Libregts Will Interview for U.S. Job : Soccer: Former coach of the Netherlands’ national team is one of two remaining candidates.

One of two remaining candidates to coach the U.S. soccer team, Thijs Libregts of the Netherlands, will be interviewed today in Orlando, Fla., by a U.S. Soccer Federation search committee.

The committee earlier interviewed Yugoslav Bora Milutinovic, who coached Mexico in the 1986 World Cup and Costa Rica in the 1990 World Cup.

Libregts coached the Netherlands through the 1990 World Cup qualifications, but was replaced before the tournament after several prominent players said they lost confidence in him.

The committee is expected to make a recommendation to USSF President Alan Rothenberg of Los Angeles, who will report to the federation’s board of directors.

John Kowalski, coach at Robert Morris College, was named interim coach after Bob Gansler, who coached the team for two years, resigned under pressure Saturday. He accepted a position as the federation’s director of coaching and player development.

USSF officials said they are seeking a coach with more international experience than Gansler, who was the coach last year in Italy during the United States’ first World Cup appearance since 1950.

Libregts became the Netherlands’ coach after it won the 1988 European title. Under Libregts, the Dutch had a first-place finish in a World Cup qualifying group, tying West Germany twice.

But several top players threatened to quit if he remained.

“We played listlessly and badly in the qualifying games,” two-time European player of the year Marco Van Basten told Soccer International last summer. “You can’t claim that we looked like candidates for the world title. We were unusually lucky.”

Under a new coach, Leo Beenhakker, the Dutch lost in the World Cup’s second round to West Germany, which won the title.