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This is pretty fascinating. I think the main reason Klinsmann is being brought in is to define an American style. I guess he's seen as having done that for the German national team.
http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Mens-National-Team/2011/08/Quote-Sheet-Klinsmann-Introduction.aspx
U.S. Soccer President SUNIL GULATI
...
On whether he thinks there is an American approach to the game:
“Prior to us having any discussions about coaching the team after the World Cup in Germany, Jurgen outlined what he had done when he had first gone to Germany on that issue of style and why that German team felt, played and looked different than previous teams. It’s exactly what he just outlined which we were fascinated with. He essentially had a series of conversations in some sense with the country, but with players, with coaches, with media about what they expected, what they wanted German soccer to represent at the international level. Given the diversity of this country, that sort of dialogue here is exciting.””
...
U.S. Men’s National Team head coach JURGEN KLINSMANN
...
On whether he thinks there is an American approach to the game:
“I deeply believe that soccer in a certain way reflects the culture of a country. Having studied the U.S. culture over the last 13 years, it’s quite a challenge. You have such a melting pot in this country with so many different opinions and ideas floating around there. Every coach obviously has his own ideas, and then you have the whole challenge of youth soccer in this country being based on a very different model than anywhere else in the world. Your educational system is completely different than the rest of the world. One of my challenges will be to find a way to define how a U.S. team should represent its country. What should be the style of play? Is it more proactive and aggressive, a forward-thinking style of play? Or is it more reacting style of play? That comes with the players that you have at your disposal, but also the people that you are surrounded with, and the people that have an opinion in this country, like the media, like coaches. There’s such a wealth of knowledge in this country. In Europe or in South America, it’s unheard of. The college coaches have a four-year education as well. Traditionally in Europe, you become a pro at the age of 18, so you never get to go to college. It is important over the next three years, especially in the beginning, that I have a lot of conversations with people engulfed in the game here to find a way to define that style. What suits us best? What would you like to see and identify with? I think a great example is the women’s team, and how they played their World Cup final. This is how America wanted to see their girls play that game, and they did an awesome job. It will be one of our main topics, always sitting down and discussing that. It should reflect your mentality and your culture. If you talk about Brazil, you know how Brazil plays. You know about Argentina, you know about Italy. They sit back and wait for one mistake, and if you do, they’re going to kill you. We defined that with Germany in 2004, which was a very difficult process, but we worked through that process and now it’s settled that style of play. Your opinion is important. College coaches’ opinions are important. Youth coaches’ opinions are important. Everyone is involved in that process, players as well. I’m looking forward to a lot of talks.”
...
On how he would describe the mentality of the country in regards to how he thinks the U.S. Men’s National Team should reflect the mentality of the U.S.:
“Studying your culture and having an American wife and American kids, mainly right now my understanding is that you don’t like to react to what other people do. I think this is maybe a starting point. I think America never really waits and sees and leaves it up to other people to decide what is next. I think America always likes to decide on its own what is next. This guides maybe towards a more proactive style of play where you would like to impose a little bit the game on your opponent instead of sitting back and waiting for what your opponent is doing and react to it. It always depends, also, on your opponent. If you play Brazil or Argentina, you might play differently than maybe a country in CONCACAF, but it is a starting point if you say we want to start to keep possession, we want to start to dictate the pace of the game, we want to challenge our players to improve technically in order to keep the ball. All those components you have to build into your training sessions and have to build it into the curriculum for the youngsters because the earlier they start with that type of work, the better it is. Barcelona was not born in the last couple of years. It was born, the style of play now, in the early 90’s through Johan Cruyff. It took 20 years for that moment today that we see and all admire, just to take an example. So I’m really curious to hear all the different opinions out there.”
http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Mens-National-Team/2011/08/Quote-Sheet-Klinsmann-Introduction.aspx
U.S. Soccer President SUNIL GULATI
...
On whether he thinks there is an American approach to the game:
“Prior to us having any discussions about coaching the team after the World Cup in Germany, Jurgen outlined what he had done when he had first gone to Germany on that issue of style and why that German team felt, played and looked different than previous teams. It’s exactly what he just outlined which we were fascinated with. He essentially had a series of conversations in some sense with the country, but with players, with coaches, with media about what they expected, what they wanted German soccer to represent at the international level. Given the diversity of this country, that sort of dialogue here is exciting.””
...
U.S. Men’s National Team head coach JURGEN KLINSMANN
...
On whether he thinks there is an American approach to the game:
“I deeply believe that soccer in a certain way reflects the culture of a country. Having studied the U.S. culture over the last 13 years, it’s quite a challenge. You have such a melting pot in this country with so many different opinions and ideas floating around there. Every coach obviously has his own ideas, and then you have the whole challenge of youth soccer in this country being based on a very different model than anywhere else in the world. Your educational system is completely different than the rest of the world. One of my challenges will be to find a way to define how a U.S. team should represent its country. What should be the style of play? Is it more proactive and aggressive, a forward-thinking style of play? Or is it more reacting style of play? That comes with the players that you have at your disposal, but also the people that you are surrounded with, and the people that have an opinion in this country, like the media, like coaches. There’s such a wealth of knowledge in this country. In Europe or in South America, it’s unheard of. The college coaches have a four-year education as well. Traditionally in Europe, you become a pro at the age of 18, so you never get to go to college. It is important over the next three years, especially in the beginning, that I have a lot of conversations with people engulfed in the game here to find a way to define that style. What suits us best? What would you like to see and identify with? I think a great example is the women’s team, and how they played their World Cup final. This is how America wanted to see their girls play that game, and they did an awesome job. It will be one of our main topics, always sitting down and discussing that. It should reflect your mentality and your culture. If you talk about Brazil, you know how Brazil plays. You know about Argentina, you know about Italy. They sit back and wait for one mistake, and if you do, they’re going to kill you. We defined that with Germany in 2004, which was a very difficult process, but we worked through that process and now it’s settled that style of play. Your opinion is important. College coaches’ opinions are important. Youth coaches’ opinions are important. Everyone is involved in that process, players as well. I’m looking forward to a lot of talks.”
...
On how he would describe the mentality of the country in regards to how he thinks the U.S. Men’s National Team should reflect the mentality of the U.S.:
“Studying your culture and having an American wife and American kids, mainly right now my understanding is that you don’t like to react to what other people do. I think this is maybe a starting point. I think America never really waits and sees and leaves it up to other people to decide what is next. I think America always likes to decide on its own what is next. This guides maybe towards a more proactive style of play where you would like to impose a little bit the game on your opponent instead of sitting back and waiting for what your opponent is doing and react to it. It always depends, also, on your opponent. If you play Brazil or Argentina, you might play differently than maybe a country in CONCACAF, but it is a starting point if you say we want to start to keep possession, we want to start to dictate the pace of the game, we want to challenge our players to improve technically in order to keep the ball. All those components you have to build into your training sessions and have to build it into the curriculum for the youngsters because the earlier they start with that type of work, the better it is. Barcelona was not born in the last couple of years. It was born, the style of play now, in the early 90’s through Johan Cruyff. It took 20 years for that moment today that we see and all admire, just to take an example. So I’m really curious to hear all the different opinions out there.”
