Klinsmann out of work
Former coach Arena favored as replacement after two losses
NEW YORK — In a sign of just how much American soccer has grown up, U.S. national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann was fired after two losses in the final round World Cup qualifying.
Six days after a 4-0 loss at Costa Rica dropped the Americans to 0-2, Klinsmann was terminated after nearly 5½ years during a meeting Monday at a Los Angeles hotel with U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati and secretary general Dan Flynn.
Los Angeles Galaxy coach Bruce Arena is the favorite to succeed Klinsmann, and his hiring could be announced as early as Tuesday. Arena coached the national team from 1998 to 2006.
Qualifying resumes when the U.S. hosts Honduras on March 24 and plays four days later at Panama, and the USSF is expecting a quick turnaround.
“While we remain confident that we have quality players to help us advance to Russia 2018, the form and growth of the team up to this point left us convinced that we need to go in a different direction,” Gulati said in a statement. “With the next qualifying match in late March, we have several months to refocus the group and determine the best way forward to ensure a successful journey to qualify for our eighth consecutive World Cup.”
Klinsmann replaced Bob Bradley in July 2011. He led the team to the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup title and the second round of the 2014 World Cup, where the Americans lost to Belgium in extra time.
The USSF announced in December 2013 a four-year contract extension through 2018, but the successful World Cup was followed by poor performances. The U.S. was knocked out by Jamaica in last year’s Gold Cup semifinals and lost to Mexico in a playoff for a Confederations Cup berth. The team rebounded to reach this year’s Copa America semifinals before losing to Argentina 4-0.
But this month, Mexico beat the Americans 2-1 at Columbus, Ohio, in the first home qualifying loss for the U.S. since 2001.
And last week in Costa Rica, the Americans were stunned by their largest margin of defeat in qualifying since 1980. They dropped to 0-2 for the first time in the hexagonal.
While there is time to recover players seemed confused by Klinsmann’s tactics, such as a 3-4-1-2 formation used at the start against the Mexicans.
“Today we made the difficult decision of parting ways with Jurgen Klinsmann,” Gulati said. “There were considerable achievements along the way … but there were also lesser publicized efforts behind the scenes.
“He challenged everyone in the U.S. Soccer community to think about things in new ways, and thanks to his efforts, we have grown as an organization and expect there will be benefits from his work for years to come.”