Gulati still undecided on Bradley

You may not have realized it, but we may have already seen the beginning and end of the Bob Bradley era as U.S. national team coach.

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Bob Bradley has impressed in his interim stint as coach but it might not be enough.

Last week's scoreless draw against Guatemala marked the fourth match in Bradley's tenure as interim coach, and it was the last match Bradley was assured of having. In the two months between now and the U.S. team's next match, a friendly against China on June 2, U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati will consider candidates to replace Bradley, and he will consider Bradley's own chances of holding on to the position he was thrust into so surprisingly in December.

"We're planning to stay with the timetable we talked about in December, which would indicate that we would make a final decision by [June 2]," Gulati said. "We wanted to let these four games be played and we wanted the European season to wind down, and that's where we are. Whether it's April or May, it's my expectation that we would make a decision of a permanent nature.

"We're going to finish this process, and part of that process involved talking to some people we had discussed the position with earlier," Gulati said. "As we said in December, Bob would be one of those people, and he obviously has performed extraordinarily well and the team has done very well, so that process hasn't changed."

As far as auditions go, Bradley's went extremely well. A memorable victory against a full-strength Mexico team and a thorough thrashing of a strong Ecuador team has showed that Bradley is capable of putting the team in a position to win as well as getting quality performances from Landon Donovan. Critics who considered Bradley a terrible hire incapable of getting the most out of the players in the U.S. system had to give the former Chicago Fire coach credit for being able to step in and instill a winning mentality.

"He's accomplished a lot in a very short period of time and established a very good rapport with the players on the team," Gulati said. "I'm not sure if he's changed a lot of minds of fans out there, but results always do that and he's had some very good results, so that's a plus."

Was it enough to convince Gulati that Bradley can do the job? In Gulati's mind, it's possible that he had already formed his opinion about Bradley before the coach ever took the field with the U.S. national team.

"I don't think I was going to learn very much about Bob in the last couple of months," Gulati said. "We've known each other a very long time, both personally and professionally, and I have an extraordinarily high regard for him on both those fronts. So from that perspective, it would be hard to say that I've learned anything new about Bob."

Gulati also took issue with the criticism directed at him for having Bradley carry an interim tag the past three months.

"All national team coaches are interim coaches, they just don't have that title," Gulati said. "I haven't felt any great pressure to do anything over the past few months about that issue because frankly the program has been going on, and going on very well in terms of results.

"We've played games, we've looked at players and Bob has done very well in guiding a team, so I don't think we've missed anything," Gulati said. "We've planned for the future, future games and future camps, so I think we have continued to make progress.

"The only term that is unique in this case is the word interim," Gulati said. "National team coaches and club team coaches around the world are coaches, but they know they can be asked to leave the next day. The only issue here is the public issue and what it means contractually.

"I don't think [beleaguered England national team coach] Steve McClaren is thinking, 'Hey, I have a four-year contract, I'm going to be coaching this team for four years,'" Gulati said. "We've been very fortunate in the U.S. because since 1990 we've had coaches complete cycles," Gulati noted. "Bora [Milutinovic], Steve Sampson and Bruce [Arena] for two cycles. Even in the qualifying for [the] 1990 [World Cup] cycle, Lothar Osiander took us in the first round of the cycle and Bob Gansler completed the cycle. The world didn't end because of it."

Who will the coach be? Bradley has certainly done enough to warrant keeping the job, but that won't stop Gulati from continuing to court high-profile foreign coaches. In that respect, very little has changed with regards to the future of the U.S. national team head coaching position during the past three months.

What has changed is the public perception in some circles that Bradley can't handle the role. He has not only handled the U.S. job, he has excelled at it, even though players were well aware of his tenuous hold on the job. Bradley didn't shy away from being demanding or from instilling discipline in a group of players that needed it after six months of national team inactivity.

Bradley deserves to keep the job, but if Gulati goes in another direction, Bradley certainly deserves to stay at the top of the short list if Gulati's first choice flops. Gulati could be excused for not naming Bradley the full-time coach in December after failing to deliver the high-profile coach he all but promised before then. Gulati may even escape criticism for passing on Bradley this time around if he lands a high-profile coach who actually performs well in this summer's Gold Cup and Copa America. But if Gulati passes on Bradley and his choice flounders this summer, Gulati will have no choice but to give Bradley the job. World Cup qualifying is still a year away, but the U.S. national team is running out of time in the world's slowest game of musical coaches.

Ives Galarcep covers MLS for ESPNsoccernet. He is a writer and columnist for the Herald News (N.J.) and writes a blog, Soccer By Ives. He can be reached at Ivespn79@aol.com.