Klinsmann it is! US Soccer Announces Jürgen Klinsmann as Head Coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team
CHICAGO (July 29, 2011) — U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati named Jürgen Klinsmann as head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team today, making him the 35th coach in the history of the program.
“We are excited to have Jürgen as the head coach of our Men’s National Team,” said Gulati. “He is a highly accomplished player and coach with the experience and knowledge to advance the program. Jürgen has had success in many different areas of the game and we look forward to the leadership he will provide on and off the field.”
U.S. Soccer will hold a press conference in New York on Monday, Aug. 1, to formally introduce Klinsmann. Further details regarding the press conference will be released later today.
Klinsmann’s first match in charge of the U.S. National Team will be against Mexico on Aug. 10 in Philadelphia. Tickets are still available for the match and can be purchased at ussoccer.com. Kickoff is set for 9 p.m. ET and the match will be broadcast live on ESPN2, ESPN3.com and Univision. In addition, Univision will air a live pre-game show beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET.
“I am proud and honored to be named the head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team,” said Klinsmann. “I would like to thank the U.S. Soccer Federation for the opportunity, and I’m excited about the challenge ahead. I am looking forward to bringing the team together for our upcoming match against Mexico and starting on the road toward qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.”
Klinsmann has been involved in soccer almost his entire life as a player, coach, television analyst and consultant. As a player, Klinsmann was one of the game’s premier forwards and enjoyed a 17-year career that included stints in four major European leagues for a number of clubs, including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, AS Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich. One of the most well-known international players of all-time, he earned 108 appearances for Germany and scored 47 goals while helping the team win the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy and the 1996 European Championship.
After retiring from professional soccer following the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Klinsmann moved into different areas of the sport. He also moved to the United States with his wife, Debbie, and they currently reside in California with their two children, Jonathan and Laila.
In July of 2004, Klinsmann was named manager of the German National Team. He guided Germany to a 20-8-6 record and a third place finish in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, earning him Coach of the Year honors in Germany. Despite stepping aside as Germany’s manager after the World Cup, he left a foundation for ongoing success, including the core of the German National Team coaching staff and players.
Two years later, Klinsmann took over the head coaching position at Bayern Munich. Under his guidance, Bayern reached the quarterfinal of the UEFA Champions League, losing to eventual champion Barcelona. Overall, his record with Bayern from 2008-09 in all competitions was 25-9-9.
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That didn’t take long…
Loved Klinsmann as a player, and he did a good job with the German national team as coach as well. Maybe he’s the right coach to get this team to finally step up to the next level. There’s talented players here in the US, but we’ve just never seemed to put it all together on the national level. Very interested to see what he does with the lineup right from the get go.
It was right there under our noses…
In the article on ussoccer.com about Bradley’s departure, the last line says “U.S. Soccer will have a further announcement Friday.”
What are the chances of getting rid of Sunil Gulati? He is a lazy bum!!!
Strikers Return, see my article from yesterday. I think we have talent, but not the same world class talent it takes to compete. I don’t care who the coach is, he can’t change that.
Soccer Boy. I have a suggestion. “He is a lazy bum” is in most of your comments you leave here. Lets give the thesaurus a work out and see if we can change things up to avoid redundancy. Oh ya, some actual facts as to why you feel that way may also help.
I would not call Gulati a “lazy bum”, in fact his work ethic dictates the contrary. He has multiple jobs, travels on behalf of USSF extensively, and apparently uses Saturdays and Sundays as additional workdays while the remaining US population takes a weekend rest.
Gulati may be accused of being number of things, but “lazy bum” is not one of them.
Does anybody know if JK is going to get the controls that he originally wanted?
@ Dan – That’s the question I can’t wait to here answered on Monday at the press release.
@BQ – You nailed it in your article yesterday. I was just talking with someone in regards to US development versus the “rest of the world” model and this is what we get…
Could this actually be a shift in thinking on Gulati’s part? Only time will tell but the handwriting is on the wall in regards to our (US’s) effectiveness of player development and I at least have to give Gulati his due if, IF, this is actually part of a master plan to get off the plateau and start climbing towards the summit again!
and if not, hopefully JK will be able to kit up on top for us!
It seems he’d still be good for a head goal now and again, as long as he doesn’t have to run too much.
Note to LS: Diving Header!!!!!
@BQ:
Ex. 1. Losing to Russia and Qatar in WC selection.
Ex. 2. Failing to advance past Ghana in the last WC.
Ex. 3. Best training facilities in the world, yet we have not changes the culture of soccer.
Ex. 4. Re-hiring Bradley after continued mediocre international performances.
The list is endless. I could care less if the guy flys over the place, works weekends, etc. Where I come from, we call that “doing your job.” If you fail to perform you get fired!
“Lazy bum” and a “thesaurus?” What I really want to put would not get past the IMS sensors.
I thought this is supposed to be about Klinsmann?
@BQ – Yes, I read the other article, and I do agree with a lot that you said. However, at the end of the day I’m a results guy, and when it comes to sports in America, I’m far from being alone.
“We’re not happy with “good enough” anymore and that’s not a bad thing.”
THIS! “Good enough” to make a Gold Cup final, “good enough” to make it out of the group stage at the World Cup. It’s tough to look back at the last 15 – 20 years of the game in this country and see that we’re still in the same spot more or less. I know what you mean about the 100 years or so it’s taken the soccer powers of the world to get where they are, but lots of Americans aren’t satisfied with that. We expect to be the best, so when we’re not, it’s a huge disappointment. And for casual soccer fans, or not really soccer fans but just sports fans, the US losing to teams like Panama and Mexico can often kill interest.
“It’s about player development, about the continued effort to take all that raw talent and affix a higher functioning soccer brain.”
I like this quote also from your other piece. To me this is how to “speed up” that 100 year process. We need to find people who have done it at the highest levels with the soccer powers, and get them to come here and work with our best talent. Klinsmann is just this type of guy. He’s a World Cup champion as a player, and also performed well as a coach at that level. He’s the type of person we need involved in our development. I agree with you 100% that we need to make strides developing players at lower levels as well. I think part of the promise of a guy like Klinsmann is his knowing the need to look at the entire structure of the game in this country, and to have a plan to develop that raw talent from the youth stage all the way up to the national team in the right way.
Great stuff on these articles with lots of great talking points! I just look forward to the day when the game in our country is as meaningful, and skillful as it is in many of the other top nations of the world.
i’m excited. i think in the long run this will be great for us soccer. We all just have to patient. It sounds like JK has clear plan for rebuilding our soccer mindset.
Related to Gulati:
1. Losing to Russia and Qatar in WC selection – There was no way US would win the World Cup hosting selection with what has been discussed, namely the suspicion of bribery among FIFA selection committee members.
2. Failing to advance past Ghana in the last WC: Blame it on the coach and players. Not Gul
3. Best training facilities in the world, yet we have not changes the culture of soccer. Are you sure we have the best training facilities in the world ? How are we going to change the culture of soccer here ? It’s a massive task. There are things that Gulati & Co could have done better but to blame everything on Gulati is not correct.
@Taylor
Well stated. Germany has the best soccer training facilities in the world, by the way. Nobody beats the Germans in this regard.
Isn’t this the article from ussoccer.com? Aren’t you supposed to give writter’s credit versus claiming it as your own?
Bart: ” Germany has the best soccer training facilities in the world, by the way. Nobody beats the Germans in this regard.”
And now we have a guy leading this country’s program at the highest level that comes straight from this environment. He knows what it takes to win, and how to prepare to do it. If he can get the players to respond to what he knows will work, it becomes mainly about talent. He hopefully will be given the power to build the framework necessary to achieve success at higher levels then any of us has ever seen with respect to the game in our country.
And now for something completely different. Like or dislike, it is a move that shakes up the status quo. It has felt inevitable so the future has finally arrived.
JK77, A major oversight on my part. Something I always do but in my haste to get the story up and some major issues I was having with my website (posted it about 8 or 9 times before it actually didn’t crash and posted) I forgot to change the author to “From the Wire”. I appreciate you noticing.
Klinsmann can’t develop players. Neither can the USSF. Only CLUBS can develop players. That’s how is goes in the rest of the world. Ajax, Barca, Real, Man U, Celtic, etc. You people act like a country can develop players. Again, only CLUBS can do this.
Unless Klinsmann is going to run MLS, his involvement will be limited in what he can do. All he is is a coach.
I think Dave’s comment is really relevant. JK’s arrival cannot suddenly make our national team players world class. The suggestion that there are Americans out there who are not in the national team pool but who would somehow elevate us to the status of Spain is beyond rediculious. All this man can do is choose the squad and train our top guys, who will largely be the same guys we have seen over and over again but perhaps encouraged to play more positively, and in a more forward leaning shape… and after this WC cycle his role will likely change. What needs to change is not the national team coach, but how we identify and promote talent within our youth set up. That type of change takes 10-20 years to produce results. Klinsmann wont be around that long.
Regarding Gulati- He certainly isnt a lazy bum or an idiot, but this move shows a serious lack of vision. I like JK a lot. But he cannot suddenly elevate our player pool from a group of solid pros into a group of world class athletes. firing Bradley so long after the Gold Cup, and in the 1st year of a 4 year deal strikes me as a bit odd. The timing is just so strange.
I think Claudio Reyna’s philosophy has played a huge role in this. Because he was advocating for some of the same things JK would like to see happen has closed the gap in the USSF’s courtship with Jurgen.