Bradley’s Return Is Right Move

Expectations have risen around US Soccer after a successful World Cup campaign this past summer, and as we head towards a cycle for the 2014 World Cup, the hiring of Bob Bradley shows a commitment towards moving our team towards a standard that includes contention for a round of 16 berth.

George Vecsey of the New York Times writes of how Bradley is the right coach for the US team, and the right move for US Soccer.

The rising expectations for United States soccer — some of them unrealistic at this point — did not, ultimately, get in the way of a very good choice of a coach for the next four years.

Bob Bradley faced criticism after the United States lost in the second round of the World Cup, but it didn't cost him his job.

It will be Bob Bradley, the very same coach who has handled the team for the past four years. There was no über-coach to come floating out of the sky with the ability to bolster the American playing pool by a full generation with some magic trick, some secret code he had learned on the practice fields of Europe or South America.

Bradley will have to keep the United States in contention for the Round of 16 in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil because that is the standard now. This is by no means guaranteed.