MIAMI – Some 4000-plus miles across the Atlantic on Monday morning, Premier League club Swansea City were busy feting the arrival of a new manager – Bob Bradley, who will become the first-ever American to manage in the league. And on a broiling, muggy field at Miami’s Barry University, some of his former US national team charges expressed equal elation.
Between 1996 and 2006, Bradley served as head coach for three MLS clubs – the Chicago Fire, who he took to MLS Cup and U.S. Open Cup in 1998, as well as the MetroStars and Chivas USA. But he also headed up the USMNT from 2006 to 2011, bringing then-emerging talents like Sacha Kljestan into the fold.
And after a two-and-a-half-year stretch out of the national team picture, Kljestan is, of course, very much back in it after a pair of standout World Cup qualifying games. And as he hit the training pitch in Miami, warming up for the USMNT's upcoming friendly vs. Cuba on Friday (4 pm ET, ESPN2), he offered high praise for Bradley’s abilities.
“I’m pretty excited for him, personally, because obviously he set a goal for himself to reach one of the big leagues in Europe, and has accomplished that,” Kljestan said. “As American players going to Europe, we have to fight for respect, and I think it’s the exact same for him being a manager. He set a challenge for himself and I think he’s met that.”
USMNT forward Jozy Altidore, also in Miami for camp, played under Bradley at the national level for almost four years, and offered similar thoughts on what he dubbed a “very special moment.”
“Everyone here in the United States who’s been part of our soccer for the past 20 years [knows] how much it’s growing,” he told reporters in Spanish. “We’ve been battling across the world to get an [American] manager to such a high level, so it’s something really good.”
Kljestan noted that he thinks Swansea fans can look forward to a revived offense under Bradley.
“I think they’re going to be organized, and he’s gonna get the players to play with a lot of fight and a lot of passion,” he said. “There are some very good players on that team, already too, so I think hopefully he’ll be able to unleash their attacking capabilities and prove to be a good fit for the club.”
And however challenging that might prove at the beginning, Altidore said he feels certain Bradley is the man to tough it out. “You an expect a guy who’s gonna do everything he can to make sure the team’s successful,” he said. “Anyone who knows Bob, anyone who’s played under Bob, knows that you’re gonna enjoy every training session. You’re gonna enjoy a lot of the moments there.”
