Although the 2010 FIFA World Cup was one of the United States’ most successful World Cup campaigns ever, the fate of coach Bob Bradley has yet to be determined.
Anticipation and questions are rising and will continue to do so over the course of the next few weeks, during which Bradley is scheduled to meet with Sunil Gulati, president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, to discuss his future with the U.S. national team.
This upcoming meeting will not be the first for Bradley and Gulati, as they had an initial meeting shortly after the U.S. lost to Ghana 2-1 in the Round of 16. According to the Associated Press, Bradley said that he had “a very good first conversation” with Gulati.
“I would simply say that we need time,” Bradley said. “Time to talk. Time to think a little bit.”
Bradley was hired in 2006 after Bruce Arena was fired for failing to advance out of the group in the 2006 World Cup. Bradley, who was initially hired as an interim head coach but received the full-time position, coached the team to the top of Group C – something the U.S. has not done since 1930.
Bradley also coached the Americans to a 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup championship and second place finishes in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and 2009 Gold Cup.
Despite being Group C winners, many, including Gulati, expressed disappointment in the team’s performance.
DePaul men’s soccer coach Craig Blazer said that, although Gulati publicly recognized that Bradley did a good job, the team “failed to capitalize on the momentum and success of TV exposure that we’re getting. There’s this very pro-soccer culture that is out there for the first time ever, but we didn’t quite capture as much of it as we could have.”
According to Blazer, Bradley’s future will depend on what direction U.S. Soccer wants to go, specifically whether they are looking to be successful in the next World Cup or successful eight years from now.
“Bob has been a very successful coach at college and MLS [Major League Soccer] levels,” Blazer said. “I thought he was a successful coach as the U.S. World Cup coach.”
If Bradley’s contract, which expires at the end of the year, is not renewed, the hiring of the next coach would have to depend on what U.S. Soccer has in mind. One coach always in the rumor mill is Juergen Klinsmann.
Klinsmann, who lives in California, won the 1990 World Cup with Germany and coached the Germans to a third place finish in 2006. He was interviewed after Arena was fired in 2006, but withdrew from consideration after MLS refused to guarantee access to players for the 2007 Gold Cup and Copa America tournaments.
According to ESPN, Klinsmann would not say whether he would be interested in taking over the U.S. team, but did say he hoped Bradley kept the position for a long time, something that Bradley seems to want.
“It sounds like Bob wants to stay on as head coach. It’ll be interesting to see the future of Bob and of U.S. Soccer,” Blazer said.
One thing is for sure: the U.S. soccer team will need to increase the number of quality players on their roster.
“We’re going to have a new generation of young players,” said Blazer, who credited the MLS and U.S. Soccer Academy with providing more quality opportunities for these young men.
The team will also have to look at the development of the players who did not make the 2010 team and the young players who did to determine the potential strength of their roster. Some of these young players include Maurice Edu, Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore, according to Blazer.
“Bob’s done a good job of cultivating a winning mentality and creating a winning culture in his players, but at the end of it, he is limited by the resource of quality players,” Blazer said. “We do have more players playing in MLS, but is that going to be enough? We still need to get more players playing in Europe or more players playing at a high level. That’s going to be the challenge of any coach.”