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Donovan Didn’t Hesitate To make His Opinion Known

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The USA team reached the round of 16 which was far more than what was expected. The American side was pitted in a difficult group where they had to play against: Ghana, Portugal and Germany. Getting past the group stages of the 2014 World Cup was a tough task to accomplish but the team of Jurgen Klinsmann managed to do it as they secured the 2nd place of group G with 4 points which was the same amount of points that Portugal had but USA had better goal difference.

When the 2014 edition of the World Cup was over, Jurgen Klinsmann received a mix of negative and positive feedback towards the decisions he made during the already concluded World Cup.

Landon Donovan was surprisingly left out of the squad and the veteran attacker did not hesitate in letting his voice be heard as he went on saying that Klinsmann got the tactics all wrong.

Donovan spoke to the media a day after USA was eliminated from the World Cup as he praised the work that his colleagues made throughout the entire tournament but criticized the formations and playing style that Jurgen Klinsmann opted to go with.

“I think we’re all disappointed in what happened yesterday. I think the most disappointing is we didn’t seem like we gave it a real effort, from a tactical standpoint. I thought the guys did everything they could, they did everything that was asked of them, but I don’t think we were set up to succeed yesterday, and that was tough to watch.”

“It’s a results-oriented business, and so, results-wise, you can hold your head high. But, if you really look at the performances, there were some good performances by guys, some not-so-good performances by guys. As a whole, I think tactically, the team was not set up to succeed.

Despite receiving negative feedback from Landon Donovan, the American squad managed to get past the group rounds of the World Cup which was something that not many people were expecting and recognized figures such as Diego Simeone and Pep Guardiola praised the work of Jurgen Klinsmann as they stated that the German coach has ‘’ revolutionized football in the United States’’.

JURGEN IN CHARGE

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This will be the first World Cup that Jurgen Klinsmann goes into in charge of the U.S National team and the former Bayern Munich coach is expecting that he can push the American side on new levels of success.

The furthest that the Americans have reached in a World Cup was back in 1930 when they managed to get into the semifinals but from there on out it has been a struggling campaign for them with the Group Stages turning into a hard task for them to escape from.

Klinsmann has been the head coach of the U.S National team since 2011 and even though the German coach has had successful times in charge of the squad, he received a lot of criticism after suffering 4 defeats and only 1 victory in his first 6 games as the coach of the team.

As time progressed, Klinsmann started snatching better results as he claimed a historical victory during a friendly match against Italy and a few months later another triumph but this time against Mexico in the Estadio Azteca. Klinsmann continued his positive streak and eventually agreed on signing a new contract with the United States Soccer Federation which is going to see him remaining as the coach of the team until 2018.

On an interview, Klinsmann explained the differences that exist in coaching in Germany and the U.S.

“In Germany it is a bit simpler because there is only one expectation … We say we want to win this thing, for us in the U.S., it is a growing process. We can surprise people in Brazil, but obviously our expectation is to get out of the group no matter who we draw. After that, we need to make the players understand it is all about mind games. Every game becomes 50-50 and will be won by the team who is better prepared and believes in themselves more.”

Klinsmann is not expected to turn the American side into World Champions but at least to help them get into the next stages of the upcoming World Cup.

TRANSFORMING THE US

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Since becoming the national team manager of the United States in 2011, Jurgen Klinsmann has managed to transform the face of US soccer. He has managed to find several new players for the national team and they have come from across the world. He has been able to utilise the techniques adopted by European nations for the benefit of US soccer. Several European players with the capabilities to represent the US because of their parent’s nationality have been brought to play for Klinsmann. This has strengthened the national team substantially in the last few years.

Despite being in the same group containing the likes of Germany and Portugal, the US are expected to put up a fight to qualify for the knockout stages of the World Cup 2014. Klinsmann says that this is a testament to the good work done in the last few years, but he reckons that the work will be done only when the nation qualify for the semifinals of the World Cup. The former Germany manager has also said that he still remains in contact with his former assistant Joachim Loew, who is now in charge of the German national team.

Klinsmann has been linked with several club managerial jobs in the last few years, but he recently extended his contract with the US national team.

“Our goal is to one day reach the World Cup semi-finals and then say: ‘we’re here to take you on’. I’m already feverish with excitement and see everything from a fan’s perspective. Of course, I didn’t delete Jogi’s email address from my account after the World Cup draw and we are keeping our fingers crossed for each other,” said Klinsmann, who also says that Brazil will be the favourites to win the World Cup on account of their home advantage and impressive players.

US KICK OFF

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United States kicked off the year with a 2-0 triumph against South Korea as Chris Wondolowski scored twice which helped his national team on winning their first match of 2014 as they played at the Stubhub Center in California in February.

Jurgen Klinsmann is the coach of United States and he is one of the main men in charge of preparing his countrymen for their 2014 World Cup matches as they were pitted to go against Ghana, Portugal and Germany.

Despite being placed in a tough group, Klinsmann is expecting to see his team advancing through the knockout stages of the worldwide competition as according to him, United States have matured and are going to give it all in the pitch.

“Our team has matured a lot over the last couple of years and we are going to give them a big, big fight,” he told reporters at a FIFA pre-World Cup workshop on Wednesday. We are expecting to go to the knockout stage that means Germany, Portugal and Ghana will have to fight it out for the other spot from Group G’’.

“We’ve come through a tough qualifying process where we proved our capability. We have a lot of good players,” said the former Germany coach who led his home country to third spot at the 2006 finals’’.

The 2014 World Cup has been heavily critized because of the number of trips that some squads will have to make in order to fulfill all of their scheduled matches but Klinsmann believes that it will not be a problem.

“I think that for a team to travel long distances at the World Cup is not that difficult because you are well taken care of with charter flights and road escorts. It might be more difficult for the fans to go from one place to the other’’. Klinsmann added.

TOUGH GROUP

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The United States national team face the prospect of a very tough group at the World Cup 2014 after being drawn along with Brazil, Portugal, and Ghana. Portugal and Brazil will undoubtedly be the favourites to qualify from the group, while Ghana will be the likely dark horses. Even though United States have done well in recent major tournaments, they are unlikely to be considered as favourites to qualify for the next stage. Despite this, manager Jurgen Klinsmann has said that he is optimistic about the chances of doing well in Brazil.

Klinsmann says that there are a lot of surprises waiting for the teams in Brazil, which is a huge country. Klinsmann did well with the German national team at the 2006 World Cup, but he says that the playing field is totally different when it comes to 2014. One of the major reasons for such thoughts is the vast nature of the country itself, which will pose climate and logistical challenges for the teams. The North of the country is extremely hot during the month of June, while the south of Brazil is extremely cold.

This is expected to be a huge factor in deciding the outcome of the group stages. Hence, Klinsmann remains confident and optimistic despite the draw.

“I call this tournament the ‘World Cup of Patience’. Because of the Brazilian style of life, there will be a lot of surprises waiting. … It’s not going to be a perfect World Cup for anybody. I’m pretty sure we are going to make it through to the [knockout] round. Nothing will be laid out perfectly. There will be delays and logistical challenges with the hotels, fields, stadiums or whatever,” said the former Tottenham midfielder, who had been linked with a return to his former club after they sacked Andre Villas-Boas.

JURGEN RUMOURS

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There have been several rumours over the last few weeks that US national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann could take over the Switzerland role after the end of the World Cup. The former Germany manager has been in charge of the US national team for the last few years. He has helped the team qualify for the World Cup 2014 and they are expected to do well this time around. Due to the stellar work that he has done with the US team, he continues to be linked with several national and club management roles.

Switzerland are the latest to be linked with Klinsmann. They will be without the manager after the World Cup 2014 since Ottmar Hitzfeld – their current manager – has revealed that he will step down from his role at the end of the World Cup. Klinsmann has not refuse to rule out of the rumours linking him with the job. Speaking to German tabloid Bild, he has confirmed that there have been several offers on the table for his services, but he is yet to decide on his future. He has confirmed that there have been several clubs interested in bringing the former Tottenham striker to club football.

“I have been receiving several enquiries in recent months. Those enquiries were from Europe-based clubs and from several Football Associations as well. And all of them were about the time after the 2014 FIFA World Cup,” said Klinsmann, whose contract with the US national team runs out of the World Cup. Even though his work has been praised around the world, many of the Americans are not happy with his performance. Klinsmann has introduced a number of Germans into the national team squad by taking advantage of FIFA’s rules.

It is expected that he will announce his decision in the next few weeks.

JURGEN WANTS TO STAY

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Former Tottenham player Jurgen Klinsmann has said that he wants to remain as the national team coach of the United States after 2014 as well. The contract of the German comes to an end in the summer. He has been the manager for the last three years during which time he has received plenty of praise and criticism in equal measure. Klinsmann has said that he has so far been doing only the foundation work. Aspects like getting the youth to get connected and educating the coaches are being carried out right now.

He is of the opinion that the U.S. Soccer president is impressed by the work he has done so far. Hence, he has revealed his desire to stay beyond the current contract. US are struggling to qualify for the 2014 World Cup as outright winners of the group. After recent run of good form, they have only a one-point advantage over second placed Costa Rica. The upcoming World Cup qualifiers for the team in October are going to be extremely important since they will be facing Jamaica and Panama.

The recent 3-1 loss to Costa Rica allowed the second place team to close the gap, but the US bounced back straightaway after a 2-0 win over archrivals Mexico.

“A lot of the stuff we’ve done now is foundation work. It’s really just starting to connect the dots that you always talk about in the soccer landscape in the United States: Getting connected to the youth level, to coaches’ education, getting connected really well with MLS. So yeah, that is my interest to continue that work, I’d love to be measured on success. I like that. A lot of the stuff that we laid out and continue now to deepen is happening,” said the manager ahead of the match with Jamaica.

GREAT OPPORTUNITY

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The head coach of the US national football team, Jurgen Klinsmann, has said that the friendly match against Guatemala is a good opportunity for his players to get into the rhythm before the Gold Cup.

USA will take on Guatemala on Friday at Qualcomm Stadium and just a week after that, they will start their Gold Cup campaign against Belize.

When asked about that friendly game, Klinsmann said, “It’s a great chance for us to have some match practice before such a big tournament. Guatemala is a quality side and playing against them will be a good test for us.”

Guatemala hasn’t been able to qualify for the Gold Cup and the team has to face a lot of criticism for that. So, they might like to prove a point or two against USA.

When asked about the composition of Guatemala side, Klinsmann said, “They have got a lot of young players in their squad. They have a new leader as well and they don’t have anything to lose. So, they will just look to play attacking football and enjoy themselves.”

Klinsmann also warned his players that they shouldn’t be taking Belize lightly in their first match of the Gold Cup.

The American manager said, “Belize is not the strongest team in the world, but, they are very competitive. If you had seen them playing in the qualification, you would have found out that they don’t make things easy for the opposition.”

According to CONCACAF rules, the teams need to submit their preliminary squad one and half months before the start of the Gold Cup.

When asked about that rule, Klinsmann said, “I don’t think it’s a fair rule and I have made the CONCACAF officials aware of that. You don’t know when a certain player will get injured or will lose form. A lot can happen in one and half months.”

WORK HARD LANDON

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United States national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann has said that LA Galaxy striker Landon Donovan will have to work hard if he is to return to national team football. The 31-year-old took a sabbatical from sport without the consent of the managers involved. Even though LA Galaxy manager Bruce Arena said that he would be welcoming the striker anytime, Klinsmann has not been happy about the situation. In the absence of Donovan, the US have suffered poor results in the World Cup qualifying group. It has also left the future of Klinsmann in major doubt.

Donovan is regarded as one of the best strikers at the national team level for the US. However, Klinsmann has said that the striker will have to work hard before he can think about a recall to the national team. He has said that there are several players who have done extremely well in recent months. They deserve a call up ahead of Donovan according to Klinsmann. Donovan was at his best in recent 2-0 win for LA Galaxy over Kansas City. He scored one goal and created the other for his club team.

The player recently returned to football after several months of sabbatical. He claimed that he was tired after having played continuous football in recent years.

“There are players clearly ahead of Landon Donovan right now. We’ll see now how he will do in the next couple of weeks and months. We’ll look at the entire picture. And then make our calls. It’s not down to one game when you score one goal, ‘Now you’re back in the team,’. I’ve always said that I would observe him like we will observe all the other players over the stretch of a period of time. There is a chemistry being developed as a group … and he hasn’t been part of that development most of the time over the last two years,” said Klinsmann.

KLINSMANN RUES HOWARD INJURY

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The head coach of the USA national football team, Jurgen Klinsmann, is disappointed about the fact that his first choice goalkeeper Tim Howard will not be able to play in the upcoming world cup qualifying matches against Costa Rica and Mexico because of injury.

But, he also said that he has full faith in the abilities of the second choice goalkeeper Brad Guzan and he is backing him to do well in the upcoming matches. (more…)