Decision Time For Klinsmann

Klinsmann and Team USA…a true natural fit. He commands instant respect from the players. He appears to be a HANDS ON coach. His family is American. Ask him how much he wants and pay him.

Posted from  United States

Hey, Jonathan, Klinsmann has a son too. The son’s name, I believe, is Jonathan.

Posted from  United States

Well, Rick, nobody gave the German team a chance, not even, or especially not, the Germans. Most of them were rookies and just getting their feet wet. So, I say, Klinsi has done a great job with them. I always have had a soft spot for goalies… and I think the best goalie would be half the team. Let’s scout for some great goalies..

Posted from  United States

I’m sorry to say but I don’t think the powers that be will allow a German to coach the US. I agree that given Klinsmann’s ties with the US he would be the most suitable foreign coach.

Posted from  Australia

Hmmm… how about a strategic analogy? In 1778, the Continental Army was in lesser shape than the British. Washington brought in a Prussian officer Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben to train the troops. Their next battle was Valley Forge. Knowledge and ideas know no boundaries. Check out these links for details. I realize that the analogy isn’t exact so I understand why some of you may take issue with it, but I think there are important similarities. And it’s coincidentally funny which modern country Prussia became a part of. And I would guess that the vast majority of US-based trainers in this “industry” are now, in the year 2006, all home-grown and US citizens.

http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/revwar/vafo/vafooverview.html

http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/revwar/vafo/vafotrain.html

Posted from  United States

Flynn – You’ll see. The US team has had a pattern of taking two steps forward and then a step back in each of the WC’s since 1990 (a rough characterization, I know, but it is apt enough for this imprecise discussion). Even Klinsmann said Germany should have gone out against USA in the Quarters of 2002, and that would have meant finishing in the top 4 at least. So, no, if anything, the world rankings have caught up with the performance of the US team in the last 5 years or so.

I’m fairly sure that if I told you at the beginning of the WC 2002 that the US would reach the Quarterfinals and would come within a handball’s chance of moving into the final 4 teams of the tournament, that you would crow about the US being “MILES away from ever reaching the ultimate trophy.” That’s a silly thing to say and I think that you may see just HOW silly come 2010. Really, I’m not saying our team was so strong this WC, but we DID hold the evenual champs to a draw with a man down for a good part of the game. That wasn’t mere luck.

The vastly greater investments in youth and professional soccer that the US has made in the last decade have been paying off and our player development is now at levels that were only dreamt of a decade ago. It is now the case that over 65% of the 23-player squad brought to the World Cup 2006 were Americans who have played or who are currently playing for a living in some of the best leagues in the world in Europe.

So really, I think you are just illegitimately hating on the team, and your assertions are rather unfounded (and evidently quite wrong).

And I don’t believe that US success is going to come led by “Donovan and his MLS pals.” I don’t believe Donovan can improve unless he goes back to Europe and grows up a bit. Frankly, that doesn’t concern me, because he has shown time and again that he doesn’t really want the captain’s armband–he plays nonchalantly and shows all the seriousness of a junior high prankster most of the time. Don’t get me wrong, he COULD be so much better, but he is intent on remaining a child with a child’s aversion to any genuine responsibility. The US will be successful with the relatively un-hyped leadership and performance of Tim Howard, Steve Cherundolo, Carlos Bocanegra, and Clint Dempsey.

The US team will make a good choice as far as coaching goes (whether that means retaining Arena or going with someone new), and will produce a better-performing team for the next World Cup. I don’t think–in the long view–that they are that far off.

Posted from  United States

Pele should coach the americans . wait..forget about it… Americans like Football,baseball, and hockey..and online poker… Pele is the only soccer player to break thru the racist american media.

Posted from  United States

So JK wants 6 months off, eh? Arena’s contract expires in December. The timing is pretty good.

Assuming things don’t work out with JK, and considering Hiddink isn’t an option, what would everyone’s second choice be? I’m thinking Scolari but I don’t know a lot about him to be honest.

Posted from  United States

loki – I am not just hating on this team. But, I am realistic enough to think that they absolutely suck in the big picture. Thankfully, there will be a shake-up/attrition of the team (and hopefully the coaching).

I am one of those people who is not content with my team making it to the championship game: it’s win it all or bust. So, from that point of view, yes, we are nowhere near where we need to be to win the whole thing. That said, 4 years is a long time to get the act together and make considerable improvements.

I hope you are right about 2010 and the future, but for now the results, or lackthereof, speak for themselves.

Posted from  United States

Understand that I know nothing of football’s set up in the US by my thoughts on Klinsmann are:

1. US football need more local to regional.
2. Don’t put pressure on Klinsi to produce a great US team yet as he has just dumped Germany.
3. Hire him as a consultant to establish a strong league in California one of the largest economies in the US and then interstate on the West Coast an similiarly on the East Coast with Boston & New York as prime targets. He will be able to attract former big name European play to play in the League whose experience will do wonders for up and coming US players.
4. In just over two years appoint him as coach for the World Cup.

Posted from  Australia

sorry about the typos

Posted from  Australia

irishdownunder,

i think your missing the point of hiring a new coach. who coaches the team for the next two years? Even more then that though why wait two years to change styles if you know they’re going to make the change in two years, get it? Establish a league in Cali? do you mean outside of MLS? he will help give credibility to the league simply by being the national coach.

Posted from  United States

The debate about how bad USA has gotten is amusing. This team was better that the 2002 team. A couple main differences are that no one expected US to be good four years ago, so the other teams didn’t take us seriously and we had better results, not to mention we played worse teams. This time around our team was improved but the other teams scouted us well and took us very seriously. It showed not that we are bad now. But that we really weren’t as good as everyone thinks 4 years ago.

The other HUGE difference that regular fans don’t pay much attention to but others like ex-coach Bora do is that we did not have John O’brien. That loss was much more crucial than people realize. Our whole attack was too predictable without him and our offense struggled mightily due to that. Remember LD had O’brien by his side last WC which helped a lot. Our attack plan was A) cross from the flanks onto McBride’s head — which worked during pre-world cup and not during WC and B) build a slow attack by passing through the midfield on up. JB coupled vision and creativity with the best technical abilities a US player has ever had. That is priceless in attack.

Posted from  United States

I agree with your view on 2002 (not being that great – personally, I think it was a fluke), but I also wonder about the advanced scouting angle…..both Italy and Ghana said that they could barely name a player on the US squad.

Posted from  United States

Italy professes ignorance by default, to the point of absurdity. Ghana knew the game they would have to play against the US and executed it. No self-respecting team goes into a match without knowing its opponent inside and out. Mere posing.

Posted from  United States

matt –

Two reasons for waiting two years-
1. Klinsmann has said that he wants to spend more time with his family so thats why he has quit Germany.
2. Klinsmann tends to only committ to two years- better to have him for 2008-2010 for World Cup.

Like I said before I don’t know the set up in the US but I think the MLS covers the entire country but it hasn’t really captured the nation. Keep in mind that the womens football league in the US is the most successful in the world so the mens game has potential once it is given the respect it deserves. Thats what I mean when I refer to local & regional needing attention. Don’t try to run until you can walk. Yes keep the MLS but try and capture attention the country in stages. I think Klinsmann will be able to promote the game in the capacity of consultant rather than coaching the US team at this stage.It wouldn’t stop him from unoffically directing the team for the next couple of years.

Adam -
I agree that the US team is getting better and should walk away realising that 2010 should be even better so long as you get a far more experienced and respected coach. It not so long ago that the US team was thought of as a joke but your performance this time was nothing to be ashamed of it was just your ranking that was misleading.

Flynn -
I’m afraid that the US doesn’t have any big name players that the world recognises. Get a well respected coach and things will change because your players will get more opportunities to play for big clubs in Europe.

Posted from  Australia

Irishdownunder – that has been my point all along; who do you think the Italians were woried about marking before their game against the US? McBride? Donovan? Ha!

Posted from  United States

I feel like head-butting an Italian right now.

Posted from  United States

Flynn, do not let any of us stop you. Go for it!!! My blessings.

Posted from  United States

Klinsi, we are waiting.ing.ing.ing. When will you let us know if you will coach the USA?

Posted from  United States

Cajun Nick–
I was internet-free for a while, so I’m only just now responding to your post. I think we’re just going to have to disagree about the nationality of national team managers (that is, if you’re still reading this old thread at all). For me, it comes down to a couple things:

1) the definition of team. You’re right that the manager is way more important than, say, the team doctor. But once we start including people off the field as part of the team, I’m honestly baffled as to where we draw the line. I’m sure that in some cases the difference between victory and defeat has been the scouting of an assistant manager or the special gifts of a physical therapist. To me it’s a fuzzy line to divide the “crucial” staff from the rest of the staff. I stick with the notion of players and only players constituting the team because it’s the clearest, easiest, and to my mind the most obvious criterion.

2) Enforceability. As I say in my embarrassingly long previous post, I just don’t think FIFA could enforce a rule designed to make all the important coaching come from citizens of a given country’s team. Yes, the manager has some work to do during the actual course of the game. But the huge bulk of any manager’s work is done in the selection, training, scouting, and tactical planning that occur long before the game. And there’s no way and–for me–no reason to exclude non-citizens from that work.

Posted from  United States

Jon E.,

I’ll let this be my last word in our discussion whether or not we should have foreign managers:

In my own embarassingly long post, I agree with you that enforceability is the ultimate deciding factor in this issue.

We can’t always have things the way we’d like them, and, so, I’ll have to live with foreign managers. (But really, in the grand scheme of things, that’s not such a bad thing to live with.)

Having said that, I’ve accepted that the US will probably hire a foreign national.

So, just in case Sunil Gulati is reading this blog, Martin O’Neil is still out there for the US to pick up.

Pretty please, with a cherry on top.

BTW, did you see where DC United walloped Celtic? Ouch.

Posted from  United States

Forza Azzurri

Italy WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS……AGAIN…..

Even soccer nations like netherlands, italy, france etc. would contract foreign manager if they have to. good example is England with Wegner. In Germany after Berti Vogts (bad manager in spite of the fact that he is german) and before hiring Rudi Völler, was a debat about having an foreign national soccer team manager. Or let look the players in national teams: in the italian plays one of argentina, in France, in Germany there are two native from Poland, from Turkey, and one from Africa. Klinsmann like every manager would be just an stage in U.S. soccer development. In 20 years (for example)when US-team could reach finales, for that time you can hire an native american manager. For now it is too early for vanity. if you want to win in sports like in business you have to do the first-best-solution and this have not nationality.
Gruß

Posted from  Germany

Klinsmanns success was to import american coaching methods into the german national team. It would be an enrichment for the US-team to have an manager, who have been Worldchampion, have been trained by the best managers of europe in the 80, knows many people and development of the soccer branch in Europe, and has the experience how to bring a normal-talented team to 3rd place in worldchampionship. I don`t know if the manager you have in mind have that connections.

Posted from  Germany