Don Garber was not happy on Wednesday. The Major League Soccer commissioner called a hasty conference call to push back on U.S. Men’s National Team coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s recent comments about MLS — and Garber pushed hard, demanding that Klinsmann stop making “detrimental” comments about the league.
Meanwhile, Klinsmann had high praise for some of his newer recruits on the USMNT. Klinsmann indicated he liked what he saw from Greg Garza, who now has three caps with the squad. Miguel Ibarra, the surprise call-up from NASL’s Minnesota United, also seemed to do well, with Klinsmann hinting a January camp call-up could happen.
And, the San Jose Earthquakes don’t need to finish this season before making big changes. They’ve seen enough and announced Dominic Kinnear will leave the Houston Dynamo to coach the Quakes next year.
Here is a recap of SBI’s coverage on Wednesday:
U.S. MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM
USMNT Notes: Klinsmann praises Garza’s discipline; Ibarra a candidate for January camp; and more
Jones shows promise in first USMNT start at centerback
Hometown hero Altidore experiences surreal moment with latest USMNT goal
USMNT 1, Honduras 1: Match Highlights
U.S. WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM
USWNT ekes out win in sloppy opening World Cup qualifier
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Garber hits out at Klinsmann for comments on MLS, its players
Earthquakes officially appoint Kinnear as head coach, dismiss Watson
Sources: Roxburgh leaving Red Bulls at end of season
MLS Ticker: Thompson scores in Earthquakes friendly; Crew sign Homegrown player; and more
SBI MLS Goal of the Week: Stefan Ishizaki
SBI MLS Save of the Week: Bill Hamid
OTHER SOCCER
Tuesday College Soccer Rewind: Syracuse routs UConn, Notre Dame tops Northwestern, and more
Wednesday Kickoff: Albania, Serbia to face UEFA discipline; Thiago re-injures knee; and more
Klinsmann is not wrong. I’m not really sure you guys get it. Do you want the USMNT to get better or do you want the league to grow and get better? You can’t have both.
Where do the best Mexican players go and play? Where do the best Brazilians play? Where do the best players around the world playing? At the highest level they can in Europe. And why? Because they want to get better. Do you think any of the top players from other countries care about making their domestic league better? No. If they did, people in their countries whould laugh at them.
So the mentality that Dempsey and Bradely will get better and raise their game to the next level by playing in the MLS is ridiculous.
Thank you. Any national teamer returning to their home league is scrutinized. It is a sign of a player with bad form. Did anyone say that Robinho returned to Santos to up his game? No. Was he selected for the WC? No. Brazil brought 4 players to the WC in their own country.
“Where do the best Mexican players go and play? Where do the best Brazilians play? Where do the best players around the world playing?”
Where they get the most money! Lets face it:many of the SA, Mexican and African players want to play in Europe because of the money.. And less for the honor or playing against the best. If the MLS were to offer the same money, they would be here.
Ein Nationalstaat,Ein Mannschaft, Ein Dummkopf..
It’s easy to say the standards of football are higher in Europe, especially in some of the bigger leagues. But in the bigger leagues and the bigger teams come the “stockpiling” of players, whereas many of the big teams take on large rosters, and as there are no salary caps, they have “lots” of players looking for playing time. Loaning out prospective players, to lighten the salary load is real common and unfortunately many of those loaned out, do not return th the clubs that acquired them.
Then there is the favoritism angle. Many coaches in Europe (but certainly not all) believe Americans do not have the skills and training to compete effectively at the top level as they have not been in an academy since they were 8 years old. We know this is ridiculous but there are many managers who still prescribe to old school football and this is a serious detriment for advancement of American players in some of the Leagues in Europe. In short, no matter how good you are, if you are an American, coaches will sometimes find a “native” player who may be close to as good as the American but will get the nod to start.
I have seen Klinsmann play this card at the World Cup selection,leaving better MLS players at home to select good, but not great ,foreign born players.
In short, Klinsmann is a Euro Snob and his actions and words speak volumes on his attitude. And with this attitude, is not a good fit for the US. How soon will Gulati figure this out.
Ein Nationalstaat,Ein Mannschaft, Ein Dummkopf.
How about all the American players playing in the English Championship, 2nd Bundesliga, Scandanavian League and Mexico that Klinnsmann didn’t call? If anything MLS players got preference over players in those league.
“Many coaches in Europe (but certainly not all) believe Americans do not have the skills and training to compete effectively at the top level as they have not been in an academy since they were 8 years old. We know this is ridiculous”
Ridiculous? Did you watch the World Cup? What was the one constatnt thing said by people about the US? Technically the US are still behind. That was soooooooo obvious against the Germans and Belguim. If we want to compete at the highest level, we need to think along the same lines as the top countries. And yes, starting in Academy at 8 years old is what they do. Sorry to burst your bubble.
Only about 2-3 percent of all the youths who start at the academy level make it to a top tier team. and even less to the WC.Its a ruthless precess in Europw and in a lot ofcases players may develop superior technical ability on the field, but do not posses the drive, the ability to read the game, and especially the athleticism to achieve the top tier.
We did not do well as well as Klinsmann would like you to believe. we won ONE game. He left many good MLS players at home and brought in some players with lots of potential but marginal abilities. Green had little experience at the top level and was chosen purely because of his teams achievement (BM,) Brooks was an irregular starter on a bottom third team. Our attackers included and injured Aronson, a fragile Altidore, who had not scored more than one goal in over 30appearenaces at Hull and Sunderland. You dont’ win games with players who have a potential upside, but little proven ability to score at the top level or come with injured players. The top scorer for the US WC team was Dempsey who was an MLS Player.
We backed into the second round, because Germany destroyed Portugal and gave the US the goal differential we needed. With a bunch of MLS players we held our own against three top five ranked teams, Germany, Belgium and Portugal and were competitive in all of them. losing two by one goal. We looked out of sorts only because we lacked a potent offense, as we left many MLSattacking options at home and instead brought in some foriegn untested players. This was a caoches decision/selection and if we looked disjointed and lack a smother cohesion, it was a fault od not having players play together a lot more often than they did.
Ein Nationalstaat,Ein Mannschaft, Ein Dummkopf.
Garber is nothing more than a brand manager.
Don Garber.
(Cue: Eric Cantona goal celebration)
they also play anywhere from 45-56 games a year there. tournaments, cups and regular season combined.
Here in the US it is around 36-44.
I don’t have a problem with what either one said. As a coach or any manager needs to push their people to push themselves to higher levels. Klinnsmann uses many players from MLS. In fact he hasn’t called many from the English Championship, 2nd Bundesliga or Scandanavian leagues. Yes he’s called players from Bundesliga, French League and EPL. Those are the best leagues in the world. Garber is the CEO defending his company. Nothing wrong with that.
I don’t get the reaction from Garber, nor the readers who think JK somehow was too rash, and not tactful enough with his words. He speaks the truth, and he’s only referring to elite players: There are so many domestic players that won’t ever go to Europe, and that’s fine! However, there is no way that MB gets his skills at the Chicago Fire, or Jozy gets better touch and vision at the Revolution. Stu holden’s comments in the subject are spot on: the competition and level of play is several steps better at the CL level in Europe.
JK reminds me of the old NLF coaches that used the media to rile up their players. It is effective for a while, but eventually people just stop listening to him.
I don’t blame Garber. I think JK could be much more diplomatic in his call for US players to be in Europe. He makes it sound like he is trashing MLS. Klinsmann could have said something like, “While the MLS is improving by leaps and bounds and may be on a par with a good European league in the near future, I think it would be better for US players to play in Europe. Not only is competition a little better there, it gets players out of their comfort zone when they have to go to another country and adapt. Also, you are exposed to a number of different styles of play in Europe and a greater level of intensity and higher demands and scrutiny from fans and media. Finally, if you can play in the Championship League, it is a competition of the highest order, not found anywhere else outside of the World Cup.”
The problem is Gary is that he is whining excuses out left and right….and it is VERY hard to do that in a non strong, diplomatic way.
I am not a JK hater, I am fine if he goes/fine if he stays. But he needs to work within the reality of the situation that is NOT going to change and quit whining to make himself look better. Bring US soccer up to make yourself look better, not show it in a bad light, and then try to shine as something better.
My personal feeling is the LD situation was exactly that. I will be the man, by leaving out the man of the last 15 years. Rather than bringing up US soccer from a place where it was doing very fine and perfectly on pace…take it back and try to look like you brought it further than you did.
You make it seem as if Bradley and Depseys form hasn’t dropped since they came to MLS, when that is in fact the reality of it.
I think his message towards Dempsey and Bradley serves as a warning to other Nats. that if they leave Europe for MLS their only making it harder on themselves by taking the easy way out.
Exactly lol. All of us who hated the move of Bradley and Dempsey joining the league knew their forms would drop off. I haven’t seen a good game from Bradley in the longest. Dempsey I’m almost at the point where I don’t wanna call him in anymore. I like the MLS but its a minor league. We want all of our best players over in Europe among the best coaching.