United States Soccer Introduces Jurgen Klinsmann As New National Team Manager

“It also is vital I am involved in all the discussions with a lot of coaches out there, how we improve the grass-roots level,” Klinsmann said. “I’m fascinated by that approach.”

Klinsmann says that if the U.S. is to win a World Cup they will need 10 Landon Donovans and his focus will be on producing those Landon Donovans. That means expanding youth scouting. Two of the most integral people in the U.S. youth system, Claudio Reyna and Tab Ramos, will be on Klinsmann’s coach staff.

A day later and the office is cleared out for Bob Bradley. The sweats should be all packed up and all mementos are tucked away in some box. Time for Bradley to move on.

But just where will Bradley land when he feels the time is right? Last time around when the USSF let go their national team manager, it didn’t take Bruce Arena long to find a job. Same should be said for Bradley. He’ll have plenty of options in Major League Soccer and possibly overseas.

“We are excited to have Jürgen as the head coach of our Men’s National Team,” USSF President Sunil Gulati said in a release. “He is a highly accomplished player and coach with the experience and knowledge to advance the program. Jürgen has had success in many different areas of the game and we look forward to the leadership he will provide on and off the field.”

After resigning from his Germany post, he eventually took a job as the manager of Bayern Munich in 2008. That did not go quite as well. Taking over a team that was the reigning UEFA Champions League winner, he lasted less than a full season after getting knocked out of the Champions League in the quarterfinals. Since then, he has spent time as a TV analyst, as running a consulting firm, SoccerSolutions which has been hired by Toronto FC to help turn around that struggling franchise.

The first strong indication that Klinsmann was the man came from Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl, who indicated the next coach was not going to be a surprise. Since then a blogger who goes by the Twitter handle of @NotJohnSpencer, and who I can attest to being reasonably well connected in the U.S. Soccer community, has said his sources have confirmed Klinsmann’s hiring.

The timing of Klinsmann’s apparent hiring is odd, to say the least. Bradley was given a four-year extension shortly after the most recent World Cup, reportedly after Klinsmann had turned down the job. Yet Bradley’s firing would seem to be directly tied to Klinsmann as the hiring was set to be announced just a day after Bradley’s fate had been made public.

With news that Bob Bradley has been fired as the coach of the United States men’s national team hitting the soccer-watching public like a ton of bricks, speculation as to his replacement as started in earnest. Among the popular suggestions are a host of current MLS coaches. Taking just a small step back, though, there seems to be very little reason to believe this is the case.

For one, the timing simply does not make sense for the USSF to hire someone currently managing a MLS team. Along with the announcement, it was also revealed that Bradley’s replacement would be named on Friday. If a MLS coach was really in line to be the next U.S. manager, why do it in the middle of the season?

During his tenure as the manager of the United States men’s national team, Bradley compiled a 43-25-12 record. U.S. soccer federation president Sunil Gulati announced the news at the press conference, where he had some kind words to say about Bradley.

Speculation about a potential new manager for the team is already rampant, with former candidate Jurgen Klinsmann and a number of MLS managers believed to be in the running.