Between now and June 2, when the U.S. plays China in its next international friendly, U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati will be considering replacements for national team coach Bob Bradley, according to an ESPN Soccernet column from Ives Galarcep.
As dire as that sounds for the Bradley camp, Gulati and co. may also decide to stick with the man they so suddenly thrust into the most important job — but we should see a firm decision either way by then. The case for Bradley is a good one: the Yanks are 3-0-1 since he took the helm in December, and he’s also blooded some promising new talent in the process, including Justin Mapp, Benny Feilhaber and Jay DeMerit. “We’re planning to stay with the timetable we talked about in December, which would indicate that we would make a final decision by [June 2],” Gulati said. “We wanted to let these four games be played and we wanted the European season to wind down, and that’s where we are.”
“Whether it’s April or May, it’s my expectation that we would make a decision of a permanent nature. We’re going to finish this process,” he added, “and part of that process involved talking to some people we had discussed the position with earlier.” Was Bradley’s excellent performance enough to win over Gulati? It could be that his decision was already made before Bradley started the job. Nevertheless, Galarcep points out that Bob’s audition went about as well as an audition can go.