USMNT: Why Jurgen Klinsmann Was the Real Star of the Gold Cup Final

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: July 29, 2013

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This year's Gold Cup was as much about Jurgen Klinsmann as the teams he put on the pitch. Prior to the tournament the German's tenure as manager of the United States Men's National Team had been rocky.

Peaks include knocking off Mexico at the Estadio Azteca and defeating Italy in a friendly, but a veritable mauling at the feet of a blossoming Belgian side showed that the Americans still have some way to go before they can justifiably regard themselves as one of the world's elite footballing nations.

However, Klinsmann became King Midas during the Gold Cup.

A nation as prominent as the United States possesses the human resources to take its B-team to the CONCACAF tournament. Klinsmann was forced to identify the best of the backups and decide which players merited more intense scrutiny.

He settled on a squad that he left mostly unchanged for the duration of the tournament and which produced a flawless record.

Nick Rimando was an absolute rock in goal, inspiring confidence with a string of acrobatic saves and numerous composed clearances from awkward positions.

Landon Donovan was deservedly afforded the opportunity to play his way back into the starting lineup for the World Cup, and the greatest American soccer player to ever don the jersey vivisected every team that was unfortunate enough to be submitted to his creative buzz saw.



Donovan was the joint-Golden Boot winner, netting five goals, and he provided more than three times the amount of assists—seven—than the next-most prolific players.

And Klinsmann could not possibly have utilized his substitutions more effectively.

Only minutes after he inserted Brek Shea into the U.S.' match against Costa Rica, the obviously talented but wildly inconsistent winger nabbed a fine finish to see the Yanks through and finally begin his goal tally for the national team.

Shea repeated ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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