I do have some good news which I can confidently report. Sources from the BigSoccer forum and World Soccer Reader have reported that Coach Bob Bradley told his players at the end of the game vs Brazil, he is on his way out the door, and that was the last game he would manage for the Stars and Stripes. I do want to say that Bob Bradley did take US Soccer to places it has never gone before, (finals in the Confederations Cup anyone?) however, he sometimes got stuck with lineups that made even the casual fan go insane, (Robbie Findley, Ricardo Clark? when we practically all begged to see Gomez and Buddle get a shot considering the streaks they were on.) The USA-Brazil game proved that Bradley took the team as far as he could go, and if the United States did the same with Bradley as they did with Arena (another World Cup) it would end disastrous for the yanks in 2014 just like it was in 2006.
The other news from Big Soccer is that Jurgen Klinsmann will replace Bob Bradley. While it is not official yet, they are still "in the talks" and it should be announced he will be the coach within the next few weeks. This is a positive move for US Soccer. While he is not the perfect pick (my dream pick would be David Moyes or Jose Mourinho) we all have to be realistic in that US soccer can't afford a "dream manager" besides, how's Capello working out for England? While the USSF wants an "American Coach" (no nation has won the World Cup with a foreign coach), the manager has lived in the United States for over 12 years, fluent in English, knows soccer here, and he lead Germany to third place in 2006, which his then assistant coach, Joachim Low, did the same as head coach in 2010. I think the United States needs a European Coach for the next cycle. We need the European style of play (just watch German passing), with the never give up, never dive, American attitude.
Do I think Klinsmann wins us the World Cup? Realistically no, (until I'm back on the roller coaster everyone was on watching them play in South Africa) but I expect him to build the team into a Top 10 soccer country, and a superpower for the future. Right now, we are about 16th place in the World, which the 2010 World Cup proved that.
Just watch this segment on what Klinsmann thinks is wrong with US Soccer. He is exactly right:
Bob Bradley showed the World we can compete with the best. Now we need a manager who can show the World we can beat the best every time were on the pitch. He can build us into a World Soccer Powerhouse, which will allow us to possibly win the 2022 World Cup, if we are the host nation.
Jurgen Klinsmann, the next US Soccer Head Coach, hopefully taking the yanks to Brazil in 2014 and making the United States a better soccer nation.
Christian N.
Christian is a Philadelphia Native, and is a political & sports columnist for several Newspapers across North America. He is also a season ticket holder of the Philadelphia Union and can be followed on Twitter along with his Website.
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