Klinsmann Still Winless: Why Fans Shouldn’t be Worrying Yet

In the days following Team USA’s 1-0 loss to Belgium, it seemed as though overnight everyone had become a critic of newly instated head coach Juergen Klinsmann. In the following days that ensued all I kept reading about is how the US had played three games under Klinsmann and had yet to still win a game.

Klinsmann’s fame has been a hit in the US, but with it brings his irrational critics.

Not only did this anger me because I have been supporting Klinsmann back in his days at Bayern, but because it really showed how ignorant people in this country still are when it comes to the game of soccer. Let’s take a look at Juergen’s first three games in charge and why all this criticism is coming very prematurely.

When Juergen was named head coach on July 29^th of this year, he had only 10 days to put together a squad against rivals Mexico. Now imagine having to assemble a decent squad of 11 guys to go up against a team that had embarrassed us just a few months earlier. Somehow though, Klinsmann was able to manage a tie, with the help of Brek Shea and Robbie Rogers, two youngsters who were unheard of in the days of Bob Bradley.

Then came the Costa Rica game in Carson, California. Although the result was disappointing one cannot dwell on a meager 1-0 outcome. Obviously it was a bad result, but when looking at the starting 11, one can notice that the US team was still without Stuart Holden, while players like Clint Dempsey were held back in England, as he was getting ready for the Premier League season with Fulham. Yes, Klinsmann did go with a very young and questionable back four, but that is what international friendlies are for. They are there to so that coaches can experiment with new players, formations, etc. It just isn’t fair to criticize a coach for wanting to experiment in a meaningless friendly.

Finally came the third game in the Klinsmann era against Belgium. What a lot of people who don’t pay too much attention to soccer know is that, Belgium is one of the up and coming teams in the world. With players like Edin Hazard who has been linked to many big clubs in the world, newly signed Chelsea forward Romelu Lukaku, Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelan, and Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany; Belgium is definitely a team to be careful of in the coming years. The US came into Brussels without Landon Donovan and still injured Stuart Holden. Although it was a bit frustrating to watch just because it seemed as though the US couldn’t move the ball past the mid line, only giving up a goal to a team of this caliber is a step in the right direction. Even though a loss is never encouraging, I see this US team improving a lot and flawlessly moving through World Cup qualifying.

The USMNT at the moment isn’t the greatest looking team on the planet, far from it, but give Klinsmann some time to figure out whom he wants in this squad and how he will have them play. People can criticize him now but I’m sure that once WC qualifying gets under way and Klinsmann has his team set, those critics will slowly start to disappear. We finally have an experienced European coach who knows what he is doing and can take this team to the next level. Give him some time and I’m sure US soccer fans will have something to cheer about in the coming months.