Jürgen Klinsmann was the elephant in the room when U.S. Soccer extended the contract of U.S. men’s national team head coach Bob Bradley. U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati wouldn’t confirm if he had talked with the former Germany head coach prior to re-signing Bradley.
It turns out, according to Klinsmann in an interview on the Kansas City Wizards website, for 3-4 weeks they had “very positive conversations … but we couldn’t put into writing what we agreed on verbally.”
The sticking point was control. Klinsmann wanted decision-making responsibility Gulati was unwilling to cede.
“At that point I said, ‘Well then I can’t get the job done because I have to have the last say … for everything that happens with the team,'” said Klinsmann, who guided the German national team to the 2006 World Cup semifinals.
Gulati’s refusal to even acknowledge those conversations emboldens arguments that the U.S. Soccer Federation is inflexible.
But Klinsmann’s interview also hurts Bradley, whose experience and record were the major factors in his being offered a second World Cup cycle. Instead, it’s clear that he was really the second choice.
