Four years ago I was upset with the US Soccer Federation for their failure to persuade Jurgen Klinsmann to accept the position of National Team coach. When they named Bob Bradley as permanent head coach, I became more upset. I could not understand why we had failed again to sign a foreign coach.
At least the women figured this out. After a dismal ’07 Women’s World Cup, the US Women made the bold decision in naming Pia Sundhage, a native of Sweden, as their new head coach. If the world powerhouse US Women can realize that they needed to change their approach as the rest of the world caught up to their level of play--why then do we have the men’s team remaining blind to our Nation’s soccer needs? The US women’s hiring committee knew all along that they needed a tatically minded European to elevate the women’s team back to world dominance. As of August 2010, Pia Sundhage has the highest winning percentage of US women’s team coaches, with an impressive record of 40-1-3.
Now it is the men’s turn to make that bold move. The US Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati is currently meeting with current national team head coach Bob Bradley and the man who might replace him, Jurgen Klinsmann.I am in favor of not rehiring Bradley yet I no longer have the desire to hire Klinsmann. Why should the US hire Jurgen Klinsmann, whose only success as coach was with the German National Squad? Klinsmann’s winning approach to the German squad during the 2006 World Cup was a combination of an explosive offensive attack and an innovative conditioning/fitness approach. Klinsmann effectively implemented a sports fitness routine that most professional sports teams use in the USA. Although it was ground breaking in Germany, it will not be groundbreaking in the USA. As for the highly explosive attack—I do not believe that the US needs an offensive juggernaut but rather the US needs a defensive genius. The back four in the US South African lineup was subpar at best. How can the US afford to be explosive offensively and risk a vulnerable counter attack? Even if we take the weak defense out of the equation, there still remains the issue of the direct unimaginative play of the midfield.
The US Soccer Federation needs to step back and assess what the program really needs. We can conclude that the US is lacking any true native candidates for the job. May we also conclude that the US should not look to hire any big name European coaches? It may prove to be a waste of money.
Stop and think for a moment. In Europe, at what level can we find the best coaches? Most likely within the youth level. Youth coaching provides a valid and key importance to the development of the national and club teams of the country. Youth academies adhere to a strict top level technical training program while providing the players with a tactical understanding and knowledge of the game. The managers at the top professional levels are superb. We can possibly compare them to the NBA coach. They manage the team of superstars. At this level, they do not need to develop the players technically. Does an NBA coach really need to address technical issues with his players? If he does, chances are the player does not belong in the NBA. An NBA player is going to have the tactical understanding along with the skill set to be a creative an effective player whereas the college or high school player is still going to need some technical guidance. The US National Team does not need an NBA type coach. Rather, the US National Team needs a coach that will continue to educate the player on both skills and tatics.
Perceptive US youth club directors are now seeing how the North American player fails to understand the game of soccer. Tactically, our players are often clueless. Their instincts are poor due to the over “coaching” and not enough creative license being given to the young soccer player. Let’s face it—has the USA, a country of over 300 million, produced an international superstar? Granted, soccer is not the North American game of choice. Yet, one would think with all of the immigrants and children playing soccer today that there would be at least one. Landon Donovan is the closest we have, but he is aging.
As many of the world’s soccer super stars hail from poor and rough neighborhoods, USA’s best soccer players typically come from a small pool of those who can afford the enormous financial burden of elite soccer teams/programs. In its current form, successful immigrant children such as Zidane, Klose, or Podolski, would not have climbed through the ranks of US soccer. I do not believe that a European coach will understand this system.
The solution for the US remains elusive. Perhaps we should extend our coaching search to South America. With the recent success of South American teams in the World Cup combined with South American players starting to make a name for themselves in Europe, one would think that they eyes of the US Federation would head south.
Whatever the answer is, the reality of US soccer is that we are still at least eight years away from being a viable world threat.
Kroc of Sports: Refusing to dumb down Women's Soccer.
