The 16 moments that summed up Jurgen Klinsmann’s 5 years as USMNT manager

Jurgen Klinsmann's five-year reign as U.S. manager is over. It was a rollercoaster ride, to say the least. This is how it went.

Klinsmann was hired on July 29, 2011. The U.S. had just been beaten by Mexico, 4-2, in the final of the Gold Cup, leading to Bob Bradley's firing. That paved the way for Klinsmann, who U.S. Soccer had chased off-and-on for five years. They thought he would transform the national team.

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Klinsmann got a run of friendlies to start his tenure, but they didn't go so well. The U.S. lost three and drew one in Klinsmann's first four matches and by the end of 2011, had just two wins in seven matches under their new boss.

Klinsmann was quick to dismiss the results, saying they were just friendlies and it didn't matter who won and lost. He was worried about building the team.

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Klinsmann got his first big win on February 29, 2012 when the U.S. took down Italy. Clint Dempsey scored the lone goal as the Americans came away with a statement win, and they did it in Italy to boot.

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When the U.S. went to Mexico City in August of 2012, they did so without their best team. It wasn't a FIFA international date so neither they nor Mexico had a first team. It was also just a friendly. But Michael Orozco's 80th minute goal earned the U.S. a win and they didn't care whether they were B teams or it was a friendly — they had won at the Azteca. It was the first time a U.S. team had ever won in Mexico's national stadium.

The U.S. never had much difficulty making it to the final round of World Cup qualifying. They generally overwhelmed inferior opponents an cruised into the final round. But a 2-1 loss to Jamaica on September 7, 2012 put the Americans in some danger of missing out on the Hex. They eventually came back to win their last three matches of the round and make the final round, but that loss to Jamaica still went down in the history books as the first time the U.S. had ever lost to the Reggae Boyz.

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Neither the U.S. nor Mexico had their best teams at the 2013 Gold Cup. El Tri sent their best squad to the Confederations Cup that summer and the Americans chose to call in some fringe players. Still, the U.S. rolled through the tournament with six wins in six matches to reclaim the region's top trophy.

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When the U.S. beat Mexico on September 10, 2013, they clinched a spot in the 2014 World Cup. It was the seventh straight World Cup the Americans had qualified for and they even added two more wins in their final two matches to finish first place in all of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.

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Ghana had knocked the U.S. out of the 2006 and 2010 World Cups so the Americans were desperate to get a win. Taking three points from their opening match at the 2014 World Cup would be huge too. And when Clint Dempsey scored a minute into the match, the Americans thought they would cruise. But Ghana dominated much of the contest and eventually tied it at 1-1. It looked like the U.S. would have to hold on for a draw, but John Brooks came to their rescue.

Brooke rose to head home a corner kick in the 86th minute, delivering the U.S. an incredibly dramatic win and one that earned them three points right off the bat at the World Cup.

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It's fine to lose to the eventual World Cup winners. No one expected the U.S. to beat Germany in their final match of the 2014 World Cup group stage. But few expected the Americans to get dominated the way they did. They had their lowest possession total in a World Cup match ever and didn't have a single shot on goal. More concerningly, it wasn't all too different from the rest of the World Cup — the U.S. couldn't keep the ball or create chances.

Still, the U.S. got out of the group on goal difference and were into the round of 16.

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There are a couple ways to look at the United States' extra time loss to Belgium in the round of 16 at the 2014 World Cup:

1. If Chris Wondolowski had buried his open chance late in regular time, the U.S. would have won.
2. The U.S. got dominated by Belgium, didn't look like they had any chance, were completely out-played and only lasted as long as they did because Tim Howard had an ungodly performance thats et a World Cup record.

Either way, the U.S. went out of the 2014 World Cup.

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By pure results, the 2015 Gold Cup was the Americans' worst in 15 years. They lost to Jamaica in the semifinals — yes, their second ever loss to the Reggae Boyz and also their first loss to a Caribbean team on home soil since 1969 — and then fell to Panama in the third place match for a fourth place finish. The last time they did that poorly was when they went out in the quarterfinals in 2000, but even then that was because of a loss to guest team Colombia on penalty kicks.

Losing to Colombia on penalty kicks is a lot better than losing to Jamaica. Maybe this was the Americans' worst Gold Cup ever. 

Remember how the U.S. suffered a shock loss to Jamaica in the semifinal round 2014 World Cup qualifying? Well they did the same, but against Guatemala in 2018 World Cup qualifying.

This one was worse. Not only were Guatemala the worst team the U.S. had lost to since the FIFA rankings were invented in 1992, but it snapped a 21-match unbeaten streak against Guatemala.

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Klinsmann said the goal for Copa America Centenario, hosted by the U.S., was a semifinal appearance. Mission accomplished.

The U.S. went to the semifinals on the strength of wins over Costa Rica, Paraguay and Ecuador. When they played good teams, they struggled, losing handily to Colombia and Argentina, but at least they took care of business and managed the semifinal appearance they had aimed for.

The U.S. had played Mexico four times at MAPFRE Stadium in Columbus, OH. All of them were World Cup qualifiers and all of them finished with 2-0 U.S. wins. But Mexico finally got the better of the U.S. on November 11, winning 2-1 and dealing a big blow to the Americans' psychological upperhand that was 15 years in the making.

That it was the opening match of the final round of World Cup qualifying didn't help either. The Americans were abruptly in a hole just one match in.

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The U.S. had never won in Costa Rica before so losing there wasn't horrific. The issue was how they lost. The Americans were completely played off the pitch by the Ticos and beaten 4-0. It was the worst shutout loss the U.S.. had suffered in qualifying in more than three decades.

On top of that, the loss came four days after their loss to Mexico. The U.S. had lost their opening two matches of the Hex for the first time ever and were dead last in World Cup qualifying. Suddenly, qualifying for the 2018 World Cup was in serious danger.

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After the loss to Costa Rica, U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said that they would review what had happened before making a decision on Klinsmann's future. Six days later, Klinsmann was gone. Whether the World Cup qualifying struggles were too much, the rollercoaster ride had reached its end or they'd simply seen a lack of progress for years, U.S. Soccer was ready to move on from Klinsmann and the German's five-year tenure was over.

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