USMNT Soccer

For those of you who follow The Beautiful Game, and more specifically, the international matches played by the US, should Klinsmann continue to manage/coach the US Men's Team?

Ima hafta do some research before giving a semi-informed opinion. I'd be interested in yours, though ...

Honestly Mark, I'm conflicted.

He has done some good things, maybe brilliant things. Getting out of the so called Group of Death in Brazil two years ago was brilliance and then to take one of the best teams in the world, Belgium, to extra time in the Round of 16... Impressive. His team steamrolled the rest of CONCACAF in the '13 Gold Cup. He took teams to Europe and won friendlies against some traditional powers on their soil. He has opened the door to new ideas and new players, younger players. He is truly working with the guys who will still be National Team players in 10 or 12 years. Lots of them.

Then there are the failures. With last week's loss to Guatemala we are seeing a repeat of the same sluggish start to WC qualifying that we saw 4 years ago. While the team put Guatemala to the sword last night in Columbus, that should have happened last week in Guatemala City. There is just too much talent wearing the good ole red, white and blue to struggle with the 95th ranked team in the world. We are talking about the difference between NFL and Division 1AA here. There is the disaster of last summer's Gold Cup followed by the molestation at the hands of arch-rival Mexico, who was in total disarray and there for the taking) in October for the right to go to next summers Confed Cup.

For all that Klinsmann has done right, he has had 5 years now to establish a consistent team but has failed to do so. Where under former coaches we would see the same core of 15-18 guys called up every time (baring injury) along with 5 to 8 new faces, under Klinsmann there are no givens. Now I'm not advocating anyone get a free ride here and get in on name alone but if the core isn't playing together regularly how are they supposed to get to know each other? This is especially true for the back line where no one has had a chance to settle and because of that we have not had a true leader since Bocanegra was dropped.

I get the feeling that Klinsmann thinks he is the smartest guy in the room and he is trying to prove that every time out with fancy moves when perhaps the basics will do that trick. He continues to play guys out of position and when asked about it refuses to say they are out of position, as if their club managers who work with them day in and day out, have it wrong. Last week he played Cameron at RB but this weekend Cameron will start at center-half for his English Premier League team. He played Yedlin at Right Mid but DeAndre has been a RB his whole professional career. And Zardes was used as a winger instead of a Center Forward, the position he plays weekly for LA Galaxy. Is it a coincidence that when all our players were returned to their regular club positions for last night's match we dominated it?

He came in 4 years ago and told the world that both playing time and form at the club level mattered, that guys who were not playing for their clubs or were struggling would not be called up. Then he backed that up by sitting the face of American soccer, Landon Donovan, when LD took a sabbatical. He did the same for other players who were out of form or without a club (Bocanegra, Edu, Buddle, and Onyewu come to mind). But the longer he has been manager the more erratic (and maybe personal?) these decisions have been. He dropped an in form Donovan from the WC team headed to Brazil in favor of a very young, inexperienced Julien Green, who wasn't getting playing time with his club. For these two qualifiers he brought in Tim Howard and Brad Guzan as his top two keepers. Howard is hardly playing at Everton and Guzan has been in and out of the line up for Aston Villa. Both players are in very dubious form.

The quiet word when Klinsmann was hired was that he was a big picture guy and needed a detail, tactics oriented #2 to handle a lot of the game day stuff. His #2 has been something of a revolving door and he has never really had anyone brilliant in the roll like he did when he managed the German national team (Jordi Low, the current German national coach was Jurgen's #2 then). The more I see the more I fear those whispers were correct. The team looked devoid of a tactical plan last week.

I want Jurgen to succeed. I want to see the US play beautiful football and go head to head with the best in the world. But so far I am seeing regression and that concerns me.

Thanks for that, B. I posted my question before heading out of town last week, and then completely zoned and forgot to check back.

I guess my take, which is far less informed than yours and based almost solely on gut, is that during the run-ups to major tournaments, Jurgen seems to be more interested in mixing and matching all kinds of players, granting playing time to a whole wide range of younger bodies in order to expand the roster of potential contributors, than he is finding his real core of guys and letting them play together building toward the big tournaments. In particular he seems to focus the World Cup ... I can easily see where that is what an international figure like him would consider the real prize ... maybe the only real prize.

If that approach were to fail spectacularly---as in failing to qualify for 2018---your fears will have been right on pont. If it works again, though, and we head to Russia with a cast of younger guns boasting at least some international experience, and looking like a legit contender to at least escape group play again ... I'm thinking I'm going to view that as a success. I'm old enough to still be pretty tickled that US Soccer, an eye-rolling joke among my international and soccer-loving friends most of my life, has evolved to the point that we're not only expected to qualify, but actually make some noise.

I'll start watching qualifying more closely and try to get to where my take is a little more informed, however. I'd like to be able to assess where our program is headed in the here and now as well as in the generational sense.

USA vs. the best in the world tonight. Let's go!

McD5 said:

USA vs. the best in the world tonight. Let's go!

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Rough game. The result was not unexpected given the opponent nor the fact we didn't have 3 main starters. Although, I thought Wood was the one we would miss the most. I think Jurgen showed he should stay and I like the style of play the men's team is trying to play under him.

What an amazing game. How great is Messi, I mean really?

We may still be a generation or two away.

This may be still be my favorite soccer video in history:

That 2nd goal in the penalty kick was unbelievable. Unstoppable.


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Klinsmann fired.

Please don't replace him with Bruce Arena. That's all I ask.

Lol. So much for asking


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McD5 said:

Klinsmann fired.

Please don't replace him with Bruce Arena. That's all I ask.

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Why? What's wrong with The Bruce?

I guess one think I like about Arena is that he has lifelong ties to youth and collegiate US soccer - he's not a hired gun. He knows how to find the best talent America has to offer. Whether or not that translates to more success down the road, I don't know.

I was thinking about soccer in America again and maintain that as long as football, baseball and basketball continue to attract the highest level of our most talented kids, professional soccer and our national team will suffer. When the kids seeking a way out of the ghetto start to see money from soccer here in America, then and only then will we start to see soccer grow here.

There is another factor in play here that could expedite this theory. I was talking with a couple of friends who own a large youth sports/school photography company. Football used to be a big money maker for them since the teams were larger than most other sports. They have seen a 50% decrease in the amount of sales over the past 10 years. They attribute that to the lack of overall participation in the sport. Meanwhile, there has been an increase in soccer.

Until we can tap the talent pool from those 3 major sports, we will not see US Soccer as a major player on the international scene.

Neophyte said:

Why? What's wrong with The Bruce?

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He isn't aggressive enough for my liking. He's a huge pansy.

I remember in his last WC match......we were down by a goal or two with only five minutes left, and he was playing only one guy up top.

Even on set pieces into the box....we had only two players in the box.

I understand he probably thought we were overmatched and therefore tried the "play defense and counter" strategy, but not when down at the end of the game.

It's a sad day when he's the best we have.

Perhaps true then but I think it might be different now. Galaxy have shown no shortage of aggression under Bruce. Hopefully that will continue with the USMNT. Honestly, I would have liked to see someone new too with new ideas but at this point, bottom of the Hex with zero points after two matches, we needed someone who has been there and done that. I don't see Bruce as the long term answer but I think he will do a fine job through WC 2018.

I hope you're right.

Bad news for the USMNT (and DC United):

Knee injury knocks goalkeeper Bill Hamid out of USMNT training camp | MLSsoccer.com

Knee injury knocks goalkeeper Bill Hamid out of USMNT training camp
January 10, 2017
7:50PM EST
MLSsoccer staff

D.C. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid was forced to withdraw from Bruce Arena's January training camp for the U.S. Men's National Team because of a knee injury, U.S. Soccer announced today.

It is the second consecutive year that Hamid has been forced to leave January camp because of a knee injury. Last year, Hamid tore the meniscus in his right knee at the camp and missed the first 12 games of the 2016 season for D.C. He returned on May 27 and played in 20 games, posting five shutouts and allowing 25 goals, for a goals-against average of 1.25.

McD5 said:

Klinsmann fired.

Please don't replace him with Bruce Arena. That's all I ask.

Click to expand...

BREAKING: United States misses first World Cup since 1986.