Project 2007: U.S. Soccer in need of direction
Word came out today that Juergen Klinsmann has decided to withdraw his name from consideration to be the next head coach of the United States national soccer team. This is not good news for the Yanks, who seemed ready to move in a new direction after Clint Dempsey, Kasey Keller and friends failed to make it past the group stage of the 2006 World Cup.
The poor performance in Germany prompted the U.S. Soccer Federation to bid adieu to Bruce Arena, who had guided the team to 71 victories in seven-plus years and was the most successful coach the Americans have had in the modern era. Most considered Arena to be a lame duck going into the tournament, but he had indicated he wanted to stay on and help the team qualify for South Africa in 2010.
U.S.S.F president Sunil Gulati had other ideas, but it's pretty obvious that he didn't really have much of a plan if Klinsmann decided he didn't want to be Arena's replacement. Now, the team is stuck with Bob Bradley as its interim coach. Bradley has a nice resume, but he has only cut his teeth in Major League Soccer.
You can argue that Arena had similar qualifications when he was hired as national team coach in 1998. After all, he also made his name in this country's top domestic league. But that begs the question: Why not just keep Arena if Bradley is going to be the next-best candidate? After five months, this is the best Gulati could do?
From an outsider's perspective, it appears Gulati put all of his eggs in one basket. He wanted Klinsmann. He wanted the former German national team star from the moment he saw Klinsmann lead his own country to a surprising third-place finish in the World Cup this year. But it turns out Klinsi wasn't as enamored with Gulati as Gulati was with him.
Arena must be laughing at the current situation, just as he did at the soccer federation's lofty goal to win the World Cup by 2010.
Both seem absurd right now and Gulati only has himself to blame for this mess. Once again U.S. Soccer has taken one step forward only to take two more in the opposite direction.
Photo Source: http://www.ultrabrown.com/
The poor performance in Germany prompted the U.S. Soccer Federation to bid adieu to Bruce Arena, who had guided the team to 71 victories in seven-plus years and was the most successful coach the Americans have had in the modern era. Most considered Arena to be a lame duck going into the tournament, but he had indicated he wanted to stay on and help the team qualify for South Africa in 2010.
U.S.S.F president Sunil Gulati had other ideas, but it's pretty obvious that he didn't really have much of a plan if Klinsmann decided he didn't want to be Arena's replacement. Now, the team is stuck with Bob Bradley as its interim coach. Bradley has a nice resume, but he has only cut his teeth in Major League Soccer.
You can argue that Arena had similar qualifications when he was hired as national team coach in 1998. After all, he also made his name in this country's top domestic league. But that begs the question: Why not just keep Arena if Bradley is going to be the next-best candidate? After five months, this is the best Gulati could do?
From an outsider's perspective, it appears Gulati put all of his eggs in one basket. He wanted Klinsmann. He wanted the former German national team star from the moment he saw Klinsmann lead his own country to a surprising third-place finish in the World Cup this year. But it turns out Klinsi wasn't as enamored with Gulati as Gulati was with him.
Arena must be laughing at the current situation, just as he did at the soccer federation's lofty goal to win the World Cup by 2010.
Both seem absurd right now and Gulati only has himself to blame for this mess. Once again U.S. Soccer has taken one step forward only to take two more in the opposite direction.
Photo Source: http://www.ultrabrown.com/
posted by Rainer Sabin @ 5:28 PM
1 Comments:
At 6:54 PM EST,
Anonymous said…
what is this game you call soccer? It sounds interesting!
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