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Porter named U.S. Under-23 coach, Ramos to coach U-20s

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photo by Tony Quinn/ISIphotos.com

U.S. Soccer has named Caleb Porter and Tab Ramos as head coaches of its U-23 and U-20 men's national teams.

Porter will coach the U-23 team and lead it through qualifying for the the 2012 Olympic games in London. Porter is to remain as head coach of Akron University, and will coach both the Zips and U.S. U-23 team.

Ramos will be in charge of the U-20 team, which he coached on an interim basis earlier this year when the team had a training camp and two friendlies in France.

The first training camp for both teams will be held from Nov. 7-16 in Germany. Ramos will be in charge of the camp and will get assistance from U.S. Soccer Youth Technical Director Claudio Reyna. The full coaching staff and team schedule for Germany will be announced at a later date.

The 36-year-old Porter has coached some of the country's top young talents since joing Akron in 2006. He has a 90-13-10 record through five seasons, and the highest winning percentage amongst active coaches in NCAA Division 1.

Porter, who was named NSCAA National Coach of the Year, guided Akron to an NCAA National Championship in 2010. He has coached U.S. national team forward Teal Bunbury as well as D.C. United's Perry Kitchen and Seattle Sounders' Steve Zakuani.

Ramos, a fomer U.S. men's national team player who earned 81 caps, was a part of three World Cups and scored eight goals in his career at the international level. He has played in MLS, Mexico and Spain.

What do you think of this development? Think Porter and Ramos are good hires? How do you see the U.S. youth teams doing under them?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. What a stupid comment. By your logic, Caleb Porter would have been a better selection than JK. I like Porter and believe he has a bright future. But, has Porter ever coached in a WC or let alone played in one? Has Porter ever played for some of the top club teams in the world all the while being exposed to top coaching.

    Although, Porter may have more “day-to-Day and month-to-month coaching experience, I would argue that JK’s exposure and first-hand experience to coaching at the highest levels surely trumps your quantity arguement.

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  2. I know I just put some name out there, plus like I said on a previous comment is a long list of young players playing in different leagues in Europe. and when I said “Hmmm I wonder why they are training in Germany” it was just been Sarcastic, I know is close to France and Slovania. Plus like you said too, Facility, Climate, the connection and players will feel comfortable. That’s all. I’m glad he is taking the training Camp to Germany and glad that he pick a young coach for the kids U23.

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  3. Louis that why I wrote etc. imagine if I start putting every guy that plays in Europe that are under 23, and some playing in MLS or Mexico. I will it would be a long list. You know that MIXX in on my list. I just hope that we can find a coach that can bring the best of this youngster, very exciting and can wait for the Pre-Olympics qualifying. I just want them to start playing some friendly and find out who will be on the roster. By the way does anyone know why The USA is not playing the PAN AMERICAN in Mexico.? That would of been a nice place for the U22 to show their talent.

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  4. GW…thank God you are on this site. You know what you are talking about. Keep em coming GW.

    Another coach that beats those criteria by many years is Andre Villas-Boas, who at the tender age of 34 already is one of the top coaches in the world. At this point I am trusting that Klinsmann has the expertise to assemble a top-notch staff. If this is proved down the line not to be the case, I still believe we are moving in the right direction.

    Does anyone know where the camp is going to be in Germany? Amazing and exciting. This will be a major news event in Germany, Klinsmann bringing the USA teams to train in Germany, with the senior team hopping over first to Paris for a game and then back to Germany for a couple more days training before the trip to Slovenia. Wow.

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  5. I hear ya but Porter won’t just have Akron players, the U23 squad will be one of the deepest we ever had, now we will get to see what he can do with that talent.

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  6. You make a fair point.

    But Klinsmann obviously sees something in Porter and how better what to bring him along than with this posting?

    If he fails miserably then we know something and move on. But Porter seems to be something special and just may need a platform to show it.

    Jogi Loew,while obviously much more experienced than Porter when he first hooked up with JK, was hardly a big time big name. He had bounced around a lot and seemed like a hard luck case. Like Porter he needed a stable platform to show what he could do and JK gave that to him.

    And ultimately it comes down to, does anyone have a better idea for a candidate?

    JK needs to use that position to try out his next “brilliant tactician” assistant, not another great ex-player. Vasquez is there for many things but not tactical brilliance.

    And Kreis has a good thing going at RSL. He can take over the USMNT when they fire Porter for not winning the World Cup.

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  7. Exactly why Klinsmann picked Germany as the training camp: connections, facilities and location (it’s a 1.5 hr flight to Paris and Slovenia). Why on earth would someone question Germany as the training camp location?

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  8. Franz Beckenbauer had never coached before taking the Germany job in 1984.

    Two years later he took them to the World Cup Final where they lost to Argentina

    Six years later in 1990 he won the World Cup with JK as his striker

    Ten years later he took the Bundesliga Championship with Bayern

    Twelve years later he took the UEFA Cup with Bayren.

    That is four serious coaching accomplishments in twelve years beating your criteria by three years.

    And if you think just anyone could have taken those teams that far you don’t know muchh about them.

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  9. Don’t kid yourself into thinking JK did the heavy lifting there. Pretty much everyone knows it was JL that did the real work. And when JK was left with him at Bayern he was a miserable failure.

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  10. Funny, for some reason I thought maybe JK would have some connections in Germany so training there seemed to make a lot of sense to me. Beisdes it means most of the squad will feel at home.

    As for Geography, I doubt the USMNT is overly concerned about flying an extra hour or two.

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  11. No argument with Tabare but Holden doesn’t belong in any conversation with Reyna.

    His best games have been for Bolton, not the US. He still has to prove he can be a regular starter for the US.

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  12. Who was dumb enough to ask why training is in Germany. Look at the geography of Europe my friend and where France and Slovenia are in relation to Deutschland.

    Angel Fan – You forgot Morales at Hertha BSC, Renken at Hoffe, and Wooten at 1.FCK! Aside from that, it’s a core of a darn fine team.

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  13. I think he could do good and I think he is a great Coach in College level. International well we don’t know yet until he coach the U23 in the Olympics and some friendlies. I think Klismann will be Watching and making some suggestion also ala “De la Torres (Mexico Team)”. I think Klismann and Reyna have good confidence on him. Another thing is that they are going to train in Germany hmmmm I wonder why? it is cause there must be more players that will be in U23 and U20 that are in Europe leagues like Germany… I can see T.Chandler, J.Gatt, J.Gyau, Robles, J. Kiesewetter,Jann George, T. Boyd, Tyrone McCargo, D.Williams, Gale, Wood, Jeffrey Jared, Brooks. etc. plus young players that raising up in the MLS. I can see this a good thing.

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  14. Yeah, it takes 15-20 years to learn coaching. Just ask “The Special One”, who went from being an interperter for Bobby Robson to European champion in about 5 years.

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  15. nothing to apologize for…that’s the wrong term. The term is respect, as is one can respect the man for what he accomplished, or not have the spine to do it.

    but there’s nothing to apologize for

    as for these appointments, I’m hopeful, especially on Porter

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  16. Alex….thank God you are on this site. You know what you are talking about. I hope I am wrong but in time we will see that MV, TR and CR have zero/limited coaching resumes and being a great player does not always transfer into being a great coach. It takes at 15-20 years to learn coaching and you can’t read it in a book.
    Keep em coming Alex

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  17. National team coaches at any level do not have the players long enough to “develop” them in any real sense. Sure they can make suggestions to players that may be important, but they get to have the players for such short spans that actual development mostly happens elsewhere.
    NT coaches can, however, by their selections and by those rather infrequent interactions strongly influence how players (and the coaches who actually spend a lot more time with those players) view the game and what those players should be trying to improve on.

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  18. Porter’s selection gives you a window into the mind of Klinsi. If you are not a highly technical youth player ( think Barca) with vision than you are in trouble. Porter’s selection confirms that! Being big and fast just won’t cut it anymore. This is GREAT news!

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