Jurgen Klinsmann’s time as coach and technical director of the U.S. Soccer men’s national team came to an end Monday.

Klinsmann, 52, was relieved of duties from both roles after a five-year stint in charge.

Klinsmann was hired as both the coach and technical director of the program, July 29, 2011. The relationship always appeared to be exhausting between Klinsmann and the U.S. soccer community and that only increased as the U.S. opened the final round of World Cup qualifying with a pair of disappointing performances.

The U.S. dropped a 2-1 decision to rival Mexico in Columbus, Nov. 11 and four days later turned in an abysmal 4-0 loss to Costa Rica, leaving the team in sixth-place among the final six teams from the CONCACAF region, vying for a spot in the 2018 World Cup.

This was the first time that the U.S. lost its first two final round qualifiers in team history and the loss to Mexico in Columbus was the first home loss in a World Cup qualifier in 15 years.

Following the loss to Mexico, Gulati told reporters that he expected Klinsmann to finish out the World Cup qualifying cycle.

The winds of change started howling again after the Costa Rica loss.

“We want to thank Jurgen for his hard work and commitment during these last five years,” U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said in a statement. “He took pride in having the responsibility of steering the program, and there were considerable achievements along the way.

“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.”

After qualifying for the 2014 World Cup, the U.S. gave Klinsmann a four-year contract extension to 2018.

Under his leadership, Klinsmann led the U.S. to a 55-27-16 record. In 2014, Klinsmann led the U.S. to the Round of 16 in the FIFA World Cup and recently to a fourth place finish in the Copa America Centenario last summer.

He also won the 2013 Gold Cup.

As from the positives, the negatives were also there for all to see. After winning the 2013 Gold Cup, he led the U.S. to a fourth-place in 2015, the worst finish since 2000. That finish forced the U.S. to miss the Confederations Cup in 2017.

Bob Bradley, Klinsmann’s predecessor, finished second at the 2009 Confederations Cup.

The timing is perfect for a change. The U.S. doesn’t resume qualifying until March with a home game against Honduras followed by an away trip to Panama.

The new calendar year typically begins in January with a training camp.

“We have several months to refocus the group and determine the best way forward to ensure a successful journey to qualify for our eighth-consecutive World Cup,” Gulati said.

Gulati is scheduled to address the change in greater detail Tuesday.

The road to Russia will not be easy for the successor, with difficult road trips to Panama, Honduras and Mexico included in the final eight games.

In an interview with Reuters over the weekend, Klinsmann didn’t seem worried about the slow start in qualifying.

“We lost the two opening games and played the two best teams right away,” he said. “We have eight more games to get the points needed to qualify. We’ve always reacted strongly when things were nerve-wracking.

“This team is always capable of reacting. We’ll correct this with the two games in March and we’ll take one game at a time from there to get our points. I’m 1,000 percent sure we’ll qualify.”

The top three teams at the end of qualifying from CONCACAF will qualify for the World Cup. The fourth-place team has to play a home-and-home series against the fifth-place team from the Asian Football Confederation.

One of the names under consideration to replace Klinsmann is a familiar one to U.S. Soccer in Bruce Arena. Arena, 65, led the U.S. from 1998-2006, leading the team to a quarterfinal finish in 2002, its best ever at the World Cup.

Arena has spent the last eight years as coach and general manager of the Galaxy. His contract is up after the year, when asked about his future last month Arena said that he expected to be with the Galaxy next year.

Arena posted a 75-28-27 all-time record during his time with the U.S.

Klinsmann replaced Bob Bradley in 2011. He became coach of the German national team in 2004 and eventually led them to a third-place finish at the 2006 World Cup. From there, he landed at Bayern Munich, but didn’t last a full season.