It has been practically four months since the last World Cup finished, and Team USA is no where to be found, other than in the 29th place on the FIFA monthly ranking. True, its performance at the WC left a lot to be desired, but the US Soccer Federation (USSF) led by Sunil Gulati has performed even worse and done nothing concrete to replace Bruce Arena, the scapegoat of USA failure at Germany 2006.

Gulati mentioned a few “marketing” names that could take the helm of Team USA to lead it to South Africa 2010, via the Copa America (2007), Gold Cup (2008?), Confederations Cup (2009). But so far, nothing, it has just been noisy with no decision or clue about a high caliber coach. Gulati short list included Juergen Klinsmann (Germany), Sven Goran Eriksson (England), Jose Pekerman (Argentina), Peter Novak and Bob Bradley (USA).

The relative German success on its WC led people to believe that Klinsmann was a great coach, how wrong they are. Klinsmann had the fortune to have naturalized players that carried the team, particularly Podolski and Klose (Poland), the rest of the players had limited technical capability and were indoctrinated to the “brute force “ soccer so typical in the German football. If the USA wants to have a side line “cheerleader” with constant theatrics, then Klinsmann might be the man. However, keep in mind that Klinsmann did not develop (very important) any new player, tactics, and strategies to the German style, his experience as head coach was nothing more than a mirage with nothing solid to build for the future, that is why he left the post, he does not have the acumen to be a head coach. The one positive aspect of his tenure was that he relied in American expertise in several aspects for team building responsibilities.

As far as Eriksson is concerned, he was a complete failure in England during his six years as head coach, despite the fact that the jingoistic English press said that he had at his disposal the best generation of English soccer players in a long time; there were no titles of any kind for the Brits, just embarrassing moments which the sports writers clearly and thoroughly substantiated. There is no doubt that Eriksson’s success lies at club level, but the USA needs to build a competitive national team which can only be developed by a professional working in the MLS, someone that knows the development, strengths, short comings, and mentality of the US players.

There are two fairly successful coaches in the MLS that should be given the opportunity to lead the national team, Peter Novak (D.C. United) and Bob Bradley (Chivas USA). Both know the local environment well enough to perform within the limitations that the USSF presents as far as the way the MLS season is run, resources and commitments the federation engages at continental and intercontinental levels.

There is a tremendous urgency to appoint a national coach, especially now that Gulati, without profoundly analyzing the consequences, committed the USA to participate at the Copa America within nine months, which will not be sufficient time to prepare a competitive team. So I ask: Will Gulati be fired for his incompetence just like he did it to Bruce Arena?