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where it was when he inherited it?
We're certainly performing about historical norms in the WC, but the potential offered by our country's talent pool says we should be top 8 consistently.
Hard to say how much role he's played in getting some of the dual national talent into the fold, so I don't know if I should credit him for it or not. I think the pool is deeper in higher-end talent than it was when he came in.
About the only good thing I think I can say for him as far as our play was that, at least early on, he fixed the Bradley-era problem with leaking goals from the middle of the field by playing a dedicated d-mid, vs. Bradley's dual deep playmakers who tended to leave a big hole in front of the central defense. But the other side of that was, we became a much less dangerous side offensively, which was pretty clearly reflected in his teams' historic lows in shots and goals.
All things considered, I'd count his tenure as a wasted opportunity to have hired a halfway competent coach, largely thanks to Gulati have stars in his eyes over the opportunity to hire a sexy foreign coach.
They finished fourth in the two-team tournament known as the Gold Cup, got beat in the Concacaf Cup, lost as many matches as they won in the Copa, survived a scare against Caribbean minnows just to make the hex, and are without a point thus far in qualifying.
in a lot of areas, but some of the stuff in the article iudomer posted below is pretty ridiculous. I can't believe they put up with some of it for that long.
Klinsmann explained away the losses in public. In private, his excuses were even more bold; he told Gulati that he was convinced that the Gold Cup was fixed so Mexico would win, setting up the big-money playoff match against the U.S., a viewpoint that exasperated his boss.
What if England goes after Klinsmann instead of promoting the U21 coach?
And the Brits would hate him.
per Grant Wahl. Yaaaaay, retreads!!!
I'd hesitate to equate Arena with Ara, especially given that he's never managed at the highest level of club play, but it might be the best ND equivalent in terms of Arena basically having the best historical level of success with the U.S. team (and he's had a pretty good run in MLS too).
couldn't get over the hump at ND being brought back just because he was better than the last guy. What an uninspiring hire. We know, almost beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Arena can't take our program to the next level. Why not take a chance on someone else?
There's a pretty good argument that we outplayed Germany, certainly we played well enough to win the game.
He can get us qualified for '18, and I think the talent is there to make a run if we catch a favorable draw.
Sure, '06 was a disappointment, but I think it's pretty clear by now that most coaches will struggle to sustain success past a single World Cup. (Plus, the '06 team had injury issues and a pretty big talent hole in mid-20's aged players to deal with.)
If Klinsy made any good decisions, they centered on his belief that the MLS was not the place to grow world class players. The EPL, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, etc. are where you grown those players.
Fucking Arena will undo all of that. What a douche.
And I thunk there's a balance to strike between an MLS and Europe focus.
Klinsmann has been awful in more ways than one. I think Arena is an improvement and will instantly make this team at the very least watchable.
Then you pissed it away.
How utterly uninspiring.
At this point it seems that the priority is to qualify and field a strong team for 2018. It seems that there is ample evidence that Arena can do just that.
After 2018 we can look for a guy that can implement a long term vision.
IMO, only Pareja would seem to be a more promising hire. And I would think that he would want to come with sweeping changes in mind.
The new coach is walking into a divided locker room with some strong personalities. He's going to have to find a way to make it work with aging vets like Jones and Bradley, while embracing the futures of guys like Pulisic and hopefully Nagbe, while working with JK guys in Brooks, Wood and Green.
I don't know how a guy like Vermes can walk into a situation like this and expect to win and build the program. And unfortunately, the USMNT needs to win now to continue to grow as a program.
If Arena is on board with helping steer us into the 2018 WC and allow for a smooth transition to the next guy (who could be Vermes), then he is the perfect choice.
I think the change in voice will go a long way with people.
But Arena, it's just such a retread.
I just think it will be difficult for a guy with zero international coaching experience - especially when his resume consists of exactly one MLS program in a small market.
I don't see a problem with Michael Bradley buying in, but I question whether Brooks, Green, Jones, Johnson, etc. would respect him. IMO, it's just a risk that they don't need right now. I think Arena gives you a guy that let's us see the real status of the program now that we have an actual coach that isn't full of $hit most of the time.
All that being said, it's not like Johnson and Brooks didn't have their beefs with Klinsy. So maybe they are in the any change is better category.
I love the comments that follow from that tweet.
- "Good about time we start losing to Ghana again"
- "how amazingly uninspired"
- "Can they please make him temporary and do an actual search. No settling please!"
Posted in: Rock's House
Handle: DakotaDomer
Subject: At last our national nightmare is over
Body: Klinsmann fired
Is that insta-ban material?
I understand the criticism of Gulati, but he does seem pretty entrenched with the FIFA leadership right now. With all the jostling for a WC2026 bid going on right now, do you think cutting ties with Gulati would hurt our chances? Or, given the geographic restrictions (no Europe or Asia), is the U.S. a sure thing to get it even without Gulati?
I want to see the USMNT do great things, but I selfishly want another World Cup on home turf and be able to go to some games!
Run by guys who just want to protect their power and at the expense of anyone and everything else. Sunil is up for re-election in 2018. Had he waited to shitcan JK until after the March qualifiers, that decision would be fresh in people's minds when we got to the election. Instead, he sacks JK now, replaces him with a "safe" replacement that almost no one can say is a "bad" choice (although few would say it is a "good" or "great" choice) and all of the sadsacks on the board sit back and no one challenges the election. Brilliant move... for him. For US Soccer? Not so much.
The new coach now has a Camp Cupcake to work with the domestic player pool and a chance to right the ship before qualification goes from a tricky to a downright dangerous situation. Wait until March, and there are potentially two more losses on the books, and the new coach gets no time at all to work with the team.
in one of the next couple of tournaments ('26, '30 or '34). I don't think Gulati's absence would really jeopardize that. If it takes that long, you'll have something to bring your kids to (this is what I tell myself as opportunity after opportunity is squandered by ND Football Inc, so I figured it would apply a bit here).
He told his critics calling for his firing that they "don't understand soccer".
I swear this guy is Brian Kelly's long lost sibling.
hearing Bruce Arena is new manager.