TBC Breaking News: Bye Bye Bradley

After a meeting today between U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati and U.S. Soccer CEO Dan Flynn at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California, it was announced by Gulati that U.S. Men’s National Team Coach Bob Bradley has been relieved of his duties. Said Gulati in a statement:

“We want to thank Bob Bradley for his service and dedication to U.S. Soccer during the past five years. During his time as the head coach of our Men’s National Team he led the team to a number of accomplishments, but we felt now was the right time for us to make a change. It is always hard to make these decisions, especially when it involves someone we respect as much as Bob. We wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

This marks the end of an up and down tenure for Bradley, whose job security has been speculated about ever since the U.S. unceremoniously bowed out against Ghana in the 2010 World Cup. Bradley was appointed head coach of the U.S. MNT in January of 2007, and just months later led the U.S. to a championship win at the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup. He was also at the helm for one of the greatest wins in U.S. soccer history, when the U.S. defeated world #1 Spain 2-0 in the semifinals of the 2009 Confederations Cup. The U.S. went on to lose to Brazil in the finals of that tournament, 3-2. Bradley was also on the sidelines when the U.S. won their first group in World Cup history, topping Group C in the 2010 World Cup after a thrilling 1-0 victory over Algeria. But after losing to Ghana 2-1 in the Round of 16, things have progressively gone downhill for Bradley and the MNT. They were thrashed by Spain 4-0 in a Gold Cup tune up, and then went on to lose in the 2011 Gold Cup final 4-2 to Mexico, after having gone up 2-0 early in the game. And it begs the question whether it was a mere coincidence or not that Bradley was fired on the same day the FIFA World Rankings came out, where the U.S. was ranked 30th. Speculation about a replacement will go on for weeks, but many consider the front runner to be former German national team player and coach Jürgen Klinsmann.