Bob Bradley fired as coach of US mens national team

US Soccer has announced that Bob Bradley has been dismissed as coach of the US men's soccer national team.  It ends a 4 year run for Bradley.  Coupled with the recent firing of Thomas Rongen at the U20 level, there seems to be a change in direction for the US program.

"We want to thank Bob Bradley for his service and dedication to US Soccer during the past five years," US Soccer president Sunil Gulati said in a statement. "During his time as the head coach of our Men's National Team he led the team to a number of accomplishments, but we felt now was the right time for us to make a change:

"It is always hard to make these decisions, especially when it involves someone we respect as much as Bob. We wish him the best in his future endeavors."

The time for a change would be now as the program prepares to begin the long qualifying campaign for the 2014 World Cup.  The US is coming off a yawning performance in the Gold Cup which included a stunning 2-1 loss to Panama and a 4-2 loss in the championship game against Mexico. Bradley was chosen as coach in January 2007 and went 43-25-12 overall. He helped the lead the team to the round of 16 of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.