Bradley Decision

So big bad Bob has been named head coach, and the opinions are flowing in. Some for, some against.

Count me in the ‘for’ camp, but not without reservation.

If you look back several months (nearly a year now) at this blog, you’ll see that I have never been sold on the international (i.e. non-US) coach being undoubtedly better. Yes, it would be nice to have a coach with international experience, but there honestly aren’t that many, and of the candidates that were suggested (Quieroz, Houllier, Klinsmann and Pekerman) which has actually had much success in their international time?

Houllier’s primary accomplishment was to fail to qualify France for USA 94.

Klinsmann did well with Germany in 2006, but that’s hardly a lot of background to fall back upon. His experience prior to that was... well none. On top of that, he’s admitted to basing a lot of his style on what he learned from Bruce Arena (what do the people who claim Bradley is an Arena clone have to say to that??)

Pekerman’s history is mostly with talented Argentine youth squads. Yeah, US fans like their youth players, but they’re hardly D'Alessandro, Saviola, Aimar, Cambiasso, Placente, Riquelme or Walter Samuel, the players he had such success with. His full international experience is, like Klinsmann’s only from 2006 where admittedly Argentina did well (although they only squeaked by a weak Mexican side.)

And don’t even get me started on Quieroz. I’ll defer to Brucio on that one.

Some have argued that if the Bradley hiring doesn’t work out, we can appoint another coach before the 2010 World Cup. (Even as early as 18 months from now in late 2008.) I have to say that although it is a dangerous road to contemplate, it’s not a bad idea. Bob should be able to qualify the US for the World Cup. With CONCACAF given 3.5 spots, it really shouldn’t be much of a doubt. After that, we can reassess. And I think that’s the right time to do so.

Several countries have done this. Anyone care to look into when Jose Pekerman was appointed head coach of Argentina? Halfway through qualification for 2006 (and the Argies weren’t even struggling—Bielsa resigned surprisingly.) I think that 2009 is the time to bring in the experienced, short-term, mercenrary coach. That’s when it is time for Guus Hiddink or whoever. He’s not going to stick around anywhere for any length of time, as evidenced by his short stays in PSV, Korea, Australia etc. I wonder what the odds are on his staying in Russia after the UEFA Championships?

I’ve argued for some time that what we need is someone who can provide stability to our program in the years between World Cups. Bradley knows enough about the American player to develop young talent (Beasely, Bornstein, Wolff) and bring along players who are capable but underperforming (Donovan, Razov) and seems to be able to blend youth and experience (Kubic, Novak.) He is a fine person to run the team and develop our players. If he’s the man in 2010, I expect the US to do well. If he’s not, I expect that the US will be looking for someone to do as good a job as him in 2011.