really wish the US fed had had the clarity to see what Korea could in a short amount of time that extension Gulati gave Klinsmann was one of the most idiotic moments in US soccer history to anyone under the false notion that I and others like me would simply hate on whomever happens to be the current USMNT manager...you couldnt be more wrong.... I and others like me simply find disgust with coddling of mediocrity that is the norm in US soccer Klinsmann has ALWAYS been a horrible manager. always.
For that I nominate your posts claiming you would quit following the USMNT if Berhalter was rehired. All tantrum, no substance.
Klinsmann is basically football's Tony Robbins. He is a good motivator, he is a good talker, but he is not a strategist, he is not an implementer, he is not a details guy. This should have been obvious to the Korean FA. Whatever the case, I still like Klinsmann. I like his positive attitude, I like his unapologetic brashness, and I like his self-belief. It's safe to say that this is his last coaching gig. He'll be 60 in July, and he's bagged enough kale to have a comfortable retirement.
i lived in munich after klinsmann had been fired as Bayern' coach....almost everyone I met all thought he was a horrible manager. in fact, I dont think I met a single bayern fan with anything positive to say about him. he has a lot of great qualities as a person, as an announcer, even as a manager...hes charismatic, likable etc.....but sorely lacking in some vital aspects of being a good manager. gtting flashbacks now to the interminable reign of terror he conducted over the USMNT.....the flaws he had are so clear and important. it was mindnumbing tryng to point them out to USMNT fans who only look as far as results. the USMNT is so far ahead of the rest of the region now that even frauds like klinsmann and berhalter can skate by....get the results they need.....and even convince many that they are more than merely adequate....but desirable options! its insane. and sad. kudos to the koreans for seeing through the charade. giving JK a clause with a huge windfall for being fired is malpractice though! the USA is in a weird place soccer-wise - better talent than ever but the culture around the team and sport has not evolved.....berhalter shouldve been fired like 5 times already. same way klinsmann shouldve as well. we need higher standards and pressure on our USMNT managers....like korea obviously understands. in other words, I think the USA is the best top 25 team in the world for a doofus manager to keep his job fwiw.
Social media is filled with pointlessly toxic, belligerently stupid people. ESPECIALLY when it comes to soccer. They're even worse than people in political threads.
I think what I’ve found is there’s toxicity in every online fandom. It’s just the way it goes. Michigan just won the national title in football and it can be unbearable just how toxic some of the discourse is (because Harbaugh left and took a bunch of key assistant coaches with him). And that’s after winning their first national title in 26 years.
Well,yeah, but no Harbaugh means another 26 before the next one,so they still have to listen to tOSU.
I mean who knows what will happen after Harbaugh but the guy delivered a national title and leaves the program in a good place and handpicked a successor. And the team is coming off three straight wins against Ohio State. You sort of got to be able to enjoy the moment a bit as to spending all your time worrying the sky is falling.
Regardless of what you or anyone else believes about when Klinsmann (and Berhalter) should have been fired, I think you might be giving far too much credit to South Korea for their willingness to fire him....they hired him AFTER his stints at Bayern and USA. They should have had a pretty good idea of what his strengths and weaknesses were from that.
it was moronic for korea to hire klinsmman...but at least they ended it quickly and kicked him on the way out, as he so deserved. instead of doubling down on his ineptitude like Sunil did, inexplicably the USMNT is the cushiest job in international soccer. hardest to get fired from. for many reasons. so, in that regard, I admire that Korea at least fired JK quickly.
Sunil was in a tough place. Klinsmann was extended after the longest winning streak in the history of the program. In 2013 Klinsmann went 12 games without even being drawn. He went on a string of 17 games in which the US was 15-1-1. This wasn't a situation like what just happened with South Korea. No similarity whatsoever. In 2013 we had just cruised thru WCQing [Finishing in 1st with a 4 point gap to 2nd. An 11 point gap to Mexico!!] and won the Gold Cup comfortably. It's difficult to remember because of what happened subsequently post WC2014, but the program was really flying high in 2013 when Klinsmann got that extension. One can disagree with the extension, while also understanding why it happened. The USMNT's performance in 2013 under Klinsmann was strong enough that club teams were reportedly circling around him. Big club teams. Sunil needed to make a decision, and he made one.
i was pissed when i heard news of the extension before the WC klinsmann is an absolute joker he gets these huge clauses for being fired and proceeds to try his best to do so he can collect...cashing in on his name before he hits the grave his coaching record is atrocious! got 3rd place with bayern, banned from Hertha after like 5 games, fired from korea after 1 year with a scathing rebuke from their fed on the way out, adviser at tfc (who ended up in last place that season), hlped usmnt miss their only wc in decades he sucks cushy asss usmnt is the oly place frauds like him can get comfortable and stay awhile
It is wrong to give an extension to any coach just before a World Cup. It is the biggest tournament in the world and you have no idea how it is going to go and the results have to matter a lot. It is piss poor decision making and weakness. However, Klinsmann did well enough that he deserved an extension after the World Cup. He did a fine job in the first cycle. We can quibble with this or that, but he did a fine job overall. Frankly he did better in his first term than Berhalter did in his. Things began to unwind in the second term, however. Firing Klinsmann was the right decision, but a bigger problem was the lack of quality young players. Making Klinsmann technical director was a mistake, as one person cannot do two jobs, especially one who is not into details.
Undoubtedly the worst mistake in the history of the United States Soccer Federation. Well, at least since 1989, as I cannot really speak for anything prior to the modern era. And as you say, it was completely unnecessary to do.
Gonna have to quote the infamous Ringer article again for this one to reiterate that same point "In November 2013, Klinsmann made his power play, asking Gulati for a contract extension that would grant him more money and more power. In addition to coaching the senior team through the 2018 World Cup, Klinsmann wanted the job of technical director. The position would give him more control over the direction of all U.S. youth teams and a wide perch to affect player development. Most importantly, Klinsmann wanted the new deal done before the 2014 World Cup. For advice, Gulati reached out to Payne. Gulati feared that Klinsmann could quit if not given a new deal. At the time, rumors were flooding the tabloid press in England that Klinsmann might land the Tottenham job or take over the Swiss national team after the World Cup. Payne said he warned Gulati about expanding Klinsmann’s role to technical director, saying, “Just understand that he’s not going to do the work.” But he asked Gulati a simple question: Are you happy with Klinsmann’s performance? “And he said, ‘Yes, I am. The things that we’ve hired him for, he’s done. He’s raised the profile of the program. He’s had a pretty open door, and he’s been open to a lot of different players. He’s gotten us results in places that we’ve never got results before.’” Moreover for Gulati, Klinsmann was now the face of U.S. Soccer. To give up on him would be to admit the failure of Gulati’s grand vision. On December 12, Gulati announced Klinsmann’s contract extension. The deal gave Gulati the right to terminate the agreement should the U.S. stumble in the World Cup, but it showed that the federation and U.S. Soccer would continue to be synonymous with Jürgen Klinsmann. Payne now says that he gave Gulati the wrong advice. “If we had known that armed with that, he was going to become what he became — that he was going to say ‘F*** you’ to everybody and leave Landon Donovan off the World Cup team and create the seeds of dissension that plagued him for the remainder of his tenure, then I would have said, ‘Don’t give him the extension yet. And if he wants to go [after the World Cup], then let him walk away.’” If Klinsmann had left after the 2014 World Cup I'd have a much higher opinion of him despite leaving Landon off the World Cup squad. I'd even say 2013 was the most fun I've ever had watching the USMNT. But as we knew with Bob Bradley, the second WC cycle with a manager rarely, if ever, goes well for the USMNT, and it backfired in a big way with Klinsmann. (To this day Bruce Arena is still the only USMNT manager to manage the US at two different World Cups) Gulati made a gamble hiring Klinsmann. You could argue that it paid off in the first cycle. But when he doubled down and went all in, that's when we lost it.
^^^^^^ Great point. If Jurgen had left after Brazil 2014 you’d have to judge him as, he made a lot of unorthodox decisions, and you can argue it was more luck than skill, but Jurgen shot par more or less through Brazil. He did the job. It was everything after that that has tanked his standing.