Slovenia will have a new head coach when it hosts the USA Nov. 15 in a rematch of their 2010 World Cup meeting. The country’s soccer federation said announced Monday the contract ofMatjaz Kek had been terminated by ‘mutual agreement,” following the team’s failure to qualify for the 2012 European Championships.
Kek took over in 2007and guided Slovenia to a World Cup appearance in South Africa, but lagged behind Italy, Estonia and Serbia in Euro qualifying. The Slovenian federation statement said “without a doubtMatjaz Kek has been a good general manager and achieved excellent results with the national team.”
At the 2010 World Cup the USA rallied from a 2-0 deficit with goals byLandon Donovan and Michael Bradley to tie the match, 2-2, and lost an apparently legitmate goal by Maurice Edu when a foul was called.
TheAmericans play France in Paris Nov. 11 before the game with Slovenia in Ljubljana.