Without knowing what set them both to jabbering - in truth, nothing seems to have - both Grant Wahl and Ives Galarcep pulled together interesting articles on candidates for the still-vacant U.S. coaching position. (YESSSSS...I am getting impatient; what the hell am I going to watch when MLS wraps up in November? Well?)
Wahl takes the more ecumencial approach by far, listing just about every conceivable candidate for the post - including long-shots (and may they never become short-shots) like Sven-Goran Eriksson. The only A-List new name in here for me was current Lyon manager Gerard Houllier, whom I, as a Liverpool fan, remember fondly from the annus mirabilis that was 2001. The memories cool considerably courtesy of the (too many) years that followed, when Liverpool played oppressively dull soccer - then again, they played the same style in 2001 as well (and it should be noted here that I haven't been following the Premier League like I did before my pre-family peak). What he's doing at Lyon, and what he did at Liverpool in 2001, aside I don't think Houllier's the man for the U.S. job. We need help with attacking and those Liverpool teams, which I watched damn closely, suffered from the same ailment.
Galarcep's offering is more direct: he scratches his head at USSF President Sunil Gulati's travelling interview bit and holds up three solid candidates who make their homes, and more often than not (as in 2 out of 3) work, in the U. S. of A: Peter Nowak, Bob Bradley, and, yes, the inevitable Jurgen Klinsmann. All these candidates have been picked apart all over the 'sphere, but Galarcep compiles a defense of the first two that's worth the gander.
As I said at the top, I'm not sure what's driving the appearance of either of these. They're intersting enough, but the only thing I really got out of them was 1) Houllier being in play, and 2) the fact that ANY MLS coach will literally jump - and jump off a building - to land the U.S. job. The same can't be said for Klinsmann, though both pundits are convinced he's got the job so long as he wants it.
I figure we could do worse. And, in any case, if our first concern is simply making South Africa 2010, I'm confident any of these guys could get us there...though I'd hate like hell to be proved wrong.
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