As you know if you read my last post, I agree with Gulati that the boss had to go. This was the perfect time to do it, too. We have four months before the next set of qualifiers, and the MLS players will be available for training. Klinsmann didn't think much of MLS and perhaps he didn't have an appreciation for the possible talent; you can't say that about Arena, who's won that league five times with DC and LA.
Klinsmann brought a lot to the USMNT. He was a huge name in soccer, had the respect of the players, and he convinced several German-American players to commit to the US. (Arena has withdrawn his mean-spirited comments about such players that he made a few years ago.) His goodbye message was classy. There was no doubting his commitment to the team and to the US. He deserves our thanks.
I like our chances. We have eight games left, and have played two of the three hardest already. Three teams will qualify automatically and a fourth gets a knockout chance against a team from another federation. Surely we can finish above Panama, T&T, and Honduras--or at worst, two of those three. Five wins and we should be in good shape, and that's achievable. I think Arena will get the most out of the team, in qualifiers and in Russia.
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