Sigh. I know. Another post about soccer. Don't worry. Football season starts soon enough and then there will be more than enough Big 1G posts to go around.
With that being said, US soccer is entering into an exciting new chapter. The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) ended a five year flirtation with former German national team coach and diver extroardinaire, Jurgen Klinsmann, and unveiled him as the newest coach of the United States Men's National Team (USMNT).
Believe it or not, I have thoughts about the Klinsmann hire. Those thoughts can wait for another day. Today, I would like to take a moment to pay homage to the most under appreciated coach in USMNT history, Bob Bradley.
Bradley engineered a particular level of hatred from the most vocal portions of the USMNT fanbase. Carles over at Grantland brought up one of the more ridiculous reasons for the Bradley hate. For some reason, fans of US soccer underrated the coach's son to an absurd degree. To listen to those critics, Michael Bradley, arguably the best American field player at the World Cup, was only on the National Team because his coach was the dad. Pay no attention to Bradley's 18 goals at SC Heerenveen in the Dutch top division (the most goals in a single season by an American in a top European league). Pay no attention to Bradley's beautiful goal against Egypt that helped the US move onto the knockout round at the '09 Confederation Cup. Pay no attention to Bradley's fantastic goal against Slovenia at the World Cup salvaging a draw. Any unbiased observer would say that Michael Bradley is a pretty good soccer player.
Bradley haters liked to say that he hated Latinos. Let's ignore the fact that Bradley handed a critical start to Jose Torres against Slovenia at the World Cup (where Torres was awful by the way). That hasn't stopped Torres from reaching mythic proportions amongst the US fanbase. David Hirshey at ESPN rated Torres as the only true number 10 (playmaking midfielder) in the US player pool. Of course Hirshey failed to acknowledge the fact that Torres played sparingly in Mexico in the season following the World Cup. Is Torres a promising young player? Yes. Does he have a future with the national team? Yes. Does he need to play consistently for his club in Mexico before he passes Bradley, Maurice Edu, Jermaine Jones, Stuart Holden, Benny Fielhaber and Alejandro Bedoya on the US depth chart? Yes. Does Bob Bradley hate Latinos? There is no evidence to support that conclusion.
Bradley haters talked about how he never called in new players. Bradley gave 60 players their first cap (national team appearance). Bradley's haters somehow managed to criticize him for calling Freddy Adu onto the Gold Cup roster AND for not playing him soon enough. Bradley could never win. This was not a vocal minority of the fan base. This was the majority of the fan base.
To an objective viewer, Bob Bradley has an unmatched resume amongst USMNT coaches. Bradley coached the US to a Gold Cup win in '07 (Benny Fielhaber with a wonder goal to beat Mexico in Chicago). Bradley led the US to a win over Spain in the '09 Confederation Cup (ending Spain's 35 match unbeaten streak against essentially the same Spain team that won the World Cup the next year) and took the USMNT to its first ever final in a major tournament. Bradley's '10 World Cup squad drew with England and somehow managed to actually win their group.
Did Bradley fall in love with certain players? Rico Clark, Jonathan Bornstein, Robbie Rogers and Robbie Findlay certainly suggest that was the case. But Bradley was working with a talent pool where Clint Dempsey (a very good player on a mid table Premier League side) was his best field player. American soccer fans seem to have an overly optimisic sense of how good American soccer players are. No single field player on the US roster would make the 18 (11 starters + 7 bench players) for Spain, Brazil or Argentina (Tim Howard notwithstanding). The US should always be one of the top two teams in CONCACAF (with Mexico), but that's what they are, a regional power that just does not have the talent to compete with the best on the international level. For some reason, American fans put the blame for that lack of talent on Bob Bradley which is incomprehensible.
Was moving on from Bob Bradley the right move? Absolutely. No soccer coach should ever get more than one World Cup cycle with the National Team. You need fresh ideas after four years. And the USSF has apparently given Klinsmann unprecedented control. Klinsmann will have input at every level, from the youth teams on down, that Bradley never had. Klinsmann has the potential to actually influence the direction that USSF takes, from the national team on down to American youth soccer. So yes, the USSF made the right decision moving on. They ended their 5 year flirtation with Klinsmann and moved on. Let's just all acknowledge that Bradley's stewardship of the USSF left the national team in a better place than it was when he took over. So, I raise my glass to Bob Bradley tonight for a solid, and at times spectacular, 5 years as the head coach of US soccer. To an under appreciated coach. Cheers.
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