I'm not an expert on men's soccer, but I wonder... Can you overcome less talent in soccer (which it's safe to say the US has) when you have excellent coaching?
Yes. Like any sport coaching has an immense impact. Bob Bradley was a solid coach from a practice standpoint (players came to games ready to play, in good condition), however he was TERRIBLE from an in-game strategy standpoint.
Most people don't appreciate the immense strategy required during a soccer game. Since substitutions are limited, positioning is key. While it may appear a bunch of guys are just running around, the coach is constantly changing the shape of the players and moving people to hopefully create and exploit the opposing team.
Americans have historically been terrible at this. We are in better shape, with better physical attributes, but get killed after the first 30 minutes because the opposing coach is smart enough to shift his players to exploit our players. See Brazil v USA or Mexico v USA ... you should never lose a game you are winning by 2 goals.
Another great example of this is Argentina in the last world cup. They were LOADED with talent and should have made it to the finals. EXCEPT they met a much lower talent German squad that played brilliantly. Plain and simple, Maradona was out coached by his German counterpart. I watched the game in person and was blown away that the strategy of the Argentinians appeared to be, "Give Messi the ball and hope for a goal." Well ... Messi would beat 3 or 4 Germans (superior talent), but there was always a 5th one waiting (superior coaching).
Bradley needed to go. He was good at having the guys ready to play, but he almost always let them down with suspect substitutions and poor game-time adjustments. Cost the USA some big games.
Coaching always matters.
