Road to Brazil may be lonely for U.S. men

Soccer in America blossomed under Bob Bradley during the 2010 World
Cup run. However, the now-former U.S. men's team coach has been fired.

Today was a sad day in American soccer.

And I'm not saying this because the U.S. men's soccer team's coach, Bob Bradley, was handed the red slip one year into his four-year contract. This piece of news has made my argument timely, but I'm writing this for two primary reasons. One: America doesn't get it, and Two: America doesn't care.

American sports junkies -- legitimate soccer fans or not -- could undoubtedly recognize the piercing blue eyes and shiny, bald head of Bradley, who has been replaced by Jurgen Klinsmann about a year after he led the U.S. to its World Cup run, where Ghana prevailed in the Round of 16. Bradley was fired apparently as a late reaction to the team's lack of production at the Gold Cup tourney, where the U.S. squeaked out a win against Panama and ultimately lost the title to Mexico 4-2.

Revolving doors are pretty common among head-coaching gigs in soccer. It's just the nature of the beast. It's frowned upon when a coach lasts more than one World Cup season, and with the 2014 qualifying matches coming up, it was simply Bradley's time. But that doesn't necessarily mean it was the right thing to do. In theory, what did he ever do wrong? If anything, U.S. soccer should thank him for sparking a team and a nation to believe in a sport that has just never developed domestically.

Football, as the rest of the world calls it (who knew?), is as popular internationally as, well, our football is here. The American culture is one that demands more drama. Right. Now. And soccer, while one of the world's most adrenaline-pumped athletic competitions, is typically a low-scoring, drawn-out 90 minutes. Americans are quicker to pull out a remote to change channels than a vuvuzuela when they cross paths with a soccer match -- one that doesn't involve the U.S., that is.

The pro-soccer case has been stated zillions of ways, even more times than numbers can count. I'm not going to go there. I'm just commenting that it deeply saddens me to see such a beautiful, passionate sport gain a little bit of traction here after the 2010 World Cup, and then see progress halted as Bradley, arguably a national soccer figure, departs unwillingly. Bringing in Klinsmann, German player-gone-coach-extraordinaire, identifies the sport as what Americans already see it as: foreign. That's a mistake that disengages an already nonchalant, hard-to-please American audience and its culture further.

I'm not suggesting Bradley be hired back, or even that he was a remarkable coach. He was decent, he did the job. But most of all, the American public related to him and could trust him. Because he (and his U.S. team central midfielder son) was one of us, born and raised on soccer moms in SUV's in New Jersey like a kid in cleats next door. So it's a shame to see him go at this time.

As the international soccer community gears up for the 2014 World Cup qualifying matches that begin in 2012, the U.S. camp will have a difficult transition. And after somewhat alienating its fan base by releasing Bradley prematurely, it may be pretty lonely out there.