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Jurgen Klinsmann was largely considered one of the brightest minds in soccer when the United States Soccer Federation brought him in from Germany to build up a program which was always considered rich in possibility but lacking in results.
Klinsmann had a remarkable playing career, netting 228 goals across 17 years, most of which came playing abroad in England. He went on to coach the German National Soccer team in 2004 and led them to third place in the World Cup in 2006 at home, a tremendous result for a team which, just two years earlier, was banished from the opening round of Euro 2004.
Klinsmann stepped away from the German national team following that successful run in 2006, and he parlayed that into a job at Bayern Munich, Germany's biggest club soccer team and a club he scored 31 goals for as a striker from 1995 through 1997. His success with the Bavarian giants was limited by their lofty standards, as he never won a Champions League or a Bundesliga title.
Instead, Klinsmann went back to where he was living in the United States. He watched and learned everything there was to learn about the U.S. Men's National Team, and he was right there watching when the Americans were dumped out of the 2010 World Cup by Ghana. Manager Bob Bradley was fired in 2011 when the United States failed at the Gold Cup.
Klinsmann immediately changed everything about the way the U.S. Men's soccer team was run. Gone were the days of cushy training regiments. Gone were the days of just accepting homegrown talent playing in the MLS. Gone were the tactics of the woeful 4-4-2 which failed many American managers before him. Klinsmann was determined to make this team an attacking power as he did with Germany, and he was going to do it by trying to get his players to play overseas in Europe, where the game was and remains far more sophisticated than it is here in the United States.
The results at the outset weren't great for Klinsmann, but he made a name for himself in 2012 by going onto Italian soil and beating the defending World Cup champs 1-0. It was the result which really started to propel U.S. soccer into the limelight nationally, and all of a sudden, the successful results started to pour in. The Americans went to Estadio Azteca and beat rival Mexico later in 2012, the first win they ever had in that massive stadium. They won the 2013 Gold Cup, they beat Germany in the lead up matches for World Cup qualification, and they ultimately succeeded in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.
There, Klinsmann's popularity hit an all-time high in spite of the fact that he couldn't get the United States out of the Round of 32, the same hurdle which caused Bradley to be fired. However, the Americans played in the "Group of Death" that year against Portugal, Germany and Ghana, and they were in it with a chance for the full 120 minutes against a very good Belgium team in the first knockout round.
Klinsmann made the controversial decision to leave American stalwart Landon Donovan off of that 2014 World Cup team though, and that might have been the beginning of the descent for the German manager.
Since losing to Belgium, the results have been awfully mixed for the Americans. They lost to teams like Ireland and Denmark, but they went on a summer tour in 2015 and beat the Netherlands and Germany on the road with largely very young teams.
However, the life of a soccer manager is only as good as recent results, and of late, the results have been unsatisfactory by new American standards. The United States was beaten by Jamaica in the semifinal of the Gold Cup, and that was followed up by a loss in the third place game against Panama. After that, the U.S. was lifeless in a friendly against Brazil, and it was beaten 3-2 by Mexico for the bid in the 2017 Confederations Cup.
The most recent lull came on October 13 against Costa Rica, a soccer match which was lost 1-0 in shocking fashion.
Many were surprised that Klinsmann didn't get the axe at that point, but Sunil Gulati, the head of the United States Soccer Federation, continues to give his support.
The road ahead for the U.S. soccer team is a relatively easy one. The club has six upcoming fixtures in World Cup qualification against St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago and Guatemala. The first two of those matches against St. Vincent & The Grenadines and Trinidad & Tobago come on November 13 and 17. The expectation is two relatively easy wins.
Anything less than that, and it isn't like that Klinsmann sees the end of 2015 as the manager of the U.S. Men's National Team.
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