October 11th, 2017 at 11:55 AM ^
Which JK was hired to fix and the know-it-alls, ran him off.
October 10th, 2017 at 11:19 PM ^
There's a website that tracks Americans playing in leagues outside the United States. Some of the names on that list will be in the mix for the USMNT that will try to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. LINK
Some of the players who competed on the U-23 squad last year also could be in the mix for the roster that will try to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. LINK
Take one last look at the lineups that the USMNT used during 2017. It's quite possible that very few of those players will be part of the USMNT after today. LINK
October 10th, 2017 at 11:31 PM ^
October 11th, 2017 at 12:08 AM ^
Guys who should have been playing and developing: Johnson, Miazga, carter Vickers, mckinnie.
Pathetic. Sunil has to be out after this and is soccer must change and unify. Mls and all lower leagues, uss, youth and club. We have 300 m. A primary sport like football bleeding talent to other sports and literally no plan but to avoid promotion relegation and rely talent being built in the bundislegia which we may or may not call on as we got s yay mls coach (who should never coach a USA game again).
First we lose to a shit MSU team. Then we lose to a shit t&t team and lose out on World Cup. This has to be one of the worst sporting weeks I've had in a while.
Beat OSU and all will be right again.
October 11th, 2017 at 12:15 AM ^
October 10th, 2017 at 11:32 PM ^
we were gonna find out whether Trump really has any pull with Putin and can get us in anyway. Dumb, but I needed a laugh to keep from crying.
This is a serious low ebb. The six-year attempt to wrestle the US to a new plateau under Klinsmann has proved a failure. Anyone who sees silver linings, please fill me in.
October 10th, 2017 at 11:48 PM ^
October 10th, 2017 at 11:44 PM ^
All of a sudden, all of the people who didn't even know there was a match tonight are coming out of the woodwork and screaming what an outrage this is.
They are just devastated that we won't be playing in that World Cup thingie next summer . . . or is it the summer after that?
October 11th, 2017 at 12:01 AM ^
October 11th, 2017 at 12:18 AM ^
that hurt this team. Needed our best pairing of Cameron and Brooks out there.
October 11th, 2017 at 12:14 AM ^
October 11th, 2017 at 1:51 AM ^
October 11th, 2017 at 7:40 AM ^
October 11th, 2017 at 11:02 AM ^
The team that needs the result tends to get it. That's been true forever, and the edge they get from their desperation is sufficient explanation.
Why the US didn't play with the same (or any) desperation might be a good place for the introspection to start.
October 11th, 2017 at 11:34 AM ^
They didn't think they absolutely needed the result. Deep inside, they thought they were in no matter what, because of all the long-odds things that had to happen to knock them out.
They got complacent. Then when they did need a result, it was too late.
The last 30 min of the game was actually pretty exhilarating to watch. The US was on. But it was too late.
Where was that in the first half?
They can play like the need to, they just don't. It's a mental flaw.
October 11th, 2017 at 11:25 AM ^
If we can't get a draw against T&T, knowing full well that a draw puts us into the world cup final they we don't deserve to go. Relying on the results of others to secure your advancement is a bad way to go about it.
October 11th, 2017 at 12:19 AM ^
I still don't understand the logic behind hiring a guy that was... fired a long time ago. He was fired for a reason... I know people were getting frustrated with Klingsmann but we'd at least be in if he was still around. Damn... I usually look forward to the Olympic and World Cup offseasons because they help make the offseason seem a little shorter. But now I find it difficult to get motivated to watch the WC next year. I know there will be lots of great teams in it, but with nobody to cheer for I'll probably take a pass on it.
October 11th, 2017 at 12:32 AM ^
I think the idea was to treat him as a sort of "caretaker" manager - someone who could be trusted to get us through qualifying while we figured out a more permanent solution. Honestly, I'm a coach myself and I'm a serial coach-blamer, but to me this one falls more on the players. Arena starts an 11 that destroys Panama... seems like a no-brainer to start the same 11 against T&T.
But the effort in the first half in particular was that of a team who felt assured of their place. Technical mistakes I can handle - even the best players in the world blow the ball over the bar or mis-hit passes. But I can't excuse a lack of effort when you're representing your country.
October 11th, 2017 at 12:23 AM ^
Also, farewell to Clint Dempsey. It is unlikely he will be around in 4 years time. Solid player and it was fun watching him play.
October 11th, 2017 at 11:51 AM ^
I hope Bradley is gone too. Good gawd that guy cannot complete a pass in the attacking third.
October 11th, 2017 at 12:58 AM ^
The fact it came down to beating Trinidad and Tobago, a country with a small population that Oakland County, says all you need to know about American soccer.
October 11th, 2017 at 1:03 AM ^
lol not even a win. a tie would have got us in. we would have had the best goal differential between the 3 teams with 13 points.
October 11th, 2017 at 1:27 AM ^
This is not a surprise at all. What's surprising is all the people in this country who say that soccer in the US will catch up to other countries. I've been hearing that for 40 years...It will NEVER happen. Kids grow up playing football, baseball, basketball, lacrosse etc. In other countries, they grow up playing soccer. It's just the way it is. Of course I root for the team when they make the World Cup but reality is reality.
October 11th, 2017 at 1:48 AM ^
October 11th, 2017 at 11:34 AM ^
I have a 1st grader and I don't know any kid that wants to be a "Soccer Player" when they grow up. I have never seen a pickup game of soccer either. Call that what you would like...
October 11th, 2017 at 11:49 AM ^
Do you see pickup games of baseball anymore either. I cannot recall in the last ten years anytime I've gone by a park and seen a baseball diamond in use.
October 11th, 2017 at 4:58 AM ^
October 11th, 2017 at 6:25 AM ^
You don't have to be an unreal Charles Woodson-like athlete to be good at soccer. Our team actually is pretty athletic as it is. The problem is that its skill level is just not there. That's a development issue. There is a critical period during your youth where you need to develop high-level skills. This is earlier in soccer than for other sports, and too many U.S. kids don't maximize their skills during that window because our development system is backwards.
October 11th, 2017 at 8:10 AM ^
Why does soccer require development at a younger age than say hockey, baseball or football?
The US isn't good at soccer, because people don't really watch it. I mean what channel was the game on yesterday (I streamed from a channel I never heard of)?
It would be interesting to see stats for how many kids attend specialized camps for all of the sports and where soccer ranks on that list.
October 11th, 2017 at 8:48 AM ^
All the best leagues are available to watch these days...and why is it harder to develop ball skills? Because skills using your feet with a round a ball is exponentially more difficult than using your hands. Hands can grip balls, bats, etc..you use your hands all day long doing a million things. There is comfort with them....you don't with your feet. You use them to walk or run...that's it. You need to develop superior touch and comfort with your feet and a ball. It takes a lot of time and training to master it...and a lot of it doesn't depend on if you are the strongest or fastest athlete.
October 11th, 2017 at 11:17 AM ^
I watched the game on an internet stream provided by reddit.
Game wasn't on a major network, ESPN, FS1... because people in the US don't really watch soccer.
I understand that soccer is complex and nucanced, but not why a soccer needs to be developed at an early age, while every single other sport can be learned a bit later in life.
Can I get a 12 year old superrior athlete to become a ballerina? IDK?
October 11th, 2017 at 11:29 AM ^
I doubt it. I think you have to start ballet at a really young age, too.
October 11th, 2017 at 1:31 PM ^
Tennis as well.
October 11th, 2017 at 11:50 AM ^
Maybe part of it is that the people you're thinking of that "learned a sport later in life" weren't starting from scratch? There's a primitive level of ability and understanding that comes just from immersion in the culture.
Every American I know can catch and sort-of throw a ball. Almost all of them know small tidbits of useless information like who covers second when the ball's hit to the left side of the infield or what the proper play call is on fourth and thirty from your own five yard line.
Almost every European I know can trap a ball with their feet. Even my gf can do it and she can't catch a ball with her hands. (Neither of those facts was so surprising on their own but the combination blew my mind.) And she never played soccer at all. I think it's as simple as the games you play with your kids when they're very small--do you toss a ball to them and they try to catch it? or do you kick it to their feet and they try to control it?
October 11th, 2017 at 1:36 PM ^
Also, while not a major network, the game was on BeIn Sports which holds the rights to the Spanish and Italian leagues. Its hardly a cable access type channel. Yes, you usually have to pay $10 for an additonal sports package.
October 11th, 2017 at 11:47 AM ^
As a coach I will say the notion/comment that we're treating soccer differently than other sports isn't necessarily true. A previous poster brought up playing pond hockey for hours and how that translates to development. They are right on target. Same with kids shooting free throws for hours in the driveway or playing pickup games in the backyard or park.
It's NOT different. All of that is developing skills at a young age.
The #1 problem I have with parents as a coach is their kids are involved in half a dozen youth activities and since the parents have so many commitments, I'm often told don't expect to see their kids at practice but they will make every game.
I tell the parents I'd rather have the kids miss the game and make every practice.
Why?
I cannot control a game. The average child is LUCKY if they get 10% of the touches I give EVERY kid in a practice as they would in a game. A kid will never run, pass, and shoot, and have more fun in a game than they will with how I structure my practices. Half the kids stand around during the game when the ball is on the other side of the field -- which is good, it means they're not playing swarm ball but it's bad because games don't develop like practices do.
October 11th, 2017 at 11:30 AM ^
Why does soccer require development at a younger age than say hockey, baseball or football?
I don't know all the science behind it, but it's related to the fact that it's played with your feet, rather than your hands.
October 11th, 2017 at 10:35 AM ^
The problem is that its skill level is just not there. That's a development issue.Which JK was hired to fix and few gave him a chance. The hordes expected immediate results. It won't happen that quickly; 10 - 15 years at least.
October 11th, 2017 at 10:59 AM ^
October 11th, 2017 at 8:40 AM ^
No need for any more soccer threads on my favorite football blog, right? Who's with me?
*Ducks
October 11th, 2017 at 11:11 AM ^
No, we'll still have them . . . but without the US.
You should really love that.
October 11th, 2017 at 9:12 AM ^
October 11th, 2017 at 12:24 PM ^
...3 years too late?
October 11th, 2017 at 9:17 AM ^
While yes the MLS is responsible for the uplift of many nations in the CONCACAF, we are talking teams like Panama, TnT, Honduras, not exactly world beaters. Teams that simply have a chance to qualify because their best and our best play in the same league now. Facts are facts MLS is not operated the same as any top flight league from around the world, its driven by Money and political power. Top leagues in the world are driven by a desire to win and be the best. They buy young players and develop, we don't, we send kids to college to waste away for 4 years. They pay, we don't, they attract the best, we don't.... Until either the landscape of the MLS changes (which will never happen) or our youngsters understand the route Pulisic took is the only way to Soccer Stardom today...
October 11th, 2017 at 9:21 AM ^
US lacks behind other WC countries in creativity and raw skills. We are a country obsessed with playing games and winning games rather than developing skills and kicking the ball in the backyard/park for five hours a day. (how many NHL players played pond hockey for hours every day versus older kids).
I don't know exactly why but the US has never had a world class defense. Need to be able to manufacture defensive 0-0 and 1-1 ties at top level soccer. I rarely see good defense being praised and really developed in club soccer. score, score score... and usually that is due to hormonal differences, big fast kid blows by lesser developed kid.
I saw a great 60 minutes piece on Pulisic who is a brilliant young player. HIs soccer upbringing was nothing like almost all of the "serious" American youth soccer players whose parents spend $10,000s each year for coaches to " develop" them in very structured environments.
Finally send players to serious leagues not the MLS if they have major talent and desire.
October 11th, 2017 at 11:17 AM ^
The problem's just as much tactical as technical (and I mean tactical at the individual level, not the particular manager in charge). When I watch an American game with a European friend the first comment tends to be "these guys don't have any idea what they're doing."
Maybe that sounds insulting but I had a very similar experience watching basketball when I lived in Hungary. There'd be players who had developed decent individual talent, but they didn't have that instinctive understanding you get from playing and watching the game from a young age and being surrounded by other people who had already developed that understanding, and no matter the level of individual talent the collective effort always felt labored to me.
October 11th, 2017 at 1:18 PM ^
That triggers kind of an off-the-wall thought I'm going to throw out there.
One difference between US youth soccer and anywhere else I've been is the substitution rules. Everybody gets to play, of course--that's (rightfully) the expectation in a youth program everywhere. But here we do it by liberalizing the substitution rules--everyone gets to play in every game, even in every half, and for the most part nobody ever plays more than 20 or so minutes at a stretch. In Europe they do it by playing more games--a few kids might have to sit out tonight but they'll get the whole 90 (or 80 or whatever--the games are shorter for the kids of course) on Saturday.
Seems like nothing.
But I think it has a big impact on the style that's played. In America you can run and press and chase until your legs fall off, and then a sub goes in and does the same. In Europe you have to learn at an early age to ration your energy--you can't run your legs off in the first ten minutes because you've still got an hour to go. And I think there's more skill in the game when everyone isn't able to give maximum work-rate at every moment.
October 11th, 2017 at 9:22 AM ^
Well, at least they don't have to go to Russia.
October 11th, 2017 at 9:42 AM ^
Relax, we'll get an invite to the NIT where we can make some real noise! And that momentum will help carry us to more success in the next world cup.
October 11th, 2017 at 10:39 AM ^
Yeah! I'd rather go the NIT with a chance to win than get killed in the big dance anyway.
I think we should call up the Netherlands, Chile, and Ghana and have us a big ol' We Suck tournament. Maybe Italy will screw up in the second round and we can invite them and potentially Australia too and have a We Suck Hexagonal.