Jurgen's First Staff Named

From the ussoccer.com USMNT Blog:

Martin Vasquez - Vasquez re-unites with Klinsmann after serving as an assistant coach at Bayern Munich. Currently he is the head coach and Director of Soccer Operations for the U.S. Soccer Development Academy U-16 and U-18 teams of the Real Salt Lake AZ Academy. One of only two players to represent both the United States and Mexico at the international level, he was the head coach of Chivas USA in 2010.

Thomas Dooley - A former U.S. captain and National Soccer Hall of Fame member who played in two World Cups and competed against Klinsmann in the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, the German-American had a long professional career that included a Bundesliga and German Cup title with Kaiserslautern and a UEFA Cup title with Schalke 04. A member of the MLS Best XI as part of the Columbus Crew in 1997 and 1998, he went on to coach FC Saarbrucken in Germany before returning to the United States where he was part of the coaching staff for Pateadores that just captured the 2011 Development Academy U-17/18 championship.

Tab Ramos - Born in Uruguay, the legendary midfielder for the U.S. National Team played in three World Cups en route to earning 81 caps for the United States. Known for his flair and creativity on the ball, the Hall of Famer played professionally in Spain and Mexico before becoming the first ever signing for Major League Soccer, where he spent six seasons with the MetroStars in New York. Ramos founded NJSA 04, a club which is a member of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy.

Mike Curry - A goalkeeper coach with more than 37 years experience, Curry has trained goalkeepers at the club, state and college levels since 1974. A member of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Goalkeeper Institute staff, he teaches courses at the regional and national levels and spent eight years with U.S. Soccer Development Academy club FC DELCO. Prior to his coaching career, he played collegiately at then Division II powerhouse University of Baltimore.

Mark Verstegen - One of the foremost leaders and innovators in athletic training, Mark Verstegen is owner and president of Athletes' Performance, which provides athletes with cutting-edge training based on the latest sports science. Vestergen handled the fitness preparations for the German National Team prior to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in which Klinsmann led the team to a third-place finish. Named the Director of Performance for the NFLPA in 2002, he is the author of Core Performance, which reached the top 25 on Amazon within six weeks of its release and has sold more than 100,000 copies.

Jurgen Names Fresh Squad for Mexico Friendly

Jurgen Klinsmann's announcement as the new head coach of the United States Men's National Team was sure to bring with it a change in philosophy and perhaps a phasing in on a new crop of performers for the squad.  We learned, not to much, but a little bit about what perhaps to expect from future rosters.  Maybe.  Or so we'd like to think.  Here is the 22 man roster named for Jurgen Klinsmann's first ever camp:

U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION -
GOALKEEPERS (2): Bill Hamid (D.C.United), Tim Howard (Everton)
DEFENDERS (8): Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Etienne), Edgar Castillo (Club America), Timmy Chandler (FC Nürnberg), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Michael Orozco Fiscal (San Luis), Heath Pearce (Chivas USA), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), José Torres (Pachuca)
FORWARDS (5): Freddy Adu (Benfica), Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Edson Buddle (FC Ingolstadt), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

At first glance, a couple things are certain: Klinsmann values the Primera Division in Mexico more highly than Bob Bradley, with four US players being called in from the league in DaMarcus Beasley, Edgar Castillo, Jose Francisco Torres, and Michael Orozco Fiscal.  And it doesn't appear to phase Klinsmann that Edson Buddle and Ricardo Clark aren't playing in a top flight, being called in from FC Ingolstadt and Eintracht Frankfurt respectively.  This is the first time those two have been apart of the US squad since the World Cup, throw in Beasley and Torres into that mix as well.  Orozco hasn't seen a US camp since 2008 for the camp against Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago.

Brek Shea is tearing through MLS/CONCACAF right now has earned this call up.  Hopefully he performs better than in his previous outings vs. Colombia in 2010 and Chile in 2011. 

Timothy Chandler puts to bed the rumors of him considering a change to the German national team and looks sure to start at right back with the aging Steve Cherundolo looking at bringing the youthful Nurnberger along to full time right back for the nats. 

Most surprising picks in the bunch include the aforementioned Castillo, Beasley, Orozco Fiscal, Clark, along with the inclusions of Real Salt Lake's Kyle Beckerman and DC United's young goalkeeper Bill Hamid. 

Freddy Adu returns to the US side in the hopes of continuing to revitalize his soccer career, since it looks like he's still not in Benfica plans.  A good run of form is just what Adu needs to secure a transfer away from the Portuguese powerhouse. 

The abundance of CMs and wide players are leading most to speculate that we'll see a 4-3-3 formation.  While I don't necessarily disagree with this prediction, Klinsmann has always been a strict 4-1-3-2 guy, with a single deep lying CDM who keys on distribution and an advanced CM who's more attack minded.  But the roster does lend itself to a more perhaps diamond central midfield set up, with wingbacks and wingers providing the width. 

Surprise absences?  Ohhhh, let's see, we can chalk up Jozy Altidore, Ogychi Onyewu, Jonathan Spector, and Herculez Gomez as the crew who've just joined new clubs and need time to integrate (Altidore with AZ Alkmaar in Holland, Onyewu with Sporting in Portugal, Spector with Birmingham City in England, and Gomez with Estudiantes in Mexico).  These are all fine for me.  Eric Lichaj reportedly picked up a knock during a preseason match in Aston Villa's trip to China so he was ruled out.  Brad Guzan is trying to lock down the Villa goalkeeping job so he was ruled out. Clint Dempsey just today played his first match back with Fulham in their Europa League win and it's likely just that Dempsey needs to remain with his club in England instead of flying over for a few days, guy has deserved a rest and we'll see him in September for the Belgium match I'm sure.  Alejandro Bedoya is an interesting exclusion, but his club was reluctant to see him leave for the Gold Cup and there's no sense in Klinsmann fighting with a club over their most important player for a single friendly.  Sacha Kljestan is a marginal exclusion at best, and another we likely see against Belgium.  Stuart Holden just returned to light training for Bolton so no need to bring him in.  Mikkel Diskerud and Joshua Gatt are also surprise exclusions since both have been playing well for their clubs in Norway, however, these are two more guys that we likely see make the trip to Belgium so I won't complain much.  Chris Rolfe and Michael Parkhurst are two other Scandinavian players who are missing out on this camp, despite playing well for their respective clubs (Aalborg and Nordsjaelland).

Potential starting 11s?  I'll throw two out since there seems to be some disparity over if we'll see the 4-3-3 or the 4-1-3-2.  First the 4-3-3:

 

4-1-3-2

These are my two guesses, and to be honest I'd be fine with either.  I will caution that Donovan, Adu, and Beasley have all been named forwards in this roster, and not as midfielders as they've often been previously listed.  We'll see what Klinsmann has up his sleeve however.  Six days until the match.

Bob Bradley Dismissed

Bob Bradley is OUT.  The USSF announced today that Bob Bradley has been dismissed as the coach of the US Men's National Team.  The announcement ends a run of over four years at the helm for Bob, who compiled a 43-25-12 record through 80 matches in charge.   The change comes at an awkward time for the program, as Grant Wahl reported that the coaches were working on player notifications for the forthcoming USA-Mexico friendly in 13 days.  If that's to be believed, then one can only surmise that negotiations for the incoming coach had simply taken around a month to finally finalize. 

The USSF is making a "further announcement" tomorrow around 12pm EST, which is heavily rumored to be the new manager announcement.  Grant Wahl tweeted earlier today that the new man will be "someone that US fans are familiar with."  So good money (and most rumored) is on Jurgen Klinsmann.  Other names that continue to pop up include Peter Nowak, Jason Kreis, and Marcelo Lippi. 

What is my take?  I personally think that Bob Bradley has simply taken the US as far as he could.  Any and everyone could see that the US system had begun to stagnate and that time for a change was fast approaching.  I would like to personally thank Bob Bradley for everything that he and his staff have accomplished over the last four+ years, but time for change is now. 

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup: What Went Right

I've been strained for time here at NP, but one thing I have made sure to do in my sparse spare time is watch every US match for the entirety of the tournament...expect the final 65 minutes of the final, which would have required me to purchase a new TV.  But that's for another post on another day.  I want to discuss the positives from the US point of view exiting this tournament. 

1.) The Return of Freddy Adu
The US poster boy for over-hype and crazy expectations shut up an entire soccer nation.  Millions of US fans, and yours truly, doubted, criticized, and lambasted Bob Bradley for picking a player who hadn't played in the US kit in over two years, nor who had played top flight football for most of the past season.  Adu proved everyone wrong, and even showed off a bit of humble pie following his performance against Panama in the semi-finals.  It was his inch-perfect pass to Landon Donovan that created the games only goal.  Bob Bradley can chalk this one up in the win column.  Now all Freddy has to do is find a top flight club where he can get significant minutes, be that in Portugal, Turkey, France, Denmark, wherever.  It's impossible not to cheer for Adu at this point.

2.) Offensive Chance Taking
Let me say before I start that this is about CHANCE TAKING, not CHANCE FINISHING.  Two completely different things.  Through the six Gold Cup matches the United States reeled off an incredible 90 shots for an average of 15 per game.  That's an impressive clip and shows signs of a positive offensive mindset.  With Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore leading the line (until Altidore's injury in the quarter-finals), the US' attack was taking chances. 

3.) US Role Players on the Rise
Kudos to Alejandro Bedoya, who for some peculiar reason was left off the initial Gold Cup roster.  Easily earned the US' hustle award for the entirety of the tournament.  His high work rate was a welcome jolt of energy in to a defense that seemed more content to keep shape and allow teams to control the ball in front of them.  Bedoya's charges turned the ball over in the US' favor and his never-ceasing cascades down the right flank whilst Landon Donovan recover from some unknown ailment made him a all tournament performer in my book for the U.S.  Sacha Kljestan is another who's time in Europe is proving key for his development as a player.  No longer is he a straight-forward single minded player, but a well rounded central midfielder, able to possess and distribute accordingly. 

4.) Left Fullback Conundrum? SolvedWelcome to the show Eric Lichaj.  The 22 year old Aston Villa man has made a place for himself on the left flank of the US team.  It was Lichaj's inclusion starting with the Guadeloupe game that started a US 3-game shutout run.  Lichaj's physical grit and pace down the left flank hasn't been seen since Heath Pearce did so for the US during 2008.  This one is solved for Bradley and Co.

So what does everyone think about the positive of the Gold Cup?  Any you think I missed?  Let me know in the comments!

Apologies for the delays.  Life it seems is finally catching up with me.  Post's are nowhere near as frequent, but not because I don't care.  It's simply that summer school, work, and some personal issues have hampered my free time and sapped my strength.  Will be taking a leave of absence for awhile, possibly with the occasional post concerning the US matches or player transfers.  I refer everyone to the Shin Guardian for complete coverage of US Soccer.  Thank you all.

COME ON YOU YANKS!