The world is crashing down around United States Men's National Team manager Jurgen Klinsmann. Since that fateful day in Cologne in June, nothing has gone right for the German. His defensive line has disintegrated, his team crashed out of the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the semifinals to Jamaica and then were bested by Mexico on Saturday night in the CONCACAF Cup one game play off match to determine the region's representative to the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia. 

On Monday, the situation merely went from bad to worse for Klinsmann after he confirmed that he had sent defender Fabian Johnson back to his club early because he needs to "rethink his approach about his team". Johnson started Saturday night's loss, and was replaced in the 111th minute after feeling muscle tightness.

The manager went on to state that "I had a very severe word with Fabian Johnson, and I sent him home today. He can rethink his approach about his team. He said he couldn't go anymore and I reacted to it and obviously and made the substitution. He just feared to possibly get an injury, but he was not injured in that moment. He got all stiffened up. It's a muscle issue. It's normal."

This latest bizarre incident could be the indication of something far worse: Klinsmann has lost the dressing room.

If one of the best players on this team doesn't feel commited enough to play an extra nine minutes in the most important match the USMNT have had since playing Belgium in 2014, doesn't that signify a lack of effort to play for Klinsmann? Especially given his reaction?

Johnson is a Klinsmann type player. He is a German-American who is pushing himself at the top of the world's game; his club, Borussia Moenchengladbach, are in the UEFA Champions League. Klinsmann declared him the best right back in Brazil last summer. So why this sudden shift?

What has gone so completely wrong for the American manager? Was it merely that his complete lack of tactical adaptability led to the loss on Saturday night? Or has this been building for quite some time and is only now coming to a head? 

Klinsmann is no great tactical mind. While he did lead Germany to the semifinals of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, his team fed off an incredible wave of nationalist support while playing at home, and needed some good fortune to make it as far as they did. They didn't have some superior tactical blue print; Klinsmann is a sublime man motivator, and he got his players to believe in a common cause. They united behind said cause, and went quite far.

In 2014, he united the United States around a common cause, and led them out of the Group of Death, something which few people thought possible. Yet, just as was shown during his brief tenure at Bayern Munich, he has again proven himself unable to devise a tactical scheme which maximizes the potential of his players.

Ever since assuming the post, the German has promised attractive, attacking football which would involve the US getting out on the front foot and putting teams under pressure. That has not happened. The Americans have remained a largely reactionary force, one who sit back and defend what they have before breaking forward and looking to hit on the counter when the space allows. Over the past 3+ months, that has been shown not to work.

The United States never looked up for the challenge of the Gold Cup this summer, and struggled to impose themselves on even CONCACAF's lightest lights. The 1-0 bore victory over Haiti in the group stage was a case in point. Given the players that the United States have in their arsenal, there is no reason why they shouldn't be capable of beating Haiti by four or five goals. Instead, they sat off, lacked any passing rhythm and barely picked up the three points.

In international play, there is nothing to be done about a dearth of talented players. It isn't possible to splash the cash and bring in a shiny new player; unless you're Qatar, that doesn't work. For a team like the United States, there are only two options: 1.) hire a terrific man motivator who inspires his players to run through walls, and can achieve results they don't deserve through sheer force of will, or 2.) hire a superior tactical mind who will devise a system which makes a team greater than the sum of its individual parts.

Klinsmann has proven himself inept of pulling off option two. Given the latest incident with Fabian Johnson, it appears that his players are no longer willing to run through walls for him. With that great attribute taken out of his bag of tricks, why is Klinsmann still in a job?

It's time for change in the USMNT. It is time for Klinsmann to go, and a promising young coach to be handed the reigns to build a tactically superior side which can make the most of what this nation does have. Whether or not Sunil Gulati has the foresight to make this decision remains to be seen.