So, just when we all thought that Jürgen Klinsmann was poised to take over the United States National Team when Bob Bradley's contract expired, this happened: @ussoccer: U.S. Soccer has agreed to a contract extension with #USMNT head coach Bob Bradley through the end of 2014. I cannot describe my hatred of this better than The Other Brain did in his response: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Look, Bob Bradley is not a bad coach. He managed to advance us out of the group stage and into the knockout round. Is this a bad result? No. Should it be expected every time from now on. Hopefully. Should we get farther than this? Yes. Can we do it with Bob Bradley as our coach? Absolutely not. Let's review how the 2010 World Cup went for the USMNT. Game 1 vs. England featured the luckiest draw possible, as Green let in the worst goal of the tournament via a howler and the USA drew with England. Slovenia featured some of the worst officiating any of us has ever seen, and the US drew with Slovenia 2-2. Algeria featured a last ditch attack that saw Landon Donovan become a hero in this country as the US escaped Algeria and the group with a 1-0 win. Then what happened? The US crashed and burned vs. Ghana, losing 2-1 a.e.t. While grumbling about Bradley's ineptitude involving selecting starting lineups had been quashed after the group stage, it came back in full force after the Ghana fiasco. Starting Clark may very well have cost the US the Ghana game. Starting Findley and Clark may have been some of the dumbest moves of the tournament.

Now compare Klinsmann to Bradley. Jürgen Klinsmann played in Europe from 1981-1997 for notable sides such as Inter Milan, Bayern Munich,and Tottenham Hotspur. He won the World Cup in 1990 as a player with West Germany, and guided them to a 3rd place finish in 2006 as a manager, when they were not predicted to do well at all. He then became manager of Bayern in 2008, posting a record of 16-7-6 in the Bundesliga, which is not really that great for a club of Bayern's caliber, and was sacked roughly 3/4 of the way through the season. Even though his tenure at Bayern was cut short and was disappointing, he still has much more experience and isn't as likely to make as questionable decisions as Bradley has. Even more important, Klinsmann is an outsider who knows how to play against the best countries in the world. He has a proven track record of success in the international scene and could have expanded soccer even more in the US.

In short, US Soccer has really messed up and screwed up a great opportunity to expand soccer in this country over the coming years and develop a better team. Now we must all hope that Bob Bradley suddenly realizes how to create a starting lineup and not leave us all kicking ourselves after yet another blunder. And hey, I can think of one bright side to us keeping Bradley: We didn't hire Raymond Domenech, and Bradley doesn't select his lineups based on astrology. Oh, and we aren't in a whole world of trouble like the French Football Federation is. At least we have that going for us. /rant

I apologize for distracting you from the new season. We now return you to originally scheduled programming.

EDIT: I would like to point out that some idiot on ESPN.com posted 6 reasons why this is the right choice. The article can be found here. In response, I would like to point out the following things. 1. It is DIE Mannschaft, not DER. Please, if you're going to use team nicknames, GET THEM RIGHT. Also, his claim about turning the German team into fancypants is just idiotic. Look where it got them this time! 2. He's done it before. So? There have been several other coaches that have done it before, and two of them flamed out badly, Domenech, and Bruce Arena, who led the disastrous 2006 campaign in Germany. Yes, it could work, but most of the time it doesn't. And let's face it, the US needs a new coach. 3. Come back and honestly tell me that CONCACAF is a daunting environment for qualifying. Sure, and while we're at it, UEFA would be a cakewalk for the USA to qualify. The only team that gives us trouble every time is Mexico. Next. 4. If he understood his material, he wouldn't have started Clark or Findley more than one game. Also, I'm pretty sure I've seen teams demolish others on style. For reference, go watch a Barcelona game. 5. Yes, we've gotten results under Bradley. We also got results under Bruce Arena in 2002, and look how that worked the next time around. 6. Congratulations, this may be the only point I can't argue, but just because he meshes well with his players doesn't mean he can coach as well as others. I will now begin the campaign for Klinsmann in 2018!