Media Monster

The Future Of US Soccer: What Next For Bob Bradley?

The question that seems to loom largest in the wake of the United States’ exit from the World Cup is: What now?

What of Bob Bradley? What of the future of the roster? What of the future of the sport in the United States?

The reality is that the answer to none of these questions is clear–and likely these questions will not resolve themselves for at least a while longer–but because these topics are so critical, here is the first of a three part series that evaluates what is next for US soccer.

The Fate of Bob Bradley:

To the casual fan, the United States’ run in the World Cup was a storied one, a run full of heroism, drama, and exceeded expectations.  But to United States Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati and to the many fans who understood the US’ watered-down path in the knockout stage, the team’s departure from the tournament may have seemed premature.

As Gulati said:

“I think the team is capable of more.  I think the players know it. I think Bob knows it. And so at that level we’re disappointed we didn’t get to play another 90 minutes at least.”

I would be hard-pressed to disagree.

The United States has shown on multiple occasions that it has the ability to compete with the world’s elite, the prime example of which being last summer’s Confederations Cup during which Bradley’s squad defeated Spain 2-0 in the semi-final and held a 2-0 lead over Brazil in the tournament’s final (before conceding three goals to lose 3-2).

But for the United States, as important as its ability to compete on the field is its ability to market itself off it. And with Ghana and Uruguay standing as the two teams that the United States needed to beat in order to advance to the the semi-finals, the US stood on the unique threshold of being able not only to advance to its first tournament semi-final since 1930 but also to advance the position of the sport within the public eye.

Undoubtedly, the US’ performance in the World Cup has already done that to some degree; as many people watched the US-Ghana game as last year’s World Series games, after all.  But Landon Donovan said it best before Saturday’s game:

“It’s not a failure if we don’t win Saturday, but we have a great opportunity to accomplish something special.  We feel like we can beat any team in the world. All we know now is that Ghana is next. I can’t emphasize enough how big this opportunity is and how we need to take advantage of it.

The problem is, the US didn’t take advantage of it, and it is for this reason that Bob Bradley’s job security comes into question.

As for how Gulati will proceed with Bradley, he had this to say on the matter:

“I want to sit down with Bob. I think that’s the appropriate thing.  I want to hear his views, express some of mine and see what makes sense. I think he’s done a very good job. I want to make that very clear. … When we’ve had our ‘A’ team, the record is pretty darn good. … The problem is that our expectations have risen pretty sharply and there have been some performances where we didn’t play as well as we would have liked.”

In fairness, as Gulati spoke to, Bradley did do a very good job.  His team emerged on top of its group, showed itself to be an incredibly resilient team, and, at times, looked like one of the most cohesive groups in the tournament.  Yet the team led opponents for only 3 minutes during the tournament (in a weak group) and found itself constantly playing from behind, conceding a goal within the first 15 minutes of 3 of 4 tournament matches.

It is this striking dichotomy of play–the US’ insistence to play well only in spurts–that may easily explain the ambivalence of Gulati’s remarks and may indicate why the decision regarding Bradley is such a difficult one.

As developments unfold, however, there is one thing to keep in mind–a point offered by former US defender and current ESPN analyst Alexi Lalas.

“I don’t think there’s any question that Bob Bradley did enough to keep continuing on with this team…but is there a possibility of getting somebody better who could take the team to the next level?

“Just because a coach does well in a World Cup doesn’t necessarily mean that the best thing for the Federation and for US soccer or any Federation is to continue on with that coach.”

Bob Bradley has done a very good job with the United States national team.  But is he the best fit for the team moving forward? Personally, I think Gulati would have to find a very specific fault with Bradley’s performance to dismiss him as coach; however, it should certainly be interesting to see how he proceeds.

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