Mourinho In The USA?
Before anyone condemns this article, I’m not trying to say that USA National Team Coach Bob Bradley is doing a bad job. That’s not what this is about. This is about an opportunity. If US Soccer really wants to become a world power, then it needs to finally do what every other major national team has done. Hire a major international coach to handle things for the team.
Simply put, the US has not won enough to be considered a national power. We tried to get a big name coach in Jürgen Klinsmann, but we would not cough up the money that it took to land him. How this could happen after we were embarrassed in Germany that same year, I’ll never understand. Now here is an opportunity for US Soccer to right that wrong, and fix things before 2010. Lets examine this situation.
Under Bob Bradley, the US has won the Gold Cup, but they have failed more than they have succeeded. Terrible losses in the Copa America,(although these weren’t really his fault, see the lesser players on this one.) and against the likes of Sweden and Brazil, one has to take a step back and question whether Bradley is the right man for this job. How much better would we be if say we had landed Klinsmann? Would we have taken such a terrible team to Copa? I don’t think that would have been the case.
So what would Mourinho bring to US Soccer? Well for one thing, a winning attitude. At FC Porto, he won the Champions League. At Chelsea he won numerous Premier League titles, and he put Chelsea back on the map as a club. The idea of him doing the same for the US has me incredibly excited. His swagger is something that this team needs as well. Outside of Clint Dempsey, can you name any US player that has the swagger that Mourinho has? I can’t think of a single one. Mourinho would have this team believing that it can beat anyone, anywhere, at any time. This something the US team lacks terribly.
And finally, could you just imagine him interacting with the US media? Most people are in the mindset that David Beckham is the best for soccer in the United States. I disagree. I think Mourinho would be loved by the media from the start. He speaks his mind, he doesn’t mince words, and he’s good for a quote at all times.
I hope this happens. It probably won’t, but if it did, US Soccer would take the biggest step it has taken in quite some time. And that has me more excited than anything else.
Brian Lomax writes at the US soccer blog, StateSideFooty.
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It´s not just a matter of money, why would Mourinho want to coach the USA? He has always said he wanted to coach Portugal as pre-retirement, but he is a long way from retirement and he is Portuguese and Portugal is Portugal. USA? Why on earth would he want to do that?
I agree with Hugo, I do not think that Mourinho would want to coach the US National team. On the other side of things, for a US Soccer fan such as myself it would be HUGE to get him involved. Another option people are not talking about is the possibility of the LA Galaxy. Would this be an option for Mourinho? They can definitely afford to pay him what he commands, and what could he do with a couple years there? Makes you think, but I fully expect to see him somewhere in Europe, either Portugal or another Premier League Club. We’ll see, only time will tell.
Portugal´s odds of winning the world cup seem a bit higher to me than the USA´s odds. Plus Portugal being football mad, a Portuguese manager who did it would get adulation far higher than anything the USA could provide for a sport which is not that popular there. Even so Mourinho has said he only wants to coach Portugal later in his career. Mourinho wanting to coach the USA, particularly now, seems completely unrealistic. As does the idea of managing an American club, who would not even have a shot at playing in the UEFA cup. It´s not just money.
That might actually make me start to care about the US national team.
And you’re absolutely right about the media angle, considering how much we love our eccentric celebrities. It would certainly give US football a higher profile in the media, other than just the odd mention every four years at the World Cup.
This won’t happen, but if it did, it would be a great decision and everyone would love it. The media would go nuts with his quotes, but Mourinho would actually force the media and public to acknowledge the exitence of the U.S National Team with his crazy antics and success on the pitch.
jurgen didnt come because a bunch of us soccer dopes want to have say in who makes up the team and he doesnt want to deal with obvious know nothings. i dont think it was nearly as much to do with money as it was with something i explained above. ahmed is dumb again. lol
nevermind..sorry ahmed…its brian the dope this time.
Mourinho to coach the USA national team, now that would be an interesting one.
Must say that you are right when you say he would bring a winning attitude and mentality to the side that it possibly lacks at times. Especially when the US face up to the so called bigger nations like Brazil. There is no doubt he would do a good job with them and he has shown that he can bring success to sides that - in all fairness - shouldn’t be competing for major honours. To win the Champions League with Porto was a magnificent achievement.
However, you are are right when you say it is highly unlikely that a) they would offer him the job and b) he would take it as Bradley is currently doing a good job and I think Mourinho might have unfinished business in club football still.
Although unlikely, as an American soccer player/fanatic, this would be amazing to the sport in our country.
and Bruce Arena is headed to Chelsea!
Yes, this article is rubbish…Yet he could become a media darling, maybe….Hopefully, the American media is not as fickle as in England….His good attributes: cultivates good relationships with high price players; brings a winning mentality; fosters team spirit…..The bad attributes: he is an egomanic, arrogant, petulant, intimidating for starters…..considered tactically very sound but couldn’t outmanoeuvre his boss….
Is a coach enough to jumpstart american soccer though? I dont think it is. Americans love stars. They need names that resonate to be interested.
USA might not be the preferred destination for Mourinho. Yes, American soccer will benefit from the arrival of Mourinho but i still think club jobs still interest him more where matches are thick and fast.
My guts tell me he will go to Spurs and he will take charge of Portugal in the future. But not USA.
This could be an interesting twist, because The Special One might just want to look at this as the ultimate opportunity, turning the US National team into a International powerhouse. The big problem is a little more than 4 feet tall, Sunil Gulati. He would never give Jose Mourinho the power he would need to do the task. Until the US Soccer Federation stops with the politics and doesn’t continually anoint players that don’t perform game in and game out (i.e. Donovan), and market the hell out of the best players that play for our team (i.e. Dempsey) the team will never get over the hump!
Guys, coaching a national team has nothing to do with Morinho s strenght. seeing the players 3 days before the Match once a Month, don t think Morinho could do much better then alot of the coaches are out there. On the other side getting him for a american Club and letting him work with young american talents and you would catch 2 birds with one stone. the NT would perform alot better and you would have a new Team that alot of Americans could start to support. BTW about Media and all the fuss, don t think he would have much sucess with it as he doesn t in GB. everybody hates him there exept Chelsea Fans, what he does is he uses the Media for his purposes and pays a high price for it, but he would do everything to draw any criticism away from his players (exept of sheva obv.)
Opposition fans mate hate him, but there’s already Manchester fans claiming that Jose would be great to take over for SAF.
He is a tough SOB, but if he is your SOB, then he is loved.
funny. mourinho is in the u.s. right now.
apparently ‘vacationing’ - i don’t think he’d even consider the US national team unless he wanted to be completely anonymous. Juventus could be calling him away from his vacation…
Dear sir
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Best sport regard.
Team Manager
Ekwueme United Int’l FC