Photo by Omar Martinez/ISIphotos.com
For Thomas Rongen, the failure to guide the United States Under-20 national team to World Cup qualification has cost him his job as head coach.
Rongen has been relieved of his head coaching duties for the U-20s, sources told SBI on Thursday. The U.S. Soccer Federation confirmed that while he is no longer coach of the team, Rongen is still under contract with U.S. Soccer and could still work with the federation in another capacity.
Rongen, who has drawn praise for his ability to locate and attract multi-national players with American eligibility, is ultimately the fall guy for the U-20s' inability to get through CONCACAF qualifying. The team lost to qualifying host Guatemala, 2-1, in last month's do-or-die regional quarterfinal with a group deemed by many to be the deepest, most talented U-20 team the country has ever had. The United States had qualified for the last seven U-20 World Cups and last missed out on the international event in 1995.
Rongen had been at the helm of the U-20s since 2001. Tab Ramos will guide the team on its upcoming trip to France, but he has not been named an interim coach. The USSF will conduct a search for Rongen's replacement.
What do you think about this development? Who do you think should be the next U.S. U-20 coach?
Share your thoughts below.
Maybe that is his value. He can identify talent. He is having a hard time coaching it.
It’s about time.
Exactly, there is a place in the Federation for him as a talent scout. But it is time for some new blood in the coaching ranks.
Klinsmann I think would be loath to leave his consulting firm behind, especially after rubes like TFC tell them to overall their entire organization just for more defeats. 🙂
http://www.potomacsoccerwire.com/news/458/16189
Little does everyone who questions Rongen’s recruitment strategy know that he recruited or identified many SBI favorites like Diskeruud, Dempsey, Davies, Sean Johnson that weren’t big names until he sought them out.
Another thing: Rongen was the guy who really started the push to get MFL young players/reservists to see the US as real option rather than just FMF. That is a sustainable source of talent now (the MFL reserves players with US heritage), and Rongen started it.
Porter does more for the US/MLS pipeline as Akron’s coach than coach of the U-20’s. Porter can really mold and improve player technique as college coach, whereas the U-20’s coach only really gets limited time with his players. It’s better for everyone if Porter stays at Akron.
Dude stuff it already. We get it, you don’t like Rongen.
I wouldn’t mind another dutch coach to take over. Maybe Jurgen Klinsmann could take the job, if he’s not still under contract for TFC.
I also wouldn’t mind seeing an Italian coach brought in. Whatever exposes the kids to as many different ideas as possible.
He just signed an extension at Akron through 2020. That being said, if I wasn’t an Akron student/fan I would love to see Porter coaching the U20s. I think he could do some amazing things for the USA youth. The style and precision he brings to the game is incredible.
Like Conor Doyle, who almost played for Ireland. Or Lletget with Italy. Or Gyau. Or Hernandez.
The qualifying roster was that, qualifying. I am sure you’d have seen different player had they MADE it to the World Cup.
I am just saying a lot of these players almost left the program, if not for Rongen and his style, as they have stated.
Actually I knew most of players and one of his biggest hauls was Zahavi who in the end is not playing for us. Gyau and Lletget contrary to public belief were never going elsewhere. Subotic was never going to play for us either.
Again I believe Rongen was great with the players and worked hard at scouting players, (which by the way) is / was his job.
I would be shocked if his replacement didn’t travel around the world and scout players and offer them the chance to play for the US.
Reyna or Ramos. Give one of them a shot.
for some reason like…he is not a good coach?
yeah, better to disss the mercenary than get the services of the star who knows he is a star.
This isn’t little league, we are talking (junior) national team; they don’t need to be the nicest guys off the field just the best guys on the field.
+1
Yeah it was so hard to tell if Subotic was any good…that he was starting in Bundesliga months after being dissed by Rongen.
Sorry, if you can’t tell young superstar from young crapshoot player, you should not be selecting U20 players.
To be fair to Rongen, in general he has been good scout of dual national talent, but clearly should not have been making final call on team selection; nor on tactics.
But aside from that, best of luck to Rongen and hopefully he will not mind a stint strictly as dual national talent scout, where i agree he has done reasonable well.
Let’s keep this in mind:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_FIFA_U-20_World_Cup_squads#.C2.A0United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_CONCACAF_U-20_Championship_squads#United_States
It was after 2009 that Rongen made the push for overseas recruitment. Look at the results.
Who knows what players Rongen was planning to have commit to the US. That’s the real loss. Of course, I was disappointed by his game-day “coaching” and I feel we need an actual coach to replace him. But his talent recruitment strategy cannot be cast off.
Hurzeler – out for exams (if you know anything about Euro education, you know that this is important if, knock on wood, something happens to his player career – he abosulutely could have played for this team), Cropper – only 17 and playing for Ipswich reserves, Salgado – played for this years U20 despite being 17, Ruelas – absolutely shredding at reserve level in Mexico and almost signed for Celtic (now rumored to be considering switching back to Mexico), Lletget – were you watching this year’s U20s? he was one of if not the best players on the field.
#fail
I believe that Claudio Reyna is the technical director.
Won’t happen. He makes 3 times as much as Akron’s coach and actually has a chance to coach…the U20 job gets about 30 days of coaching in a year.
Errrrrrr….you just named a bunch of players most of whom weren’t on the roster or didn’t get off the bench in qualifying. So yeah, I guess he’s a great recuriter of dual nationals that aren’t good enough to break his own starting XI.
Ramos is good.
Change is good
-1
I really don’t think you know the difference between the 09 and the 11 squads. It was between these years that Rongen really shined as a recruiter
09 was a bunch of college and MLS kids. 11 had guys like Hurzeler, Salgado, Ruelas, Cropper, Gyau (almost left the system), Lletget (almost didn’t join the system thanks to fights with USSF over not joining Bradenton at u17 level), Zahavi who all were dual-nationals and had to be convinced, and many openly state that they were lobbied by Rongen. They said Rongen himself, his playing style, and what he said about the US program made them commit.
I doubt you heard of many of the people, period, that Rongen pulled out of Europe before there were rumors of them joining the player pool.
Best news of the year. Rongen has been awful for years BOTH in results and player development.
Second the Caleb Porter recommendation.
If we all recall, Cabrera kept Agudelo on the bench, while playing other players who haven’t gone to the next level yet…his scouting ability sucks and he tends to create his whole offense around Guido….and Guido is not that good
+1
Hopefully there’s a technical director type role available for him. Subotic issue aside, he seems to have come great contacts in Europe that have helped the US find some dual nationals to play for us. Would be great to see him in a recruiting and scouting role.
lol Subotic was a mercenary. The guy never intended to play for the US in the first place.
I think in actual player development, USSF should not and does not put a priority on winning with its development academy system. However, this is the national team. Development does not happen at the national team level. The team isn’t around each other enough to make the U20s a viable “development” squad. Development happens with their clubs. The goal of the U20 national team is to qualify for the U20 World Cup and get these kids the kind of quality international competition they need to a) get to an even better club/development situation (look at where Rowe or Ibeagha could have gone if they made it to the WC) b) prepare players for senior national team. In those aspects, Rongen failed. He got the multi-national to sign on, but is that going to be harder to do if he cannot GUARANTEE a World Cup? UEFA U20 WC qualification is ridiculous difficult (look at who was left out this year), so the US’ big draw, I’ll bet, is that they WERE always going to be a WC competitor at U20 level. Now… not so much. And that’s Rongen’s fault.
Keep Rongen as talent scout or TD. Get a better game-day coach. We need a Lyon-style system where the talent ID level is maintained and maybe even the playing style, which players seem to be drawn to, but the actual coaching when it comes to the tournaments is a revolving door.
Not now, and certainly not to manage the U20s.
Just throwing this out there but why do we asume that he was a great recruiter? The overwhelming majority of these players were well knwon to begin with. Granted the players liked him and spoke favorably regarding his playing style, but in the end players who decide to play for our U-20’s are doing so for a chance to play for the USMNT. I personally like TR but believe 10 years is enough.
+1
This was a good move. Rongen is a good recruiter and would be better served as a scout or as a technical director. As a motivator of talent and an actual in-game coach – I always thought he was poor.
I still blame him for the Subotic debacle, and he should have done more with the ’07 and ’11 U-20s.
But he should remain with US Soccer for his eye in finding and recruiting good multi-nationals with American eligibility.
sigh….
So it appears that USSF puts a premium on winning.
Well said, the guy has done well with identifying talent players and I feel certain that he will soon have another position, perhaps with an MLS club, in which he will continue to grow US soccer. At the same time, 10 years is a good run and giving another guy a shot isn’t a bad move.
His recruiting has been fantastic, and he has been a coach loyal to the cause, but it was time to move on. A US U-20 team full of professionals playing in Euope, Mexico, and the MLS shouldn’t lose to the Guatemala U-20s.
Could Caleb Porter be lured away from Akron?
It’s a complete crapshoot going for U20 talent. We missed Subotic, but we’ve also gained a lot of young players with dual nationality lately. We probably won’t know for five years if any of them pan out, but it’s near impossible to tell what athletes will be superstars versus which ones just developed fast and will max out at 20.
He may have botched that situation, but he did reel in some other great young players during his tenure.
So you’d prefer Wilmer Cabrera continue at the U-17 level where he undoubtedly has more of an impact on their development? Personally, I agree as I think Wilmer is doing a great job and I think he should stay with the U17s.
Keep Wilmer Cabrera and Bob “Bradley Junior” (Mike Sorber) away from our U-20’s.
I love Rongen. I love his ability to find talent and put them in a position to build their career. However, for whatever reason, he could never seem to get his teams, at any level he coached, over the hump. They all become stagnant. They become too complacent. Rongen should applauded for his contribution to the U-20’s and USSF in general. He’s been a loyal servant and has really done a good job. But like anything the course has been run and it’s time for a change. Rongen will land on his feet. He’ll pop up with a job shortly. I wouldn’t be a surprised to see a MLS club, wanting to really kick their youth academy into high gear, giving him a buzz.
Ahh, nothing like some irrationality to start my day off right!
It’s the right decision. The entire US Nat coaching staff needs a shakeup from the very bottom on up to the top.
He’s been in charged for 10 years, it’s time for a coaching change.
But, maybe a technical director position will suit him better.
Agreed. I do think he has skills that could benefit the organization outside of coaching the u-20’s, but it’s time to move on.
Let the wild speculation begin on his replacement.
I don’t think I’ll ever forgive him for Neven Subotic.
It was time for this to happen, he had been around for 10 years which is to long. Not really sure who should take over though