During the rumor-mill period following Bob Bradley's dismissal of the United States Men National Team, in which German-born Jürgen Klinsmann's name was louder than an Argentinian-supporter-section, my opinion was not in favor of hiring him.
For years Sunil Gulati, president of U.S. Soccer, had tried to get California-based Klinsmann to coach the national team without much success. Klinsmann, during that time period, coached German power-house Bayern München and the German National Team during the Germany 2006 FIFA World Cup. During those tenures Klinsmann had many detractors of his coaching style -and results, I might add- including yours truly. For starters, he failed to take the Germans to a much anticipated World Cup Final appearance, specially when the World Cup was being played at home.
Don't get me wrong, Klinsmann was a superb forward during his playing days. But he has been unable to duplicate his success on the pitch while on the bench. Many of the world's top players are in the same boat, Klinsmann is not alone there. Want examples? OK, how about Argentina's Maradona, or Holland's Ruud Gullit or Marco Van Basten, just to name a very few. Other of the world's superstars probably knew that and never attempted it. Case-in-point? The great Pelé! It really is one thing to play, and something completely different to coach. Former players will agree with me.
The United States National Team has now played three matches under Klinsmann's guidance to a 1-1 draw against regional arch-rivals Mexico in Philadelphia, a 1-0 loss to Costa Rica in Los Angeles, and a recent 1-0 loss to Belgium in Brussels. Alarming results? To me, YES! To many others is the same old conformist outlook of "Results don't matter now", or "Klinsmann needs more time to develop his style". For the most part, with the exception of very few players, Klinsmann is utilizing the same players Bob Bradley did in the past. So the question has to come up, what needs to change for Klinsmann to get results? Anyone who has played the sport knows that at some point during a match inspiration kicks in. Initiative kicks-in. You take chances on the pitch for the benefit of your team and your teammates, and take a sprint half-way down the field with the ball at your feet, or chasing an opponent carrying the ball. We are not seeing any of that in the last three U.S. matches, which is exactly why I don't understand why Klinsmann "needs more time". For what? Is he playing with robots on the pitch who need to adapt to a completely new and different way to play the game? I also hear as an excuse from many conformists, "He is evaluating players, and that's OK". Yes, he has been evaluating a few players who have failed miserably the last three matches (Sorry Edgar Castillo, you are first on my list,) but again I have to ask, Why Bob Bradley never evaluated these players? The answer is very simple: they were not national team material, people! Simple as that. Edgar Castillo was extremely unlikely to ever play for his country's absolute national team -he represented Mexico in the U-23 level- so, guess what? Klinsmann gives him a chance in the U.S. Is he the only one who finds enough "talent" in Castillo to represent the United States of America?
There are many reasons why I do not think Klinsmann is a good choice for the USMNT. He has an archaic way to see the game playing with only one forward. Very few, if any, scoring opportunities are being created up front -one goal scored in three matches is poor-. He favors a latin-style of play which is not the U.S. style. He will likely make José Torres his play-maker in the midfield. Torres has excellent ball-handling skills, but -a big but here- he is too slow with the ball and that doesn't suit the American style very well. Many of these negative points about Klinsmann are reversible, such as sending another forward up front, or selecting a player other than Torres as his creator in the midfield, or not calling to the USMNT many Mexico-based players, etc. But that would be the equivalent of him changing his name to Jorge Klinsmann...just not gonna happen!
Yes, it is too early to tell how this is going to develop -specially for those who don't follow the game too closely- but history repeats itself, and although I was not a huge Bob Bradley fan either, we have regressed tremendously with Klinsmann as the head coach. The main objective -qualifying to Brazil 2014- I don't think is in jeopardy, but having a much better showing than in the previous two World Cups I think is definitely out of the question.
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