Klinsmann It Is

This morning, the US men's team officially announced the hiring of Jurgen Klinsmann to replace Bob Bradley.  A lot of people think this is a good move.  US Soccer head Sunil Gulati's been trying to get Klinsmann for a good five years now.  Personally, I'm... skeptical.  And here's why.

First the pros: Klinsmann is not a random big-name foreigner plucked out of thin air.  He lives in Southern California (he took a lot of flak when he was coaching Germany because he commuted from LA), he know the US game (he played in semi-pro men's leagues in California under an alias after formally retiring), he speaks very good English (he announces games for ESPN), and it's obvious from those analyses that he really understands the game (which isn't a given for a former great player; Pele was the best player of his generation, and arguably of all time, but anyone who's heard him talk about soccer knows that his predictions are... pretty much always wrong).  He's also got innovative ideas for the youth setup which, as Dylan and another college friend of mine, Kei Saotome, have pointed out is crucial to developing top talent.

But I think those pros are outweighed by the cons.  The reality is that, for a coach with a big reputation, Klinsmann hasn't actually accomplished much at all.  As I pointed out in an earlier post, finishing 3rd at the World Cup on your own turf when you're Germany is, at best, par for the course.  And his results outside the World Cup weren't exactly stellar (a big part of the reason that World Cup was regarded as such a succses is that the team played like such garbage in the run-up to the tournament).  Then he took over Bayern Munich and was fired before he even finished his only (pretty disastrous) season.  Although he understands the game, he hasn't shown me much to suggest that he's a great tactician.  And, obviously, being a great player is no guarantee of success as a coach.  For every Johan Cruyff or Pep Guardiola, there are five Diego Maradonas who fail as coaches.  And some of the best coaches in the modern game either had completely unremarkable professional careers (Guus Hiddink, Alex Ferguson) or barely had pro careers at all (Jose Mourinho).  Frankly, I'm worried that Klinsmann will struggle tactically, and the team will regress.

Now, here's the tricky part.  Usually, when I'm critical of some idea, I have what I think is a better plan in mind.  Here, I really don't.  I can't think of anyone I'd necessarily rather have at the helm right now, and while I don't think firing Bob Bradley was the wrong move (even though I do think he was fine as a coach), I'm not sure of who I think should take over.  Part of me would prefer Jason Kreis, but he's a gamble for different reasons than Klinsmann.  And I think Marcelo Lippi (another name being floated) would have been a huge mistake.  So, while I'm not impressed with the Klinsmann hire, I'm not upset about it either.  I guess I'm skeptical, but will wait and see...