Klinsmann convinced 'a thousand percent' U.S. was going to qualify for World Cup
A couple of hours after U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati spoke to the media via conference call to discuss the new men’s national team head coach Bruce Arena, the previous head coach and technical director took to social media to say goodbye.
[ Gulati’s big decisions | Arena takes over | The Klinsmann legacy | Lessons learned ]
Jurgen Klinsmann posted a video on Facebook to thank fans of the USMNT during “an amazing ride over the last 5½ years.” He also thanked his former players for their “text messages” and “calls,” adding that their “support” was appreciated and “very emotional for me.”
Not suprisingly, Klinsmann did not mention Gulati or Arena. But he did say he was convinced the Americans would qualify for the 2018 World Cup. In fact, he said he was “a thousand percent convinced” it would happen.
Klinsmann might be right. Despite opening the final round of World Cup qualifying with two losses for the first time ever, the last-place U.S. still can navigate its way to one of the top three automatic berths or finish fourth in the six-team round robin to advance to a two-leg playoff against Asia’s fifth-place team. However, Gulati could no longer bet on those odds, not with the instability and uncertainty created by Klinsmann’s constant experimentation with player selection and tactics. With the next round of qualifiers in March, it was now or never to make a change.
“It’s come to an end,” Klinsmann said. “Obviously, you’ve got to respect that.”
In case you don’t have the time to watch Klinsmann’s two-minute, 19-second video, here is the full transcript.
“Hi everyone. Thanks so much for taking the time to watch that quick message. I just simply want to say thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you for an amazing ride over the last 5½ years. It’s been an amazing experience. It’s been a huge, huge honor to lead the national team over that amount of time. We’ve had some amazing experiences together. In 2012, a record year. 2013, another record year winning the Gold Cup. 2014, getting out of the group of death against Ghana and Portugal in Brazil with all of you down there. Then obviously in 2015 a bit of a disappointment with the Gold Cup. But then 2016, we picked it up and played an amazing, unforgettable Copa America this summer.”
“It’s come to an end. Obviously, you’ve got to respect that. I just want to say thank you so much, especially to our fans, the American Outlaws, which grew unbelievably over the years having chapters now all over the place and getting bigger and bigger.”
“A very special thank you to all of the players. The response from them yesterday, when the news came out, is overwhelming. All the text messages, all the calls I received from the players of support is very emotional for me, and I really, really appreciate it. I wish them the best of luck.”
“I was a thousand percent convinced that we were going to qualify for Russia 2018 after those two losses. It’s now down to a new coach getting that job done, but I’m still convinced he will get – the team will get – the job done and we’ll have a tremendous 2017 and hopefully a tremendous World Cup in Russia.”
“That being said, again, thanks so much to all of you. Hope to see you soon, somewhere on a soccer field out there. Keep supporting your team, it’s YOUR national team, you own that team. Push them in all the qualifiers now coming up to get all the points we need in order to be in Russia 2018. And see you soon. Thanks so much.”
