Jurgen hugging Jogi Low last summer in Recife.
John Halloran
Dear Jurgen – We’re Sorry
Shortly after the 2014 World Cup, when the excitement of the U.S.’s dramatic extra-time loss to Belgium finally started to wear off, United States men’s national team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann started to come under criticism. He was criticized for his negative tactics, including on this website, perhaps correctly, I’d add, in the tournament and his failure to develop a more proactive style. He was blasted for his tournament roster choices and for his starting XI against Belgium.
When that happened, I felt compelled to write a defense of Klinsmann.
For a while I thought he had been the right choice when initially hired, though his decision-making over his three years in charge had seemed aloof, at best, and the U.S.’s performances under his leadership had been wildly inconsistent.
In the piece, I pointed out how Klinsmann had gotten many decisions in the World Cup correct, including the choice of John Anthony Brooks over Clarence Goodson, DeAndre Yedlin over Brad Evans (yes, that used to be a debate) and had been proved correct in his use of DaMarcus Beasley, Jermaine Jones, Omar Gonzalez and Kyle Beckerman (who were all targets of harsh criticism at times by U.S. fans).
Then this fall, the team went into a funk.
It went through a six-month stretch where it won only one match in eight games (often collapsing late in matches) and Klinsmann seemed to stubbornly cling to a series of ideas that were obviously wrong. He insisted that Michael Bradley was a No. 10, despite poor performance after poor performance. He insisted that Bobby fricking Wood was international quality, despite colossal struggles at the club level and despite missing gilt-edge chance after gilt-edge chance with the national team. And, finally, he insisted on calling up players like Jordan Morris—just “a college kid”—and Juan Agudelo, while ignoring a bevy of attacking talents who were killing it in Major League Soccer.
Bobby Wood’s winner against Holland, handing the Dutch their second loss in Amsterdam since 2008.
And here we are now.
In the U.S.’s last three games, it has defeated Mexico, the Netherlands and Germany. And surprising to everyone except Klinsmann himself, it has come largely on the back of a series of brilliant performances by Bradley as a No. 10, Wood as a class international striker and important contributions from Morris and Agudelo.
Who knew?
So to Jurgen – we’re sorry. We’re sorry that we doubted you. We’re sorry that we didn’t see the obvious brilliance of Bradley as an attacking midfielder. We’re sorry so many of us doubted Wood’s class, even when you (and the guys at The Yanks Are Coming) told us he was ready. We’re sorry that we didn’t trust you when it came to Morris and Agudelo.
To be sure, the U.S.’s last three wins have bought Klinsmann a lot of leeway. At this point, the team could probably crash out of the Gold Cup semifinals this summer and no one would bat and eye. And the #JurgenOut crowd won’t be listened to again for quite a while…or perhaps I’m just forgetting how fickle we all can be.
There are still issues to address—the liability of Timmy Chandler in the back is a big one— but Klinsmann’s more highly criticized players have tended to repay the faith. At one time, Jones and Beasley were widely criticized for their inconsistent performances with the national team. Ater the World Cup, Jones has become a cult hero among U.S. fans and Beasley’s international “retirement” (he has since been named to the Gold Cup provisional roster) was lamented. The same holds true for Beckerman and Brek Shea, the latter who in expansion Orlando appears to have reinvigorated a career left for dead after abject failure in Europe. While Klinsmann faced plenty of criticism over his four years for using the duo, both are now seen as two of the U.S.’s most important players.
Throughout his coaching career with the U.S., Klinsmann has consistently won in big friendlies, including road wins over Italy, Mexico, Bosnia, the Netherlands, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. He also picked up a win over Germany at home in the summer of 2013. He has not lost to Mexico.
He led the U.S. through World Cup qualifying on a strong note (the semifinal round notwithstanding) and brought the U.S. out of the group of death in Brazil on the back of a win over traditional American-killer Ghana and a draw against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal.
Perhaps a Gold Cup debacle will be enough to bring the critics to the forefront again, but it seems that Klinsmann has earned more trust than many American fans have been willing to give. His rosters will be inconsistent and based seemingly only on his “feel” for a player. His tactics will be experimental, at best, and his starting lineups wildly unpredictable. And the team will probably continue to find ways to lose friendlies to mid-level CONCACAF teams in the dying moments of matches. But, for now, it seems that all of us need to take a step back, take a deep breath and let Klinsmann do his thing.
Sincerely,
John D. Halloran
John Halloran is a frequent writer for The Yanks Are Coming. The founder of American Touchline, his work has appeared in Bleacher Report, American Soccer Now and other publications. He is also a state-championship winning soccer coach. Follow him on Twitter @johndhalloran.