US national team assistant coach Andreas “Andi” Herzog has been named the head coach of the US Under-23 team, US Soccer announced Friday.
Herzog (above, right) will lead the group that will begin the qualification process this fall for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
“Andi brings a wealth of experience at the international level as a player and a coach,” U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said in a statement. “In his years with the national team he has developed a thorough understanding of our system, and we are confident that he is the right coach to accomplish our goal of reaching and succeeding in the Olympic Games.”
Herzog has already played a role in the USA’s early Olympic preparations by helping head multiple U-23 camps last year in Brazil and the Bahamas, as well as a U-21 camp in April 2014.
“I’m honored to have the opportunity to coach the US Under-23 national team,” Herzog said in a statement. “We recognize the special place that the Olympic Games have in this country, and we are committed as a group to qualifying for Rio in 2016. We look forward to putting together a team that will make all Americans proud. We also know it’s a part of our responsibility to develop players who will be able to contribute to the senior national team, and that process has already begun.”
Herzog played professionally for 18 years and earned more than 100 caps with Austria’s national team. The two-time FIFA World Cup veteran (1990 and 1998) transitioned to the coaching realm in 2005. He served as Austria’s U-21 coach from 2009-11 and was also an assistant coach for Austria’s senior national team.
In December of 2011, USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann named Herzog his assistant coach. The 46-year-old becomes the third senior team assistant coach in four cycles to take charge of the U-23s, following Glenn “Mooch” Myernick in 2004 and Peter Nowak in 2008.
Herzog will be looking to bring the US to its 14th appearance in the tournament finals after the team failed to qualify in 2012.
“Andi has plenty of experience and knowledge in order to prepare this group for the international level,” Klinsmann, who is also US Soccer’s technical director, said in a statement. “As a former coach of the U-21 Austria team, he has a lot of experience connecting to the younger generation of players. Having been with the senior national team these past years, he understands the challenges of putting together a team with players coming from all over. Andi is absolutely ready to step into this role, and he deserves this opportunity.”
As a player, Herzog was a former teammate of Klinsmann at German Bundesliga club Bayern Munich, where the two celebrated winning a UEFA Cup championship in 1996. Herzog capped off his professional career with Major League Soccer’s LA Galaxy in 2004.
On the international front, Herzog is Austria’s leading cap winner, having made 103 appearances and scoring 26 goals for Austria from 1988-2003.
