Jurgen Klinsmann sacked by USA after five-year spell

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 21 November 2016

USA sack manager Jurgen Klinsmann following successive defeats at the start of their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Jurgen Klinsmann has been sacked as manager of USA following a disappointing start to their World Cup 2018 qualifying campaign.

US Soccer chief Sunil Gulati made the call in the wake of successive defeats to Mexico and Costa Rica, leaving the Stars and Stripes bottom of the standings on the road to Russia.

Klinsmann, recently linked with the England job, had been in charge of the national side for five years and earned praise for taking the United States to the last 16 of the previous World Cup, where his side were narrowly defeated by Belgium after extra time.

A statement from Gulati read: "Today we made the difficult decision of parting ways with Jurgen Klinsmann, our head coach of the U.S. Men's National Team and technical director. We want to thank Jurgen for his hard work and commitment during these last five years. He took pride in having the responsibility of steering the program, and there were considerable achievements along the way.

"Many are aware of the historic victories, including leading us out of the group of death to the round of 16 in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but there were also lesser publicised efforts behind the scenes. He challenged everyone in the US Soccer community to think about things in new ways, and thanks to his efforts we have grown as an organisation and expect there will be benefits from his work for years to come.

"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. With the next qualifying match in late March, we have several months to refocus the group and determine the best way forward to ensure a successful journey to qualify for our eighth-consecutive World Cup."

USA last failed to reach the World Cup finals in 1986, but find themselves behind Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, Honduras and Trinidad & Tobago after a winless start to their campaign.

The US Soccer Federation has reportedly already made contact with Los Angeles Galaxy boss Bruce Arena and Sporting Kansas City coach Peter Vermes over the now-vacant position.