All things Jürgen Klinsmann, with lots of juicy links

No matter how you feel about Bob Bradley, about Jürgen Klinsmann, about Sunil Gulati – and opinions certainly are robust on everyone involved in the previous, fast-moving 48 hours of U.S. Soccer news – there most certainly will be fascinating times ahead. Oh, and lots of umlauts ... but that's a different story.

Klinsmann will be officially introduced Monday in New York. And so will begin a period of “Well, you got what you asked for … ” Because SO many supporters have longed for their Klinsi. And that’s understandable. He is a charismatic figure who is uniquely positioned in the soccer world. As I said before, if you built the perfect U.S. Soccer coach, you’d finish with something that looks like Herr Klinsmann.

He’s still relatively young (he turns 47 today), but he has checked the most important “been there, done that” boxes of the global game: specifically, he’s been a World Cup champ as a player and coached in a World Cup. Meanwhile, he loves America (lives here, has an American wife, etc.) and understands the complicated plumbing involved in American youth and professional soccer.

I wrote a piece yesterday for SI.com analyzing which players in the U.S. pool stand to benefit, and which ones might see their place on the national team suffer. We’ll know a little more about that next week when the fed announces a roster for an Aug. 10 match against Mexico. Between then and now, we can only hope to get answers to a few questions that are begging to be answered. Read on …

We’ll know so much just be his initial selection of players. Will Klinsmann choose guys like Steve Cherundolo and Carlos Bocanegra, who are clearly good soldiers who still possess the ability to compete internationally? Or, will he hasten to turn the page and begin blooding a new generation of talent? There’s no question that the new coach appreciates what Cherundolo and Bocanegra can contribute in the short term. But he may want more. If he’s thinking “qualify for World Cup,” they can surely help achieve that aim. If he’s thinking “Get past second round in Brazil,” the coach may recognize that Cherundolo and Bocanegra will be 35 by the time Brazil 2014 rolls around, where they’ll have less value.

So, we’ll see. What are his thoughts on guys like Juan Agudelo, whom Bradley and his staff attempted to protect and shield from expectations?  Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski were 21 years old when they became revelations at the 2006 World Cup, important attackers during Germany’s third-place finish.  They would have been 18 three years before World Cup 2006 – which is exactly where we are now in relation to Brazil 2014.

And speaking of revelations, what a fun team that was to behold in 2006!  “Grinsi-Klinsi” changed the German soccer culture. Imagine that!  He turned the German game completely on its head; what was once all about clockwork organization and hardass determination morphed into something that was … uh … what’s the word? Oh! Yes … “fun.” They attacked in numbers and, generally speaking, attacked the game with joy.

Here’s a pretty good piece you can check out on Klinsmann's revolutionary training methods and his embrace of more fluid, offensive-oriented ways. 

Now, there are other issues that we’ll all need to monitor. For instance, Klinsmann’s next managerial stop after Germany ’06 was Bayern Munich, where times were immediately tumultuous and went sideways quickly. It sounds like a time wrought with politics, but you can judge for yourself. Here’s some background on that. And here's a terrific piece on how the Klinsi era began at Bayern, with lots of great stuff on Klinsmann's visions for the German giants. Be sure to check out both parts, 

By the way, I’ve seen some cynical sniping about Klinsmann’s consulting role at Toronto FC, which continues to struggle. That’s just silly. That may or may prove successful, but it’s WAY too early to judge. Aron Winter and Bob de Klerk (whom Klinsmann helped select) have said all along that identifying and securing the right players for their system at BMO Field will take time; it’s a three-year plan, they’ve always said. So, I can only assume the critics want a return to TFC’s former, wandering, impulsive ways, which never needed to be burdened by anything so naïve and restrictive as a long-term plan. But let’s not digress …

Moving forward, here's a good piece at SI.com that examines the potential ups and downs for U.S. Soccer's newest, most famous face.

And just for the heck of it, here’s Grant Wahl’s revealing conversation with Klinsmann from more than a year ago, where the new U.S. manager covers a variety of topics.

A fascinating period of U.S. Soccer began Thursday. It picks up speed on Monday. So, here we go …