After talks with Juergen Klinsmann broke down, U.S. Soccer hired Bob Bradley as the interim coach of the national team and the head coach of the under-23 team. The former Fire, MetroStars and Chivas USA head coach will be in charge of the national team for at least the first few months of 2007 and perhaps longer. His comments are excerpted from the conference call announcing his hiring and exclusive interviews with Soccer America.
What do you bring to these U.S. Soccer positions that perhaps a foreign coach could not?
BB: I know our players. I know our league. I've coached a lot of these guys. I've coached against a lot of these guys. The familiarity I have with all of that are things that become important.
And you follow the game around the world closely, which is perhaps rare among American coaches. Not many coaches have a son playing in the Netherlands for Heerenveen.
BB: I don't want to say that it's rare. Among the people that I get to share the game with there is passion for the game and there is knowledge and there is talk of different games and different players.
It's that way in my house. In the midst of everything, Michael and I were talking about how poorly Milan played against Lille [in the Champions League] and the whole situation for [Andriy] Shevchenko and how it is for him at Chelsea.
Manfred [Schellscheidt], Mike Jeffries, Jimmy Barlow, Peter Nowak, Tommy Soehn and guys that are still playing, like Ante [Razov], we talk about the game around the world. I don't get to speak to Youri Djorkaeff all the time, but I enjoy soccer conversations with him.
Can you imagine? I coached him and challenged him and tried to be a partner with him in terms of getting somewhere. We talk about the game, about how to do things and what it's like. I've been incredibly fortunate.
A few years ago, you took the MetroStars job in part so you could relocate to your home state of New Jersey, and last year moved to California to take the Chivas USA job. The national team coach can live anywhere, so are you planning to move again?
BB: My family and I live here now, we're going to stay here. The proximity to the Home Depot Center is great. My daughters are in high school. The whole thing about going back to New Jersey for family reasons and then having to leave was hard. We'll still be going back there whenever we can. That won't change.
I think the fact that when there are [national team] camps, they're here, so it's easier for my family. It makes sense right now to stay here.
Was it difficult to leave Chivas USA after the progress you made last season?
BB: I feel very, very strongly that sometimes there are things that are out of your control, but in a certain moment, if an opportunity comes, you have to step up. There are so many people who bleed for the sport here and when that moment comes, you're stepping up on behalf of a lot of people who are just as involved. I think that stuff's important.
I don't think I can put into words the appreciation I have for Antonio Cue and everybody at Chivas USA. We're all proud of the progress we made and I wish I didn't have to step away at this moment.
Are you a clone of Bruce Arena, as has been stated?
BB: Bruce has a strong opinion, he says what he thinks, and I appreciate people like that. I've encouraged players and coaches when I'm working with them to not be afraid to say what they think.
In that regard, we don't always see things the same. I think the greatest challenge in coaching any team is to create and build an inner circle, and create an environment where on the inside there's honesty, there's trust, there's everything you need to be successful. In all teams, there's challenges from factors on the outside that can take away from that.
How are you and Bruce different?
BB: If you want one good thing that's a difference between Bruce and I, it's when he expressed his opinions on the game it rubs people the wrong way because they don't see that when he makes those comments, it's because he cares and wants it to get better and he wants to help.
I'm a little different. I'm just as opinionated and I probably rub just as many people wrong, but maybe I can find a way to do things so everybody knows we're trying to work together. I don't think people understand and appreciate what he's all about. That's why those of us that know him well have so much respect for him and why we're friends.
You are perceived by some people as stern, stoic, maybe even grim. How accurate is that?
BB: It's funny. People look from the outside and say, ''You're not having fun. You're too serious.'' I tell you what: That part of it, on the inside, that work, that feeling — and that involves having a sense of humor, that involves a lot of things — is the part that the players who have played for me — the shared experience — we all enjoy and appreciate. That's what I've always tried to do and what I'll try to do here.
How would you analyze what happened to the U.S. team at the World Cup last summer?
BB: When you talk about World Cups, you're talking about taking players away from their clubs four to six weeks before the tournament. Now they come together, and sometimes, something needs to happen for that group to come together: a break, a great play, so that from that moment the group can put everything else aside and accomplish something.
We saw that happen in 2002 and this time around, it didn't happen. A lot of people look for answers. I know that this time around, the preparation was probably more complete than it was in 2002, because Bruce was able to draw from his experience and apply it to the situation. That's his strongest suit, his strongest quality.
I know our public wants answers. That's normal. But at the same time, that just shows you what the game is all about.
It sounds like an awful lot is left to chance, to luck.
BB: It's not always about luck. Sometimes it's about a guy who, when the chips are down, makes a play. Sometimes it's the character of a few guys. Sometimes it's the quality of a guy so unique he makes a play when everything seems lost. That's the beauty of it. It's why great players are great, and it's why the World Cup produces moments that people never forget, good and bad.
Like Zinedine Zidane scoring two goals in the 1998 World Cup final and last summer getting thrown out of the final in overtime.
BB: That's an extreme case, but doesn't change the fact he's a great player. It shows what can happen in the World Cup. We see examples like France, the (1998) World Cup champions, in 2002 (when it was eliminated without scoring a goal). A ball doesn't bounce the way it should in an early game, maybe a break doesn't go its way. Maybe that little extra pressure surfaces so that players like (Thierry) Henry and Zidane don't make it out of the first round, don't even score a goal.
It's safe to assume the 2010 roster will look a lot different than the one in 2006. How will you handle incorporating younger players, some of whom can play for the under-23s, into the national team?
BB: That's the exciting part of trying, in this next cycle, to find the right moments for young guys to play in more important international games and get experience, to find out which guys really have it, and have camps where these guys get to know each other and have a chance to compete together.
When I speak to a guy like Youri Djorkaeff and the feeling of what it was like when he was a young player, he gets to know a guy like Zidane, and when they're in camps how that foundation is readied for success down the road. That's all vital. That's what having an opportunity with the Olympic team's all about.
I mentioned the progress we made at Chivas. Well, the last World Cup shouldn't hide the progress we made under Bruce when was in charge, and the progress is going to continue.
What role will the Gold Cup and Copa America play this summer, whether or not you are still the coach of both teams?
BB: I think the discussions about those two tournaments is such that it gives us the opportunity to look at many of our players in really tough environments. Certainly, as we begin this next cycle, it's truly important that we give as many of our players tough experiences, real games, tough environments and from that we begin to narrow down the group that we feel can help us in this transition period. We know that some key members of the team have retired from international competition, and I think that the events this summer are important events in terms of the transition.
(This article originally appeared in the January 2007 issue of Soccer America Magazine.)