US football team coach profile: Bob Bradley
With the recent exit of Aston Villa coach Martin O'Neill for no apparent reason, the US coach Bob Bradley is seriously being linked to the job. Whether Bob Bradley can improve his coaching record at the English club is yet to be seen but if his previous record is anything to go by, Villa would have a very capable coach leading their side. Having started coaching at a very young age, Bradley has proven himself to be a true motivator to his players and a seriously capable football coach. Whether he gets hired or not is up to the management of Aston Villa but he is being strongly considered for the job. Let’s see what the club under his direction can do in the future.
Bob Bradley is one of the US team’s most successful coaches. He attended Princeton University where he played football. After his education, he started coaching the sport he loved and was named as coach of the football team at Ohio University at the young age of 22. As his experience grew he moved back to a coaching position at Princeton where he was very successful leading the team to two Ivy League titles and won the NCAA finals in 1993. After his college career he moved onto the MLS to give it a try. He was even more successful at the club level than he was at university level. His major successes at MLS came as coach of the Chicago Fire leading them to the MLS Championship and the US Open Cup. He later moved to the New York MetroStars but in 2005 he was fired for unknown reasons by the club. He made his comeback to club level with Chivas USA and led them to their first ever playoffs. After the 2006 World Cup, Bradley was confirmed that he would take over the role of coach of the national team from previous coach Bruce Arena. He has had a lot of success with the US National team leading them to a win at the 2007 Gold Cup and reaching the final of the 2009 Confederations Cup.
The reason Bradley is in the spotlight again after the US team’s run in the World Cup in 2010, is because he is being linked with a possible move to Aston Villa to replace the recently departed coach Martin O’Neill. It is a very odd situation going on at Villa because O’Neill gave no reason why he has quit the club but instead wished its management, the players and the supporters all the best and said he had a fantastic time working with them all. O’Neill was head of the club for four years and had a very good success record. Since 2006, he had transformed the fortunes of the club and his greatest achievement for Villa was helping them reach the final of last year’s Carling Cup, their first Cup final in 10 years. What is hard to understand about this situation is that it is usually coaches that are not performing well or whose teams have a poor record that get fired or quit. The coaches that are performing well do not usually leave. It has become a challenging situation for the club because O’Neill’s exit came right at the start of the Premier League season.
Bradley is a serious contender for the recently vacated job. He has expressed interest in replacing O’Neill and he looks all set to hold talks with the owners of Aston Villa. The owners of the club have said that because of the delicate timing of the exit of the former coach, hiring a new coach would have to be a well thought out decision. Recent success with his team at the 2010 World Cup has impressed a lot of people. It could be because of his previous record and his recent success that he is being looked at very seriously for the position.
Whether Bradley gets the job or not we will have to wait and see. But if he does get it he will probably do great things at the club just as he did with the US National team. No one would have considered them a threat in previous years but they have improved a great deal and look all set to become the next powerhouse of football in the world. If he can do the same for Aston Villa, his appointment will have been well worth it in the end.
Tags: