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LIVE: Jurgen Klinsmann’s first press conference as USMNT coach

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  1. Nike = New School = No good!

    Adidas = Old School = Cool!

    Lest you forget youngsters if it weren’t for Adidas there would be not football!

    Oh yeah…. can we go back to black boots and no shin guards? And for all those who pull their socks up OVER their knees…. go get a garter belt cause you looks like a &*(^ Girl. I will pass on the Argentina/Brazil style shorts though.

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  2. Looking forward to seeing the changes and improvement he hopes to bring to youth and senior programs.

    ****Also a heads up****

    Don’t read anything into the Mexico friendly whether we win or lose. It’s only a friendly and it’s his first few days on the job.

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  3. Yes I realize how many kids play soccer, all of my kids play. My son plays at a US developmental academy and when those kids are waiting around for practice to begin, they are playing basketball with their soccer balls rather than pretending they are Lionel Messi. You have to have structured soccer to make them play otherwise they play something else, they play what the superstars they see on TV are playing. And at the academy where my son plays, they spend all of their time on first touch and skill, none on tactics. This is already being done with the kids that are serious about soccer. Klinsmann is saying nothing new. Of course I didnt here the conference I basing my comments on what others said he said

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  4. True. Thought structured around the clubs as opposed to being married into education as here. But I do think the ‘I wish the kids could just kick it, coaches are evil’ meme we hear from Paul Gardener and others is a red herring (Not that I dislike PG. He’s just being overly sentimental for his youth at this point, IMHO).

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  5. Agree, given that he probably won’t have a permanent staff in place until year’s end, I think it’s safe to say any realistic evaluation won’t begin until qualifying, at earliest.

    Which is as it should be.

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  6. I don’t think anyone is expecting to see big changes in the next few friendlies. The man will only be on the job for 10 days!

    He will use that time to pick his staff and probably test every player possible to see what works and where.

    I almost want us to lose so you can tell he is experimenting a lot.

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  7. Pardon? You realize at the youth level, soccer is more highly played than buckets or baseball (at least in the organized sense). Again, this sounds like a pre-programmed remark that didn’t take seriously what he ACTUALLY said.

    He specifically said what’s important is how MANY hrs a week a player gets to spend on the ball, not whether they’re structured or unstructured. And I would have to agree. I think the issue with most youth soccer isn’t that the players don’t have the POTENTIAL to have sufficient time on the ball. It’s that coaches spend more time on tactics than skills at the youth level.

    Which would be something that Reyna’s curriculum should address.

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  8. I like what he said about bringing in several guest coaches for the first few friendlies before he picks his assistants. I’ll be very interested to see who he calls up for that role.

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  9. Erm…you did hear him say several times he RESPECTS the role of education in this country, didn’t you? Sorry, but I think you heard what you wanted to hear. He said specifically he wanted to work WITHIN the college system (as well as youth academies) to increase the technical development of players.

    I actually found it a reasonable statement. Given I’m a native American and think the NCAA should be scrapped. He was much more moderate (and optimistic) about the role of college soccer than its history has shown to date.

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  10. yes but how does he plan to take the structure away? Parents need it when they both work. You will still have to make kids go out and play because if you dont they’ll play computer games. And when they go out and play, they wont play soccer. They’ll play basketball, baseball,etc. And how does he expect to get kids to play soccer at school? Gym teachers want a balanced curriculum not just soccer. He’s an idiot and has no business messing with the youth system when he’s the senior coach.

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  11. Well, he made drastic changes in the German system within 2 years actually. It’s a matter of making changes the Federation believes in. No matter how long he stays, the Federation still had to buy in on it to make it stick.

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  12. I felt like he demonstrated he will lead our program forward long term, but I’m not as confident we’ll see results on the field for sometime. Doesn’t strike me as a coach so much as a positive change for our youth and developmental setup. He doesn’t have coaches lined up yet, he hasn’t spoken to many of the players yet…

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  13. He’s raising his own kid in orange county, so I would say that he understands intimately how American kids are raised!!!! He also understands quite well that a structured American upbringing gets in the way of developing players….

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  14. I sink Americans do not like to react to what others are doing. Zey like to dictate vat vill happen. Zo — Ve must train ze young men..die kinder. Zey vill vork hard und ven zey are ready, zey vil be ready to control. Zen, ve villl be ze dictator, ya!

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  15. His opinion on this matter shows very clearly that he doesn’t understand how Americans grow up and what their youth is like. You cannot push European methods on a country that is hundreds of times larger than most European countries and FAR more populated. This hire is going to end very badly.

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  16. Jurgen hinted on a few problems that will stunt the development of soccer in the country. The youth set up and how it is geared toward the college game, and it’s hectic pace. And that for the youth to develop they need touches, by that he said that they should be touching a ball 20 hours a week. Only 4 of those hours are structured. The rest of the time the children should be playing unstructured in thier yard, school ground, park to develop thier ball skills. While I agree with him on both of these points I worry that there is too much structure on our youth from playdates to after school activies to camps. The kids need more unstructured time with a ball and an open field.

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  17. hhahaahha yeah because stripes all over the kits is what we need. Nike is 100 times better then Adidas and does so much for the team

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  18. Will have to watch later, at least from a buy-in perspective it’s always easier to jump on with somebody who has had success at what they are doing.

    My one question is if he intend to institute these drastic changes to the system how long does he plan on being around? For just one cycle or envisioning moving up the chain in the future?

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  19. As American as a company who makes nothing here and is a huge corporation can be. He is ze German so maybe he can snuggle up with Adidas. I just want a better GK jersey for Howard

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  20. why would we want to do that? Nike is VERY VERY good to the United States team, which is actually the reason Bob bradley wore sweats, to give Nike more pub. We’re a big part of their soccer campaigns here in the US and to be honest, they’re equipment and apparel are better too. Players wear whatever cleats they want so there’s no issue there to worry about.

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  21. Well, I really like the focus on the philosophy about how the younger kids should play the game. Of course, I want to win at the senior level, but it seems at the very least Jurgen is serious about reforming the structures and ideas surrounding youth soccer in this country, and I’ll be thrilled if he does that.

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  22. Klinsi-sceptic here.

    Klinsi has a future in politics for sure, he won me over with this presser. But I want to see how well he works on the training ground! I can’t help but feel that the players will be behind whatever he says.

    So far so good.

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  23. I like the fact that he seems to believe in a closer relationship between the junior and senior teams. He stated several times that Reyna will be a part of routine meetings and discussions.

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  24. Wait, Jurgen thinks there isn’t anything wrong with the team? Has he watched this team?

    Fire Jurgen Klinsmann!

    (Well, SOMEBODY has to be the first to say it. Why not me? 🙂 )

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  25. With this grainy video and sound not matching I feel like I’m watching some highlights of Freddie adu playing in Outer Mongolia

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