Many American soccer fans have eyed ex- Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp as a dream candidate to whip the 2026 World Cup co-hosts into shape after a calamitous group-stage exit from Copa America this week.
And while the United States men's national team (USMNT) might lack the pedigree commonly associated with a two-time Champions League winner, Klopp already enjoys some familiarity with the U.S. roster as a longtime admirer of star attacker Christian Pulisic.
"I had when I left Dortmund, Pulisic came through, so I had him as a 16-year-old in training and I thought 'Oh my God! Wow!'" said Klopp, who overlapped briefly with Pulisic in Germany, to the Anfield Wrap last month . "And then you see him later, at Chelsea, doing well now at AC Milan. I would love to stay with all the people in the building."
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Pulisic agreed to leave behind his Hershey, Pennsylvania home and join the German club before even turning 16, lured by Dortmund's reputation, largely formed by Klopp, as a premier developer of young talent. Klopp paced the sidelines at Dortmund from 2008 to 2015, earning consecutive Bundesliga titles and a Champions League final appearance while developing global superstars Robert Lewandowski, Ilkay Gundogan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The German manager enjoyed similar success at Liverpool, hoisting the Reds' first-ever Premier League trophy and scooping up the 2019 Champions League crown. Klopp voluntarily stepped away from his post on Merseyside at the end of this season, claiming to be "running out of energy," but subsequent quotes suggest he may be inclined toward the international game's more sporadic schedule.
"It's out of the question that I'll stop working altogether," Klopp told the Willipedia podcast after leaving Liverpool. "But I don't see myself continuing at the same pace as before at the moment." A 2024 Q&A conducted by The Athletic's Simon Hughes strengthened the interest of American fans in the Gegenpressing manager, writing "The only national job he'd [Klopp] take would be Germany. Or maybe, USA."
The Americans, meanwhile, have reached a five-year low point this summer after failing to progress from a Copa America group including international minnows Panama and Bolivia. The United States Soccer Federation announced a "comprehensive review" of the head coaching position, but former US goalkeeper Tim Howard, who played nine seasons across Stanley Park at Everton , shares Hughes' confidence that Klopp would be open to the American job.
"If I was in charge of U.S. Soccer right now, I'd be on my way to the airport," Howard wrote in an editorial piece for the Daily Mail . "Why? Because I believe I could make a very compelling argument to Jurgen Klopp to take over the US Men’s National Team... I will personally fly to Spain. I mean it.
"I know Klopp has only been retired a few weeks and I know he wants a break. But if we sat around his villa in Spain, I think I could lure him over here. 100 percent. The money is certainly there. So my pitch would be simple: he has a young group of players who can play progressive, front-foot soccer - exactly like his Liverpool teams. And in two years’ time he can go to the biggest World Cup in history."
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