U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati announced Monday that Jurgen Klinsmann has been relieved of his coaching duties of the men’s national team.
Klinsmann, who also served as the technical director of U.S. Soccer, was hired in July 2011 and finished with a 55-27-16 record.
Klinsmann coached the Americans in some of their brightest moments. In 2013, Klinsmann led the United States to 16 wins and a .761 winning percentage, the highest winning percentage the United States has had in a calendar year. Klinsmann also won 12-straight matches, a USA record. In the 2014 World Cup, Klinsmann led USA through the “Group of Death,” advancing to the elimination stage with a second-place finish in a group with eventual Cup winner Germany, Portugal and Ghana. The United States lost in the Round of 16 to Belgium.
Recently, Klinsmann-coached teams that dropped embarrassing losses. In the last three games, the U.S. tied New Zealand, lost to Mexico and lost to Costa Rica 4-0 in a World Cup qualifying match, lessening the United States’ chances of qualifying for the 2018 tournament in Russia.
Gulati released the following statement following the Klinsmann development:
Today we made the difficult decision of parting ways with Jurgen Klinsmann, our head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team and Technical Director.
We want to thank Jurgen for his hard work and commitment during these last five years. He took pride in having the responsibility of steering the program, and there were considerable achievements along the way.
Many are aware of the historic victories, including leading us out of the Group of Death to the Round of 16 in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but there were also lesser publicized efforts behind the scenes. He challenged everyone in the U.S. Soccer community to think about things in new ways, and thanks to his efforts we have grown as an organization and expect there will be benefits from his work for years to come.
While we remain confident that we have quality players to help us advance to Russia 2018, the form and growth of the team up to this point left us convinced that we need to go in a different direction. With the next qualifying match in late March, we have several months to refocus the group and determine the best way forward to ensure a successful journey to qualify for our eighth-consecutive World Cup.
There has never been a greater time for soccer in this country, and with the support and efforts of the millions of fans, sponsors, media and friends, we look forward to continued progress in the game we all love.
A replacement has not been announced, but Bruce Arena, who coached the team from 1998 to 2006, is believed to be a candidate.
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