U.S. soccer has announced that the United States National Men's soccer team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has been fired. This news comes less than a week after the men's team suffered a brutal 4-0 loss to Costa Rica in a World Cup Qualifying match that hurt the team's chances of qualifying for the 2018 tournament.
“While we remain confident that we have quality players to help us advance to Russia 2018, the form and growth of the team up to this point left us convinced that we need to go in a different direction,” Sunil Gulati, U.S. Soccer’s president, said in a statement.
Additionally, Klinsmann was relieved of his duties as U.S. soccer's technical director, a role that gave him the task of reforming soccer development in the United States. In his five years as head coach, Klinsmann had a record of 55-27-16 but lost the last two World Cup Qualifying matches.
U.S. soccer has not announced Klinsmann's replacement but the former coach, Bruce Arena, is reportedly the frontrunner to land the vacant position.