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Report: USMNT lining up Rep. of Ireland friendly

Omar Gonzalez

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By DAN KARELL

In keeping with head coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s tradition of scheduling matches against European opposition, the U.S. Men’s National Team could be heading for the Emerald Isle.

According to a report in the Irish Independent, the USMNT have scheduled a friendly match with the Republic of Ireland for Nov. 18. If true, it would mark the second international friendly scheduled this fall, following the USA’s Sep. 3 match-up at the Czech Republic. The report doesn’t state where the game will be played but if played in Ireland, it would likely take place in Dublin’s 51,700 capacity Aviva Stadium.

This match would represent the ninth time that these two nations have met, the most recent occasion coming on April 17, 2002, when the Republic of Ireland won, 2-1, in Dublin.

The FIFA calendar has six open dates for international matches this fall. From Sep. 1-9, Oct. 6-14, and Nov. 10-18.

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What do you think of this report? Do you think this would be a good test for the USMNT? Interested in a match-up between Robbie Keane and Omar Gonzalez?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

    • Charlotte has quietly hosted matches at Panthers Stadium over the last few years… had Mexico/Iceland friendly, Gold Cup Group Stage Matches and next month is Liverpool vs AC Milan… and UNC Charlotte made a Cinderella Run to College Cup Final too…

      a lot more is happening with futbol down this way…

      Reply
  1. Ireland. Klinnsman wants to show the younger players how to cross the ball and play like an english team similar to the UK and MLS. Perhaps nothing will change with the youth? I sure would like to see the USMNT prove me wrong.

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  2. the more friendlies the better; really good for young players like julian green and deandre yedlin to gain experience

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  3. Why no friendly with Ghana or Ivory Coast or Japan or South Korea? Could be hosted in London or Paris. We are too euro-centric. Need our boys to play new candidates for whatever reasons. Awat feom Home

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    • Asian teams are too difficult legalistically to make it work for both sides, and African teams simply don’t have the organization or money in their federations to arrange a lot of international friendlies far from home.

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      • Furthermore, African (CAF) and Asian (AFC) teams have a lower coefficient than CONMEBOL or UEFA. So while there may be some decent talent in those areas, the reward of beating one of these teams is not as great.

        S American or European teams only. Mexico or Costa Rica if we’re desperate.

    • Ghana? You mean the team that had to charter a plane to fly cash money to the players? You think that organization will agree to a friendly in Europe against non-European competition?

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      • In an ideal world, we could play African and Asian teams at neutral sites in Europe.

        In the actual world, everyone has to get paid, and the gate for USA-(JPN/ROK/AUS/NGA/GHA/Whoever) at a neutral European site would be insufficient to do so.

    • how do you know they didn’t try? think about the logistics involved for two non-European teams to set up a friendly in Europe. it’s not as simple as a lot of people make it seem. not saying it is impossible, Brazil does it regularly, but i still doubt it’s easy.

      no matter how you want to slice it, playing a game in Dublin (assuming there is a sold out crowd) is a great atmosphere to play in.

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  4. Why no friendly with Poland? I wanna see Gonzalez n Besler contain Lewandowski or Ibrahimovic with Sweden.

    Ireland is a nobody

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  5. I see no reason NOT to go to Europe every chance we get. Because the countries are so packed together we can maybe squeeze extra games in there during the windows. Also, it is a good way for the USA to showcase our young talent to European clubs AND a good way to showcase team USA to “Undecided Americans” With our advancement out of the Group of Death and some spectacularly epic fails fromf European “power” nations I think the Euros might take a second look at the USA and our players.

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    • So the only truly epic European failure was Italy and they had some pretty poor luck against Uruguay (refereeing) and very difficult conditions for a European team to deal with. There is an argument that Russia also severely underachieved but it’s more likely Russia just wasn’t that good and only qualified though cappello’s management of mediocre talent.

      England you could see coming as they consistently over rate themselves and all their players can’t handle the heat.

      Portugal had a very difficult group, tough travel conditions, and their best player who they overly depend on was at like 75%. not really an epic failure IMO.

      Croatia and Bosnia are relatively inexperienced internationally and did not respond well to the well known phenomenon of terrible refereeing in the group stages

      Reply
  6. Play best teams to get better.
    Should play Poland, Colombia Urguay, Swiss, Japan, Ivory Coast, Croacia, Nepal and India

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      • Nepal lost to Jordan 10-1 on aggregate in the second round of AFC qualification. India lost 5-2 to UAE in the same phase.

        Basically, they’re Barbados or Guatemala, at best.

  7. from now until Russia…the USMNT….will feature experimental lineups….with new kids….so plan on
    Johansson, Green, Johnson, Chandler, Williams, Ream, etc…

    this fall Yedlin and Besler will be in Europe…

    So you can cry now….and not in 2018….Dempsey is done….if Bradley continues his decline….he is done….the only reason they get anytime between now and then is geographic convenience…

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      • Bradley is not on a decline, tga is simply overreacting to a mediocre performance from a player being forced to play out of position. Bradley will get to play his natural position going forward as klinsmann will experiment with younger attacking players and the loss of Jones and Beckerman will not give him the ability to move bradley out of position.

        All the experimenting is good but the US will field our A team for the Gold cup in 2015 and if it gets fifa recognition copa america in 2016. I think Klinsman’s primary job in the next year will be to see which young players are worth of being in the pool for the A team (the Olympics will be for this purpose as well). Davis and Wondo are done fore sure, we will see if Jones, Beckerman, Beasley and Dempsey stay in the mix for those 2 tournaments (highly doubtful any will be there in 2018). Zusi and badoya and Cemeron will be fighting for their national team lives and if they survive it will probably be in more limited roles. The locks going forward right now are Bradley, Johnson, Green, Yedlin, Altidore, Guzan, howard if he want to keep playing internationaly, Brooks, Bessler, and Gonzo.

      • Mr 362,

        “The locks going forward right now are Bradley, Johnson, Green, Yedlin, Altidore, Guzan, howard if he want to keep playing internationaly, Brooks, Bessler, and Gonzo.”

        Lock is a very strong word. A little too strong for the guys on your list. Two to three years is an eternity in sports.

        The closest thing to a lock on your list is Guzan.

      • bradley hasn’t exactly excelled since moving to Toronto. I think its safe to say he has declined since moving from Champions League team AS Roma. And since he will stay in MLS till the next world cup, its hard to argue that he will advance any more.

        So from where Bradley was at his best to where he is now is defnitly a decline (maybe not a huge one, but its there). And its tough to see MLS helping him get over this decline. And while he declines or stagnates in MLS, people like Lynden Gooch, Harry Shipp, Will Trapp, Maurice Edu, Stuart Holden (may we pray), or Shawn Kauter, to name a few, could have the oppurtuity to move to a better league and play CM for there teams in a better league and advance.

        Not saying this will happen, for I would argue its very unlikely that Bradley is not at 2018 (excusing injury), but it is entirely possible that someone moves ahead of him (or a few).

      • Dude, Holden and Edu are both 1.5-2 yrs older than MB. And Edu also came back to MLS. And Holden is likely out of the NT picture–realistically–for good.

        The other guys may pan out. Maybe. They usually don’t though, for all values of “they.”

      • Bradley in decline…what a stinking pile of doo doo

        what we should be doing is thanking him for falling on his sword for his coach who set him up to fail by not preparing him nor the team for the role he shoved him into just a couple months before the World Cup began because Jurgen failed so hard in developing any other naturally able players for that role, or refused to call in those players…so MB was sacrificed into the role

        and you conclude it’s Michael?

        this kind of understanding is why I believe that Jurgen believes we’re stupid and naïve as a soccer nation, and he’s right!!! he can make big mistake like he did with MB’s deployment and folks will say MB is in decline

      • +1 to this… been saying it since Dempsey was given the arm band… its Bradley’s team to lead to Russia…and I could see MB being USMNT Head Coach one day too…

  8. This is a very interesting time for the USMNT. I think that the US is established as a top 16 team, at least as the WC is currently configured, and we should expect the USMNT to qualify from the group on a regular basis from the WC. We should also routinely be in the final for the Gold Cup, and should not accept anything less than being one of the top 2 teams in CONCACAF.

    The next step is how do we get to be a team that routinely wins a knock-out stage game? My thought is that the USMNT schedules friendly games against UEFA nations that qualify for the WC and Euros or at least make the play-offs and CONMEBOL teams like Eduador, Chile and Colombia. Until we can routinely beat those types of teams, we can’t expect to advance in a knock-out stage.

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    • I think it is a bit inaccurate to say the US is a lock as a top 16 team and should advance each WC. The US in my opinion is a team that at any particular moment is some where in 10-20 rage. When the US plays like they did against mexico at home in qualifying, or Portugal, or Nigeria, is a team closer to that 10 spot. The team that plays like it did against Belgium, Ghana, Germany is closer to 20. In a world cup it is quite possible if you are not a seeded team to get placed into a group with 3 teams that are legitimate knockout stage teams (in Brazil the US was placed in a group with 4). The US has constantly had an every other tournament record of getting shafted by the draw (with this year being the first time bad draw didn’t kill us). Mexico by contrast has had incredible luck in their draws and circumstance to continue to get out of the group stage.

      In 2010, Mexico had South Africa (weakest seeded team probably in history), France (whose players went on strike against their coach, and Uruguay (decent team).

      2006, Mexico had Iran, Angola, and Portugal again only “good” team.

      2002, Mexico had Italy, Croatia, and Ecudor, One good euro team and two bottom qualifiers from their confederation.

      1998 Mexico had Netherlands, Belgium, and South Korea, Again a good Euro a mediocre euro and a bad 3rd team.

      You put mexico in our Group in 2006 or 2014, and they don’t advance.

      My Hope is that the US has demonstrated enough quality that we start getting the “mexico” luck as european teams will want to avoid the US as we are now a legitimately a dangerous team. There is no way I can see the US or Mexico ever earning a seed as 1) Concacaf is too disrespected and too difficult to ace during qualifying (road games in concacaf are some of the hardest places to play travel and condition wise in the world) and 2) Fifa will constantly change the rules of seeding to give that seed to an extra euro team.

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      • I didn’t say the USMNT was a lock. I said that they have established themselves as a top 16 and we (as fans) should expect them to qualify out of group. I didn’t say it would be easy. And isn’t top 16 just about right in the middle of your 10-20 range?

        I am not saying we are top 8, but that should be our next goal. In any WC you always have Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Italy; and then some combination of Spain, Netherlands, a Portugal or Belgium, and a Uruguay or Colombia etc. We won’t be top 4 in my lifetime, but I am hopeful we could be in that second tier when we have a good squad.

      • I also never said anything about being seeded in the World Cup. I think it would be hard to see another draw being as tough as our draw in 2014. However, with parity in the world as long as CONCACAF is in the same lot as Asia, there won’t be any easy draws for the USMNT in the foreseeable future.

        Even though we are pointing out some differences, I really don’t think our opinions are that far from each other.

      • Portugal a lousy team, we lucked out there getting to play that soft-hearted team imo and should have beat them.

      • If Spain can fail to make it to knockouts, anyone can mess up, but I think this World Cup suggests we can start thinking regular advancement, and get upset if it doesn’t happen. If we had an easier draw this team would have kicked tail, and we got solid results against a Group of Death and Belgium.

        It’s a constant work in progress and one cannot get arrogant. But I think we’re top 16 and it’s a matter of elevating the squad quality, improving the defense, and then playing more of an attacking soccer, to move up within that set of teams. I think if we had a better defense the coach would not feel so concerned about covering for it by bunkering back, and we could then use our attacking talent instead of burning 3 players on defensive midfield.

      • +1 It would be foolish to think we can tread water where we are right now, and I’m happy that US Soccer has realized ahead of the curve that we need to invest in player development and integration big time in order to make the next “leap”. We are a Round of 16 team right now. It’s a fair result. Sure a few things could’ve been tweaked – Tactics/formation (maybe), Wondolowski not cr*pping the bed (certainly), even a friendlier draw—and maybe we’d have slipped through to the QFs. But we were punching above our weight. Fair result.

        Tournament after tournament, the true demarcation is the quarterfinals. The Round of 16 sees plenty of new /unexpected teams in each cycle – imbalances in the draw, unexpected performances, and various quirks of a short tournament ensure a degree of unpredictability here. Quarterfinals and beyond is primarily territory for the usual suspects — teams like Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Holland, France, Spain, etc… . plus the occasional Costa Rica, Senegal, or Cameroon. Even when a team like Italy or Spain underperforms in a cycle, the talent pool is almost certain to refresh in time for the next. It’s a tough club to break into, and always somebody else hoping to grab one of those chairs. England may be facing a longer term talent deficiency– but Belgium looks to be loaded for the next decade. Musical chairs.

        For a team like ours, with an average individual market value of less than $4 million to target a permanent seat at that table is probably not reasonable just yet. It is a quantum difference… probably just as challenging and resource-intensive as the previous goal of consistent tournament qualification was in the bad old days. Gonna take time for the changes that are being implemented to yield meaningful results at the absolutely top level. It will probably take a couple more “I Believe!” World Cups before this is really observable (at which point we can come up with an “I Expect!” chant that makes the world hate us even more).

  9. I’m still a little disappointed we aren’t playing more South American sides. I’m guessing the biggest hurdle would be travel to South America but isn’t Jurgen all about putting the team outside of their comfort zone in order to challenge them and keep them on their toes.

    I mean how many times are we going to play the Scotlands and Irelands of the world? I guess we’ll be playing Wales soon.

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    • I too would like to see USMNT play in SA. SA has great quality sides with some of the most intimadating Atmospheres in the world. Win there win any where.

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      • I would argue he already has, at least in actual real world results and accomplishments. But I get your point, I still have high expectations for Agudelo.

      • Freddy is JKs biggest mistake. He should be working to try and fix him, not shunning him. The kid has talent but is a project. Juan also has talent and is certainly better than Green or Wondo and most likely, Bacon. The question is…will JK call him at all or like Freddy, is he banished

      • That C-minus squad sent 5 players to the 2010 World Cup. It would have been 6 had Davies been available. Beckerman and Guzan went to the 2014 World Cup.

        Also we got to see Bornstein shut Messi down 1v1.

    • I’m sure players in the middle of their club seasons in Europe wouldn’t mind the 15 hour flight to go from Germany to Chile for a mid-week friendly.

      This is why we play the Irelands and Scotlands. Reasonable competition in Europe, you can’t expect them to play Germany and Spain every window.

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    • I get a sense that Klinsmann legitimately feels like we have a psychological block against the more traditionally powerful soccer nations and European teams in general. I think he is likes to schedule European teams that we should be able to beat because I think he is trying hard to build confidence that the US can play with them and don’t have to turtle up all the time.

      The biggest thing I would like to see the US work on is patients in possession. Against Belgium there were at least 6 times where Belgium let us pass around the back (with minimal or no press) and just waited for the US to either pass a longer ball to a midfielder in the middle of 4 belgians with only 1 outlet or for the pass to go to a wide midfielder who would then have limited space and options and could get trapped on the sideline and make a mistake. Also they baited Geoff cameron into longer balls to wide players and he missed like 6-7 of those passes. The Us has to learn if they are dropping of the back line keep it in the back line until your midfielders move to open postilions or your opponent comes out of their defensive shape to press the ball. There is no shame in holding the ball on your have for minutes at a time.

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      • ” waited for the US to either pass a longer ball to a midfielder in the middle of 4 belgians with only 1 outlet or for the pass to go to a wide midfielder who would then have limited space and options and could get trapped on the sideline and make a mistake.”

        We do that a lot. A LOT. Mostly that’s because our midfielders and forwards are only making the run when they’re the next pass, not when they’re the one after that. Our soccer brains need strengthening.

      • +1 We are tactically inept at times. Technical ability is one thing, but tactical understanding is infinitely more important.

      • JK says… “we don’t need no stinkin tactics” All you need to do is “express yourself”

        How can we have tactics when the tactics guy is coaching the German team. We got the Rah-rah guy

      • Kinsman is too afraid to schedule France in Paris, Italy in Genoa, Russia in Krasnodar, Belgium in Brussels, Bosnia in Sarajevo, Scotland in Glasgow or Austria in Vienna. He’s totally ducking them.

    • We’ll see all of those teams we can stand in 2016.

      And the issue if you play them here is how many Eurobased show up, and so what level opposition do you really get.

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      • Assuming they are all friendlies, you will get whatever you get.

        Friendlies are far from meaningless but the meaning is rarely what fans think it is.

        American fans are about the only ones who take the score in a friendliy that seriously.

    • We dont play in south america because those countries do not play many friendlies due to almost entire players based in europe. Brazil rarely plays at home. Easier for coaches and staff to cross the pond then the gus that will be running

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  10. Need to play against nations the usa dislikes. Not ones we like. There shouldn’t be any dissonience for all the new fans.

    Play Russia or Iran please

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    • Who told you we like the Republic of Ireland? I won’t mind playing any team on the British Isles. The fact that most of the foreign analyst that Espn hires are from there and they’re always talking down on our national team like they are any better will make the victory too sweet!

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      • Ireland got beat by France in the play-off to get to South Africa. Did Ireland make the play-offs for Brazil? If not, we should be elevating our competition. No more Scotland, Wales or Ireland until they qualify for something.

      • The only reason Ireland wasn’t at South Africa was because France cheated. Intentional hand ball by Henri to score the winning goal. This last round of WC play for Ireland wasn’t as great as it should have been, but they are still a strong team to test some of our younger guys against.

      • Really?

        Max Bretos ,Dan Thomas. Craig Burley, Shaka Hislop, Alejandro Moreno, Taylor Twellman, Steve Nicol, Paul Mariner, Raphael Honigstein, Gabriele Marcotti, Ian Darke, Kasey Keller, Tommy Smyth, Frank LeBoeuf, Alexi Lalas, Stewart Robson, Sid Lowe, and Santiago Solari, Gilberto Silva, Michael Ballack, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Stu Holden.,

        8 of the 22 are British. Out that bunch you have one Irishman, Tommy Smyth. The other British analysts are Scottish or English.

        Lump them all together at your peril. And what make you think the Brits are talking down to you? Nicol and Mariner are former MLS managers and of the remaining Brits the harshest thing you can say about them is that they are accurate and honest about the US.. You are seeing things that aren’t there, a typical US fan inferiority complex.

        I’m fairly certain if you ask all the Brits and Tommy what they think of the Republic team, they would tell you they are crap, but dangerous.

        And Tommy Smyth? He’s lived here for 51 years and worked for MLS or ESPN for nearly 18 years.

  11. Really a missed opportunity that USA is not playing any friendlies in USA soon after the World Cup.

    With more of our star players being based with North American clubs, need to play more friendlies in front of home fans.

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    • Playing in USA is a nice money maker for USSF, playing in Europe is a money loser. However, since Gulati worships Klinnsmann, we will play more in Europe. What Klinnsmann wants, Klinnsmann gets.

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      • We already know how to play at home. We still struggle playing away and dealing with that kind of competition. I have no problem with this. Ireland is a good team and playing in Europe makes it easier for the European guys to get playing time. MLS coaches won’t convince their kids to stay home, but European clubs have that power.

        Klinsi already said we’ll see a ton of youth. So I’m pumped!

      • They were the world’s #70 going into the WC, yes … but, this would be in Ireland, and likely in the capital thereof.

      • 1) Is Northern Ireland really competition for us?

        2) We’ll see on the youth. JK says a lot of things, some work out to be true. I support 100% using players that may be in the mix next cycle and will be watching closely to see if new, MLS based players, start to get looks.

        I’m still doubtful about JK and still believe he doesn’t believe in American players. We’ll see what he does next and who he calls in

      • Duke,

        I was not aware that Kyle Beckerman, Matt Besler and Omar Gonzales were not Americans.

        Most of you certainly never believed in Beckerman or Gonzo ( I did not) and most of you had never heard of Matt Besler before two years ago.

        Why don’t you give this “don’t believe in American players” BS a rest?

      • Since our entire squad will be playing in europe for next cycle it makes sense. I predict we will see very few MLS guys on the upcoming rosters. Better make your moves now if Besler, Gonzalez, etc want to play

      • What makes you think our whole squad will be in Europe? MLS has made it clear that retaining American stars is a priority and I’d expect we’ll see plenty of MLS players in the USMNT this cycle.

      • Yeah…increasingly it looks like there’s not one but two distinct USA squads, that tend to get merged only when there’s big competitions – our North American-based guys in MLS and Liga MX, and the Euro-based guys.

        I expect to see even more of that this cycle…be interesting to see which branch of the tree ends up producing more fruit, over the long term.

    • Someone else would have to run the math and tell me who it favors, but which continent has more of the “youth movement” candidates JK wants to look at? How many Gils versus how many Greens? If there are more Greens then this makes sense independent of any other consideration.

      FWIW, it may be easier at this stage in the cycle to take the team to the circus than to try and get teams from other continents to fly to us mid-Euro season. African teams often play ifriendlies n Europe for the same reason. Conversely we tend to get teams visiting in summer for vacation and warm weather.

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      • I concur that season cycle and travel are likely to be significant considerations in selecting opponents and venues.. I might also think Klinsmann will have an eye on maximizing the number of days he can have the group together training in one place (such as the Dec sessions in Scotland), even if a few invitees are late arrivals. If JK is going to be evaluating new / young talent, he’s probably just as interested in maximizing the quantity and quality of time spent training as in the match result.

        Ireland is a good opponent in this way… Well situated with plenty of modern training facilities that should suit our needs. Plus Ireland’s team is in a rebuild (that may last a LONG time) so we probably won’t get thrashed if we throw some untested players.

        In truth, it wouldn’t surprise me if the game isn’t much of a spectacle. The needle rush of the World Cup is about to give way to one of the least glamourous portions of the cycle. For the next 6+ months, we will probably be on a methadone diet of hard-to-watch contests with little continuity and plenty of ambuiguity. But it beats coming down alone.

      • There is more of the youth movement in MLS clearly and especially if you are talking about the number who are getting significant playing time. Oh but wait. I forgot. Klinsmann only cares about playing time for the players that were born in and mostly grew up in the US.

      • Xenophobia again? Lordy.

        Klinsmann cares about one thing, and one thing alone – winning.

        Yeah, he’s obviously biased a bit towards the Bundesliga. So what? At this juncture, the Germans are the dominant world power…if we’re going to emulate anybody, probably just as well we’ve had a three-year start on the rest of the world doing our very bestus to be more…German.

        Who we set up to be more like? Spain? Do we have a fleet of laser-accurate 5’7″ guys who can thread a ball through a needle at 50 paces? No?

        How about Brazil? We really cut out to play flamboyant jogo bonito, bounce the ball around like the Harlem Globetrotters toying with the Washington Generals, and when that doesn’t work, dive, cry, play-act, hack, foul, lean on refs, and generally abase ourselves in front of the world until a cold-eyed German team puts us down 7-1? That doesn’t sound great either.

        How ’bout England, or Italy? They’re doing swimmingly, after all. Dominant world powers. Serie A and the EPL are SO prestigious…oh, wait. Doesn’t seem to be translating anymore. Italy’s slow-mo super-tactical approach has washed them out in the group stage the last World Cup, and England has finished second-fiddle to their redneck relations here in the colonies the last two as well.

        Me, I think we’re doing all right, for what we got. More than all right, actually.

      • He’s also played for AS Monaco and Tottenham so he spent a good deal of time outside of Germany. He’s lived in California for 15 years. IMO, after seeing how training and player development is in other countries, he feels Germany is superior. Those youth academies that the Bundeslega funded after the Euro 2000 flame out are a big reason why Germany is in the final tomorrow. Let’s see you do a better job than Klinsmann.

      • Zip,

        Like Brad Davis and Wondo? Did you watch the 2014 World Cup? It seems to me the US were more heavily MLS dependent than they have ever been. The only big name transfer guy for the USMNT to come out of this WC was Yedlin, a Seattle area native, an MLS guy.

        And it was the players “that were born in and mostly grew up in the US” who let JK down.

    • The European nations start qualifying for Euro 2016 in September. They’re not coming to the US to play, and Klinsmann wants to play European teams.

      Reply

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