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Bradley, Former U.S. and Egypt Coach, Joins Norwegian Club
By BRIAN SCIARETTAJAN. 3, 2014
The career of Bob Bradley, the former national team soccer coach for the United States and Egypt, took another interesting turn on Friday when he was formally introduced as the manager of the Norwegian club Stabaek. The two-year deal makes Bradley, 55, the first American head coach of a top-tier European team.
“My feeling is that we all know how far the game has come in the United States,” Bradley said. “There is still a part where for players and coaches, earning respect in Europe is a challenge. When I was with the national team, every time we played against a big European team, we would talk about how that was a chance to show people we were a really good team, for them to show that they were top players. For me, this was a big part of wanting to now make the next step in Europe.”
He said he saw his decision to take on a club job in Europe in a similar vein, adding, “To be the first one, if it helps in any way for coaches and players down the road, for me that’s an important step.”
There have been other American head coaches in Europe. The former national team defender Gregg Berhalter coached Hammarby in Sweden from 2012 to 2013, and another former United States player, David Wagner, is coaching Borussia Dortmund’s under-23 team in Germany’s 3.Liga, but both are in lower divisions. Bradley will be the first American coach in a top division.
Stabaek’s sporting director, Inge Andre Olsen, said he had been interested in hiring Bradley for several years, after conversations he had with the former Stabaek midfielder Mix Diskerud, who knew Bradley from the United States national team program. Olsen said he first met Bradley when the coach came to Norway to scout Diskerud.
Olsen said he continued to follow Bradley and was impressed with both his results on the field and “the way he carried himself off the pitch” when times his teams faced adversity. In particular, Olsen was aware of the adversity Bradley faced when coaching the Egyptian national team, a job he took a year after he was fired as United States coach despite leading the team to the second round of the 2010 World Cup.
Bradley led the Pharaohs for two years and to the final round of African World Cup qualifying, but the team missed out on a trip to Brazil when it lost a two-leg playoff to Ghana. While the team failed to advance to the World Cup, it was the off-the-field leadership from Bradley that garnered the most attention globally.
During his tenure, Egypt was mired in political and social unrest. Hosni Mubarak was ousted as the country’s president in 2011, and violence continued there in subsequent years. A stampede at a soccer game in Port Said killed nearly 80 people in 2012, leading to the suspension of Egypt’s domestic league. Despite the violence, Bradley remained in Egypt to coach, and the national team’s successes in the earlier World Cup rounds and his shows of support for the antigovernment protests made him a popular figure there.
“Some people find a situation and if they like it sometimes they make a decision that they want to stay there forever,” Bradley said. “When that happens, I respect that. But I’ve always enjoyed what it’s like when you push yourself and when you’re not afraid for taking a new challenge.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/04/sp...club.html?_r=0
By BRIAN SCIARETTAJAN. 3, 2014
The career of Bob Bradley, the former national team soccer coach for the United States and Egypt, took another interesting turn on Friday when he was formally introduced as the manager of the Norwegian club Stabaek. The two-year deal makes Bradley, 55, the first American head coach of a top-tier European team.
“My feeling is that we all know how far the game has come in the United States,” Bradley said. “There is still a part where for players and coaches, earning respect in Europe is a challenge. When I was with the national team, every time we played against a big European team, we would talk about how that was a chance to show people we were a really good team, for them to show that they were top players. For me, this was a big part of wanting to now make the next step in Europe.”
He said he saw his decision to take on a club job in Europe in a similar vein, adding, “To be the first one, if it helps in any way for coaches and players down the road, for me that’s an important step.”
There have been other American head coaches in Europe. The former national team defender Gregg Berhalter coached Hammarby in Sweden from 2012 to 2013, and another former United States player, David Wagner, is coaching Borussia Dortmund’s under-23 team in Germany’s 3.Liga, but both are in lower divisions. Bradley will be the first American coach in a top division.
Stabaek’s sporting director, Inge Andre Olsen, said he had been interested in hiring Bradley for several years, after conversations he had with the former Stabaek midfielder Mix Diskerud, who knew Bradley from the United States national team program. Olsen said he first met Bradley when the coach came to Norway to scout Diskerud.
Olsen said he continued to follow Bradley and was impressed with both his results on the field and “the way he carried himself off the pitch” when times his teams faced adversity. In particular, Olsen was aware of the adversity Bradley faced when coaching the Egyptian national team, a job he took a year after he was fired as United States coach despite leading the team to the second round of the 2010 World Cup.
Bradley led the Pharaohs for two years and to the final round of African World Cup qualifying, but the team missed out on a trip to Brazil when it lost a two-leg playoff to Ghana. While the team failed to advance to the World Cup, it was the off-the-field leadership from Bradley that garnered the most attention globally.
During his tenure, Egypt was mired in political and social unrest. Hosni Mubarak was ousted as the country’s president in 2011, and violence continued there in subsequent years. A stampede at a soccer game in Port Said killed nearly 80 people in 2012, leading to the suspension of Egypt’s domestic league. Despite the violence, Bradley remained in Egypt to coach, and the national team’s successes in the earlier World Cup rounds and his shows of support for the antigovernment protests made him a popular figure there.
“Some people find a situation and if they like it sometimes they make a decision that they want to stay there forever,” Bradley said. “When that happens, I respect that. But I’ve always enjoyed what it’s like when you push yourself and when you’re not afraid for taking a new challenge.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/04/sp...club.html?_r=0
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