U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann was fired Monday after a recent loss in Costa Rica that hurt the soccer team’s chances of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.
No replacement has yet been announced for Klinsmann, but former coach Bruce Arena is considered the leading candidate, according to The New York Times. Klinsmann also was removed from his position as technical director for all of U.S. soccer, a role that oversees the development of soccer in the U.S.
“While we remain confident that we have quality players to help us advance to Russia 2018, the form and growth of the team up to this point left us convinced that we need to go in a different direction,” U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said in a statement reported by the Times.
Even before the recent losses to Mexico and Costa Rica, Klinsmann came under fire for saying the team wouldn't likely win the World Cup in 2014 and for demeaning the top U.S. professional league, Major League Soccer, from which many of his players came.
Klinsmann played as a striker on the German national team and scored three goals in the 1990 World Cup for Germany, which won the tournament. Klinsmann also coached Germany to a 2006 World Cup win. He came to the U.S. team in 2011 at the urging of Gulati, but Gulati’s support waned as the team didn’t show as much growth and improvement as the federation hoped for, the Times said.
“We want to thank Jurgen for his hard work and commitment during these last five years ... thanks to his efforts we have grown as an organization and expect there will be benefits from his work for years to come,” a statement from U.S. Soccer read, according to ESPN FC.
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