Who could replace Jurgen Klinsmann?
If not Jurgen Klinsmann, then who?
Pressure continues to mount on the embattled United States men's national team head coach-cum-U.S. Soccer technical director in the face of poor results and dreary performances, at all levels. His dismissal, once unimaginable, and never more so than when he signed an extension to his contract through the 2018 World Cup in December 2013, has become increasingly easy to foresee. Last week, word emerged that his grip on the considerable power he wielded at U.S. Soccer is loosening in something of a power struggle.
But it's no use getting rid of a manager, or a technical director, or both, without someone else lined up, or at least likely to accept the job, who can present solutions to the many issues – presently being the lack of wins in key games, the insipid playing style, the total absence of character and unity, or indeed meaningful development at the youth levels.
And this is where all the speculation and conjecture hits a snag. Because the list of feasible replacements is short. And the list of likely ones even shorter. It's fairly telling, after all, that the first names that tend to come up as a successor for the national team job are those of men who have already held the national team job. Or coaches who perhaps declined or were passed over for the job in the past.
Let's take a look at some possible candidates, how they might fit it, and how plausible they are.
Bruce Arena
The New Yorker held the job from 1998 through 2006. In that time, he led the team to its best modern-day performance in South Korea and Japan in 2002 by reaching the World Cup quarterfinals, and very nearly the semis. But he oversaw a disastrous campaign in Germany 2006, when the Americans went winless. He was nevertheless dismayed that his contract wasn't renewed and instead set about building Major League Soccer's best-ever dynasty with the Los Angeles Galaxy, winning three of the last four MLS Cups – eclipsing the dynasty he built with D.C. United that won the first two MLS Cups in league history and reached the final in the two years after he left.
Arena told FOX Sports's Alexi Lalas that he would take the job again "under the right circumstances," but for an organization like U.S. Soccer that says it's doing everything in the name of progress, it would be strange to reinstall the old regime.
Bob Bradley
It says a lot about the state of the national team that some yearn for the days of the man who was fired to make way for Klinsmann and the great leap forward he was supposed to represent. After a solid performance at the 2010 World Cup, Bradley was dismissed in the wake of an underwhelming 2011 Gold Cup – in which the Americans, to be honest, weren't as weak as in the 2015 edition under Klinsmann and didn't place as badly.
Since then, Bradley has gone on to very nearly reach the 2014 World Cup with an Egyptian national team beset by political instability and a lack of talent. Then he took a job in Norway with Stabaek, which was expected to be relegated from the top division. Instead, he steered them to a mid-table finish and currently has them in third place towards the end of his sophomore season.
It's unlikely that Bradley would be asked to return or would even want to. He has been linked with other jobs in Europe, in more prestigious leagues, and will likely see how far he can take his career on the continent.
Tab Ramos
One of America's finest midfielders of all time is still early in his coaching career. He has done a nice job of guiding the Under-20 team since its failure to qualify for the U-20 World Cup in 2011, reaching the World Cup quarterfinals in 2015 before going out to eventual champions Serbia on penalties. His teams have mostly played the sort of stylish, up-tempo soccer Klinsmann envisions but can't seem to coax from the senior side.
Although Ramos has served as Klinsmann's assistant with the senior national team as well, he lacks experience in charge of a fully fledged senior team.
Peter Vermes
The former national teamer has built Sporting Kansas City into an MLS powerhouse, not to mention an elite franchise whose teams can be relied upon to play pretty, proactive soccer. He has won the U.S. Open Cup and the MLS Cup in the last few years and launched the careers of several national teamers. Vermes has also been close with U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati for a long time, impressing him with his two decades of work on U.S. Soccer's Board of Directors.
Vermes, however, has no experience managing at the international level and so might not be the right guy to solve the issues afflicting a troubled national team. What's more, he may not have the right players there to execute his generally attacking system.
Jason Kreis
Long regarded the best young American manager, Kreis has had a disappointing debut campaign with the expansion New York City FC. While expectations were overinflated – a functional and competitive expansion team is rarely seen in nature, no matter how much money is spent – he was supposed to deliver all the same. He is now apparently on the hot seat and could soon be available.
That said, his shortcomings are the same as those of Vermes. Kreis may not be a stylistic fit and he lacks experience at the next level.
Sigi Schmid
One of the titans of American soccer coaching has somehow never gotten a crack at managing the national team – perhaps because just five men have held the job over the last 24 years. He has built several strong teams in MLS and twice managed the U.S. Under-20s. But at 62, time is winding down on the German-born coach.
If the Americans need a stop-gap solution and Seattle lets him go, he might be a candidate.
Dominic Kinnear
We've come to the less probable end of this list. And while Kinnear has consistently turned modest talent into strong MLS teams – two separate back-to-back MLS Cup appearances with the Houston Dynamo underscore this – there is no real chatter linking him to the national team job. But if the federation needs someone to mold its ramshackle team into something sturdy, even if it may not look the prettiest, it could do an awful lot worse than Kinnear.
That's if he could be convinced to leave San Jose just a year after returning to the Earthquakes.
Caleb Porter
This is a tricky one. Porter is only 40 and has just three seasons of professional experience. He managed the Under-23 national team during its Olympic qualifying tournament in 2011, but failed to get a talented team out of the group stage. At times, Porter's Portland Timbers have dazzled – just as his University of Akron teams did – but there have been plenty of swoons.
While he's one of the great young minds in the American game, he probably won't be a candidate until the job opens up a half decade or so down the line.
Marcelo Bielsa
Wait – before you click away, let us explain. In 2011, before it hired Klinsmann, U.S. Soccer actually spoke to Bielsa about joining the federation as technical director. Those talks went nowhere. But now that the eccentric and unpredictable Argentine ideologue has walked out on Olympique Marseille, he could be available for the head coaching job.
That's if Gulati is willing to cede so much power again, that is, since Bielsa famously demands total control. The obvious downside is that Bielsa presumably has little knowledge of the American player pool, to say nothing of the byzantine amateur soccer scene.
Guus Hiddink
His name gets bandied about whenever unfancied countries that nevertheless reach the World Cup have a vacancy. The big-time manager has previously managed South Korea, Australia, Russia and Turkey, after all. After taking the Netherlands job for a second time, he stepped aside with four games to go in its disastrous and ultimately unsuccessful qualifying campaign for Euro 2016, meaning he is available.
But Hiddink isn't the sort to enjoin disparate pieces with savvy tactics and a talent for organization, which is what the Americans need. His strength is forging brotherhood and pushing a disbelieving team to reach above its ability with a whole that exceeds its parts in number. That isn't really what the USA requires at present. And it's unclear if U.S. Soccer could afford his typically towering salary anyway.
Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.
