TORRANCE, Calif. — There will not be any excuses for the United States men's national soccer team should it fail to qualify for the next World Cup. Entrance, of course, can never be guaranteed. But if the Americans are not competing in Brazil a year and a half from now, it will be through their own malfunction.
At least that is how their coach seems to see things.
"I'm not afraid of any of those teams," Jurgen Klinsmann said Tuesday, sitting in a hotel lobby a short drive from the Home Depot Center, where he has orchestrated the team's January training camp. "I'm not afraid of Mexico at all."
Klinsmann can be an engaging orator, going on and on without prodding on a range of subjects, like how he views his team: "I'm telling you, if I go player by player through both teams — and this is not just because I'm a very positive thinking person, it's because I evaluate players — I'm telling you that we've got to go into Mexico City to beat them in front of 100,000 people," he said.
His point was that his team, despite what the current FIFA rankings suggest, was the best in its region, and as it prepared for the final round of World Cup qualifying — beginning Feb. 6 in Honduras, and continuing through the year with home-and-away matches against Costa Rica, Panama, Jamaica, and rival Mexico — the biggest threat was the absence of focus or desire or overall mental fortitude.
Klinsmann continued: "They have Chicharito? We have Clint Dempsey. They have Guardado? We have Michael Bradley."
But then came his other point: "It's all here," he said, pointing to his head. "There is a lot of work still ahead of us."
Klinsmann, 48, has been the United States' head coach since July 2011. From the standpoint of results, the past calendar year was a clear success. The team went 9-2-3, earning impressive victories in Mexico (the first there in team history) and Italy (also the first time) and grinding out a draw in Russia.
But in his mind his team's most glaring misstep, a surprising 2-1 loss in Kingston, Jamaica, was equally important.
"We didn't lose in Jamaica because Jamaica was playing better than we did," Klinsmann said. "We lost because we didn't have the right focus. We gave away cheap free kicks, and they scored two goals out of nothing. They didn't have any chance during the game. Not even one chance. But we lost."
Klinsmann often adopts the rhetorical style of a life coach, a role he seems to embrace, and one of his chief concerns since he took over 16 months ago has been raising his players' personal standards. He does not hesitate, whether in interviews or behind closed doors, to suggest the best career move for any player, assuming his goal is to succeed on the national team.
Klinsmann does not dispute the view that soccer's uphill climb to popularity in the United States has precluded the country from producing an elite team. Yet he feels his team can compete in the short term against the world's best, making up some of the difference through more holistic measures, like fitness and psychology.
Those who spend some time observing Klinsmann, then, might notice his fondness for the term "24/7," which seems to represent his highest form of praise for a professional and a state of being to strive toward.
"When you talk about 24/7, it's that you're accountable for what you eat, accountable for how you sleep, how you live your life, how serious you take your job," he said. "You're accountable for what you do with your money, choosing your agent, choosing your girlfriend or your wife. Ultimately, it will all affect your performance."
He elaborated another way: if you're a player, one beer at night might be O.K. Two? That is your choice, but you should think about it. And if you are the type who goes for three, maybe you are not cut out for the national team.
Accountability is another of Klinsmann's buzz words, and he said it was a shame that his players did not experience persistent and harsh scrutiny from the news media and fans, the way their international counterparts do. He feels some American players are too easily satisfied with their accomplishments.
Such policing, for now, will have to be done from the inside.
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