mgoblue0970

June 23rd, 2016 at 12:51 PM ^

I've never been a fan of Michael Bradly from jump.

He's the metaphor for what ails US Soccer on the men's side right now.  MLS talent which doesn't translate beyond the CONCACAF on the international stage. 

The expectation of making important international, knock-out games regularly just isn't backed up by the talent on hand.

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Dylan

June 23rd, 2016 at 12:22 PM ^

US Soccer has never been very good, so let's just keep starting the old guard instead of letting the young guys have their shot. Pathetic.

The only way we are going to improve is to take chances with the new generation.

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mgoblue0970

June 23rd, 2016 at 12:48 PM ^

Right... and JK was also charged with developing that new generation.  Meaning ODP... it takes time for those kids to grow up.  If someone thinks 5 years is by the time we should see results, they are sorely mistaken. 

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Trader Jack

June 23rd, 2016 at 1:44 PM ^

Hard to develop the new generation when you always play the old guard over them. The results we've seen so far from the youth squads consist of failing to qualify for the olympics and being outclassed in the youth world cups. Not a great sign.



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mgoblue0970

June 23rd, 2016 at 2:22 PM ^

I too get frustrated with seeing Bradley, Wondo, and Beckerman out there.

But I'm talking younger.  Younger than examples you have cited.

Go to England or the Netherlands (I have visited) for example and compare and contrast their youth practices with a typical U14 practice here in the States.  It's a jaw dropping difference.

 

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Trader Jack

June 23rd, 2016 at 5:15 PM ^

I don't disagree with you there and have even cited Klinsmann's focus on overhauling the youth system as a positive aspect of his tenure here. But he still his teams still have to perform on the field now too, and their efforts to do that to this point have been hamstrung by a subpar manager.



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chatster

June 23rd, 2016 at 12:43 PM ^

I'm somewhat ambivalent about this rumor of Klinsmann leaving the USMNT after five years at the helm.
 
It’s rare in professional sports for superstar players to become superstar coaches. Jürgen Klinsmann might be one of those superstar players who’s never become a superstar coach, despite having had some admirable successes. I just don't know whether there's a superstar coach or anyone much better than him in line to head up the USMNT program.
 
Credit to him for trying to elevate the USMNT to a position where it would be considered among the top ten national teams in the world. It just hasn’t happened; there’s no evidence that it will be happening anytime soon. But since 1993, the USMNT has been ranked among the top 25 teams in the world 17 times. The problem for Klinsmann is that since he took over the USMNT in July 2011, the USMNT has finished in the top 25 only once, in 2013 when it reached 14 in FIFA rankings. LINK
 
Credit to him for identifying some young players with dual citizenship who have grown up in other countries or who were born to immigrant parents who came from countries where soccer was the top sport, and who’ve had better training, and encouraging those players to join the USMNT.
 
Maybe having a national team that can be among the world’s top 20 clubs (if not the top 10), when there are so many alternative sports options available to youth in the United States, is about the best that we reasonably can expect. How many children in other nations are being encouraged to play the kind of football that most Americans watch?  Or to play the slowly-dying, slow-paced game that not too long ago was thought to be America’s Pastime?  Or to lace up some skates and shoot pucks on frozen ponds in winter?  Or, as more American kids are discovering, to pick up a lacrosse stick and fire a ball against a concrete wall in some local schoolyard? Or to just sit in front of a computer or 60-inch, flat-panel TV while exercising nothing more than their thumbs while playing video games?
 
I’ve been following international soccer since I played the sport in high school when Lyndon Johnson was President of the United States and 18-year olds couldn’t vote. For me, I’m fairly satisfied that the USMNT has been qualifying for World Cup competitions in every cycle since 1990. The USMNT was absent from World Cup competition from 1954 through 1986. It either didn’t enter or didn’t qualify for the biennial CONCACAF Gold Cup from 1963 to 1981, but since it first entered the Gold Cup compeition in 1985, the USMNT has finished first or second ten times, while missing the championship game just five times. For me, that's progress. It's just not the USWNT program.

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JamesBondHerpesMeds

June 23rd, 2016 at 12:57 PM ^

The article you mention doesn't say anything about Klinsmann being out; it just says that oddsmakers have moved the needle on him. 

Why would we fire a coach who basically achieved what we expected of him in a major tournament? The entitlement of idle USMNT fans - and non-soccer fans in general - is a bit petty. It's okay to accept that some countries are better than us at this game; if we want to get better, we need to invest in decades of development.

 

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Trader Jack

June 23rd, 2016 at 1:55 PM ^

I appreciate what Klinsmann has done in terms of promoting an overhaul of the youth system, encouraging players to play in Europe as opposed to the MLS, and recruiting dual-national types. But his insistence on playing guys out of position, along with his terrible lineup choices and complete lack of tactical, in-game management and ability to make adjustments make him a pretty terrible manager. I'm sick of watching Jurgen talk about playing courageously and attacking opponents but then watching the team's defensive style go completely unchanged in the five or six years he's been here. We've underachieved, especially lately, and it's time for a change.



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mgoblue0970

June 23rd, 2016 at 4:32 PM ^

You mean the guy who took a sabbatical during tryouts and training for the World Cup, expecting the coach to hold him a position open for him to slide back into?

That guy should be the coach?  Oh, I get it, you left off the /s.

I always find it funny how these boards LOVE them some Harbaugh for making everyone compete for their positions but lampoon JK for cutting Donovan.  That's quite the double standard.

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mgoblue0970

June 23rd, 2016 at 6:22 PM ^

How was Donovan "better"?

Good lord, what if Rudock said Coach H, I'm the best starting QB you have but I'm gonna be gone for 3-4 months because I really don't care about football right now.  You go through camp without me okay and I'll be back in time for the Ohio State game?

Which is EXACTLY. WHAT. LD. DID!

Where's the evidence JK cut him out of spite?

Oh well, we can agree to disagree. :)

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Trader Jack

June 23rd, 2016 at 6:41 PM ^

I mean, if you don't think Donovan was a better player than Wondolowski, for instance, I'm not sure what to tell you to change your mind. Shortly before Landon was cut, Tim Howard said he was the 3rd or 4th best player on the team. Donovan was back well before the World Cup started and players who don't figure into Qualifier results still make the team all the time. If Rudock came back, competed for the job, and proved to be the best option, I'd imagine Harbaugh would give him he job.



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