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Howard critical of Klinsmann's reign

Lee Smith / Reuters

United States national team shot-stopper Tim Howard slammed former boss Jurgen Klinsmann and the negative consequences of his search for talent abroad.

During the German gaffers' six-year spell in charge of the CONCACAF giant, Klinsmann recruited several European-born and European-based players to augment America's chances of becoming a footballing heavyweight.

Many of those are German-born who qualify for the United States by virtue of American-born servicemen fathers, and a great number of those players have made positive contributions to the national team set-up, though Howard is concerned that many didn't display the same pride as U.S.-born and based athletes.

With Bruce Arena succeeding Klinsmann in November for his second spell in charge of the national team program, Howard sees reason for hope that the former LA Galaxy gaffer's insular motivations will benefit the team which dropped its last two 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

"What I think (Bruce Arena) will add is this ability to truly believe in the shirt and I think we lost that a little bit over the last couple of years," Howard told USA Today's Martin Rogers.

When Klinsmann took the gig in 2011, the former Die Mannschaft standout looked abroad for talent. For Howard, many of those players lacked the pride that American-born players exhibit.

"I think it slips away because you bring in … " - Howard, who enjoyed his best days in England with Manchester United and Everton, paused - "Jurgen Klinsmann had a project to unearth talent around the world that had American roots. But having American roots doesn’t mean you are passionate about playing for that country.

"I know there were players that came in that it didn’t matter as much to," Howard surmised. "If you get enough of those players, one or two can get found out, but if you get enough of those players you lose sight of what you are all about. While it was a good idea in theory, it had its flaws. Bruce will 100 percent get that back."

Arena starts that mission with an annual January camp where the Brooklyn-born manager has called up 32 players based at American and Canadian clubs ahead of tuneups against Serbia (Jan. 29) and Jamaica (Feb. 3).

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