Everything Soccer

[autry_denson]

I think this was his last game. It is sad to me because he was definitely the best man for the job at the time but ever since he essentially ended Landon Donovan's career he has just made poor decision after poor decision. If America wants to be taken seriously as a soccer country, he needs to be fired. If they are okay with being the second best team in the region and just making the Round of 16 most World Cups with occasional misses, he will remain.

Dead serious, might be a good time to swoop up Mourinho. He has said he wants to coach in the US someday.

In truth the US has played well above their talent level in recent years. At this stage of soccer's development in the US, round of 16 in World Cup is beyond what anyone could rationally expect given our talent base. We just don't produce world class talents at any position other than GK. Our best hopes are guys like Zardes, Yedlin, Zelalem, Christian Pulisic in a few years - all of them are works in progress, and maybe 1 or 2 actually becomes a great player for the national team. But I don't see a world class talent anywhere in the pipeline.

My sense is that the continuity at leadership level has allowed US to fare better than the talent would predict. In soccer-crazed nations they don't put up with stretches of futility like the one we're now watching. Here, Klinsmann can get away with it while continuing to build the foundations of the US soccer program.

So here's the real issue. It is obvious that the national team is in a rut, and Klinsmann may have lost his players. At the same time, he has made tremendous progress as technical director, and has put himself in a position where the entire foundation of US soccer rests on him. If you fire him, you risk losing all of the progress that has been made at the lower levels (and I'm convinced this progress is real). If you keep him, you risk continuing for several years with a coach who may no longer be able to get the most out of his players. Thinking both short-term and long-term, what do you do?

 

[NDohio]

In truth the US has played well above their talent level in recent years. At this stage of soccer's development in the US, round of 16 in World Cup is beyond what anyone could rationally expect given our talent base. We just don't produce world class talents at any position other than GK. Our best hopes are guys like Zardes, Yedlin, Zelalem, Christian Pulisic in a few years - all of them are works in progress, and maybe 1 or 2 actually becomes a great player for the national team. But I don't see a world class talent anywhere in the pipeline.

My sense is that the continuity at leadership level has allowed US to fare better than the talent would predict. In soccer-crazed nations they don't put up with stretches of futility like the one we're now watching. Here, Klinsmann can get away with it while continuing to build the foundations of the US soccer program.

So here's the real issue. It is obvious that the national team is in a rut, and Klinsmann may have lost his players. At the same time, he has made tremendous progress as technical director, and has put himself in a position where the entire foundation of US soccer rests on him. If you fire him, you risk losing all of the progress that has been made at the lower levels (and I'm convinced this progress is real). If you keep him, you risk continuing for several years with a coach who may no longer be able to get the most out of his players. Thinking both short-term and long-term, what do you do?

I don't agree with this. IMO the reason we are making great strides in the technical aspect of the game is generational. I am 47 and my generation is really the first generation that had some quality teaching of the game. That teaching has been passed down to the next two groups of players to come through the national team. I truly believe that the progress being made is simply because we are growing up as a soccer nation. The soccer revolution is still fairly young and the youth coaching is just now getting to the point that all players have an opportunity to be taught the game by people that played at a decent level. I was fortunate as I had a German coach but many of the select teams I played against were still being coached by dad coaches who learned the game by watching videos and reading books. That is not the case anymore. The coaching structure in the lower levels is sooooo much better than it ever has been. With or without JK that is going to continue to improve.

We still have a lot of work to do to try and figure out how to get the best athletes to give soccer a fair chance. JK can't help there.

 

[Emcee77]

I think this was his last game. It is sad to me because he was definitely the best man for the job at the time but ever since he essentially ended Landon Donovan's career he has just made poor decision after poor decision. If America wants to be taken seriously as a soccer country, he needs to be fired. If they are okay with being the second best team in the region and just making the Round of 16 most World Cups with occasional misses, he will remain.

Dead serious, might be a good time to swoop up Mourinho. He has said he wants to coach in the US someday.

Mourinho, that's fascinating. Best coach in the world, in the short term. The thing about him is that I'd be worried about him taking us to an improbable semifinal WC berth, let's say, and then losing interest and pissing people off and leaving the U.S. Soccer program in a state of chaos. I think we all agree that U.S. Soccer generally, youth teams and broader player pool included, is in a better state than it was when Klinsmann arrived. It's like autry said, in choosing the next coach, we have to balance the long term against the short term.

Like some people have said previously, the ideal thing would be for us to reduce Klinsy to technical director and get a true tactician to come in as coach. Brendan Rodgers?? (kidding) (mostly)

It might be a moot point anyway. From what I've read, Gulati has no intention of ditching Klinsy before his contract is up in 2018.

 

[Old Man Mike]

I know what I'd do if I were him, or whoever's in charge: I'd explain to the US soccer public just what you {AutDen} said [if it's a fact] about organization, rebuilding at lower age levels, and be frank about the current situation and what's reasonable to expect. I've always been able to buy into a real Plan, when I've seen poor situations with teams that I like, and then tend to cut the planner some slack [Kelly was a similar situation for me.]

I then grit my teeth a lump it for the time, simply looking for the promised slow building evolution. But this US soccer authority seems to lack that frankness, and talks [alternatively] happy talk not fitting the reality or bad mouthing the current play. If the solution is the future of the plan, then get the focus off the inadequacies of the present and talk up what we're trying to do --- Klinsman could take lessons from Kelly.

 

[notredomer23]

A lot of this is growing pains of the US (as a nation) prioritizing soccer. They are taking the right approach in growing MLS. You can hate on it all you want, but it gets better and better every year and it will continue that way. MLS needs to be strong because look at the all the World Cup winners with the exception of Uruguay. They all have strong domestic leagues. Brazil and Argentina fall on the weaker side of the Top 10, but those are high quality leagues at the top where they are picking sometimes up to double digits in players from, but even so, look at their success in the past 3 world cups. The game has greatly changed in the past 10 years and it's not a coincidence that nations with top 5 leagues have won the World Cup. It is why I love what MLS is doing with the designated players because every year it boosts the level of play in the league and it trickles down to the lowest level of Americans. Right now, MLS is probably is around #10 in the world when it comes to quality of a league. When it can move up to Ligue 1 in France level, I assure you we will see a national team that is constantly making at least quarterfinals instead of round of 16s.

 

[autry_denson]

I don't agree with this. IMO the reason we are making great strides in the technical aspect of the game is generational. I am 47 and my generation is really the first generation that had some quality teaching of the game. That teaching has been passed down to the next two groups of players to come through the national team. I truly believe that the progress being made is simply because we are growing up as a soccer nation. The soccer revolution is still fairly young and the youth coaching is just now getting to the point that all players have an opportunity to be taught the game by people that played at a decent level. I was fortunate as I had a German coach but many of the select teams I played against were still being coached by dad coaches who learned the game by watching videos and reading books. That is not the case anymore. The coaching structure in the lower levels is sooooo much better than it ever has been. With or without JK that is going to continue to improve.

We still have a lot of work to do to try and figure out how to get the best athletes to give soccer a fair chance. JK can't help there.

could be true. it's really hard to know whether improvements at lower levels would come with or without Klinsmann - my speculation is that he has been driving a lot of the change by playing a much more active role focusing on the U17 team, the new U14 program, etc. That may simply be b/c he's both coach and technical director, allowing him to do so. Anyway, I'm giving him a lot of credit for this progress, but it's speculation and you could be right that it has nothing or little to do with him.

The improvement of MLS is also enormously important. Beyond the popularity of the game, the youth teams for all of the MLS teams have essentially taken over as the best club teams across the country. They now draw in the best players from their respective regions into their systems, creating a feeder system that has the potential to lead to a much more efficient mechanism of identifying and developing talent.

Regarding OMM's comment, I think it's exactly right. It's just really hard for anyone to say out loud that we're building for 2022, when in fact that's the closest time when we could actually expect any of this development to bear fruit realistically.

 

[ACamp1900]

I get the changing of culture, I've been around long enough with this team, my thing is he already had his growing pains. This team damn near didn't qualify for the final round of CONCACAF WC qualifying last time around... Remember that? It took a last second goal of Jozy's to get us through the third round, which would have been the greatest embarrassment in modern USMNT history. At the time I was super depressed about how bad they were playing but I kept telling myself, "It's just growing pains, they'll get better with time"... They're worse now. As far as the WC, Klin didn't take us anywhere Bruce and Bob didn't... in fact Bruce took us further than any modern team in the WC and Bob won his group... Then there was the WC itself, they made it out of the group of death yes, but the Donovan thing still really sticks. He basically ended the career of the greatest US mens player ever for a kid in Green who didn't play until the tourney was already over for us and now Green looks like he may never play a serious minute for the NT ever again. I know it's unfair, but my gut tells me if Donovan is on that field we score in regulation to beat Belgium... idk, I'm not one to just call for the coaches head (I've only done that with one other coach of one other team I've ever given my heart to), I usually stick to the guy until his time is up then I wish him well. But things have gotten so bad on the field... I also wonder about this Johnson thing... I can't be the only one who saw multiple guys basically quit in that game... It seems like Klin is using Fabian to try and jar the rest of the team, which tells me he has just about lost the lot of them.

 

[Cackalacky]

 

[NDohio]

could be true. it's really hard to know whether improvements at lower levels would come with or without Klinsmann - my speculation is that he has been driving a lot of the change by playing a much more active role focusing on the U17 team, the new U14 program, etc. That may simply be b/c he's both coach and technical director, allowing him to do so. Anyway, I'm giving him a lot of credit for this progress, but it's speculation and you could be right that it has nothing or little to do with him.

The improvement of MLS is also enormously important. Beyond the popularity of the game, the youth teams for all of the MLS teams have essentially taken over as the best club teams across the country. They now draw in the best players from their respective regions into their systems, creating a feeder system that has the potential to lead to a much more efficient mechanism of identifying and developing talent.

Regarding OMM's comment, I think it's exactly right. It's just really hard for anyone to say out loud that we're building for 2022, when in fact that's the closest time when we could actually expect any of this development to bear fruit realistically.

I completely agree with this. Before moving to SC my daughter played, and I coached, in the Cincinnati United Club and they are tied in with The Crew. The partnership was in it's infancy while we were there but you could see the potential in it. That program will be a huge benefit to the MLS down the road.

I also hate to be super negative towards JK it's just that from a national team standpoint I have not seen any improvement since he took over - in fact we haven't even been stagnant. This year has been horrible. We seem to be going backwards.

 

[ACamp1900]

I also hate to be super negative towards JK it's just that from a national team standpoint I have not seen any improvement since he took over - in fact we haven't even been stagnant. This year has been horrible. We seem to be going backwards.

Summed it up better than I could...

 

[Tejas]

Arsenal with a huge victory over Bayern Munich and Shakira

Nicely done

 

[Emcee77]

Wow. Well done Gunners.

I'm interested to see what Man City is going to do tomorrow. They have been just ok in Champs League but utterly dominant in Premier League action this year.

 

[Fbolt]

U17 WC going on with the US playing tonight.

 

[ACamp1900]

So for those who have been following it more closely, what are the USNT's chances in this one game playoff for the Olympics... we gonna get knocked out of a major tourney in a play in game again???

 

[CTIDANDREW]

So for those who have been following it more closely, what are the USNT's chances in this one game playoff for the Olympics... we gonna get knocked out of a major tourney in a play in game again???

It is really hard to say, because no one knows who will make up the squad for either side. Obviously, it is extremely important to U.S soccer to qualify for the Olympics. However, does this mean we will see players such as Yedlin, Brooks, Alvarado, Julian Green, Aguedlo, Perry Kitchen, Bobby Wood, and others used for these two games because of them being under the age of 23

In addition, Colombia has a number of full fledged internationals that play for the senior team under the age of 23 as well that they could call up for this game, which would obviously be important.

It will be a very intriguing selection process for both managers, do they pick the most talented players for the crucial games, or stick with players that have continuity with one another through the qualifying games.

 

[notredomer23]

So for those who have been following it more closely, what are the USNT's chances in this one game playoff for the Olympics... we gonna get knocked out of a major tourney in a play in game again???

It's a U23 tournament. Last time around Belarus qualified. Spain and Germany didn't. Olympic soccer is barely a major tournament for men.

 

[ACamp1900]

It's a U23 tournament. Last time around Belarus qualified. Spain and Germany didn't. Olympic soccer is barely a major tournament for men.

Yeah I get that but you know what I mean, they need to win that game

 

[ACamp1900]

That Roma/Bay Lev game tho...

 

[fightingirish26]

That Roma/Bay Lev game tho...

That pjanic free kick tho

 

[NorthDakota]

Nice to see my boys from Bavaria decided to let Arsenal win. It's not Champions League Last 16 without Arsenal.

 

[ACamp1900]

MLS decision day, but shocking to me that SKC has to sit and wait to find out their MLS Cup fate, that team should be so much better than that...

 

[notredomer23]

MLS decision day, but shocking to me that SKC has to sit and wait to find out their MLS Cup fate, that team should be so much better than that...

It shows how good MLS has gotten if you ask me. They are better than San Jose who might take their spot but the teams ahead of them are all really talented. Seattle, LA, Porland and Dallas are incredibly talented for MLS standards. Go back two years and any of these teams would probably win Supporter's Shield but not anymore.

 

[ACamp1900]

On a related note, the baby blue hoop unis with matching socks that SKC sports at times are simply one of the best unis on the planet, in any sport... in my opinion of course...

 

[NorthDakota]

On a related note, the baby blue hoop unis with matching socks that SKC sports at times are simply one of the best unis on the planet, in any sport... in my opinion of course...

Notre Dame home uniforms.
FC BAYERN red kit.
Quebec Nordiques.
Hartford Whalers.

Bottom of the list. Dbags from Madrid.

 

[ACamp1900]

Die rotten unis suck ass,... Seriously, they're just solid red...

For soccer I don't feel like a homer at all pointing to:

Celtics traditional hoops and USAs where's Waldo's from a few years back, those were awesome.

 

[ACamp1900]

Good MLS stuff right now... Looks like NYRB are about to win the Supporters Shield

 

[notredomer23]

Anyone get FIFA 16? Thoughts? I am gonna get it in the next few days probably.

 

[Tejas]

Just got back from the FC Dallas-San Jose, pretty exciting game, good crowd

One guy for San Jose was sent off, Garcia I think, Wondo was a big baby as usual, Dallas won 2-1

 

[notredomer23]

Just got back from the FC Dallas-San Jose, pretty exciting game, good crowd

One guy for San Jose was sent off, Garcia I think, Wondo was a big baby as usual, Dallas won 2-1

Sucks that Dallas doesn't win the Supporter's Shield on GD but they are gonna be tough in the MLS Cup

 

[Tejas]

Sucks that Dallas doesn't win the Supporter's Shield on GD but they are gonna be tough in the MLS Cup

Yeah, buddy, that would have been a great way to cap off the season

They have some nice talent and one of the smallest payrolls in the league, I think