U.S. Soccer should give Bob Bradley second chance as USMNT head coach

Four years ago this week, Jurgen Klinsmann took over as United States men's national team head coach after the Americans lost to Mexico in the Gold Cup final. Bob Bradley was let go in large part because that defeat to Mexico meant the U.S. wouldn't be heading to the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil.

Now, with the national team needing to win a one-game playoff in October to ensure qualification for the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia, Klinsmann surely must be on the hot seat and held to the same standard as Bradley. Lose and Klinsmann's tenure with the USMNT should be over. Kaput.

Except that it won't play out that way. After Saturday's penalty-shootout defeat to Panama in the Gold Cup third-place game, U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said Klinsmann won't lose his job, even if the team doesn't qualify for the Confederations Cup.

[FC Yahoo: Klinsmann will keep job despite U.S. loss in Gold Cup third-place game]

It's amazing how the standard has been lowered in just four years. Bradley and Klinsmann both won a Gold Cup and advanced the U.S. to the second round of the World Cup. But Klinsmann has overseen a tactical regression culminated by a disappointing fourth-place finish in a tournament the Americans were heavily favored to win. He has yet to deliver the stylish soccer he promised. Now his results are lacking, too.

Meanwhile, Bradley is working miracles in Norway with provincial club Stabaek.

Promoted to Norway's top flight two years ago, Stabaek is defying all odds. The squad recently has been in financial distress and lost its top two strikers and best midfielder to transfers before the season. The club plays in a glorified high school football stadium and its practice facilities amount to trailers. And yet Stabaek currently sits in second place in the Tippeligaen.

Bradley has always understood where his team's strengths lie and worked to get the most of the personnel at his disposal. At the 2009 Confederations Cup, he made the Americans explosive on the counterattack, keeping them compact and disciplined and capitalizing on their speed on the wings. He maximized those qualities in leading the U.S. to an impressive Confederations Cup win over Spain, then ranked No. 1 in the world, and then to the final where USA performed well in a loss to Brazil.

It wasn't a revolution, but it was effective. Bradley then won his World Cup qualifying group and won his group at 2010 South Africa.

Sure, the soccer wasn't pretty. And it wasn't always the beautiful game. But, as Bradley demonstrated again as head coach of Egypt – a team he fell just shy of qualifying for the World Cup despite the country being torn apart by civil unrest – he is willing to adjust to the talent around him.

Klinsmann, with his near constant tinkering, has shown an inability to find that happy medium between player development and results. Recent wins in friendly matches over the Netherlands and Germany have been overshadowed by the underwhelming losses to Jamaica and Panama in the Gold Cup. He has a more talented roster than at any point in U.S. national team history and has done less with it than his predecessors.

And yet there is Bradley in Norway, with a squad payroll among the lowest in the Tippeligaen, flying high and playing attractive soccer.

Four years ago, U.S. Soccer unceremoniously dumped the coach who had served the federation so faithfully. Perhaps it is time to undo what never should have happened in the first place and bring back Bob Bradley to clean up Jurgen Klinsmann's mess.