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Solving the Jurgen Klinsmann Problem

Solving the Jurgen Klinsmann Problem

Jurgen Klinsmann isn't going anywhere.

An intellectually honest assessment of his record and performance in his four years on the job would suggest that his position as United States men's national team head coach should at the very least be up for discussion. But it isn't. Even though we can now say confidently that in big tournaments he was outperformed by his predecessor Bob Bradley – who was let go for the benefit of Klinsmann's hiring – U.S. Soccer has no intention of making a change.

Following an embarrassing Gold Cup semifinal loss to Jamaica, United States Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said that Klinsmann's job was not in danger, and that it wouldn't be even if the Americans lose an October playoff against Mexico for a spot in the 2017 Confederations Cup.

So what now? Because no matter how headstrong the federation has become on the Klinsmann kerfuffle – the unavoidable conclusion here is that USSF has invested an irresponsible amount of money and credibility capital into his success and won't write either of it off – this isn't working. Yes, there have been friendly wins against big countries. But while the U.S. survived the Group of Death in the World Cup, its performance was poor and the Gold Cup debacle is its biggest failing in close to a decade. The play, meanwhile, is pedestrian with dispiriting regularity, even though the pool of talent available is deeper than ever.

Klinsmann's mandate is a long-term one. He is charged with lifting American soccer to a higher plane. But how do we reconcile that bigger picture with the lack of results in the short term?

In trying to formulate a solution, why not look back to the one of his three jobs in management that Klinsmann made an inarguable success?

Klinsmann and Loew were the perfect tandem to rebuild Germany into a world champion. (Reuters)
Klinsmann and Loew were the perfect tandem to rebuild Germany into a world champion. (Reuters)

During his tenure in charge of Germany from 2004 to 2006, Klinsmann oversaw a stylistic revolution that resulted in Die Mannschaft winning the World Cup last summer. Back then, he had a strong assistant in Jogi Loew, who has since succeeded him and conquered the world. The way it seems to have worked is that Klinsmann was the public face and the big ideas man. He formulated the vision and defended it to the outside world – and even Germany's congress. He was in charge of the team, giving team talks, while Loew ran practice, constructed game plans and took care of the tactics. It worked well.

So why not replicate that model? Why not equip Klinsmann with a strong assistant – call him an "associate head coach” or a "field manager” or whatever – and let both do what they do best? Why not put a talented tactician-cum-field-coach by his side, who knows the player pool and won't hog the spotlight, allowing Klinsmann to be a kind of supervisor and plot out the next steps to a better future?

Whether Klinsmann is actually capable of leading the Americans to a place where they can finally break into the world's elite is up for debate – he certainly has a hard time verbalizing his plans – but if his job security must be absolute, it makes sense to give him a better shot at succeeding by freeing him from a lot of the daily burdens of being both the national team's head coach and the federation's technical director, as he was named when he renewed his contract through 2018 in December 2013.

Perhaps Martin Vasquez was supposed to be that guy. After serving as Klinsmann's assistant in his disastrous time with Bayern Munich in the 2008-09 season, he was deemed to have been one of the reasons his boss failed to survive his first year. Klinsmann nevertheless brought him along in his third job, in charge of the USA, before finally dumping him in a pre-World Cup purge. Vasquez, a friendly but reserved kind of guy, in sharp contrast to the ever ebullient Klinsmann, didn't leave much of an impression on anyone.

Klinsmann's current assistants, Andy Herzog and Tab Ramos, don't seem to have the clout within the team to carry out such a role, or the experience. Berti Vogts, meanwhile, occasionally listed as some sort of consultant and sounding board to Klinsmann, isn't around much and surely wouldn't be asked to run practices.

So why not bring in an extra coach? A Major League Soccer man, since so much of the USMNT now plies its trade in the domestic league.

Dominic Kinnear is the best MLS candidate to be a field manager with Klinsmann. (AP Photo)
Dominic Kinnear is the best MLS candidate to be a field manager with Klinsmann. (AP Photo)

Dom Kinnear of the San Jose Earthquakes would probably make the most sense. He has a track record of performing very well with solid if unspectacular squads, reaching four MLS Cups (winning two) in seven years with the Houston Dynamo. His teams are well-organized, efficient and hard to break down, just as the USA used to be. But then his typically austere playing style would be a betrayal of the evolution Klinsmann has promised (albeit very seldom delivered on). It would all probably look too Bradley-esque. And then what would have been the point in all of this? Or so the federation might conclude.

Sigi Schmid could be another option. The German-born Seattle Sounders manager has won two MLS Cups with two different teams and tends to play attractive soccer with his team. He's twice managed the U.S. Under-20s and, what's more, he has a good relationship with Klinsmann. However, at 62, Schmid might be a tad old to agree to becoming someone's No. 2 after spending 35 years as a head coach.

The most logical option would appear to be one of the younger MLS coaches who have proven themselves domestically and could have bigger ambitions to pursue. Provided one of them could be convinced to suspend promising careers in club management, he could act in a quasi-apprentice role. Kind of like the short but ill-fated Guus Hiddink-Danny Blind combination that succeeded Louis van Gaal as Netherlands managers a year ago, which was an idea better conceptualized than executed.

There are candidates aplenty. Peter Vermes (48, Sporting Kansas City), Ben Olsen (38, DC United), Jay Heaps (38, New England Revolution), Jason Kreis (42, New York City FC) and Caleb Porter (40, Portland Timbers) have known real success with their clubs and demonstrated their ability to get their teams to play attractive, aggressive, attacking soccer. The sort of soccer Klinsmann envisions.

All of them could use such a national team pseudo-head coaching job as a stepping stone for their careers, not to mention the big job itself, whenever Klinsmann vacates it. The pot could even be sweetened with the Olympic assignment, with qualifiers starting in October, followed by the main tournament in Rio de Janeiro next summer – even though that job is presently held by Herzog. And in the meantime, the senior national team would benefit from having a real manager out on the field, even if he would be something else in name, without usurping Klinsmann.

Because lately, and for a good while now, the USA has lacked identity, a clear playing style and cohesion, plainly hampering results. These are problems typically solved by switching out the manager. In this case, since U.S. Soccer says it won't entertain Klinsmann's sacking, the old manager would still be kept around, only he would be promoted out of the way.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.