Jurgen Klinsmann is introduced as the new head coach of the U.S. men's national team at a news conference Monday in New York.NEW YORK — It was the obvious first question, yet Sunil Gulati danced around it as if the thought of who would wield the big stick going forward didn’t really matter.
But it does matter. And the fact that Jurgen Klinsmann is the new United States national team coach after turning the job down in 2006 and 2010 tells you whose voice will be heard going forward.
“Between us, there’s never been an issue about control,” Gulati, the U.S. Soccer Federation president, said Monday. “That’s a bit of a red herring. Jurgen’s comments previously were about being able to incorporate that onto a piece of paper. The understanding of how we wanted to move forward and collaborate, quite frankly, has been pretty clear for many years.”
Then Gulati was asked if there was a “paper” this time.
“We didn’t do this on a handshake,” he said.
So Klinsmann held out until he got what he wanted.
Gulati, after firing Bob Bradley seven months into a four-year contract extension, had little choice at this point.
Though Gulati said he interviewed other candidates, Klinsmann, who won a World Cup as a player in 1990 and coached Germany to a third-place finish five years ago, is the only coach Gulati has ever wanted since his election in 2006.
Now the two are tied together, and if Klinsmann fails to do the job, Gulati should not get another hire. If Klinsmann goes, there needs to be a federation housecleaning, with a new president and a new coach moving forward.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Klinsmann on Monday said all the things fans want to hear as he faces the challenges of the job.
• How important Claudio Reyna’s job as youth technical director will be.
• How the United States needs to develop its own style of play.
• How much youth soccer players train with the ball and how they practice.
• How to incorporate the country’s increasing Latino population into the program.
Klinsmann is an oddity. He’s a foreigner who has lived in California for 13 years and not only is well versed in the ways of the United States, he knows its soccer pitfalls.
He has an American wife, and his two kids, he says, feel more American than German. The fact that both play youth soccer has Klinsmann looking to start from the ground up.
“We want to keep possession, we want to dictate the pace of the game, we want to challenge our players to improve technically in order to keep the ball,” he said. “And all those components you have to build into the training sessions and have to build it into the curriculum for the youngsters.”
“Barcelona was not born in the last couple of years. It was born, the style of play now, in the early ’90s through Johan Cruyff. It took 20 years for that moment today that we see and all admire.”
Klinsmann will get his chance to make sweeping changes. There are coaching openings with the Under-23 and Under-20 teams, and after the Under-17 performance at the U-17 World Cup last month, that job needs upgrading as well.
He has the opportunity to appoint coaches who will teach the game the right way through the ranks, the way he learned it as a boy in Germany.
Unfortunately, that will not happen overnight.
Klinsmann’s contract runs through the 2014 World Cup, but by that time he may only get the system in place. It probably won’t begin to bear fruit until the 2018 World Cup, at the earliest.
Gulati is not a believer in having a coach for more than one World Cup cycle.
He saw a decline in the team’s performance in Bruce Arena’s second term and, after what he felt was a poor performance in the Gold Cup final loss to Mexico in June, probably regrets giving Bradley the extension.
Klinsmann, however, has a history of never staying long in one place. His playing career saw him jump from Germany to Italy to France to England and back to Germany, then to Italy and England again before he retired to the United States, where he contemplated playing in Major League Soccer.
His national team coaching career with Germany lasted two years — he stepped down — and his club coaching career at Bayern Munich lasted less than that — he was fired.
What we need in this country is a long-term plan and a coach given the leeway to implement it. Hopefully this will be that type of marriage.
ETC.
United States midfielder DaMarcus Beasley played 88 minutes in his debut for Puebla, which defeated Atlas, 1-0.
Tijuana's debut in the Mexican first division ended in a 2-1 loss to Morelia, but 21-year-old Los Angeles native Joe Benny Corona scored the goal for Tijuana.
U.S. midfielder Stuart Holden began training again with Bolton after missing five months with a knee injury. Holden is targeting a mid-September return.
Major League Soccer's disciplinary committee suspended Real Salt Lake forward Alvaro Saborio one game for diving against San Jose July 23 and fined Earthquakes goalkeeper Jon Busch $500 for making an obscene gesture in the same game.
Sporting Kansas City rookie defender Aurelien Collin is expected to miss four to six weeks because of two small fractures in his lower back.
Toronto FC acquired defender Dasan Robinson from the Chicago Fire in exchange for defender Dan Gargan.
The second legs of the preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League will be played today, Wednesday and Thursday.
Today is the one-year anniversary of the Red Bulls signing defender Rafa Marquez.
Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Cristiano Ronaldo will compete for the inaugural Best Player in Europe award, which will be announced Aug. 25 at the Champions League group-stage draw in Monaco.
The Community Shield, between EPL champ Manchester United and Manchester City, the FA Cup winner, will be played Sunday at Wembley Stadium.
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard will miss the start of the season after developing an infection related to a groin injury that has sidelined him since March. He also will miss England's two European Championship qualifiers at the beginning of September as he targets a return in mid-September.
Ecuador winger Antonio Valencia signed a new four-year contract with Manchester United.
Athletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero signed a five-year contract with Manchester City for a reported transfer fee of $62 million.
Fulham signed 19-year-old Swiss midfielder Pajtim Kasami from Palermo to a four-year contract.
Aston Villa signed Wigan midfielder Charles N'Zogbia.
Birmingham loaned goalkeeper Ben Foster to West Bromwich Albion for the season, with goalkeeper Boaz Myhill leaving West Brom for Birmingham.
Arsenal will be without Abou Diaby for the start of the season after the midfielder had ankle surgery.
Newcastle has had its fill with Joey Barton and will allow the troubled midfielder to leave on a free transfer.
Bolton midfielder Lee Chung-yong will be out at least nine months after breaking his leg in a preseason friendly.
Chelsea won the four-team Barclays Asia Trophy.
Mexico midfielder/defender Efrain Juarez joined Real Zaragoza on a seasonlong loan from Celtic.
The Italian Super Cup, between Serie A champion AC Milan and Italian Cup winner Inter Milan, will be played Saturday in Beijing.
Diego Forlan's two goals in the Copa America final gave him 31 in his career, tying Hector Scarone for the most in Uruguay history. Forlan's grandfather and father also were on Copa America-winning teams for Uruguay.
In the Copa America's 95-year history, this was just the second time that neither Brazil nor Argentina made the semifinals of a tournament in which at least one of them took part.
Argentina, which lost in the quarterfinals on penalty kicks, fired coach Sergio Batista and replaced him with former Estudiantes coach Alejandro Sabella, who becomes the team's fifth coach in as many years.
Pele has been named the honorary ambassador for the 2014 World Cup, which will be held in Brazil.
Despite winning the Champions League and La Liga titles, Barcelona lost $13.5 million during the 2010-11 season. However, because its income rose more than its expenditures, the club's overall debt was reduced from $624 million to $527 million.
Barcelona then went out and acquired Chile forward Alexis Sanchez for $37 million. Sanchez had 12 goals for Udinese last season.
Barcelona will be without midfielder Ibrahim Affelay for the start of the season after he tore a muscle in his left thigh during the 2-1 loss to Manchester United in Washington on Saturday. He will miss four to five weeks.
Malaga signed midfielder Santi Cazorla from Villarreal for a reported $30 million.
Mallorca midfielder Michael Pereira will be out a month after he pulled a ligament and twisted his right ankle in a preseason friendly.
The Bundesliga season begins Friday.
Schalke defeated Borussia Dortmund, 4-3, on penalty kicks following a scoreless tie, to win the German Super Cup.
Schalke signed former Stuttgart striker Ciprian Marica to a two-year contract.
Dortmund striker Lucas Barrios will be out two to three weeks with a thigh injury he suffered in Paraguay's 3-0 loss to Uruguay in the Copa America final.
Dortmund also extended the contract of defender Lukasz Piszczek until 2016.
Freiburg, Bayer Leverkusen, Werder Bremen and Wolfsburg were eliminated in the first round of the German Cup by lower division teams.
Hoffenheim signed 19-year-old goalkeeper Koen Casteels from Belgian club Genk to a four-year contract.
Paris Saint-Germain signed France internationals Jeremy Menez from Roma and Blaise Matuidi from Saint-Etienne, as well as Serbian defender Milan Bisevac from Valenciennes.
Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino resigned despite leading his team to the second round of the World Cup last year and the championship game of the Copa America last month.
Swiss club Neuchatel Xamax hired veteral La Liga coach Joaquin Caparros.
Turkey postponed the start of its season until Sept. 9 because of a match-fixing investigation. The season was scheduled to start Friday.
Frank Giase: fgiase@starledger.com
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