Jurgen Klinsmann isn't one to mince words, so when he was asked about Tim Chandler's decision to turn down his latest U.S. national team call-up, Klinsmann didn't hold back.
In an exclusive interview with Fox Soccer on Monday, Klinsmann expressed his unhappiness with Chandler's decision and cited the player's immaturity as a likely factor in his unwillingness to commit to the national team.
“Down the road, when he gets little older and a bit more mature, there will be this decision to make on what you want to do with your life and with your career,” Klinsmann told Fox Soccer. “That moment gets closer and closer for him and we’ll see what direction he wants to go."
Klinsmann also discussed his decision to call in youngsters Terrence Boyd and Joe Corona, as well as the deep collection of forwards he has in camp. Give the story a read and let us know what you think.
Surprised to hear Klinsmann be so vocal about Chandler's decision not to come, or are you happy to hear the U.S. head coach telling it like it is?
Share your thoughts below.
I don’t think the Rossi comparison is fair. Rossi always wanted to play Italy since day 1 and didn’t even look into representing the US. He was always mature in making his preference clear. He achieved his goal and all the more praise to him (if he weren’t injured he’d be at the Euro). His injury is just a bad break but has nothing to do with his national allegiance.
Chandler on the other hand seems the prototype opportunistic mercenary so far, though he’s young and perhaps a bit immature as JK says.
In several interview videos Klinsmann discusses his vision of attacking as a team and defending as a team. Do Freddy’s defensive liabilities outweigh his attacking positives?
Thanks, Ives! The article does give us some better insight.
I think Chandler better look at someone like Rossi and make his mind up real quick. If Rossi chose to play for Team USA, he would have started last WC etc. Now, he continues to wait for an Italy call-up and, with his recent injury, may never play in a WC ever.
I think JK’s comments can be read this way: sometimes you have to play the cards your dealt. Chandler can play now for the USA and be guaranteed a spot on the 2014 team. If he continues to wait for Germany, who knows?
According to the article: “collection of strikers makes it more likely that Klinsmann will use Dempsey in a playmaking role, while positioning Landon Donovan as a wing midfielder through the summer.”
Or, Dempsey could play wing and Donovan in the #10 role.
No, but perhaps for Peru. Don’t forget Morales can technically play for 3 teams I think (Peru, US, Germany)
Or, you could say Klinsi wants to see Castillo against Antigua. Not as if we’ll need our best to win. Maybe he prefers to let Lichaj rest and win a job in the EPL.
love the kaiser. a coach who actually has balls and football smarts. viva germany… i mean mmmmurica!
Ives, I love your writing, but Fox Soccer’s website needs a copy editor so badly. Put in a word for me, will ya?
You really think he was on the German national team radar?
And unlike you state, they’re not “foreign”. From a citizenship standpoint, they’re as American as any other person on the team.
On the bright side it should give Gomez a chance to show if he belongs with the Nats.
Not preferential. Cap tying. It’s a reality that in today’s globalized arena you have to take into account. You need to get guys on board as early as you can if they have real promise. It makes for easier decision making down the line.
Yeah…and that’ll go over really well with other potential dual nationals right?
I think Klinsmann doesn’t like that adu hasn’t produced at the same level for the union that he has for the national team. Freddy is playing better though. Also, given that he dragged the team back in the final game with two assists I don’t see how you can call him selfish.
I like Adu but he doesn’t “regularly” do anything, which is probably why he’s on the outside, looking in at the USNT level. Freddy has the skills to do very special things but he doesn’t display those skills with any consistency.
Apparently not. I didn’t realize that either until reading this article.
preferential treatment for foreign players thats exactly what this team needs
Or to play Devil’s advocate you could also say that Castillo played a full season and apparently was solid. He’s left-footed (which our player pool is thin in) and can play at the back or in the midfield. So he has some upside, as well. Not a big Castillo fan from his performances with the Nats, but I can see the reasoning behind his pick.
If you had to point out an “injustice” for Lichaj’s non selecting, it has to be Morales not Castillo, since Morales barely plays for his team. For me the Morales over Lichaj was just to see if Morales can produce and if he’s worth cap-tying early in WCQ before it gets too risky to toy with the lineups much.
Also a fan of Adu, I think he still has time post 2014.
I guess I’m in the minority (on this site at least) when I say Adu’s selfish play was the biggest reason for our exit from Olympic qualifying.
Maybe it’s just coincidence, but I don’t think it is, Adu didn’t get called up. Perhaps Klinsmann didn’t like what he saw from Adu in qualifying?
Appreciate the knowledge.
For Morales, I think the cap-tying aspect should not be overlooked.
Gooch is our best defender basically. A proven veteran and a leader. In no way can you compare his case to Lichaj’s.
If Gooch is healthy and playing in his club (which he is) he needs to be in the group, simple as that.
For Williams, it’s more the case that JK values him highly, as proven by the PT he’s been getting with the Nats.
Lichaj will get his chance if he stays healthy, have no doubts on that.
Now Sasha on the other hand is a totally different case. Whereas for Lichaj it’s more about giving him a break and letting a young player settle into his starting role more (in my opinion) for Sasha it’s simply the case of a veteran that doesn’t fit in JK’s tactics. Simple as that. I’m sure Sasha is on the short list in case someone bails, but the midfield position he plays is just overloaded with options JK considers better.
So morales only playing 11 games since 2010 is ok? The hypocrisy is crazy. Gooch and Williams are both coming off injuries that happened recently but its different right? Lichaj deserves to be there and these excuses are dumb
In the U-23 Adu played on the right of a 4-3-3 (the frontline was Shea, Agudelo, Adu). Corona played in an attacking central role in front of Mixx and Okugo/Jeffery. To be fair, Corona can operate in a wide position. I agree with the comments above, I though Adu was better than both. Having said that he hasn’t produced enough in MLS play and is already cap tied. If Adu keeps working hard and really starts producing he will get a call up.
My point is that people are looking too much into this non-call as if the door was closed on Eric. We shouldn’t overlook the fact he’s battled back from injury and all things considered, he might need a physical break of sorts. There’s no doubt that if Lichaj continues to get significant minutes next season he’ll be part of the group in the future. I think it was between Lichaj and Morales at the end of the day for Klinsy, and perhaps he went for the guy we could cap-tie in these easier qualifiers.
With Chandler out of the picture and Dolo closing in on retiring, Lichaj needs to be groomed as the next RB if he continues to develop in the EPL. I’m less concerned for LB, where Johnson should get the nod again after his dominant performance vs Italy.
Wait so Altidore will not play in the first game against Scotland?
Corona played a CAM role in Olympic qualifying. I don’t know where he normally plays with his club, though. Personally, I would still give the edge to Adu in that role because of his potential to create some amazing stuff, but I saw enough from Corona to want to see more from him. I would like to add that even though Adu does not have the prototypical speed you look for in a winger, he has looked really good with the ball out wide IMO in olympic qualifying and recently with the Union. He has put in some really high quality crosses and regularly beats defenders 1v1 out there.
Good words from the big guy. A couple of (or 3)thoughts:
1. Did he really talk about “players willing to suffer” a couple of times? I love that he is setting the standard high, and wants our scorers to go all out.
2. Very diplomatic way of saying “Timmy C, the clock is ticking. You wont get many more chances”
3. It says something about Klinsi’s accessibility that I now read his quotes hearing his voice and accent in my head!
And just like the work rate and goalscoring rate is what matters for forwards, the W-L in WCQ is what matters for coaches. I wish Klinsi and the squad all the best in the weeks ahead, and look forward to seeing all the action.
On Lichaj … he played a lot of LB for Villa this year and is 10x the defender that Castillo is. He’s faster and more athletic as well. He can also get up and down the pitch to support the attack. His exclusion / Castillo’s inclusion makes no sense.
He’s an in form player in the best league in the world at a thin position for the USA. He can play LB or RB.
Your logic if it had been applied to Sacha would make sense to me given the depth of position and potential to say his skills are overlapped by too many other players already called in.
It is very curious how he rates some of the other guys brought in…or if he thought Lichaj was too one dimensional with his foot work (always playing on his right foot for example) …that would’ve been all I needed to hear.
Oh, and Mat with one ‘T’ this is a comment section on the blog…the point is to endlessly debate and not get over it.
People have their favorites.
Lichaj has only played something like 9 or 10 competitive matches this entire season. He is just off injury from a bit over a month ago and he’s been decent since returning.
As for Adu, I love the kid. But he plays in Dempsey’s position. There’s that. And his team is not playing well, that probably affected the decision too.
admit, Shane, you are joking, aren’t you?
Agreed, the story did add a bit more insight into Chandler. The translation of “we’re not happy about it” in my mind is that Klinsmann is indded angry, but cannot put it quite so forcefully because he is leaving the door open. I can kind of understand the comment above advocating giving Chandler one more shot. But, as a big Chandler fan in the past who believed his promise last autumn that he wanted only to paly for the yes, I feel totally angry about this snub. It is an honor to play for the USMNT that dozens of players would give their left one for and if Chandler does not want to seize the moment, I am inclined to say screw you, jack, good luck with Jogi Low and the Mannschaft Auf Wiedersehen. Klinsmann obviously has the final say, but for the sake of team spirit and unity I would like to see him draw a line with Chandler and stick to. If Klinsmann wants to give him one more chance in September, I could accept that. But no more.
+1
Thank you for point that out. This is not the roster for world cup 2014. People need to chill out. Just because a particular player was not called into this camp does not mean he will not be called into a future one. Chill out, people.
As for Tim Chandler, he’s a good player but (no pun intended) he’s no Philip Lahm (which Germany obviously knows). We can move on without him and be just fine.
I meant RB for Dolo
I don’t understand why people feel the need that Klinsy “justify” his exclusion of Lichaj, as it was such a major non call-up. Lichaj is young up and coming player with some promise, starting to make his mark overseas, but it’s not like he’s part of our core. It’s not like he’s a mainstay in the USMNT group and his non call is a crazy occurrence.
I mean, if Klinsy hadn’t called up Dempsey for example, then I would definitely would want to know why, but for Lichaj there is really no justification needed. Don’t get me wrong. I root for Lichaj to take over at RM at some point when Dolo retires, but clamoring injustice for his non-call is a bit overboard.
It’s just a coach’s decision on a fringe player. Get over it already.
Admittedly, my knowledge of Corona is slim to none. What position does he play? If he’s more of a winger, I can understand why he’s being elevated over Adu.
After all, we’re kind “ok” with the playmaking position that Deuce is holding down.
Boyd, on the other hand, there’s no question why, given his position.
I thought it was a good read and gave a bit more insight into Klinsi’s thoughts…but I also definitely would like to know more on the exclusion of Lichaj.
Sad that Chandler is too immature to understand his own situation. Looks like it may have just cost him his international career.
Always love the wannabe journo fanboys. “This interview sucked because MY questions weren’t asked.” Get over it guys, your favorite players just weren’t good enough.
Klinsmann’s only comment on Chandler’s snub before this was pretty tame so it’s good to know Klinsi is as mad as the rest of us. Chandler isn’t looking too good right now.
+1, but Adu has no German or Mexican connections, hence call-ups are extra difficult
This interview looks like an opportunity missed. His comments on Chandler don’t really add anything new, while we aren’t given any insight into why he didn’t call in Lichaj or why he praised Boyd and Corona but not Adu. I’d also love to see Klinsi expand on why he thinks Graham Zusi is so great.
Sacha, who needs that shmack anyways
I’m open to that.
Let’s cap tie him and then let him know “Tim, we’re not calling you up during this tournament/or the World Cup because we feel you need rest.”
Chandler chose not to play was already known. That is almost a softball question. Would have liked to see more insight as to why players like Sacha, Lichaj, Beasley, etc don’t make the cut for him.
I am moving on. It was pretty disappointing at first but if his heart is not with the USMNT it is best not to have him on the team. All you have to do is look at Marquez to see what it looks like when a player is half-hearted
He heaps a lot of praise on Corona and Boyd for their U23 performance, but Adu was better than both.
Tell it like it is! I vote for being open to having Chandler back for a cap-tie game if he’s willing (to prove he’ll commit) otherwise let’s move on.
I’m also hoping he’ll use Donovan on the RW and not Danny Williams.
Still puzzled by Lichaj.