By Paul Nicholson
November 22 – Bottom of their 2018 final qualifying group after two matches with no points, Sunil Gulati, the president of the US Soccer Federation, has axed US national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
The German national team coach in 2006 who was key to re-igniting that country’s fortunes, failed to have the impact in the US that was expected when he took the job in 2011.
Losses of 2-1 to Mexico and a 4-0 thrashing by Costa Rica had left Klinsmann and his team outclassed and looking clueless as to how they might put things right. The discontent between the manager and how he wanted his squad to play was painful to watch for a US nation that has woken up to football and has a fundamental desire to be winners and only winners.
Perhaps the biggest issue for Klinsmann was that as US coach he only ever won the matches that he was expected to win, and generally failed when it came to the biggest games against the world’s elite. You can be in a building phase for so long but ultimately you do have to show progress.
The US qualified from the group stages at the Brazil 2014 World Cup, but were knocked out in the next round by Belgium on penalties. Their performances were muscular and gutsy with a bit of luck thrown in, rather than stylish.
In 2015 the US only managed fourth place in the CONCACAF Gold Cup and in the Copa America this year they eventually reached the semi-finals before being hammered 4-0 by Argentina, a result that reinforced how far off they were from challenging the top nations on the world stage.
Losing the play-off against Mexico for the CONCACAF spot at the Confederations Cup in Russia next year was also felt to be a big loss as this tournament was seen as important preparation for Russia 2018.
“While we remain confident that we have quality players to help us advance to Russia 2018, the form and growth of the team up to this point left us convinced that we need to go in a different direction,” said Gulati in a statement.
“With the next qualifying match in late March, we have several months to refocus the group and determine the best way forward to ensure a successful journey to qualify for our eighth-consecutive World Cup.
“There has never been a greater time for soccer in this country, and with the support and efforts of the millions of fans, sponsors, media and friends, we look forward to continued progress in the game we all love.”
Klinsmann made no secret of the fact that he didn’t have the players he felt were needed to compete at the highest international level. To address this he had scoured Europe for talent with US qualification, bringing in a number of players from Germany. But it was nowhere near enough.
He was instrumental within a rethink of US youth soccer that is seeing a huge restructuring of age-group football in the US with the move to smaller sided games for younger players and the introduction of academy clubs, all designed to unearth, train and hold on to talent that can compete at the world level.
Gulati acknowledge this is his statement saying: “Many are aware of the historic victories, including leading us out of the Group of Death to the Round of 16 in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but there were also lesser publicized efforts behind the scenes. He challenged everyone in the U.S. Soccer community to think about things in new ways, and thanks to his efforts we have grown as an organization and expect there will be benefits from his work for years to come.”
Favourite to take over from Klinsmann is LA Galaxy coach Bruce Arena who has just signed a two-year extension to his Galaxy contract but within which there is a clause allowing him to leave if he was offered the US job. Arena coached the US team at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups.
Klinsmann’s competition record with the US teams was played 47, won 28, drew 6, lost 13.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1713942804labto1713942804ofdlr1713942804owedi1713942804sni@n1713942804osloh1713942804cin.l1713942804uap1713942804