The Search is Over - Bob Bradley Officially Named U.S. Head Coach

The excruciatingly long wait is over folks. After a ten-month search process to find a new coach for the U.S. Men’s National Team, reports are coming in that interim coach Bob Bradley will be officially announced as the man for the job on Wednesday. Because of the duration of the search, speculation had been that U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati was waiting for the European season to finish to interview possible candidates for the job.

Indeed, the timing of this decision seems a bit curious, almost as if Gulati realized in the 11th hour that he wouldn’t be able to get on of his top choices. Now Bob Bradley has certainly not done anything to question the decision. He posted a solid 3-0-1 record during his time as interim coach, highlighted by victories against Mexico and Ecuador.

With the Gold Cup and Copa America rapidly approaching, a new coach needed to be announced quickly but one has to wonder whether Bradley will be the coach for the long term and whether or not someone else will have his position by the 2010 World Cup. My theory behind this is that Gulati simply couldn’t find a candidate worth his time and decided to go with the safe choice. If Bradley and the National team do poorly in the summer competitions, then Gulati has the easy decision of firing Bradley and moving on to another candidate. I still believe Gulati is holding out for the possibility of bringing in a coach with European experience (Perhaps Klinnsman in a year or two?).

Now I have no qualms about Bradley as the head coach. He’s seemed to develop a good rapport with his players and knows the intricacies of U.S. Soccer, having been an MLS coach for several years. However, I don’t feel he can bring the national team to the next level of prominence, as he’s not a strong enough tactician to go head-to-heat with the elite European coaches.

Regardless of who the coach is the U.S. Soccer Federation on the whole needs to do a significantly better job scouting and developing future players. Incidents like Giuseppe Rossi can’t happen. Young Hispanic players need to be tapped as well and better youth academy infrastructures need to be established. As for Bradley, I think he’ll do a serviceable job in the short-term and will guide the U.S. on a strong path over the course of the year. However, I can see a situation where Bradley “voluntarily” vacates the position to allow an elite European coach to come in and take the reins for the 2010 World Cup.