The day that Jurgen Klinsmann was hired as the new manager of the United States was a monumental day for the national team. It was the day. It was the day that had been spoken of, but always seemed so far off. After years of skating along with comfortable and conservative managers, the U.S. finally had themselves a big hitter. They had a man known the world over who was the apple of the United States Soccer Federation's eye. They had themselves their messiah, ready to take the national team to heights the program has never reached.
With Every Stumble By Jurgen Klinsmann, Sunil Gulati’s Seat Grows Warmer
Sunil Gulati spent five years defying sanity as he chased Jurgen Klinsmann, which is why Klinsmann may be in the spotlight, but Gulati is on the hot seat
Getty Images
That Klinsmann took over the team with such high expectations and great adulation is baffling. Nobody will doubt Klinsmann’s credentials as a player, but there are a lot of things to question about his ability to manage. Even so, USSF president Sunil Gulati chased the man around for five years. Klinsmann was the big fish for Gulati to catch and Gulati finally did catch his beloved German, but all that chasing only raised Klinsmann’s profile in U.S. soccer circles so that he almost became a larger than life figure. He was the man who would fix U.S. soccer.
It has been five and a half weeks since Gulati introduced Klinsmann to the media in New York as the new U.S. coach and the team has played three matches since. The Yanks have yet to win any of those matches, with their high point being a draw against Mexico in which they were outplayed for an hour against a disinterested team. It hasn't been pretty and some people have begun to wonder if Klinsmann is the right man for the job at all.
Making a final determination on whether Klinsmann is cut out for the job is still a long ways off. As inept as the U.S. has looked at times, it has been three matches and none of them competitive. Even so, that hasn’t stopped some from asking “what was the big fuss about?”
The man that question should be directed at to is probably the man who created that fuss in the first place. In fact, the spotlight now, nine months from now when World Cup qualifying starts and in two and half years when the U.S. is preparing for the World Cup should be on that man who created that fuss. Sunil Gulati is the man whose fate should really be hanging in the balance right now and that doesn’t bode well for the federation president.
Consider this. In the five years since Bruce Arena was fired as U.S. manager following a disappointing 2006 World Cup, Gulati has spearheaded the search for a new manager three times. There was the summer and fall of 2006, the summer of 2010 after the 2010 World Cup and in late July, after Bob Bradley was fired. In all that time, Gulati has had a two-man candidate list: Bradley and Klinsmann.
That Gulati would only chase down two managers in five years is absolutely mind-boggling and to think that those two are Bradley and Klinsmann of all people, well, that’s just downright maddening.
As far as American managers go, Bradley is either at or near the top of the list of best ever. He's one of the most accomplished managers in MLS and for all the undue criticism he received as U.S. manager, his results outstripped those of any U.S. national team manager ever. That said, this is still the man who started Ricardo Clark and Robbie Findley in a World Cup. He's the manager who had never managed professionally outside of MLS when he was handed the job and was given the job with so much trepidation from Gulati that it came with the "interim" tag. Yes, that is the man who makes up 50% of the five-year candidate pool.
The man who makes up the other 50% of the candidate pool does have the playing accomplishments. He also has a World Cup semifinalist appearance as a manager on his resume too, but how much managing was done by him and how much was done by his top assistant and now Germany national team coach, Joachim Löw, remains unclear. What is clear is that Klinsmann was an unmitigated disaster in his only other managing job at Bayern Munich.
“We practiced little more than fitness. Tactical things were neglected. The players had to get together before [the games] to discuss how we wanted to play,” current Bayern captain Philip Lahm said in his book about Klinsmann’s tenure. “After six or eight weeks, all players knew it wouldn’t work with Klinsmann. The rest of the season was damage limitation.”
Those are the words used to describe the big fish that Gulati chased for five years. Does that sound like the kind of thing you want to hear about your messiah? Gulati elevated Klinsmann’s status by chasing him for so long, meanwhile those who played for the man were snickering at him.
Again, Bradley and Klinsmann were the only candidates that Gulati took into serious consideration in five years. That Bob Bradley, whose naivete was often exposed and that Jurgen Klinsmann, who was an unmitigated disaster as one of his jobs and whose role at his other job has long been under question.
To consider two candidates in five years is rarely going to reflect well on anyone, but there are ways in which it would make sense. If those candidates were former World Cup winning managers then limiting the candidate field to two isn’t such a bad thing. Of course, there were World Cup winning managers in search of jobs when Gulati was searching as Carlos Alberto Parreira was available in 2006 and again this summer. Marcello Lippi is another man who was available this summer.
Beyond managers who have won a World Cup, there are many other more accomplished managers with greater reputations that were unemployed during at least one of Guati’s searches. In fact, Jose Pekerman, Dunga, Martin O’Neill and Rafa Benitez all remain unemployed and Marcelo Bielsa was available after the Gold Cup.
Gulati spent months chasing Klinsmann in 2006, only to be rebuffed and fall back on Bradley, who took over on an interim basis before getting the job permanently when he did nothing but win matches. In 2010 Gulati hopped on his horse and chased down his German once more, but again he was denied and fell back on Bradley. Finally, in July of this year Gulati got his man, agreeing with Klinsmann so Bradley got the axe and the German took over. In all of that time, where was Gulati meeting with other candidates?
The five-year chase of Klinsmann is over, but that might not be a good thing for Gulati. He’s been so blinded by his infatuation for the blonde German turned Californian that he forgot about the rest of the guys. The rest of the guys who are more qualified and accomplished. The rest of the guys that all the big federations that Gulati tries to hard to emulate at times would have considered five times over before they even took a whiff at Klinsmann or Bradley.
With this, Gulati’s head is on the chopping block and only one man can save him. Klinsmann better win when the competitive matches come around. He better live up to the messiah status Gulati built up for him because Gulati did what no sane man would do three times in a five-year period.
With three matches and no wins, the shine is already starting to come off of Klinsmann. He is no longer on the pedestal that Gulati spent five years building him. Klinsmann is starting to take some shots as the U.S. falters, but for every shot that Klinsmann takes, Gulati takes two and that is why while Bayern Munich scoffs, the U.S. supporters question and Jurgen laughs, Gulati trembles. This is all on him.
See More:
