Where the USMNT Stand After the Firing of Jurgen Klinsmann

The decision United States men’s national team fans have been waiting for occurred Monday afternoon, as U.S. Soccer parted ways with manager and technical director Jurgen Klinsmann.

Sam Borden of the New York Times broke the news before the federation put out a statement via its Twitter account.

BREAKING: Jurgen Klinsmann has been fired as head coach of the U.S. National Team. No word on replacement, though Bruce Arena is likely.

— Sam Borden (@SamBorden) November 21, 2016

U.S. Soccer has parted ways with #USMNT Head Coach and Technical Director Jurgen Klinsmann: https://t.co/iCc8DA5RGB

— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) November 21, 2016

“We want to thank Jurgen for his hard work and commitment during these last five years,” U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said in the statement. “He took pride in having the responsibility of steering the program, and there were considerable achievements along the way.

“Many are aware of the historic victories, including leading us out of the Group of Death to the Round of 16 in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but there were also lesser publicized efforts behind the scenes. He challenged everyone in the U.S. Soccer community to think about things in new ways, and thanks to his efforts we have grown as an organization and expect there will be benefits from his work for years to come.”

The demise of the Klinsmann era began at the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup, where the Yanks slumped to a disappointing fourth-place finish on home soil in a tournament normally dominated by themselves and Mexico.

The poor showings on the international level continued during the fourth round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying in March, as the team needed a home win over Guatemala in Columbus, Ohio, to get on track to advance to the Hexagonal round of qualifying.

After a 4-0 semi-final loss to Argentina in this summer’s Copa America Centenario, the Americans fell short at home against Mexico in their Hex opener and stooped to a brand new low under Klinsmann in a 4-0 loss to Costa Rica four days later.

U.S. Soccer had no choice but to fire Klinsmann after his baffling tactical decisions against Mexico set the team up for failure. The response by the players in Costa Rica proved that Klinsmann had lost the locker room for good.

While most of the focus …

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