Jamie Trecker of FOX Sports is Not a Moron (And I Have Proof)

In less than one week, Gulati has turned the soccer world upside-down and now it's anybody's guess as to who made what move, and how the deal to sign Juergen Klinsmann as U.S. men's national team head coach, supposedly complete, went bad in a hurry, resulting in Juergen Klinsmann walking away from the negotiating table.

Well, that's what you think, however, the writing looks to be on the wall with the words coming directly from Gulati's mouth in a standard USSF media teleconference call on Friday December 8, just after Bob Bradley accepted the position as an interim coach of the U.S. men's national team and-here's the important part- permanent head coach of the Under-23 national team and 2008 Olympic team. By announcing that Bradley would be staying on in some stead even when the search for a permanent senior national team head coach ended with an announcement, the USSF finally revealed the cards after all these months of hemming and hawing.

The sticking point, first reported by ESPN Deportes as a matter of fact, was player/personnel and the fact that USSF would not relinquish most or all of their power to Klinsmann, which according to published reports, is what he most preferred. But my guess is that is not what necessarily took place. All you have to do is read the words coming from Gulati's mouth that same day.

"Juergen and I haven't talked about May, June, 2008, 2009, 2011 or anything else. He has withdrawn himself from the process and the conversation yesterday, which was a very general one, was that this was a very interesting process and very positive and it would be great to work together in the future. But there is no thought that, 'Hey, it didn't work out so now we have six months and lets talk again in May,' or, 'I really want to take a year off and do it in '08,' or anything like that. That's not the notion at all. There's a reason for the parallel structure. Bob has two sets of responsibilities, it's not just an interim basis for the National Team. We've got an important program in our Olympic team, which isn't an amateur team anymore. It's the Under-23 team, it's got overage players, and that's a program that, in and of itself, is a two-year job with China in August 2008." - Gulati

It all makes sense now as to why the USSF took longer than expected, particularly after the Bradley appointment. Even Trecker, in spite of having his journalistic cojones wrung through and through in the past several days knows it-and that's why he and I still believe Klinsmann is the man.

This is evident from the USSF appointment of Bradley to the Under-23 and Olympic posts as well as the interim title. That is, in all truth, the reason you should see Mr. Klinsmann patrolling the sidelines for the national team sooner rather than later. The above statements by Gulati are not necessarily an admission of this, but it is a road map of information. The hope is that by the time you've read this column you will have an idea as to why I believe Klinsmann is merely buying time and allowing Bradley to lay down some foundation to the overall structure. While nobody reports this, it makes all the sense in the world. Bradley will act as the head coach for the Nats while Klinsmann will continue to compile a coaching staff, having been notified that some conditions and terms apply to the deal.

Fair enough; so Bradley will coach what is essentially the Under-23 national team in the Olympics and the group will include Freddy Adu, Benny Feilhaber and Jonathan Spector, among others. The three-and others-are rising stars not just in the U.S., but abroad, with Adu just completing a two-week trial at Manchester United. The Olympic team's goal is to win the gold medal and has been presented as such to Mr. Bradley. He understands this, and I believe will come through on the promise he likely made to Gulati. The timeline, according to Gulati, is May for Bradley to either be promoted (which will not happen) as the full-time men's national team head coach or demoted, though it's really not a demotion and that's why Bradley has been mum regarding specifics of the job-because the process has just begun-yet has been direct about his appointment.

Bradley's primary job will likely be to oversee the talent base in Major League Soccer; after all, that is where his talent lies. This has become rather obvious, I would believe, to the USSF, particularly after Bradley led Chivas USA from the bottom of MLS to third in their conference in just one year's time. And when Gulati discusses how the roles of the coaches may differ from team to team it's important to look carefully at these following words of what he believes constitutes responsibility for a senior national team head coach:

"I think there are two broad responsibilities. One is the preparation and development of the senior men's national team. That happens everywhere. The role that, for example, Guus Hiddink had in Australia and Korea was the preparation of that team for the World Cup. That's more similar to what Bora had for our Men's National Team for the World Cup in '94. The second role is the rest, the coaching programs, preparation of the other teams, the technical director role influencing the rest of the programs, whether it's just the men's side and the boy's side or the overall development of the game. That, one can only do if you're there for a long period of time involved in the youth programs and so on. That's certainly, when I talk about some knowledge of the American game, where it's more important that that's present, rather than the short term basis of preparing one team. - Gulati later that same day

Bradley's appointment will be made even more important with the tragic passing of Glenn "Mooch" Myernick, the national team's right-hand man and primary scout who died of a heart attack several weeks prior.

Also look for Steve Sampson, the former senior national team head coach now out of a job, to return to the fold by the time summer rolls around. Sampson is currently out of a job, having been relieved of his duties rather prematurely by the Los Angeles Galaxy, even after leading Donovan and Co. to an MLS Cup last year. If there is one thing about the USSF that is different from most, if not all, other federations, it is that many coaches return at one time or another to fulfill their duty to their country. Sampson is not different in that regard.

If Klinsmann defers and chooses not to do his own scouting, it will likely be his staff that will do the dirty work. In other words, you are looking at a two-headed monster in terms of coaching the U.S. national team; Bradley in charge of the U.S. player pool and perhaps North America and Klinsmann the rest of the world. Bradley is already known for putting in serious hours on the job and is meticulous when it comes to detail. Klinsmann is known for injecting American flavor into his German national team and that includes the plyometric exercises that the old world had shunned up until Klinsmann had them introduced. But the other sticking point that was hardly reported is that the USSF does indeed have a method to their madness and again look to Gulati's words as proof.

"My view on this is that a lot has happened in the last two days. We don't want to be making too many decisions on the last two days. The answer, in one part, and this is a discussion that we had with Bob, with Juergen and with the other people we talked to, about those two roles, the candidates and their skill set and what they wanted to do. In some cases, they said, 'Look, we'll take on that role,' or 'We need to have some influence in that but you should really get another person. Give them the title because they'll need that in order to have the credibility.' Or, in other cases, saying it's simply too big of a job in a country like the United States...- Gulati

And let me make this very clear: Klinsmann from all indications seems to be the person waiting in the wings and Gulati's quote at the top of the story cements it. But the USSF is not as dumb as first believed and neither is Trecker. They are not about to tip their hand to the European countries that would love nothing more than to spoil another U.S. party. And you will see the first-team at the Copa America, for it looks to be the unveiling of Klinsmann's new guard, with Bradley behind the scenes. Every great coach needs a competent staff, particularly at this level, and I believe that the USSF has learned valuable lessons from their past mistakes. Though the whole situation has been micromanaged to the nth degree, you will see the dividends pay off in the end.

It's certainly my hope that we'll have some consistency throughout next summer, and whether that's Bob or Bob working side-by-side with someone else, however that works out. Like I've said, we have talked to some of the other people in the last 24 hours that are part of this process, told them exactly what we were doing and told them what the timetables were. It's not a question of whether they were comfortable with that or not, it's our decision...- Gulati

If for some reason this scenario does not occur you may see Gerard Houllier, the current coach of Olympique Lyonnais come to the fold. There is an out that the USSF has given themselves, also evident from the words coming from, you guessed it, Gulati:

"Certainly in the next three, four, five, six months, two teams: a senior team getting ready for those two competitions, starting to develop the group of players that is going to be important for us as we get into qualifying, and starting to develop the group of players that's going to be on the Under-23. That's the charge. The rest of what would normally be associated with the Technical Director role is not at the top of the list of what Bob has on his plate."

Now let's rewind a bit to show you where this all supposedly went wrong so you too can see what I'm talking about and perhaps see my point of view:

When Jamie Trecker of FOX Sports first reported that Juergen Klinsmann had, in fact, accepted the position of head coach of the U.S. Mens National Soccer Team, Trecker received information that correlated his reporting from "well-placed" sources within the U.S. Soccer Federation. Those sources, according to some in the know, were his uncle, an officer in the USSF and another journalist who had heard the information from somebody who had supposedly talked to Gulati.

So Trecker went forward with the story, assuming on that information that A. Klinsmann had already signed on the dotted line; B. Klinsmann had been freed of his lucrative endorsement deal with German sports magnate Adidas, thus allowing him to be snapped up by Nike, the U.S. national team's supplier; and C. Going off of a second-hand report from somebody within the USSF, possibly somebody close to Gulati.

Now any journalist worth his or her salt knows damned well that using second-hand information without having had it confirmed by the FIRST-PERSON, namely Gulati, is dangerous to your career health.

But one thing struck me funny: Despite several stories claiming the deal was never complete, though some claimed the deal was close to completion, including the AP, Trecker never apologized. That was the first clue that his story was, in most regards, accurate. Then once Gulati spoke up about the situation, Trecker stuck to his story. Then the appointment of Bradley as the OLYMPIC HEAD COACH put the whole thing together. One, there are no important competitions that would require Klinsmann to report as coach any sooner than May. Second, neither the Gold Cup nor the Copa America begins until mid-summer. Finally, the latest Klinsmann would need to be on the sidelines is Spring 2008 once the Americans begin their World Cup qualifying push.

So it will be interesting to see where this goes from here. One thing is certain, however: Klinsmann still looks to be a viable candidate for the head coaching position and from all examinations of the situation, the former German national team coach and superstar is seemingly interested in the position, leaving many to speculate like myself that, as Gulati said, a deal could come "sooner rather than later."