Klinsmann: the day after
You’ll be able to get a podcast of the conference call that is scheduled this afternoon. From ussoccer.com:
U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati will conduct a media conference call on Friday to make an important announcement regarding the U.S. Men’s National Team’s search for a new head coach.
Log on to ussoccer.com on Friday afternoon for exclusive coverage of the conference call, including an audio podcast of the event and a detailed quote sheet.
On The Pitch has a nice rundown of the mainstream media reaction to Klinsmann’s withdrawl. The most interesting is this, from Soccer America:
During protracted negotiations between Klinsmann and Gulati, the former German international and national team coach mentioned both Bradley and Crew head coach Sigi Schmid as men he could work with shaping the future of American soccer.
There is a lot of anger in the Soccersphere today; much of it is directed at Sunil Gulati. He’s taking the heat what supporters believe is blowing the deal. My initial reaction is that, if the sticking point was about executive control—namely that Klinsmann wanted more of it—I can empathize with Gulati. Bruce Arena had a ton of executive control—to the detriment of the program and it makes sense that Gulati wouldn’t want to make the same mistake again.
That said, it seems unlikely that Klinsmann would walk away from the negotiations for that reason only. It’s a classy move for Klinsmann to not go into details right now but I suspect we’ll know more when a permanent job has been offered to someone.
Update: Rumors about how the deal went wrong are already starting to appear.
3 comments
I’m guessing it wasn’t Gulati behind the breakdown. It was Daniel Flynn. He had the most to lose if a new head coach came in demanding oversight on youth and player development and possibly assistant coaching decisions. Flynn is ‘the man’ in terms of the USSF staff. Too many people are slapping Gulati around, but everything up until now pointed to Gulati wanting Klinsmann and to have it fall apart because Gulati changed his mind or wasn’t prepared for Klinsmann’s demands? Possible, but unlikely.
Ugh…I’m sorry to hear about Klinsmann. I’d really hoped he would get the job and begin to establish some credibility for U.S. soccer in the international arena.
On the bright side, Sven is still available and Steve McClaren will surely be without employment by the time “Big Wheel” Bradley’s six months is up. All is not lost!
It is interesting (after reading Soccer Dad’s articles) that for all the “Club vs. Country” debate in Europe, how you never hear about that debate in this country. Yet somehow, on the cusp of signing a legitimate up-and-coming successful coach, this is what ends up holding it up?!
This is very disappointing all around. Definitely not the grand step forward A LOT of fans thought would be coming from the USSF. I think it is good that the ire of soccer fans and bloggers get directed toward the USSF in general (Gulati, Flynn, whoever).
We cannot take steps backwards, and an interim coach just isn’t going to get things done in the long haul.
I wish Klinsmann well wherever he ends up going. We already saw what he could do when he’s given the ability to call the shots on national clubs. It’s a shame we wouldn’t let him do his thing for the USA, and I firmly believe this will end up being our loss(es) for some time to come.
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