Klinsmann Auf Wiedersehen

After six months of waiting for former German coach Juergen Klinsmann and the US Soccer Federation to reach an agreement to have Klinsmann coah the US National Team, it appears that Klinsmann has withdrawn his name from consideration. The early word is that the negotiations fell apart over how much control Klinsmann would have.

I don't know how much control Klinsmann wanted and how much the USSF was willing to give him. So, I'll wait until the details come out before I roast the USSF. However, it's still disappointing. Klinsmann turned around a declining German team and had them playing exciting winning soccer during last summer's World Cup. I had great dreams of him doing the same for the US.

It sounds like Bob Bradley, a longtime coach in MLS, will be the interim coach until the USSF names a permanent head honcho. However, iterim coaches have become permanent coaches in the past. I'm hoping that doesn't happen because I don't think Bradley would be able to take the program any further than Bruce Arena did. If the team is to continue progressing, it needs to bring in a higher-caliber coach.

The next best option for the US is former Argentine coach Jose Pekerman. And if we do land Pekerman, we may actually be better off than if we had signed Klinsmann. Pekerman did a great job with Argentina (except for a few poor substitutions) in the cup and has won championships at the Youth World Cups with Argentina. The biggest drawbacks to Pekerman is that he doesn't speak English and he would be a complete hired gun who would be working with only a four year vision. Since Klinsmann lives in LA, there would have been the liklihood that he would have been the coach for a long time and grown the program much more than a Pekerman reign would.

The next two big tournaments for the US are the Gold Cup in June and the Copa America in July. The Gold Cup is the championship for North America, Central America and the Caribbean while the Copa America is the third most important championship in the world. It's traditionally been the championship of South America. However, to increase the profile (and money) of the tournament, they have invited the US and Mexico to compete in it.

It would be nice to have a world class coach in place in time for these tournaments. Otherwise, it could be another disappointing summer.