Klinsmann Era Begins as U.S. Soccer Team Takes on Mexico

Aug. 11, 2011 -- Jurgen Klinsmann, the former German international star player and manager, will make his debut as the face of U.S. soccer tonight as he leads his new team out for an exhibition match against Mexico in Philadelphia. Less than two weeks into the job, the man they call "Klinsi" has been charged with driving an ambitious but uneven organization to a place he knows well, the gilded halls of elite global soccer.

In his first new conference as U.S. manager less than two weeks ago, Klinsmann was calm but pointed in laying out his challenge.

"I deeply believe that soccer in a certain way reflects the culture of a country," the transplanted Californian, 47, said.

"Having studied the U.S. culture over the last 13 years, it's quite a challenge. You have such a melting pot in this country with so many different opinions and ideas floating around there. Every coach obviously has his own ideas, and then you have the whole challenge of youth soccer in this country being based on a very different model than anywhere else in the world."

The question now -- and it begins now, because as important as it is to systematically develop good young players, failing to at least match past successes at the senior level could endanger the plan at its core -– centers on what Klinsmann perceives as the way forward.

His first team, selected for tonight's meeting with a high-flying young Mexico squad, indicates an emphasis on technical skill (see: C.F. Pachuca's Jose Torres, who played sparingly for the United States in the 2010 World Cup) and the manager's willingness to test-drive players his predecessor seemed hesitant to approach (fleet young defender Edgar Castillo, like Torres, plays professionally in Mexico).

But as any good Freudian would tell you, identifying the problem, however precisely, is hardly the same as fixing it. It'll be up to Klinsmann to develop a style of play that wins both games and the hearts of a growing fan base. The two do not always go hand-in-hand.