Will Selva’s latest post about Hispanic Athletes.
Since I wear multiple hats, and one of them involves the other football or as most of the world knows it as futbol, I should mention that I spoke with US Men’s National Team Coach Jurgen Klinsmann following his 4 year extension that also includes the title of Technical Director. He obviously believes it was good to get it out of the way to bring some stability in preparation for the World Cup.
Will Selva discusses the current US men’s soccer team.
US National Team products Carlos Bocanegra, Cobi Jones and Brian McBride all agreed that this was all part of Klinsmann’s plan and there’s no lingering distractions in the coming months. They believe US Soccer is headed in the right direction at the moment. As Bocanegra correctly pointed out to me, there’s really no other viable candidate out there to take over.
Whether Klinsmann actually coaches until 2018 remains to be seen, but a scenario where he’s just the Technical Director is quite possible. The timing of this extension is a bit curious considering it was done before what will be a brutal World Cup for the US, but as Jones reiterated, contracts are made to be broken. So if the team does poorly, then it changes things.
There were reports circulating that Switzerland and Tottenham were interested in the German, which may have hastened the signing. Klinsmann also told me that he’s already faced logistical challenges in Brazil waiting 8 hours for his flight in Salvador. A harsh taste of what’s to come for the US National Team that not only faces a Group of Death, but 9 thousand miles of travel in extreme humidity. If Klinsmann’s bunch makes it through all of that, the extension will be worth every cent.
from Will Selva: Sports Broadcasting http://willselva.org/us-soccer-jurgen-klinsmann/
Will Selva 