The U.S. men's national team is improving its coaching staff even more as they hired former Austrian star Andreas Herzog to be an assistant to Jurgen Klinsmann. Details of his new U.S. deal were unavailable.
Herzog was a midfielder for Austria and he scored 26 goals in 103 international matches between 1998-2003. That impressive goal total for a midfielder is the most ever among all Austrian players.
Most recently, he was Austria's under-21 coach. He left that position on Friday according to the Austrian federation.
Herzog and Klinsmann should have natural chemistry since they were teammates with Bayern Munich when the German club captured the UEFA Cup in 1996.
"Jurgen Klinsmann and I have been close friends for many years now. I face this new challenge with great confidence," Herzog said in the Austrian federation's statement.
Herzog played for Rapid Vienna, Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich, before coming to the United States and MLS with the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2004. He was an assistant to Austria coaches Josef Hickersberger and Karel Brueckner before taking over the under-21 team in March 2009.
His first match as an assistant to Klinsmann will be a January 21 friendly against Venezuela, followed closely by a friendly against Panama on January 25.
Like I said when the U.S. hired Klinsmann, the more foreigners the better for the U.S. men's national team (in terms of naturalized players and coaches). We've seen how far U.S. born coaches can take us, we need more experienced guys internationally that can overhaul our youth programs and change our playing style. It's the only hope we have to ever get over the hump and be a serious World Cup contender in our lifetimes.
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