Aufwiedersehen, Klinsmann!

Well, Jürgen Klinsmann has taken his name off the candidates list for the US job.

This from Allen Hopkins over at ESPN:

"Klinsmann, in a statement sent to ESPN, said: 'Sunil [Gulati] and I have concluded our discussions about the US men's national team program, and I have withdrawn my name from consideration as coach. I'm not going to go into details about our conversations. But, I certainly want to wish the next coach of the U.S. men's national team much success, and I want to, also, thank Sunil for the opportunity to exchange ideas.'"

And the kicker, no pun intended, from Jonah Freedman at Sports Illustrated:

"Klinsmann and USSF president Sunil Gulati apparently are far apart on issues of executive control over the U.S. program, which is more of an issue than money."

"Instead, a source close the negotiations tells SI.com the U.S. Soccer Federation will name Chivas USA coach Bob Bradley as the national team coach on an interim basis, which could eventually lead to his taking the job over permanently."


The sky isn't falling because of this. Far from it. But one can't help but think of this as an inauspicious start to Sunil Gulati's tenure as head of the US Soccer Federation. To fall from a list of quality, foreign, coaches to Bob Bradley is a large one. And how much control Klinsmann was trying to wretch away from the Fed is any one's guess (and I'm sure there will be many guesses).

This isn't to say that Bradley isn't a good coach, but he's already on his 3rd MLS team with Chivas USA. Amado Guevara will sure be sad to seem him leave.

More than anything, I wouldn't expect any official coach to be announced for some time now. My instincts said that most if not all eggs were in the Klinsmann basket.