Jurgen Klinsmann: US Soccer part ways with former Germany boss

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Jurgen Klinsmann has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the U.S. men’s national soccer team and Technical Director for U.S. Soccer.

The US team recently suffered two losses against Mexico and Costa Rica in the World Cup qualifiers under the German. Klinsmann didn’t have the best of luck during his five years with USMNT. While the US team reached the round of 16 in World Cup 2014, and finished 4th in the Copa America Centenario, he was not able to take his team to the next level.

In a statement, Sunil Gulati, the U.S. Soccer Federation President, said:

Today we made the difficult decision of parting ways with Jurgen Klinsmann, our head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team and Technical Director.

We want to thank Jurgen for his hard work and commitment during these last five years. He took pride in having the responsibility of steering the program, and there were considerable achievements along the way.

According to reports from the New York Times, the replacement for Klinsmann could be the veteran manager Bruce Arena, who managed the US Soccer team from 1998 to 2006.

Arena, with loads of experience under his belt, could be a good short term fix for the US Soccer team ahead of the 2018 World Cup. Mr. Gulati addressed the need to go in a “different direction” as the Federation were looking for a marked improvement in the form and growth of the team, “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.”

Klinsmann’s firing brings to an end a tumultuous period for the US Men’s Soccer team. The high-profile manager, who was pursued long and hard by Mr. Gulati before he actually came on board, became deeply unpopular in the media due to his knack of tinkering with the team, playing players out of position, and blaming the squad for defeats.

The adverse results against Mexico and Costa Rica were the final straws, and it sparked the fans to call for his sacking. Now, for the shorter term, the US national team looks to be in the trusted hands of Mr. Arena.

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