The search continues….

Frank Dell'Apa has a very good piece on ESPNsoccernet.com about the coaching situation for the USMNT. It seems that Sunil Gulati has hinted that the USMNT might yet still get into some matches this Fall, ones that the USSF is ok with having Mooch coach the side in. Hopefully they are not matches against Andorra or Haiti.

The coaching situation looks to be heading for a final phase to end somewhere around the end of the MLS season, which would make sense from a standpoint of hiring another MLS coach. Dell’Apa seems to believe that the timing rules out a European coaching option, as their seasons are in full swing in November and USSF would have to pay a hefty buyout for their pick. Frank’s opinion is that the next coach will most likely come from MLS or from South America. He also points out that Gulati is still keeping Jurgen Klinsmann very much in the selection process.

Gulati also seems to still be working at figuring out how to get a USMNT side into the Copa America, without causing a problem for the Gold Cup. He sites the double edge sword the USSF faces with being in CONCACAF; we have to play in the Gold Cup and qualify for the world cup in CONCACAF which is no real easy challenge, even though we seem to walk through the other nations; yet playing our region does not prepare our teams for World Cup play, as the other nations we face are better than our regions members.

I am happy that the USSF has resisted doing what every other country from the World Cup that has fired/lost a coach has done, which is quickly fill the job. I would like to see the US playing this Wednesday night against a quality opponent so we all can start to move on from the huge gash we got from the tale of the 4-5-1. With that said, due to the fact that our coaching situation is such a unique one from the rest of FIFA (with Canada probably being the only other exception) we need to take out time and find the right mixture of someone who can handle our “quirks” (MLS, NCAA, transatlantic flights, CONCACAF) yet still take the USMNT program to the next level.

MLS Power Rankings
DC United has returned to the top of the ESPNsoccernet.com MLS Power Rankings. The draw with Real Madrid, mixed with the FC Dallas loss to Houston Dynamo, moves United back on top.