USSF acts fast after Klinsmann snub with Bradley hire

	Here's the book on new U.S. soccer coach Bob Bradley: He's quiet, driven and possesses an unsurpassed work ethic. AP

Details are still coming in -- look for a press conference on Friday -- but Thursday's news was stunning on two fronts for U.S. Soccer:

1) After being pursued for months by the USSF, runaway favorite Jürgen Klinsmann removed himself as a candidate for the U.S. men's coaching job (news that was first reported by ESPN's Allen Hopkins).

2) It was revealed (by SI.com's Jonah Freedman) that Chivas USA coach Bob Bradley would take over on an interim basis, with the chance to earn the job outright.

Some quick thoughts from a guy who just jumped off a plane back from vacation (and who's glad that his SI.com colleague saved his rear):

• The snub by Klinsmann has to be considered a major blow for U.S. Soccer, which waited nearly six months to fill its coaching vacancy out of deference to Klinsmann's desire for a break after leading Germany to a third-place finish at the World Cup. This is only informed speculation at this point, but it's almost certain that the split in the lengthy negotiations between Klinsmann and U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati came down not to money, but rather to the amount of power Klinsmann wanted to reshape the U.S. soccer program. (He made similar demands before taking the Germany job.) It's fair to deduce that Gulati, who has his own healthy ego, didn't want to grant him those powers. Whether Klinsi's demands were reasonable or not will become a lot more clear as details come out.

• The conditions attached to Bradley's hiring are hardly ideal. It's not clear yet how long his interim period will last, but it would be silly not to let Bradley coach the U.S. men through the 2007 Gold Cup and Copa América. (The guy deserves a legitimate chance.) If Bradley can get results, he may well earn the job permanently (as Steve Sampson did after guiding the U.S. to a fourth-place finish in the 1995 Copa América). But the first year of a four-year cycle leading to the 2010 World Cup should be more about developing young players and less about results on the field. Since Bradley will have to win from the start to keep his job, developing younger players will be a more difficult proposition. That's exactly why Bruce Arena wanted (and got) four-year guaranteed contracts.

• Bradley is not a sexy choice, but he has more wins than any coach in MLS history; and he knows how to build teams. He won an MLS title with the expansion Chicago Fire in 1998 and was the MLS Coach of the Year in '06, transforming Chivas from a last-place joke into an entertaining team that reached the playoffs. It may seem remarkable that the U.S. has hired a coach who was fired just a year ago by an MLS team (after three years with the then-MetroStars), but you can make the argument that Bradley's lack of titles in New Jersey was tied just as much to the team's shaky management decisions as it was to the coach's performance. In any case, no one can deny that Bradley has made a remarkable turnaround to get to this point.

• No matter what Bradley does, the names of potential successors will continue hovering over his head. Gérard Houllier's contract with Lyon ends next spring. Carlos Queiroz might be more ready to leave his assistant manager's position at Manchester United. José Pekerman might not take another job just yet. Guus Hiddink may get run out of the Russia job if he doesn't qualify for Euro 2008. And Klinsmann himself may still be in the mix. Klinsmann is a smart and polished guy, and I doubt that he has burned his bridges entirely with Gulati. That said, Klinsmann has now turned down Gulati in two very public dalliances over the years -- first when Gulati tried to sign him as a player for MLS in 1998, and now over the U.S. job. If I'm Gulati, I'm banging my head against the wall at this point.

• One issue to keep an eye on: How will Bradley deal with the attention that will surely come when he calls his son Michael into the national team? Still just 19, Bradley earned his first cap earlier this year, and the midfielder with Holland's SC Heerenveen has serious potential as a U.S. international.

• I've pointed this out before, but I'll say it again: Even though Bradley was an assistant to Arena with D.C. United, the 1996 U.S. Olympic team and the University of Virginia, Bradley is by no means an Arena clone. Arena's personality was always bigger than that of any of his players, and he had a habit of making headlines with his mouth. That won't happen with Bradley, who would never have publicly blamed specific players after a big loss (as Arena did following the 3-0 World Cup beatdown by the Czech Republic). For his part, Bradley is more of a Jon Gruden/Jeff Van Gundy type who puts in ridiculous hours on the job and prefers to keep team matters private within the locker room. It's one reason why Bradley has earned respect from the vast majority of the players he has worked with over the years.

And so, after nearly half a year of waiting, we have a resolution ... sort of. Jürgen Klinsmann is out (for now), and Bob Bradley is in (for now). It's not ideal, but (as Bradley himself likes to say) it is what it is. Game on.