In one of the rumors of the summer that makes so much sense because it makes zero sense at the same time, Jurgen Klinsmann is said to be one of the top targets for the England managerial job. American soccer fans may be asking themselves how a man who has done nothing with the USMNT will do anything with England, but for the sake of USA supporters, let us hope that will become the English FA’s issue in a few weeks.
Naturally, there will have to be a replacement for the German boss. Will US Soccer Association president Sunil Gulati go for a quick fix manager to get the team right in the short term, or will he want someone who he can lock down for many years?
The USMNT has plenty of promise, and the right man is needed in order to get the most out of the team’s potential stars. With that, let’s look at who can be the right man for the job, which basically means who will not start Alejandro Bedoya on a regular basis.
Roberto Martinez
Martinez has had great success with smaller teams in England. He brought an FA Cup to Wigan Athletic in 2013, but the club also got relegated from the Premier League in the same season. Additionally, he finished fifth in the Premier League in his first season with Everton, but as the club’s expectations grew, his and the team’s performance faltered. If he can manage expectations of fans and be given space to work with younger players like Christian Pulisic and Matt Miazga, among others, the Spaniard could potentially be a great short-term option for the USMNT.
Guus Hiddink
Guus Hiddink has been everywhere. From working with the North Korean national side as the Director of Development to being the boss at Chelsea for two stints, relative success has followed him wherever he has gone. Here is a statistical sample of how successful he has been: in his managerial run with PSV Eindhoven between 2002 and 2006, he averaged 2.19 points per match, which is relatively unheard of for that long of a tenure with one club. Additionally, he brought Anzhi of Russia to fifth place in the Russian Premier League in 2012. Hiddink is known for keeping the mood light and the pressure low among his teams, and with the youth that the USMNT has risen through the ranks, that attitude will surely help the development of those players.
Remi Garde
Remi Garde has not found great success yet as a manager, but he has done a lot of good as an assistant, including being on the staff when Lyon went on the magical run in the 2000s where they became a dynasty. Unfortunately, he was too late in the 2015/16 season when he arrived at Aston Villa as he could not save them from relegation. With the United States, he would get to prove himself as a manager and be able to have greater control over his squad because of the fact that there are so many young players. He played on some of Europe’s biggest teams, including Arsenal, so he would be able to help players advance their club careers to benefit the national side, too.
Rudi Garcia
Medhi Benatia, Miralem Pjanic, Alessandro Florenzi, and Kostas Manolas are just a few players Rudi Garcia groomed with AS Roma while he was their manager in Italy. Before that, he was guiding Eden Hazard at Lille while he was still a boy. Garcia clearly has the resumé of developing great talent. He even can help players past their prime come back to their best, just ask Gervinho, Maicon, and Ashley Cole. If he can work the magic he did at Roma with the USMNT, the mix of veterans and youngsters could be scary for other nations.
Frank De Boer
A footballing legend and manager of Ajax, who have arguably the best academy in the world, De Boer is used to developing youth talent and getting those players to higher levels while also maturing beyond their years. The one difference between Ajax and the USMNT is that the USMNT players cannot be sold once their value is sky-high, contrary to what happens at Ajax. De Boer plays classic Dutch Totaalvoetball, which was originally developed by Johann Cruijff. At its core, it is pass-and-move football played in a 4-3-3 formation, almost identical to Spanish tiki-taka. It would be a welcomed change of style from that of Jurgen Klinsmann, who tends to rely on his players’ athletic ability rather than their technical prowess.