By Jordan Long
On Monday, the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team fired head coach Jurgen Klinsmann. He had been the coach for the last five years. It was time to move on.
Klinsmann was hired on July 29th, 2011. He took over for Bob Bradley who coached the team to the second-round of the 2010 World Cup. Klinsmann was hoping to turn the Men’s National Team into a World Cup champion. They qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The team was selected to be in the “group of death.” The teams in the group included Germany, who ended up winning the 2014 World Cup; Portugal; and Ghana. The USA finished 1-1-1 in pool play to advance to the knockout round. They lost 2-1 to Belgium in the round of 16 to end their 2014 World Cup run. The goal was not only to go to the World Cup in Russia in 2018 but to go further than the round of 16. In order to do that, they must go through qualifying.
Flip the switch to the past two weeks. The Americans began the qualifying round against Mexico on November 11. The USA lost 2-1. The team was looking decent and had chances to tie the game.
Their next contest was against Costa Rica on November 15th. Klinsmann’s job was on the line. The U.S. was drummed 4-0. With the two losses, the USA is now in the bottom of the six-team regional CONCACAF group with eight games to play. The top three automatically qualify for the World Cup. They had no choice but to let him go.
The USA needed to make a change. They weren’t performing very well. They should have won the game against Mexico. That confidence was supposed to carry over against Costa Rica, but they looked flat. Much of that was coaching.
LA Galaxy coach Bruce Arena will take over. Hopefully, he turns this team around. The National Team’s next match isn’t until March 24th, 2017. This coaching change may elevate their play and lead to a return trip to the World Cup.
How do you feel about the U.S. Soccer team firing Jurgen Klinsmann?
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