Jurgen Klinsmann was sacked as the United States Men’s National Team manager in November, following a pair of losses to Mexico and Costa Rica to begin World Cup Qualification in CONCACAF’s Hex final round. His replacement, former LA Galaxy boss Bruce Arena, pulled four points from his first two matches to strengthen the Stars & Stripes’ hope of qualifying, and Arena seems like a better fit for the squad given his ties to Major League Soccer.
In an interview with ESPN FC, Andi Herzog, a former USMNT assistant under Klinsmann, claims MLS officials didn’t want to listen to any of Klinsmann’s suggestions for improving the league and thought he was far too critical of their operations.
“MLS, the American league, is getting better and better, but Jurgen wanted to help them and give them some information, some inputs, where they were making some mistakes,” Herzog said.
“Jurgen said, ‘Yeah, we need to do this, this and this better,’ and this was the reason why he started to have a fall-out with the [commissioner] of the league, Don Garber.
“Jurgen wanted to help the league keep improving but [MLS executives] were not happy and thought he was just criticizing everything. One point Jurgen was not happy with was that they were buying and overpaying over-aged former European superstars like crazy, but they have already found out that it is not a good way.
“And this was a big problem, because there was a big pressure from [Garber]. … When we lost a game, [Garber] came and said: ‘No, he’s criticizing our league and he’s making some mistakes, too.’ So this was a problem — a bad relationship between the American league and Jurgen.
Herzog’s comments may come off as bitter, given the way the relationship between Klinsmann and US Soccer ended, but he’s not saying anything we don’t know. MLS *did* invest too much money in older European designated players (hello, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard!), and some of the league’s mechanisms for driving players to certain teams (most notably, the blind draw that brought Jermaine Jones to the New England Revolution) are absurd.
Herzog also discussed his former boss’s future plans, and revealed that he thinks Klinsmann will end up coaching again, and perhaps in the Premier League.
“I think he will be back, the question is if he wants to take over a club team or another national team,” Herzog said. “That’s his decision, but I think sooner or later, because of his name, and we also had some success with U.S. team, he will.
“So, I’m sure there will be some new [interested] teams, maybe a Premier League team or another national side. We will see.”
Well that’s interesting. Klinsmann has only held three managerial jobs during his career – the German National Team, Bayern Munich, and the US National Team. Would he actually want to take over a mid-table side like Watford or West Ham, or would he set his sights higher and attempt to become the boss of a traditional power like…
oh no…
Wenger out, Jurgen in?
Nah. That would never happen, right? Right.
[ESPN FC]
