It’s perfectly clear now that the United States men’s national soccer team is in complete shambles and it’s about time that the man that put them there, head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, stepped away.
USA’s loss on Saturday at the hands of hated rivals Mexico should be the tipping point for the disastrous Klinsmann era, filled with contradictions and blatant mistakes.
Klinsmann’s record against Mexico was one of the few positive marks in his tenure as coach. Before Saturday, the German coach had never lost to a Mexican side and it kept fans and the bosses happy.
The problem is that Klinsmann didn’t take any of that experience into arguably the biggest game against the region’s rival.
Klinsmann traditionally favors youth and keeping only a few veterans at one time; usually to help the rookies develop into regulars. However, Klinsmann ignored his own school of thought and started six players aged 30 or older, and subbed in one more, against Mexico.
As a result, Mexico ran all over the U.S. They dominated possession (63 percent) and looked more alive in overtime. Klinsmann looked foolish when he finally decided to substitute in 22-year-olds Bobby Wood and DeAndre Yedlin and both combined to score USA’s equalizer in extra time.
It could be argued that the Mexican defenders were tired by the time Wood and Yedlin came on, but it could not have hurt to give them a shot earlier in the game. Especially after Wood’s performances against the Netherlands and Germany in June; the Hawaiian striker netted two game-winners against the European powerhouses.
Instead, Jozy Altidore got the start at the forward position. Altidore admitted before the game on Saturday that the past two years had been some of the worst of his life on and off the pitch. He’s a striker that can’t consistently score goals anymore, but there he was in the starting 11 in Pasadena.
Another reason Klinsmann should go is his proclivity to throw his players under the bus after big losses, and he didn’t disappoint this weekend. The head coach told reporters after the game that his team was in serious need of younger players; when it was his decision to go with the veteran lineup in the first place.
A coach’s success depends solely on his relationship with his players, but Klinsmann doesn’t seem to take that into account. Klinsmann got off to a shoddy start with his coaching tenure by alienating Major League Soccer, his local pool of talent. He looked down at the league and decided to outsource his national team call-ups to European-Americans and U.S.-born players playing abroad.
When several of those European-based players, like Michael Bradley, Altidore, Clint Dempsey and Mix Diskerud, decided to take their talents to The States, it was a point of contention between Klinsmann, those players and the media.
Then Klinsmann committed the most egregious mistake in his era by shunning Landon Donovan. Klinsmann left the national team’s all-time leading scorer off the 23-man roster for the 2014 World Cup. Donovan voiced his frustration with the decision by saying he “deserved to be [on the roster].”
Three months later, Donovan announced his retirement from soccer; meaning that for the first time since 2000, Donovan wouldn’t be available for an official matchup against Mexico for the United States. Unfortunately for Klinsmann, the U.S. sure needed him commanding the midfield at the Rose Bowl.
Klinsmann should be out as head coach of the American national team. But, if history has taught us anything it’s that Sunil Gulati, president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, will give the German the benefit of the doubt every time.
Gulati needs to change course before a collapse at the 2018 World Cup in Russia forces him to do so.
Updated on 10/13/15 at 2:05 p.m.