK, but he knows the U.S. pool, he’s been through qualifiers and other confederation competitions, been to World Cups with American teammates, etc. And maybe by being less of a player, not to mention someone who might have more appreciation for transition to defense and defense phases, he might just be exactly what we need – either now or in several years. As I’ve said, I think the job is taken until after the next World Cup.

      • I think you are overlooking one of the best US candidates. Although he didn’t have the international playing experience of your suggestions, neither did Bradley or Arena. However, he knows the US pool pretty well, having spent a long time as a top player in MLS, then a successful coaching career in MLS, mostly with a small market team where he achieved great success without any big name players. Since he left there that team has regressed. He joined a first class organization which has signed some big name players and this coach seems up to the task of handling that kind of team. Jason Kreis should be prominently mentioned when considering alternatives for USMNT coach. The only issue is if he would want the job since he has a pretty good one now.

      • Good post.

        Olsen’s team coming back from an early 2-0 deficit with character determination and guts reminded me of how the nats used to play. And yeah, I know it was just philly. Hey, guess what, it was just jaimaca and panama.

        By the way, I almost posted on here that yeah, and Olson is getting smoked because at the time of your comment he was, but I didn’t. I was watching game because I’m a dc fan.

        I’m not sure he’s ready, but I love the idea is out there and the enthusiasm for him.

      • What’s depressing is reading your comments

        The guy said that BB had the players backs and he does. JK tosses them under the bus.
        Have you not seen that a respected magazine had BB ranked 24th best manager in the world and BA 46th?

        Bradley is a much improved coach who would also take the role of technical director seriously and he is 100% class and integrity.

        Oh but I forgot, you are the know it all who actually gets return emails from Sunil Gulati!!!!!! Holy crap. Do you correspond with the Kardashians also?

      • Ah yes…. a “respected magazine”. Is this as credible as your claims of regarding knowledge of the US Locker Room. We are all very excited to hear your sources!

        I’m proud of you though, really. This is easily the longest you’ve ever spent with a single username. A truly magical weekend, particularly the part where you spent your night “calling out” strangers on the internet who obviously had better things to do with their Saturday evening.

      • I actually had a great weekend and have a great family and set of friends and loved ones because tell it like it is.
        I just like to call out guys like you who don’t know what they are talking about.
        4-4-2 is the magazine dude and you run scared when I tell you that I know what is going on in the locker room as if I were to list my sources in print
        Such a sissy little comeback but if the shoe fits wear it dude,
        talk to Sunil today?

      • I would think you would be proud that an American coach got rated so high by a pretty decent soccer publication.
        By the way, they also rated you top bag of gas/baffoon fan in the world

        “hey guyslet me tell you how it’s done.. email sunil and tell him who you want for national coach. Soccer is the only sport where you can have your voice heard by my friend Sunil who knows almost as little as I do” Classic sissy stuff

    • Bob’s message ran it’s coarse, there are other’s who deserve a shot. While not a popular name, look at what Benny’s done in DC with a bunch of average guys. Maybe we should just except what we are and play to those strengths. Yesterday what I saw was players trying to move the ball much faster then there actual skill level allowed. Its nice having center backs passing out of the back but not if the forwards and midfield don’t have the skill to collect and move it.

      Reply
      • It’s a good point. Sigi is still an option, correct?

        I do want to say I would like to see an American back.

      • It’s funny. I read a lot of posts and have a good memory. A little less than 2 years ago there were a lot of Seattle fans who thought Sigi was failing badly and should go. then he had a good season last year and he’s the best since Sir Alex Ferguson. He was at the Galaxy and in first place and they fired him and it took him about 4 years to get Seattle to play up to its potential. Is there anyone who is consistent? I don’t mean the managers, I mean the fans. Sigi is and was a good coach. Good enough to be national team coach? I don’t know. I don’t think he’s noticeably better than any number of other coaches.

      • All I’ve seen mostly throughout my time is props to Sigi. He was pretty damn good at Columbus is what I remember most prior to Seattle. He also had a stint with the U20’s. But he isn’t American. Not saying that is necessary, but I’d say it’s a minus.

        I love people supporting Bennie for the job as a dc fan. Not sure he’s ready, but I like the idea and people are into him.

    • And why is that? Did Egypt qualify for the WC under BB? Under BB, the USMNT advanced from arguably the easiest group in WC 2010 due to the stoppage time goal against Algeria and lost to Ghana. Is it more impressive than advancing from the group of death and sending Ghana and CR7 home and then losing to a very talented Belgium in the overtime? Frankly, I don’t see BB as an improvement over Klinsi. If they can bring Bielsa or Sampaoli, sure, they would be an upgrade over Klinsi, but BB?

      Reply
      • awesome comment. This is what goes through my head every time I read the fire JK comments. Don’t get me wrong. After this Gold Cup I could see JK getting fired even if I’m not ready to call for his head myself but who are we going to replace him with? Everyone I hear has no coaching experience or is a retread that would take us back to long ball crap that is almost intolerable to watch even in victory. Not to mention that the guys that “had more success” than JK only did so going through easier opponents and they labored just as badly doing so. This last cycle was first time we’ve gotten out of a difficult group. And the only time we won in the next round was when we got super lucky and happened to play our regional rival.

  19. While he isn’t directly coaching them, I think Olympic qualifiers are huge for Klinsmann. Most of his supporters often point to his job being to shape the over all program. In the past, he has often pointed to the previous failure, and what those players lost out on, missing that experience. The playoff match for the Confederations Cup is the same weekend, so balancing both rosters will be a question with a few players. Failure on both front, would pretty much be a Nightmare for him (and anyone who supports this team)

    Reply
      • Yeah just went back and read it. I’ll be interested to see how much he might just pull from the U20 side. On paper many of them are as established in clubs as the U23 players and they spent over a month together recently. What will he do with players like Brooks and Yedlin who could have a role and either qualifying or the Confed Cup play off.

      • Yes I think you’ve hit it. The Olympic effort will almost certainly be a function of group cohesion as much as individual talent. Assuming we qualify (!) we will want to be very prudent about final selection, particularly the overage players. Some could be value-adding, and some could be disruptive.

        Another interesting factor (again assuming we qualify) is the Copa America 2016. Actually listening to the Fox announcers yesterday, it sounds like this tournament may be in serious jeopardy. But assuming it happens, it will be interesting to see how the personnel plays out.

      • Correct but Klinsmann had been manager for less then a year and was yet to be named technical director. Certainly even more responsibility will be at his feet if there were to be another failure.

      • Gee, all this doom and gloom has reached epic proportions. It almost sounds like some people want the US teams to fail so Klinsmann will be fired. BTW, since you are all saying he should bear responsibility for the Olympic qualifying, does he get any credit for the good performance in the U-20 World Cup and the toulon Tournament?

  20. I think Gulati may be on borrowed time. Ditching a Senate sub-committee hearing and sending in an underling to represent, means you do not want answer pointed questions, which could mean your hiding something. As a FIFA Execcom member, Gulati knows a lot more than he is willing to tell authorities. By avoiding the Senate hearings, he just hoisted a big red flag for the DOJ to notice. When Gulati goes so will Klinsmann, lets hope it’s not too late for the new USMNT manager to get a grip on things before 2018

    Reply
    • Gulati skipped that ridiculous dog-and-pony show because it wasn’t worth his time. Nor should it have been– did you actually watch it? A mortifying waste of taxpayer money.

      Reply
      • Yes, I agree with the preponderance of Senate Hearings over matters that they know little about. But that’s the idea. Shake the box and see what fall out. In this case, a massive fraud has been committed by a sporting organization using American banks and involving US citizens. It is only good sense to ask the head of the US organization and a executive member of the organization accused of committing the fraud to ask: “What’s going on?, did you know about this?” The fact is; they wanted to talk to Gulati and instead they got a lot of “I don’t know’s” from and underling. I do not think that Gulati has any part of the fraud and corruption that took place while he was USSF president or a member of FIFA, but he is a smart guy and it it shouldn’t have been a stretch to realize that FIFA was a corrupt, petty organization. All the Senate committee wanted to know if the USSF knew about it or did anything about it. Now it may be that the USSF has been forwarding information to the DOJ all along, but maybe they just turned the other way. If indeed, Gulati has been looking the other way, in the hopes of his inaction would protect the interests of US soccer over the tyranny of FIFA, but that would be a poor excuse.

        Either way, Gulati ducked the hearings. not a good sign if he has nothing to hide (or protect). If the DOJ decides it want to go after those who protected FIFA through inaction or even fear of future retaliation, it will sanction them.

        If indeed, Gulati is guilty of no more than being exasperated over the FIFA scandal, and decided to do nothing, it shows IMHO, poor judgement on his part, and can be inferred to even his judgement over Klinsmann.

        Klinsmann has not brought this team forward as promised, his record is no better than Bradley’s who scored a win over the best team in the World , at an important tournament, or even Arena’s who went further into the World Cup than any other coach (outside of 1934). Getting out of the Group stage in 2014 was trumpeted as a big accomplishment, but it wasn’t. We won ONE game, against a lower ranked opponent, and backed into the knock-out stages when Portugal collapsed against Germany.

        We are at the nexus point where bringing in a new coach will give him enough time to evaluate and pick a team before the next WC, or we can waffle. And given the state of the leadership of the USSF, bring your own syrup to the waffle party as there is very little decisiveness here.

    • “When Gulati goes so will Klinsmann, “

      That’s not necessarily true. Gulati did not fire BB on his own and he did not hire JK on his own.

      The whole board will have to vote on the decision to fire JK and Sunil is only one vote out of 14 or 15 And if Gulati gets axed over the FIFA business then it is likely there will be a shakeup in the USSF board as well.

      In that case its hard to say what JK’s status would be.

      Reply
      • FIFA corruption problems and our national team coach are two separate and unrelated things. Is there any specific evidence that the majority of the USSF board was involved in corruption? Why would there be such a dramatic shake up of the USSF board?

      • Eurosnob,

        bottlcaps seems to feel Gulati may be in trouble over this whole FIFA business.

        Ask him.

        I have no idea whether Gulati will have any problems in this area but if he does I find it hard to believe he will be the only person in the USSF to get tarred with that broad brush.

      • so you missed the part where Gulati said decisions won’t be made on one game I guess?
        US Soccer has too much invested in Klinsmann for him to get canned bar a loss of the locker room I think. As long as he has the core players behind him they will stick with Klinsmann for now. Who knows what the locker room is like though…if there was big loss in the playoff + slow start in qualification I would start to believe he was on the hot seat.

    • Speaking of senate committee hearings, doesn’t Klinsmann know he’s not supposed to admit to getting any kickbacks from this loss?

      Reply

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