Good News, Soccer Fans! Bradley out, Klinsmann in!

- left, outgoing head coach Bob Bradley; right, incoming head coach Jürgen Klinsmann.

After the USMNT collapsed in the first knockout stage of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa (losing to Ghana), the calls for the removal of head coach Bob Bradley were louder than ever. Just as loud as when previous head coach Bruce Arena led the team to a Group Stage early exit in 2006 (also here losing to the Black Stars in its final game of the tournament). In USMNT soccer, it seems, the fans bear little tolerance for failure.

US soccer fans rejoiced today at the news that the much maligned Bradley has finally been fired, replaced by proven-winner Jürgen Klinsmann. Klinsmann, it is very important to remember, was who they wanted as USMNT head coach back in 2006 in the first place; the Yanks only settled on Bradley after Klinsmann declined to take the helm.

While some are already leaping to the defense of Bradley, arguing that the blame should not lie on the coach but on the players and American culture. Looking at his strengths and weaknesses, I tend to think he may have been a good national team coach eventually, but was still a child in a grown-up's world (in coaching terms) when he was thrust into the limelight. Let's take a look at both the outgoing and incoming coaches.

Bob Bradley's record as USMNT head coach:
Time: 2006-2011 (1 World Cup Cycle; appointed following 2006 World Cup)
Record: 43-25-12 (53.75% win)
Highlights: Beating UEFA Champion and World #1 Spain (and breaking Spain's 35-game unbeaten streak) in the 2009 Confederations Cup Semifinals; winning the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup
Low points: Losing in poor form 2010 World Cup Round of 16 to Ghana during extra time; losing the 2011 Gold Cup to Mexico 4-2 after going up 2-0 early on.
Strengths: Intelligent student of the game, focus on developing young talent (a continuation, no doubt, of his previous job coaching the U-23 national squad)
Weaknesses: Over-reliance on the broken U.S. talent development system; risk-averse; media/fan-un-savvy; us-vs-them-nationalistic mentality; tendency of starting his mediocre son Michael over more talented players

Now, let's look at the incoming USMNT coach Jürgen Klinsmann:
Record:
German Men's National Team head coach, 2004-2006, 20-8-6
Bayern Munich head coach, 2008-2009, 25-9-9
Overall, 45-17-15 (56.96% win)
Highlights: Third place in the 2006 World Cup (with a quarter-final win over Argentina); Quarter Finals result in 2008/9 UEFA Champions League
Low points: 1-4 2006 World Cup Qualifier loss to Italy.
Strengths: Aggressive stance toward front office reform and hiring successful coaching staff; focus on building institutions to foster young talent
Weaknesses: Overly offensive-minded (a big weaknesses given that the USMNT's chronically spotting backfield needs a lot of help); tendency to piss off The Bosses; lack of concern for media coverage

Klinsmann was successful at revamping the way that both the German national squad and Bayern Munich looked for and fostered talent. In a country where professional soccer isn't even mentioned as a "Big Four Sport," it is hard to predict whether the successful German model will translate. LAT sportswriter Grahame Jones offers this bit of advice for the new coach:

The answer [...] is to explore new territory. Go beyond the ranks of MLS and the U.S. players overseas. Go into the barrios. Look for kids playing in unregistered leagues. Do some real scouting at the grass-roots level. Accept that the price of long-term success might be short-term failure.

And The Stage is Set: Round of 16 Preview

The final games of group play have finished, and the elimination rounds of the 2010 World Cup are now set! Spain fought back from their surprise loss to Switzerland with a big 2-1 win over Chile, propelling themselves to the top of Group H and avoiding a Round of 16 matchup against Brazil, who faces Chile instead. Interesting fact, Chile gave up 7 goals to Brazil in their two matches during World Cup qualifying; not exactly the best record you want when facing the #1 team in the world.

How did the various continents do? Well, Europe did worse than last time around, and the rest of the world did better:

Europe - 6 (down from 10 in 2006)
South America - 5
CONCACAF (N. & C. Am., Caribbean) - 2
Asia - 2
Africa - 1
Oceania - 0

And who has the easiest path to the semi-finals, and who has the hardest? Let's look at the brackets (using pre-World Cup FIFA Rankings):

Weakest: #14 USA v. #32 Ghana, #16 Uruguay v. #47 S. Korea
#2 Spain v. #3 Portugal, #31 Paraguay v. #45 Japan
#1 Brazil v. #18 Chile, #4 Netherlands v. #34 Slovakia
Strongest: #6 Germany v. #8 England, #7 Argentina v. #17 Mexico

Things look good for Team USA; they are in the weakest bracket by far, and while Ghana is the strongest team in Africa and Uruguay is the original power team, the Yanks are fully capable of winning their bracket up to the semi-finals if they play the way they did back in the Confederations Cup, where they beat Spain in the semi-finals and went up 2-0 over Brazil in halftime of the finals, only to give up 3 goals in the second half. We may see a rematch of that Confederations Cup finals (held in South Africa last year), as Brazil and the USA are on the same side of the brackets, able to meet up in the semi-final match. But it won't be a cakewalk for Brazil, either; though they are heavily favored to trounce Chile yet again, they haven't looked in top form yet this World Cup (though all signs suggest they're just waiting for the elimination rounds to play their real game, which should blow us all away), and may face European powerhouse Netherlands in the quarterfinals.

On the other side, the toughest trek by far will be where perennial European powerhouses Germany and England face off. Both are playing some of the ugliest football we've ever seen them play, with England finishing second in Group C after being unable to beat Algeria and drawing with the Americans (sort of like the War of 1812). Not only should that first match be a knock-down, drag-out street fight, but the winner of the derby faces red-hot Argentina, who is one of the few teams who look like they're ready to win the whole thing, maybe even more so than Brazil. And don't count out Mexico, which has been playing like a top 10 team and may be the Cinderella story of this World Cup. Whoever comes out of this strongest group will probably face the winner of Iberian neighbors Spain and Portugal. Spain has definitely not looked like the European champions so far, with star Liverpool striker Fernando "El Nino" Torres still scoreless and an apparent inability to convert on strong chances. UEFA Euro 2008 hero David Villa (Valencia) has stepped up, though, and it will be interesting to see whether he continues to be the big finisher for La Roja (who confused me by wearing blue today in their final group match).

Portugal, too, has been lackluster, with the biggest disappointment being the lack of goals from international superstar Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) (especially after the epic Nike ad campaign). In 270 minutes, Ronaldo has hit the back of the net just once, of seven Portuguese goals. If Spain is in top form, we'll see Barca-inspired dominance of possession, meaning fewer chances for Portugal. Ronaldo will have to execute on the opportunities he does have if he hopes to make the Nike ads into a reality.

But here back home, all eyes are just focused right now on USA v. Ghana. By all measures, the USA is favored, but that's not how the World Cup works. Emotions will be running high; Ghana and the US were both in the same group in 2006, and the African Cup Champions nabbed the second slot out of group play behind Italy (remember when Italy used to make it out of group play), with Ghana beating the US 2-1 in the final group play match, sending the Yanks home and dooming Americans to another four years of pretending that the world cares about MLB's World Series. As always, Team USA has a lot to prove to proto-fans at home, and there is never a venue better than the World Cup to teach Americans to love soccer. But the Black Stars will be under a lot of pressure as well; not only are they looking to make another run in the World Cup, they're now the only remaining African team in the first African World Cup in history. It's a lot of pressure from an entire continent, and while the players and coaches claim to welcome it, how they handle it come tomorrow is yet to be seen.

Saturday
Uruguay v. South Korea, 10am EDT, 7am PDT, ESPN
USA v. Ghana, 2:30pm EDT, 11:30am PDT, ABC

Sunday
Germany v. England, 10am EDT, 7am PDT, ESPN
Argentina v. Mexico, 2:30pm EDT, 11:30am PDT, ABC

Monday
Netherlands v. Slovakia, 10am EDT, 7am PDT, ESPN
Brazil v. Chile, 2:30pm EDT, 11:30am PDT, ESPN

Tuesday
Paraguay v. Japan, 10am EDT, 7am PDT, ESPN
Spain v. Portugal, 2:30pm EDT, 11:30am PDT, ESPN