Tonight, Jurgen Klinsmann, coach and technical director of the U.S. men’s national team, returns to the first cathedral of American soccer, now called Mapfre Stadium. The building has long served as the place where American soccer has staged its high masses of celebration.
Monday morning, when Klinsmann met the media inside a chilly tent in the shadow of the grandstand, all that was missing was an organ and a choir and a few bars of Brahms’ "German Requiem." Klinsmann has long had his detractors. Now, his embalmers are setting upon him.
Friday night, the U.S. was pushed around and lost, 2-0, in Guatemala City.