On Thursday, Jurgen Klinsmann, the coach of the United States national men’s soccer team, dined with President Obama, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, a number of Nobel laureates and a couple of astronauts at a gala in Berlin. The sausages were “excellent,” he said. 
 
 On Friday, Klinsmann returned to his home in California and was bemused by the criticism he was receiving in the news media for two recent losses by his team, which had damaged — but not erased — its chances of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. On Sunday, Klinsmann aggressively defended his record as coach in an interview, saying that he was “very comfortable” in his position and was not especially concerned about being removed. 
 
 On Monday, Klinsmann was fired. 
 
 The announcement, which was made by U.S. Soccer, the federation that oversees the sport in this country, came shortly after Sunil Gulati and Dan Flynn, two of the federation’s top executives, met with Klinsmann at a hotel in the Los Angeles area. U.S. Soccer did not immediately name Klinsmann’s replacement, though it is expected that Bruce Arena — a Major League Soccer veteran who led the national team from 1998 to 2006 — will take the job through the end of the current World Cup cycle. 
 
 “While we remain confident that we have quality players to help us advance to Russia 2018, the form and growth of the team up to this point left us convinced that we need to go in a different direction,” Gulati, the U.S. Soccer president, said in a statement. He is expected to elaborate on the thinking behind Klinsmann’s dismissal during a conference call with the news media on Tuesday afternoon.
– Jurgen Klinsmann is out as coach of the US men's soccer team, the AP reports, ending a contentious five-year love-hate relationship on the job. US Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati announced Monday that Klinsmann has been "relieved of his duties" as coach and technical director for US Soccer. The move isn't exactly surprising, notes the New York Times, following a pair of embarrassing losses that damaged the Americans' efforts to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. The final straw came less than a week ago, as the Times puts it: "Then came the 4-0 thrashing against the Ticos in which Klinsmann’s team looked alternately disorganized, dispirited and—perhaps most damningly—disinterested." "While we remain confident that we have quality players to help us advance to Russia 2018, the form and growth of the team up to this point left us convinced that we need to go in a different direction," said Gulati in a statement. Klinsmann replaced Bob Bradley in July 2011 and led the team to the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup title and the second round of the 2014 World Cup, where the Americans lost to Belgium in extra time. But the US was knocked out in last year's Gold Cup semifinals, lost to Mexico in a playoff for a Confederations Cup berth and started 0-2 this month in the final round of World Cup qualifying.