Posted on 12/05/2006 2:48:44 PM PST by SmoothTalker
"Jürgen Klinsmann will be named head coach of the U.S. men's national team within two weeks according to a number of well-placed sources "
"Klinsmann, who steered Germany to a third-place finish in the 2006 World Cup and won the 1990 World Cup as a player, has long been coveted by the Americans to restart a stuttering men's national team program. A star with VfB Stuttgart, Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich, the former forward has a reputation for being a pragmatist and displayed considerable acumen and political savvy during his tenure as German national team head coach."
"Klinsmann inherits a program in dire need of fresh ideas. Under former coach Arena, the men's program compiled their best-ever record of 71-30-29, and reached the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals (losing, ironically, to Germany) but Arena took much of the criticism for the team's 0-2-1 performance at the 2006 World Cup. Ranked before the World Cup an unrealistic fifth by the now-defunct FIFA ranking system, the Americans, who have never performed well on European soil, faltered badly despite high expectations."
"In hindsight, many people have begun to realize that Arena's record was padded out with many wins — usually accomplished at home — against opposition that fell short of the top level. In particular, Arena's pre-World Cup friendly schedule — Latvia, Morocco and Venezuela — was widely mocked as insufficient; of course the USA also managed to lose to Morocco in the process."
"Klinsmann, who is fluent in English and German, is one of the most "American" former European pros out there. Married to an American, Debbie Chin, he has long lived in Southern California and was actually subject to heavy criticism by the German media and Federation prior to the 2006 World Cup for spending too much time in the States."
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.foxsports.com ...
woo-hoo!
well he is to old to play
YES!!!
There have been rumors of this for the past year or so. We could not have a better coach. This is going to have a great impact, not just for the immediate 4 years, but also for an entire generation of soccer in the US.
On first glace, I thought he last name was "Klansman."
ping.
So now we have a National Stuttering Team?
Awesome news. And I predicted it way back during the World Cup.
Mel Tillis was announced team captain. :)
Awesome.
More pain for the futbol snobs in Europe who believe they own the game and can't stand it that america will soon dominate them in this sport as well.
Yes, America will dominate as it di the space race - and agin, thanks to awesomely superior German skills...:)
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL.........
Good pick. Looking forward to seeing Juergen's talent observations. He was an outstanding player and his 2006 German team did very well with rather pedestrian talent.
Looks like good news for US soccer.
LOL!
Very. Arena was a solid enough coach but very stubborn. He was addicted to a very conservative style of play and was really wedded to some players who probably shouldn't have been on the team. I'll be interested to see how the roster changes now. Its very exciting to get an elite coach.
One thing we learned in Germany is that the US must get much more bigger and physical, the Czechs just pushed us around.
Sweet! It's about time US soccer got a break.
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