Jurgen Klinsmann, who was officially terminated as United States Men’s National Team Coach at 2:14 pm Central, made his own soccer equivalent of Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” remark this past weekend. Klinsmann said his detractors didn’t know anything about soccer, and this decision was almost as bone-headed as Clinton’s attacking the American electorate back in September.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m in total agreement with Clinton in that Trump supporters are deplorable. However, when you’re a politician, you attack your opponent, not the voters. After the fact, Hillary even admitted that she made a big mistake with that fateful remark.
Her decision to brand a very big tent of Islamophobes, racists, homophobes, bigots, misogynists, sexists and other assorted riff raff only emboldened them. “Deplorable” became a badge of honor to the Trumpians, who then proudly displayed that word in their Twitter handles, woke up at 5 A.M. on Election Day, got their brethren all together and kicked ass at the polls all day long.
Now the United States of America is in far worse shape than it was just 13 days ago.
Kind of like U.S. Soccer!
The men’s national team is now in much worse shape then it was when Jurgen Klinsmann led them into World Cup qualifying on November 11th. Klinsmann, like Clinton, placed blame outside of themselves, instead of looking inward as they should have.
Now America hurts greatly.
Here’s Jurgen Klinsmann calling out his critics, via ESPN FC:
Klinsmann said he was not worried about losing his position in an interview with the The New York Times, who cited sources as saying U.S. Soccer could decide the coach’s future as soon as this week.
“I’m not afraid,” Klinsmann said. “What you need to do is stick to the facts. Soccer is emotional, and a lot of people make conclusions without knowing anything about the inside of the team or the sport. I still believe we will get the points we need to qualify, and I am even confident we could win the group.”
The U.S. is at the bottom of the final stage of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying after losing the first two of 10 games, 2-1 at home to Mexico and 4-0 away to Costa Rica.
But Klinsmann, who earlier on Sunday told Reuters he was “1,000 percent certain” the U.S. would still qualify for the World Cup in Russia in 2018, dismissed the criticism that has come after this month’s results.
“The fact is, we lost two games,” Klinsmann told the Times. “There is a lot of talk from people who don’t understand soccer or the team.”
There’s so many psychological defense mechanisms employed by Klinsmann there- displacement, denial and projection come to mind first. The US have developed a strong spirited rivalry with Mexico, as “Dos a Cero” has become, as Jim Nantz would say, “a tradition unlike any other.”
Obviously that ended with a thud on Veteran’s Day, and perhaps the loss hurt even more than it should have given the current events and political climate of that week. Mexico star striker Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez pointed out the sociopolitical backdrop of that game, and Klinsmann decisively took the opposite approach.
While that approach isn’t what cost the USMNT the game, it did convey a sense that Klinsmann was (kind of like Hillary Clinton in some ways) out of touch. Maybe Mexico was more fired up for that game than the U.S. and if so, Klinsmann must shoulder some of the blame.
While that contest was a severe setback, what happened next is what truly sealed his fate.
US Soccer was a total no show versus Costa Rica and that is absolutely to borrow his words, 1000% percent the fault of Jurgen Klinsmann.
Total non-response shows total lack of effective leadership. Then the only thing Klinsmann can do in the aftermath is convey denial. He effectively put his head in the sand.
Below is a statement from U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati on the Jurgen Klinsmann decision:
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.
This decision is no doubt for the best; for both Jurgen Klinsmann and the program.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.