I will be featuring several writers on the blog who will be writing on various YA and USMNT topics. Here is Phillip's first article. Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
By Phillip Suitts
First, let me start this off by saying that I have been a supporter of Bradley throughout his four year-tenure as the head coach of the US national team. I have defended many of his decisions against the newcomers who’ve called for Klinsmann to replace him. I’ve defended Bradley against the claims of nepotism by uninformed fans. I think Bradley hasn’t got enough credit for the job he did with the US national team these past four years, and that he has more tactical knowledge and awareness than most US fans would give him credit for (Otto Hitzfeld confirmed that when he acknowledged after Switzerland’s 1-0 win over Spain that he copied Bradley’s tactics). However, with all that said, I believe it’s time for the US to part ways with Bradley.
*Continue reading after the jump...
It isn’t that I don’t think he’s a good coach; I just think that’s its time for the US to find a fresh face that will bring new ideas to the national team. Bruce Arena is the classic example of why a four-year term for a national team head coach is a good idea. Arena became infatuated with himself and struck with the players that brought him glory four years before, even when it was clear to the average fan that the US needed new blood. Everyone remembers Dempsey’s goal against Ghana, but no one remembers that he didn’t even play in the US’s first game against the Czech Republic, even though he had scored three goals for the US in the months leading up the World Cup. This is the type of situation we could see playing out in Brazil in four years’ time if Bradley is kept on as coach. But, instead of Eddie Pope and Claudio Reyna being exposed, it could be Gooch and Landon Donovan.
Of course, there have been coaches that have worked for more than 4 years with a national team and had success. Morten Olsen has coached Denmark for 10 years and led them to two World Cups and one Euro. Otto Rehhagel helped Greece win Euro 2004 and led Greece to Euro 2008 and this year’s World Cup. Possibly, the best example is Franz Beckenbauer who guided West Germany to two straight World Cup finals (in ’86 and ’90), and won the 1990 World Cup.
However, for every Olsen or Rehhagel, there are 10 Arenas and Domenechs. And in the case of Olsen and Rehhagel, they are coaching small nations (Denmark and Greece both have populations around 10 million) that naturally will have less soccer players than big countries, like the US, and thus fewer players to choose from. So the manager doesn’t have to make many team-altering decisions about who to include on the team. In those types of nations you have to rely on players that got you there before because there aren’t many players who are better than them. This type of club-attitude (relying on chemistry as one of the most important factors and having a set roster) doesn’t work for bigger nations, like say Brazil, as Dunga proved this World Cup, when his team, which he kept virtually unchanged throughout the lengthy South American qualifying campaign, failed miserably at this year’s World Cup, losing to the Dutch 2-1 in the quarters.
This all goes back to the point that Bradley, while a good coach, simply shouldn’t be retained for another go-around. He’s a coach that already has been criticized for having “his players,” and four more years with the national team will only worsen his habit for sticking with certain players through thick and thin. He may not have the arrogance of a Bruce Arena or the weirdness of a Raymond Domenech, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t fail like them either. Bradley has to have developed an attachment to players like Dempsey and Donovan, who have been the leaders of the midfield this cycle. They are the two figureheads who have brought the team glory, whether it was the ’07 Gold Cup, ’09 Confed Cup, or the World Cup this summer. Will he really be able to put Donovan or
Dempsey on the bench if the situation-or their play- demands it? How can he have an open mind towards new players, like Tristan Bowen, when it was Jozy Altidore who provided the winning goal in the US’s upset of Spain in the Confed Cup? These are the types of problems Bradley will face if he and the USSF decide it’s best for him to come back for another four-year cycle. And yes, the US does have a young team; so maybe retaining Bradley won’t be a disaster. But in four year’s time do you really want to look back and say, “Yeah, this team looks good, but where’s the youth, the energy? Where are all those young guys I keep hearing about?”
