By RYAN TOLMICH
Since assuming the role of U.S. Men’s National Team head coach, Jurgenn Klinsmann has set plenty of objectives for his side. During his three-and-a-half year tenure, the German-born manager has called for more possession, higher-level expectations and more confidence against the world’s top teams. However, with 2014’s campaign in the rearview mirror, Klinsmann’s major demand of his players is just a little bit of ‘nastiness’.
The USMNT closed 2014 with a whimper, falling by an unflattering 4-1 scoreline to a weakened Ireland lineup. With a series of disappointing results to close out the year, Klinsmann has called on his players to show a little more fight and physicality on the field.
“We have to make it clear that they have to go through pain, get tougher, and when I used that word two or three years ago where I said we have to get nastier, some people were very critical of me,” Klinsmann said after the loss. “How can you say that? You know? I’ll say it again: we have to get nastier. It’s just normal. It’s not a negative word. We have to become more physical. We have to hold our ground more, be dominant.
“This is just part of the game. It’s normal,” Klinsmann added. “All this stuff that they have to follow through with in their lives is automatic when you play for a top team in the world. It’s automatic, you live that way, and our players need to learn to live that way. To be accountable, responsible for what they do every day in training and in the games, but we are not there yet. Quite a way to go.”
According to Klinsmann, part of that ways to go will include how the team handles the aftermath of big tournaments. Following a generally successful World Cup, Klinsmann has seen a significant drop off in his team’s play, culminating in just one win in five post-World Cup games.
Part of that drop-off, Klinsmann says, comes from his players inability to mange the emotional stresses of this summer’s tournament, as the head coach stressed that his side never truly recovered from their Brazilian adventure.
“I think also the learning curve after the last two games is also that they have to learn emotionally how to digest a World Cup and a lot of our players had a lot of problems digesting those extreme emotions,” Klinsmann said. “They dropped 20,30, even 40 percent in performances in their club environment. Many Europeans lost their starting spot. Many other players in MLS or wherever went down 30-40 percent in their performances.
“This is because they didn’t know how to deal with all of these emotions and the recognition and all of the compliments in the world that came after the World Cup. In a certain way, it’s human. It’s understandable.”
Klinsmann says the next step in his side’s evolution, along with tournament success, will be the reacclimation of his players to their club environment, where many have struggled since the World Cup.
“It is not easy for these young people, but it’s also now a tremendous learning experience,” Klinsmann said. “You see a Cristiano Ronaldo, a (Leo) Messi, they take three-week vacations, go back to their club team and rock the boat. They play like they didn’t go on vacation. Our players, they went on vacation, came back and lost their spots in their clubs. While other players, they go back and because it was a 6-8 week emotional marathon, they can’t keep it up to the highest level.
“This will help us. This is a reminder saying go forward now and that next time a big tournament comes along, we can’t drop it anymore. You have to learn to be consistent. It’s a word that we’ve used many times: becoming consistent and don’t drop physically and mentally 20, 30, 40 percent. It’s a good learning curve. Is it fun? No, but we’ll deal with it.”
I’m not watching US Soccer anymore thanks to Klinsmann. When US Soccer wants me back, they’ll need to fire the coach and apologize to fans and members of the US Soccer community for alienating them and come out with an olive branch to heal the damage done.
I hope others will follow us in this choice.
yikes ! what damage? why should every fan feel like you do? don’t be so damn sensitive.
An argument could also be made that Klinsmann is our most successful national team coach ever. You might not agree. His results have been pretty good though, viewed on their own and not taking into account who played or didn’t play in the match, which is to say our own personal fantasy lineup preferences.
In 2012 we beat Italy in Genoa (they were on a 20 game win streak) and Mexico at Azteca, for the first time ever. Also finished with the best record for a year in US soccer history. 2013 won the Gold Cup and dominated qualifying, easily earning top seed where in my memory it has always been a struggle. 2014 made it through the toughest group in the World Cup. I’ve already forgotten which players featured in all these matches.
Does nobody remember Coach Pop telling his team “I want some nasty”? I think that’s what JK means here. Physicality and grit, not cheap fouls and laziness. Yall are reading way too much into this comment.
Come on, people. The emperor has no clothes. Nominated for coach of the year? Puh-leaze. Build your entire world cup roster around one player and not have a like-for-like replacement, and instead put an injured player on the field? Moron of the year is more like it…or maybe clown. Piss-poor team selection and terrible tactics have been Klinsi’s calling card. Looking forward to 2018 when this joker moves on.
So many problems. Bradley, Dempsey, and Jermaine Jones do not appear to have suitable replacements. Jozy isn’t getting it done. Mix & Bedoya are nice complimentary players. The back line is in flux. Friendly or not, the personnel needs to get better. A nastier Wondolowski is still Wondolowski. A nastier Beckerman is still a limited aging player. A nastier Yedlin will still make poor decisions. I give JK credit for using this criticism rather than saying “these guys suck”
Jurgen Klinsmann’s words mean nothing, he just talks, nothing is consistent or every logical. Wish soccer media wasnt basically a dog and pony show, questions that need to be answered might be asked of Jurgen and Sunil to answer.
I have been thinking about the lack of grit that are players have shown and how this relates to how American society has moved in a politically correct/soft direction.
I am a coach and I hate the “every kid gets a medal” mentality. How does that prepare them for the real World? I am 47 and I wasn’t destroyed when I didn’t get a medal or sat on the bench. Lots of teams now don’t even name a MVP since if Billy is the MVP that means he is better than Johnny and Johnny’s feelings might get hurt. And of course, everyone is a victim in America.
Also, I wish MLS would be filled with loud beer drinking 21-30 year olds to ramp up the intensity of the atmosphere for the players, instead of soccer moms sitting on their butts texting and eating.
not going out on a limb to assume the professional players earned their medals as children who were grossly better than their piers at the thing that awards the medal.
the countries that are beating us get given things all the time, like free healthcare.
Germany is a very politically correct country, more so than ours. Half of our national team is German for f’s sake, how did America’s “politically correct/soft direction” make them fit your narrative?
Have you been to an MLS game lately?
You are projecting whatever silly narrative you have about society and “kids these days” onto things that just plain dont hold up to it.
This is Jurgen’s problem, not american society or something silly like that.
+1
and American players are tough, not the problem and always a strength quite frankly. this whole thing is pure BS
There’s a certain amount of over-reaction to a friendly loss here as some have pointed out, but IMO that’s really not the point. I don’t care that much about the result itself. Friendlies early in the cycle are the time to experiment a bit. Not all experiments pan out and the cycling of players hurts cohesion.
I think the larger point is that Klinsmann seems to have a habit of touting accomplishments when things go well and placing blame when they do not. Calling out your players when you think their effort is lacking now and then, etc. is fine and necessary. Klinsmann, however, has done that on several occasions with specific players, with the team as a whole, and with sweeping generalizations about the state of the game and the limitations of the player pool without once, at least in my recollection taking some blame himself. I don’t recall him ever taking responsibility for not preparing the team properly or for seeing his tactical plan backfire. I’ve never heard him say that this spate of late-game goals may have something to do with not making the right in-game adjustments himself, etc.
The players are professionals and can respond to criticism, but the buck also stops with JK as manager. You get a lot of latitude IMO with friendlies, but you also have to own up to any result when you represent the country as the head of the program. I think some people are just starting to get a little weary of his comments about the players alongside the dearth of personal responsibility we’ve seen him accept.
And as a side note, the comments should at least be relevant as well. Nastiness? As if that is some characteristic the US program has lacked that he can instill. The US has often been criticized by opponents for being overly physical and Jermaine Jones may have it (he does and he’s a good player), but it’s nothing new for the US. Mastroeni may not have been as talented as Jones, but he didn’t lack the nasty quotient and he’s just one example. Nastiness wasn’t the problem.
In thinking about this issue, especially Klinsmann’s comments and attitudes which have been criticized heavily here, I think two things need to be considered. One, Klinsmann’s personal background and, two, his nationality’/culture. Klinsmann was not the most athletic player in Germany. He did things like specialty workout, even attaching some weights to his legs, in order to gain a little on his foot speed. He came fron a middle class family who owned a bakery and it was assumed that he would take over from his father and have a comfortable life as a shopkeeper. From working in a bakery, he learned it was necessary to get up early and work real hard in order to make a living. When he showed promise as a soccer player, he decided to ditch everything at home, work extremely hard in training as a soccer player and leave his family as a young age. He is like the Horatio Alger type success story, achieving greatness mostly through hard work and dedication. The German nation and culture are known for several things. They are very serious, hard working and tough fighters. They can be ruthless. They are incredibly disciplined and are taught to respect authority. They are very nationalistic. When you understand where he is coming from, I think you can understand his outlook. He doesn’t expect everyone to have his ability or his success. However, he does expect his players to have the same love of the game, the same dedication, the willingness to work hard and give his all at all times, and to be proud to fight as hard as possible for the national team as he did. For those who don’t know, while he was in retirement in Southern ?California, he would go play in local adult youth leagues under an assumed name. He obviously loves the game of soccer as well as being thoroughly dedicated to it. When was the last time Sigi Schmidt went out and played soccer, for example? BTW, I think ?Sigi is an excellent coach and he has a lot of the same Germanic traits as Klinsmann. I mention this to show just how much Klinsmann is part of the game and how much the game is part of him. I think he can’t understand or accept professional soccer players who don’t share his outlook. BTW, Eric Wynalda has told a story about when he first went to Germany to play and in an early game he missed a sitter. After the game he was in the locker room and he made a joke about missing the goal. In response, one of his teammates threw his boot at Wynalda, hit him around the eye and Wynalda had to have stitches. Nothing was said and Wynalda realized, Who, these guys take it really seriously.
Sorry about the typos I missed. The stray ? are just that.
I think that there may be another issue that we are missing. Recall that the Donovan/Beasley class of players were successful at the youth world cups at almost every level before joining the full team. Our youth teams for a few years were pretty good after that as well.
However, we then had (have) a period of time when our youth teams were not qualifying for age-level WC’s, like the 2012 Olympics, or not moving out of group play when they did qualify. We may have an actual talent gap for a few years that will throttle our advancement at WC level tourneys until we get the talent level back to where we want it to be.
What is the opposite of a “golden generation”?
That is a tremendously good point that I have not seen anywhere else. Good job MWR! That seems highly probable to at least affect the current situation.
I think it’s time for our coach to be nastier. He needs to stop calling people that are not good enough or that aren’t preforming. That would be nasty!!!! Take a stiff like Altidore… he produces next to nothing for years and yet he starts every game. Get Nasty JK… don’t call him until he starts showing something at the club level to justify his NAT callup. Get NASTY and drop the aging spine. Drop Dempsey (will be too old), Wondo, Beasley…. tell Bradley to shape up or he’s next. Forget about Green, he’s to inexperienced and is cap tied now anyway. In fact, a nasty coach would drop a player for a period after a bad outing, not call him in again.
Lead by example JK. You’re too much of a p***y to be nasty, how do you expect your players to be nasty.
There is a reason JK was fired by Germany and his German club as coach. We are now seeing it with our NATs. Will Sunil have the nads to do something? He did with Tom on the woman’s side. I think it is clear now that JK has no clue on what to do and his Nasty comment is an example of how lost he is
I have two simple observations. We are now in a trend of giving up goals/the lead late in the game over the last several games. Our players are fatigued (sometimes downright exhausted) after about 65 minutes. This goes back to include the World Cup games.
From here on is opinion. Klinsmann seems to think that the players are not match fit due to not being starters at their club team (reasonable). He suggests that the MLS guys who played in the world cup need to figure out how to get through the fatigue of a draining year (this seems less reasonable to me). Besler and Wondo are shadows of themselves. Beckerman is holding up better but he ran out of steam against Ireland. On the other hand, Jones was as good as ever against Colombia.
The whole pre world cup training thing still bothers me too. You can’t tell me it’s normal to have so many injuries in such a short period of time. All the hamstrings (lost track of how many) plus Cameron ends up with a hernia requiring surgery, AJ needs ankle surgery. Can’t think it helped Bradley’s foot injury to go through all that. The majority of the starting 11 came down with major injuries during the world cup process! Is our luck really that bad? It’s stretching coincidence for me. US Soccer needs to take a long hard look at this.
The high pressure defense should be looked at. Is that really sustainable for 90 minutes? Could this be contributing to the fatigue late in games? It was one thing for Barcelona to do this a couple years ago since they have incredibly skilled players that can retain possession of ball for ridiculous long periods which allows the players a bit of a break. But the USA will bust butt to win the ball back then give it up cheaply in a matter of seconds. Then chase ball again. Over and over. I concede this led to the first half goal against Ireland. But until we have players capable of retaining possession, it seems doomed to failure and fatigue in the second half. Why not pick our spots and do this occasionally, while staying organized the rest of time and hitting back on counter-attacks.
You know, this is an entirely reasonable analysis and response. I am shocked to find it here. Good job JB!
I didn’t see that much high pressure defense from the US. I did see it from Colombia during the whole game. As for injuries, I’ve never heard of a hernia coming from over training in soccer; it’s usually from heavy lifting. The spate of injuries is concerning, but unless you know exactly what their regimen was and how it differs from that they go through with their club teams, you can’t make a studied conclusion. Training intensity is never the same as game intensity. From what I have observed, most over use injuries are from playing too many games, not from too much training. When commentators talk about injuries, they usually relate it to an increase in the number of games in a given period, not the amount of training.
Not true. Many over use injuries come from over training as well as too many matches. Training is often more intense than matches, just in a different way. In training, players are often taken well beyond fatigue, training 2 or 3 times per day, etc. It’s how fitness levels are increased and can often result in injuries, particularly muscle injuries like the rash of hamstring issues we saw at the World Cup. Now, it could have just been bad luck and coincidence and I agree that you cannot necessarily draw conclusions, but the number of them has to make you wonder. Regardless, over training results in injuries all the time whether Klinsmann is over training these guys or not.
Surprsingly, compared to Ivy League graduate Bradley, JK talks a lot, but sadly, JK says less when he speaks.
Really! the solution to bad passes is to be nastier? The US committed 15 fouls to Ireland’s 11 and got 4 yellow cards compared to 2 for Ireland (and the Irish cards came at or after 90 minutes).
What claptrap JK says when he speaks.
Does Jurgen know what he is doing? Jurgen can certainly talk the talk, but is he really the kind of coach that can maximize the USA’s assets in international soccer? I really doubt it. First, the USA talent pool is not particularly good. In almost any game against a European, South American or African side, the USA will field the lesser athletes. The opponents will be faster, quicker, stronger and so on. The USA’s technical abilities and understanding of the game have improved over the past two decades, but we still don’t get the best US athletes and our best eleven does not compare well with the best elevens in Europe, South America or Africa. Second, what the USA does have are relatively bright, coachable players. American players don’t leave school at 14 or 16 and play soccer full time. Moreover they are accustomed to a style of play that rewards hard work and team play.
The style of play that Bradley and Arena adopted suited the USA talent pool. Admittedly it is not sexy or beautiful but it works for the kind of players we have. Bradley and Arena, as former college coaches, were comfortable making the most of whatever players they had. They didn’t spend their time whining to their chairman to buy better players, which apparently is what many foreign coaches do.
Klinsmann clearly does not understand the USA’s situation. He is in denial about the kinds of players he is ever likely to have on the national team. Yeah, it would be wonderful if the USA had the players to adopt a fancy attacking formation and control the ball for 70 percent of the time and on and on, but that is not going to happen any time soon.
This has little to do with Klinsmann’s coaching ability, but he is the worst gasbag. He just loves to hear himself talk and it is really annoying when American fans don’t show enough common sense to ignore him.
If what you say about the US talent pool is correct, then finishing first in the Hex with the highest total ever and getting out of the toughest group the US was ever in, would seem to qualify as major achievements in coaching. As for how he understands the situation, did you see the youth team that came in second in Mexico a couple of years ago? They showed the kind of style and attacking play that JK has been preaching. He is establishing that style throughout the youth system.
My sense is that the latest USMNT did about as well as several of its predecessors. It qualified for the WC, which given the nature of our region, we should. But, as in past cycles, we needed some help, a snow storm in particular. I don’t know how you judge the difficulty of WC groups. It wasn’t the first time that the USMNT made it out of the group stage. And, most important, at several points during qualification and the WC, Jurgen employed much the same tactics that Bradley and Arena did. He talks about different styles, but even he is not so stupid as to employ them when defeat is staring the team in the face.
USSF has apparently convinced itself that the problem with US soccer is training and tactics and that, if you use “beautiful” tactics at the youth levels the senior team will eventually be able to use them. Sadly, I think they have misdiagnosed the problem. The problem with US soccer is that the talent pool is too small and too weak not that US coaches can’t train players properly or can’t employ all sorts of tactics when they are appropriate. US training techniques, both soccer-related and non-soccer related (think fitness) are probably as good as anyone’s. Lord knows, we have spent enough time and money studying what everyone else does.
Nevertheless, if your players are not great athletes, if they are not particularly quick or fast, or don’t have good field vision, all the training in the world is not going to make them world class players.
For my money Klinsmann and his blather work for USSF in part because they distract folks from USSF’s inability to improve the talent pool — which means its inability to get MLS and the lower leagues to pay their players more and restrict further the number of players who are not eligible for the USMNT.
If you will remember, one sticking point in Klinsmann’s hiring was his insistence that he be in charge with the whole national program (for men, that is), not just the adult team. He made it clear that the whole system needed an overhaul, from the youth level on up. He has been adamant that the US come closer to matching the European model in training and nurturing youth players. He made it clear that this type of transformation could not happen overnight, but would take more than one WC cycle to implement. As for the talent pool, more youths now play soccer than just about any other sport. Even if only one fourth of our youth choosing socce4r as their main sport, this is the equivalent of drawing from a national population of 75 million, more than England, Holland, France, or Italy, to name a few. 25 years ago there was basically no national soccer presence and the US hadn’t qualified since 1950. Now we have made it out of our group 3 out of the last 4 World Cups, even with a poor youth system. People need to put things in context.
You are absolutely correct. Klinsmann insisted on a very large role for himself and has had all sorts of bad things about American methods. All that proves is that he is megalomaniac and doesn’t know what he is talking about. The notion that the US training approach was in shambles before Klinsmann got here is absurd.
The talent pool in question is not the total number of kids playing soccer, but the number of superior athletes that are playing or want to play professional soccer. Compare the NBA and the NFL with MLS. Compare the soccer team with the football or basketball team at your local college or high school. Where are the best athletes? Not playing soccer.
In MLS Brek Shea seemed an exceptional athlete. In England he is just another warm body. In MLS Donovan, perhaps the greatest American player, seemed really gifted. On loan at Everton he was perhaps their 10th or 11th best player on the pitch. In the recent Ireland v Scotland game, almost every player plays for a Premiership or Championship team in England. How many Americans are good enough to play in either league?
One word guys:
RELAX!!
It’s a friendly and this is the time in the cycle to experiment with lineups and formation. I will say the formation we went with, the 4-1-3-2, was not suited to some of our personnel on this roster.
Beckerman is great with another roaming DM but as the sole DM in this formation he just doesn’t have the speed to cover enough ground which ultimately leaves a bubble of space in front of the back four which Ireland exploited. The 4-1-3-2 is suited for teams with lots of possession and ball control. We had bad touches and bad passes going on everywhere.
If Klinsmann’s goal is to develop an attacking style this is the formation to achieve that but you have to have the players who can link those passes together to hold possession and break down defenses. I think Klinsmann likes what he sees coming along with youth players in 17-22 year old range and eventually will end up bringing in a lot that youth for Russia 2018.
The 4-1-3-2 really needs a proper attacking mid in the #10 role and Diskerud has not shown that he can fill that role. Klinsmann is auditioning Diskerud for the 10 role same way he ran out Jose Torres for game after game to no effect. Diskerud is a good player but is more of a two way midfielder than a #10. Watch for him to experiment with others in Jan and Feb. I think Klinsmann wants to run the 4-1-3-2 this cycle rather than the 4-2-3-1 and he’s going to need time working thru which players in our pool fit those key roles along the spine.
Just RELAX folks Klinsmann got us out of a brutal group we had no business advancing from with our current crop players and with our top striker/hold up man going down in the first game.
He knows what he’s doing.
Thank you for some reasoned sanity. And a good analysis of the formation.
+1 Nice take on the tactics. What kind of worried me was the lack of width we have with this formation, with Chandler and F. Johnson’s tendencies to cut in the middle a problem too. Hope we can get this addressed.
Hmmmm
Never been a JK hater like some…but I am getting there.
Doesnt take the best 23…it seemed personal.
Decides he knows best about the way our leagues should run…sounds like a troll on SBI
Ditto
His teams keep giving up late goals…late, very meaningful goals.
Now his team llays like crp and his solution…basically is try harder ? Was he not watching the game ?
Not exactly a JK lover right now.
klinsmann has made some bad moves, no doubt about it. the landon fiasco bordered on petty and hurt our chances at the world cup. but on nastiness, i agree completely. how many times have you seen u.s. players get shouldered off the ball or simply fall down. jermaine is a notable exception. we need more ‘jermaine’. sounds better to me than ‘nastiness’.
while i’m defending klinsmann (a rare event), i’ve noticed that the roster is no longer anemic. remember all the concern about the back line? who do we have for CB? LB?? sure, we have work to do to stop giving up goals in the last 15 minutes, to posess the ball other than in our third of the field, but at least we are developing some depth and player options. exciting options imo.
The back line was a problem the whole game. Every single player who took up a position in the back 4 made a mistake that either led to a goal or led to a scoring chance that Hamid saved. That is anemic, it fact, it is pathetic.
In the midfield, only Bedoya looked like he could play against the Irish. Up front, I like Wondo and Altidore, but except for the assist by Wondo, they were pretty invisible, Wood has some speed, but did not do much other than miss a shot.
The college player looked like the only bright spot other than Bedoya, that is how bad it was.
The thing is that most everyone who played on the back line, except for Garza who looked best, was a pretty experienced professional with experience at the WC. They should have done much better and this shows the correctness of JK’s comments. Their play has fallen off and their effort was lacking. If you put players like that in the lineup, you, as the coach, have a right to expect a better outcome.
Is he ever going to admit any responsibility?? I’ve never seen a coach publicly blaming his players so much.
The answer is no. In his entire history he has never taken any responsibility for his teams poor play. But he does have a history of always taken credit when it was others who did better in spite of his actions. Just research what he said after his forced resignation from the German national team and after his sacking by Bayern.
For instance, in the days following his sacking from Bayern he said due to his building the foundation the team will be great (or something like that) and the only problem was a difference of opinion with management, they couldn’t see or realize his true brilliance.
Heck, ask him and he will tell you it is not due to Jupp or Pep that Bayern is so good, it is due to what HE did.
+1
“For instance, in the days following his sacking from Bayern he said due to his building the foundation the team will be great”
I am not necessarily defending Klinsmann, but it is interesting to note that Bayern became the best team in the world a few years later.
so you’re saying if we fire klinsmann now, we’ll win the 2018 world cup? count me in!
The overreaction around here is crazy. It was an away European friendly at the start of the new cycle featuring the fourth string goalkeeper (Howard and Guzan anticipate and don’t allow the first goal) and a bunch of young trialists and players who are not starters in the positions they played. No one who scored a goal at the World Cup played (say that three times slowly). The starting central defenders did not play at all (and no, Besler is not the current starter). The starting fullbacks did not start at fullback. Our two best field players did not play. The best play came from the most experienced players playing the positions they normally play, and the US was bitten by poor finishing on clear chances (again). JK is right to call out the effort when the side gives up three second half goals in the manner they did, even if the wave of subs (that never happen in a match that counts) contributed to the result.
Is JK paying you to come up with excuses for him?
He should be…that was much better than try harder.
i actually had to think for more than 10 seconds to disagree with these excuses.
I used to make my living as an analyst, studying budgets, administrative processes, how to complete projects most efficiently, etc. One thing I have learned in the last decade or so of widespread internet reading is how lacking in critical thinking the average American is. Also, most people are incapable of nuanced thinking. Things are seen as all bad or all good. I wouldn’t want most of these people on a criminal jury as they can’t seem to discern the difference, say, between manslaughter and murder. Thus, in this realm, if Klinsmann does something they don’t like or the US has a bad game, that means Klinsmann can’t coach, never mind what he did in the WC qualifying or the WC itself. Here’s a clue about life I observed many decades ago. Nobody is perfect, everybody does something well and everybody does something poorly. In judging a person or an event, you have to look at the totality of circumstances and make judgments on how well a person does or an event turns out compared to alternatives. Nothing or no one ever performs perfectly. Like anyone else, Klinsmann makes mistakes. Because the US played pitifully against a scrub Irish team, this is not proof that JK can’t coach. It looked to me like the problem was more the players and the effort than any coaching scheme that JK employed. I have followed sports for over 50 years. I know that there are times when a coach can prepare a team perfectly and then the team can go out and lay an egg. In other sports no one really cares about the results of an exhibition game. These friendlies are like exhibition games.The issue is how well the team performs when it counts. In this regard, Klinsmann has done very well, but this seems to be lost on many of the commenters here.
Over the course of this time coaching the US, I cannot think of many times when the US played a “proactive” game. I don’t think it is unfair to judge the coach on the standards that he himself sets. I am looking for progress now, not results, but there just does not seem to be any progress toward that style of play at all. The players on the field look like they have no clue how they should play going forward and that has been evident for a very long time. Please tell me some critical thoughts that show me something different!
apology accepted
“It looked to me like the problem was more the players and the effort than any coaching scheme that JK employed” this is an indictment of the coach if I ever heard one!
We should learn from the Germans. They seem to keep on rolling after the World Cup. They only lost by 2 to Poland,
Or, you know… better.
Be nastier – AGAIN. Got love the Klinsmann tactics that justify why we pay him four times what we’ve ever paid another US coach. Thank you Sunil Gulati. As a fan of US Soccer this is what I’ve been dreaming of all these years. A USA team that is nastier.
Lol. “Ronaldo and messi?” Yeah problem is there is only 1 Ronaldo and 1 messi on the planet.
Instead of asking your players to play nastier how about if you coach better.
And “they don’t know how to handle the emotions of a World Cup”? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. Not the first time our guys have been to the dance. If anything they don’t know how to handle your ridiculous 3 a day training sessions leading up to a major tournament.
This guy is such a clown.
this.
also was quite telling that while watching in spanish channel the commentators were something like “these guys play in europe, didnt he downplay the mls the other day?” and they laughed.
The more I read these comments above me, the more I see people overreacting over a friendly loss.
Not over reacting to a loss, reacting to a thrashing to a B or C team from Ireland. There is no excuse for this result. This loss was to put it simply, shocking. Bradley was fired for a less incompetent showing.
These kinds of scorelines happen, especially once our players just started getting out of World Cup mode, new players are getting integrated, and the coach is tinkering (how in the world did Mexico lose to Belarus?). Bradley as a coach was stagnating: we cannot play that system anymore and the 2011 Gold Cup showed that. If Klinsmann puts that lineup again and loses horrendously to a CONCACAF bottom-feeder, then yes fire him or call up players that aren’t physically and mentally tired. Buut… had Wood scored against Given, Altidore and Johnson’s shots went in, and if someone provided support for Johnson when that unnecessary giveaway led to that 2nd Irish goal, this would be a completely different discussion.
remind me how many months ago the world cup was, thanks.
You’re no player at that level and I’m not either, so neither of us would truly understand how long it would take to get back to form physically and mentally or sort out problematic club situations. I mean, the likes of Wales held off Belgium not too long ago, with the Belgians in a precarious position to qualify in Euro 2016. Germany’s kinda still feeling it, especially with that dismal 1-0 win against Spain and that draw against Ireland in October. This is a sign that players on national teams are still feeling World Cup hangovers. And if you can’t count to five, I cannot convince you anymore than I have just now. I giive up.
+1 Sensible take. This happens sometimes when you experiment. The performance was terrible, but the panic is absurd.
Does anybody (besides Kyle Beckerman) remember the Gold Cup final in 2009? We sent a mostly second rate team (having already sent most of our best to the Confed Cup) and got smacked 5-0.
Much like today, we held it together until halftime (it was scoreless) and then we basically fell apart in the second half.
We learned a lot, and the sky did not fall.
exactly. im not sure we can be expected to dictate in Europe with Beckerman and Mix pulling the strings in midfield…
The sky didn’t fall. But a lot of beer did fall that day… on our heads from the Mexican fans above us. A really annoying day all around. No more of those, please!
Colombia played in the WC more recently than the US, as did Germany What has that got to do withit?
I’ll try to put this subtly… PLAYER FORM. To be honest, we don’t have the kinds of players Germany and Colombia have, but their players aren’t performing at their best after the WC either. Colombia played 1-0 to both Slovenia and Canada (you’d expect them to rout these teams), with Germany losing to Poland and tying Ireland not too long ago. Regardless of whether or not Klinsmann got his tactics right (which I have yet to see someone properly criticize), the players are tired and people need to stop blaming this all on Klinsmann when player form is out of his control.
My concern has nothing to do with the result and everything to do with the trends I see from game to game. I do not see talented players on the field who can play the sort of style that Klinsmann continually says he wants the team to play. And I do not see any signs in the movement/rhythm/organization of the team in an attacking sense. I also see discouraging trends in terms of Klinsmann’s comments in the media. Please make me feel better!
Okay, I’ll try to make you feel better haha. Who knows what the roster’s gonna be like in the Gold Cup, Copa America, and the 2018 WC? We haven’t seen all the new guys coming in the picture yet and a definitive formation that the US will play. With regards to Klinsmann and the media, I believe that people are blowing his comments out of proportion and making it bigger than it needs to be (Garber and other trolls) and I also have in me that I will judge him properly come tournament time.
Bradley was fired for losing the Gold Cup. Meaningless friendlies are just that. Only international competitions where results matter are what really count. For the US that means the Gold Cup and the World Cup. All else is superfluous. Klinsmann took the US out of the toughest group ever (for the US) and won the Gold Cup. He also achieved the best ever finish in qualifying for the WC. This is how you rate an international coach.
Oh, and I forgot, klinsmann is dead on about the international players falling off with their clubs… Do they feel entitled now or what? Besler, Zusi, both just Mediocre now.
I think klinsmann is right. The team looked fatigued and didn’t seem like they were trying (except bedoya). I think the goalie had a lot to do with it. Howard would have at least attempted to fix the defense. The team lacked leadership (jozy should never captain, he doesn’t even put his hand on his heart during national anthem).
I also feel that the teams like say Italy and Mexico and Germany all finish off games like Americans like me hate. Diving and other time wasting tactics. The US has trouble finishing off games that they lead in because of this mindset. It’s a shame.
I feel jermaine jones is our only player that has that edge that klinsmann wants. The edge to dig in, make a hard tackle and make his presence known.
“I think the goalie had a lot to do with it…” Youve never heard of Bill Hamid??? As for Jozy as captain, with no Bradley, Deuce or Timmy, he is the most experienced US player, by far.
This goes way beyond bad vs average vs good coach. Klinsmann has actually done much harm to American soccer. Each day he remains makes it worse. The longer he stays the longer it will take to recover. There will be no improvement with Klinsi, just the opposite.
This sounds like an emotional reaction to an unflattering scoreline.. You have to explain your statements. Why will there be no improvement? Why is the program going backwards? Isn’t Tab Ramos, Klinsmann’s appointment, doing good work? Aren’t they looking harder than ever for kids who can play with the ball at their feet? Is Klinsmann wrong to have us play good teams in their home stadiums? Is he wrong to be throwing young kids into the fire? Is he wrong to be pushing the veterans to continue playing at the highest level possible? Maybe he is, maybe you’re right, but elaborate, where exactly has he failed?
Where has he failed? Both places he coached previous to coaching the USMNT. For the Germay nationals in 2006 and at Bayern Munich in 2008-09.
Maybe you missed my previous comments.
How about coaching choices….Wondo, Morales on the wing, Cameron mistakes at the WC and here while at centerback, Johnson out of rythym from not starting at the club level, Hamid?
That’s what meaningless friendlies are for. Ireland started very few regulars and went mostly with a B or even C team players.
I don’t want to blow this out of proportion because at the end of the day it’s still a friendly. But it’s really annoying to see a guy who’s so quick to critize others never take any kind of accountability. Guys were lost on that field today, was the plan? What was the style of play? What weaknesses does Ireland have that you were trying to exploit? Damn, it would be nice to hear him say I have to clearer in our objective. Nastier is really simplistic coming from a coach. The midfield was in shambles all game. Hell, say your going to look at the tape and identify where we can improve. At some point you have to put guys in positions were they can succeed. Chandler and Morales didn’t have any tactical awareness on what they were supposed to be doing in their unnatural positions and that falls on the coach.
I generally try to be positive, but one of the things that I thought back to during the game was how Klinsmann said at one point that Chandler was one of the best outside backs in the Bundesliga. It is getting hard to think that he has a great plan for developing the pool and equally as hard to figure out what sort of attacking identity he wants the team to have within the 90 minutes.
Pepe Guardiola said that Lahm was the most intelligent player he has coached and is honored to coach him . rates him in the top 5 of all BM players . So who was the player who came out and said JK was a fraud and had him fired by Bayern after a few months? non other than Lahm. Speaking nonsense can only fool some people some of the time. Ultimately you must Coach. And that is JKs weakness.
Lahm criticizes everyone apparently. If God ran a football team, Lahm would probably have something unkind to say as well.
From a sportingnews article…
“In his book, Lahm also levied criticism at former Bayern coaches Felix Magath and Louis van Gaal. Magath led Bayern to Bundesliga championships in 2005 and ’06 and then won the title with unheralded Wolfsburg in ’09. Van Gaal has coached teams to a combined seven league championships in his native Netherlands, Spain and Germany and won the Champions League with Ajax Amsterdam in 1995.”
Which excuse is next???
It was a friendly! The U.S. doesn’t have a game that matters for months. So, deep breaths everyone. On the other hand, Jurgen’s comments are just so much nonsense. In a rightly ordered world, he would be sent to solitary confinement for an indefinite period simply for insulting US soccer fans’ intelligence.
Anytime a team loses 4-1 in an unimpressive performance after only having won once in the last eight matches is a cause for concern. There is no real motivation to get better or real path as to how they will. Also, I hope Klinsmann wants to win the 2015 Gold Cup and wrap up the spot to the 2017 Confederations Cup. The USMNT will only get better if it plays in big tournaments, and it has the opportunity for that with 2016 Copa America, and perhaps the 2017 Confed and also get the young guys some big match experience with the 2016 Olympics.
You could get away with this one game, but it’s a team-wide game after game failure.
Couldn’t that also suggest that we are not a very good team at the moment, personal-wise? Isn’t that also possible? If not, why exactly should we be beating these teams, who have good players and established philosophies. Objectively it’s hard to say but I think we may only beat Belgium in that rd. of 16 match 3/10 times, regardless of who’s coaching. Ireland on their home ground, probably 5/10. I say we’re middle of the pack, and need to get some great young players in – which JK is doing – but it doesn’t happen overnight. And who are they exactly, legitimately?
I remember posting here about two years ago and complaining that I saw no difference in klinsman’s results and Bob Bradley. I was ridiculed of course. One commenter even said that I was a fool to disbelieve and in short order would be witnessing a flowing and attacking side that could play with the best. I am not convinced, 4 years down the road that Jurgen has done more than Bradley could have done. At least under BB this team pressed hard, counter attacked furiously and defended with a nasty bite! It wasn’t beautiful, but it was industrial and resourceful! It was Amercan! Now all I see are tired players that look disjointed, can’t control the game, can’t press the issue and look Clueless in the final third. Klinsman isn’t terribe, but he isn’t the final solution in my mind.
The commenter who said that to you probably also said that Klinsmann was instrumental in building Germany’s soccer program up from the ashes. Even though Klinsmann had not a twit to do with it.
klinnsmann has the best winning percentage for a us coach ever. and give him credit for deepening the talent pool. we are seeing players that BB would never have looked at. For example, we never would have seen Johannsson, Rubin, Gyau, or Wood at this stage of their careers. I dont think Mix would be in as prominent a role, either.
I don’t think that you can say that. Bradley and the Bruce before him were always looking for players with US ties to strengthen the USMNT. Bradley also had a record of the number of different player call ups, which was substantially larger than what the Bruce had during his run as the USMNT coach.
I do think that JK has been more successful in actually landing the players – like Fabian J and T Chandler. Although in the case of T Chandler, I am not sure if he is a substantial upgrade from any other existing candidate.
Chandler was capped by Bradley
..best winning percentage ever – playing top teams like Italy, Germany, Columbia, Netherlands not Guatemala and Panama 7x during a WC cycle. It’s like the Nature Boy always said “if you want to be the man, you’ve got to beat the man, WHOO!”
LOL, never thought I would see pining for the days we parked the bus and hoped Landon could save us.
Save us from a bad result but not atrocious soccer. Everyone’s hopes should be riding on eliminating the latter. But can we do it? Which is more important to us, the scoreline or the beautiful game?
I don’t think Jurgen is as good as Bradley, but at this point, after losing a friendly at the very beginning of a new WC cycle, why is anyone judging the coach right now? We didn’t hire Jurgen to win meaningless friendlies 4 years before the next World Cup. Who cares about making the “right” lineup calls or using the best tactics now?? It’s like preseason football. No teams wants to win every game in preseason football. You’re trying out new players, tactics, ideas, etc. I agree I don’t like coaches criticizing players, but soccer players have to constantly be at the top of their game. At least Jurgen is good for criticizing the MLS. Otherwise everyone would keep drinking the kool aid that everything is going well and US players are getting better….THat’s just a bunch of hippy dippy baloney.
More nonsense. Jürgen has to go.
There was someone posting here a year ago who said Klinsmann is a snake-oil salesman, a terrible coach and that it will take years for the USMNT to repair the damage he will cause. Most everyone here ridiculed him. The poster said he was sacked by both the German national team (forced resignation) and Bayern for a reason. Looking back, that guy was 100% correct.
Got a laugh out of that one. Only entertaining moment of the day.
HA! I remember reading that. Only cause I agreed with him/her
Ronald, I believe I was the one who made those comments. I know I have expressed similar opinions.
Is that really you, Expat?
Il say it again, klins is a not a coach. He’s more of gulati or garber( like a director) and he needs to admit he’s not a good coach and move on.
I always said, USA should have gotten mexicos ex coach, Aguirre who is now with japan.
A guy that kicked an opposing player during the run of play in a major tournament? No thanks. I prefer class and composure in a coach. The USA players and fans deserve it.
Yeah, after all, what does Klinsmann know about soccer? No one complained more often or more bitterly than I did about JK’s decision to not include Donovan on the WC team, but that doesn’t negate all the good he has achieved or his goals for the US or how he has been re-orienting US soccer from the youth level up. Read about JK and his career, all the coaches he has worked under, known, studied with, all the exposure he has gotten in the WC and in the top professional leagues in 4 different countries. He would have to be an idiot to not learn a lot. He is not an idiot.
USMNT lacks leadership on the field and on the sidelines. They are a team without an identity. Bradley and Dempsey are clearly missed but they need more than that. Playing nasty for a coach that is controversial in his callups and tactics is hard to do. How can players trust JK after what he did to their all-time great player? It is hard to believe that he is doing the best by them after that personal and selfish decision. Again, they need inspired play from the guys on the field. Yes it is partially on JK but also on Josie, Cameron, Fabian, Besler, etc.
If you can’t play hard for you COUNTRY, you shouldn’t be on the team. Have you never played for a coach you didn’t like? Even as an amateur, you play hard for your own self-respect. These are professional players who make a living, usually a very good living, by playing good soccer. I have no respect for a player who will not put out his best for his country, regardless of who is the coach. Maybe you aren’t aware of this, but there are people who have died for their countries, even in conflicts that were unnecessary and often for leaders they didn’t like.
+1,000,000
Not sure if this was directed at me or a statement in general but I agree with you Gary Page. The team is lacking the professionalism that you are referencing as their play on the field has been uninspired. Comparing soccer players to soldiers is a bit much but your point is understood. Unfortunately in the world of professional sports, orders are sometimes ignored and personalities shut down on certain leadership styles for various reasons. As for the USMNT, we can only speculate on the coach/player relationships but one thing is for certain and that is that our team played flat, undisciplined, and seemed lost. Intentionally or not, it appears the message from JK is not being received properly.
you’re not getting the point. it’s not like one purposefully doesn’t give his all, but one’s BELIEF in what one is doing–tactics, positionally, technically, etc.–cannot be faked, and it shows up in the play. THAT happens all the time with PROFESSIONALS depending on the situation
when you don’t understand how to coach, you find lame cliches to explain to the masses as to what the problem is.
At least the prior USMNT coaches managed to draw water out of the barren rock that was the USMNT talent pipeline.
No you have a cheerleader who can’t rely on his players to already be advanced enough in terms of acumen and skill set to offset his nonsense…
I have always though a great tactic in coaching is essentially calling your players garbage and taking no accountability yourself. Are some of the guys struggling? Yes, they are. But have you been infallible in your callups, lineups, and tactics? Not by a long shot. Look in the mirror, JK, maybe Landon and Lahm were correct in never particularly believing in you.
No I think he’s right. Lots of teams are having hangovers from the World cup, The Dutch, Spain, Germany and Italy. Perhaps Mexico as well.
“Nastier” really? If there is one thing this team never lacked was attitude. Nobody ever out worked us. What we see new is total confusion and lack of belief. As if the players don’t buy the half truths and lies coming from the coaching staff. Probably tired of getting blamed every time thugs don’t go well.
It’s going to take more than cliches and finger pointing to fix this and frankly I haven’t seen anything from Klinsmann that would lead me to believe he has the tools to take us to the next level.
What the US team has had historically was a never give up, work your ass off running and trying really hard attitude. While that’s admirable, it’s not the “nastiness” Klinsman is talking about. What he could have said was play more like Jermaine Jones… Controlled toughness and attitude. Playing with an edge and not letting you or your team get pushed around- willing to put in the hard foul on the other team when it’s needed. Ect. I really don’t get all the hate on Klinsman. The U.S. has done well under him and he’s trying to change the way the US plays for the better.
Jurgen has a communication problem with American soccer players and fans.
This is clear by the number of people who have no clue what “being nastier” means, both on and off the field. Maybe it’s because in America, youth soccer is all about sportsmanship and everyone winning, whereas anywhere else in the world, the game is a serious business from early on.
But that’s just my speculation. What is NOT speculation is what “nasty” means. It means dominance. It means possessing the will to dominate the person in front of you, to do everything within your means to deprive him of everything he needs. Unfortunately, our current senior team roster is filled with players who are most comfortable chasing the game and the ball. Their version of nasty is not Jurgen’s and at the moment, aside from calling in all youth players like Rubin (who does display this nastiness), there’s nothing Jurgen can do about it.
maybe we’re both reading this “nastier” thing wrong, but we just got 4 yellow cards in a friendly, people were getting in each other’s faces, and beckerman would’ve gotten a straight red if it was a competitive match. “nastiness” is not what we lacked.
Nate, what you’re referring to is “retaliation”. No one likes being thoroughly outclassed and beaten, so they’re going to stick an elbow in or go in for a rougher tackle. That’s not what Jurgen or I am talking about and you know it.
We hear these phrases ALL OF THE TIME in other American sports and do not bat an eye – in football, we even expect it and get mad when a coach does NOT say them!
– go for the jugular
– beat the man in front of you
– must get tougher
– don’t let them back up/into the game
– control the ball
– smother them
– dominate the ball
– use “grown man” to describe an overly physical, but winning performance
“Go for the jugular” and “be tougher” especially relates to this, as you hear them all the time in football and basketball. And you know exactly what they mean in that context, yet somehow no one knows what that means when said in soccer?
The same principal applies in soccer as it does in all contact sports. Don’t have the ball? Go boss that ****er off the ball. Do have the ball? Go do horribly nasty things to him, score, then say things that would make Michael Jordan or Larry Bird blush.
No one on the US senior team except Dempsey has this attitude. The “attitude” people say we have by pointing out fouls or cards is merely reactionary – that of a child who got his toy taken away.
“That’s not what Jurgen or I am talking about and you know it.”
nope, i did not (and still don’t 100%) know that. i guess “nasty” (like “dirty”) just has a connotation that i don’t equate with “physical”, “tougher”, “dominating”, or “controlling”.
you seem to be taking this personally, and i don’t know why.
I think JK is spot on with all his comments here. I am really sick of seeing US players get pushed off the ball time and again. So many times, especially in these friendlies, you see the US not get the 50/50 balls. In this particular game I remember one play where the US was going down the left flank and I can’t remember who the US player was, but the defender pushed him off the ball with his forearm and the US player went down. No foul was called although it could have been. I think this is the sort of thing JK is talking about. By nasty he means tough. Instead of taking a push and going down, you should fight it off and stay on your feet and continue to fight for the ball. And JK is certainly right about how a lot of US players have fallen off in performance. F Johnson was one of the best US players in the WC, now he looked pretty pitiful, especially when he gave that ball away deep in his own corner and it led directly to a goal. Our defenders were getting beat all game; it was like they had lost a step. And they were getting beat by players who play in the English Championship, not the Premier league. No good excuses for this performance.
so American players aren’t tough now? seriously, that is a pile of stinking BS a mile high
of all the issues American players truly face this is NOT one of them!!!
There was a lot of running but not much tackling. They seemed a little too content to usher the ball onto the next man.
I have never — never — heard either Arena or Bradley blame the players the way Klinsmann does. I certainly have never heard either Arena or Bradley blame “World Cup fatigue” for a bad performance! This certainly doesn’t mean that players are immune to criticism, far from it. But Klinsmann uses his players as an excuse for his own deficiencies. Whoever posted the tweet that Brian Strauss mentioned in his story last year about the national team — the one saying that it’s easy to blame the players for your own mistakes — was absolutely correct.
Even with the United States being over-rated in the FIFA rankings, there is no way that the United States’ first team should lose by three goals to Ireland’s B and C players! The Americans’ tactical nous actually has decreased under Klinsmann’s watch! BTW, do you notice how scared the Americans play? They’re afraid of making mistakes. Why? Because they have no confidence either in themselves on the international stage nor in their coaching. Both directly reflect Klinsmann’s incompetence.
Klinsmann is too infatuated with his self-perceived identity as a “soccer rebel” to be of any use as a coach. Bayern Munich’s veteran-laden team saw that. The only reason — the only reason — he succeeded with Germany in 2006 is because Germany has, arguably, the world’s best development program (I’m sure the English would love to emulate it).
I remember reading about a study that said the success of football teams in England(?) or somewhere in Europe, came down to the quality of the players, and coaching made little difference. (Of course, tell that to Man United fans)
Anyway, I’m not impressed what I saw with the US team at the last World Cup. And apparently, nearly all of the American players in the MLS were ranked lower than some of the Germans who made the team that didn’t have any (or little) top league experience. That’s pretty bad. The US has a league run by foreigners, played by foreigners, and losing out to foreigners for national team spots. Whoopee!
And people still have a rosy picture of US world cup progress. Keep passing the kool-aid around.
i think we have the title of JK’s autobiographical self-help book following a USA run to the semifinals in 2018.
They did play nasty. What game was he watching? Nasty backline nasty goal keeper etc.
I’m not sure Hamid had a poor game. He made a couple of big saves and almost got to all of the goals, but i don’t know that you can fault him for any of them. Howard, Rimando, or Guzan probably saves one of the four goals, but I’m not sure Hamid was the problem yesterday. Back line.. for sure. Midfield.
i thought he should’ve come out earlier on the first goal, but it was besler and cameron who really f—ed that one.
the rest hamid couldn’t do a damn thing about.
Shout out to mix for the wet paper bag pressure he applied in the middle of the pitch after the turnover that led to the first goal.
Cameron had a pitiful game.
How do I put this, he made one nice save and the goals were all tough but pulling some of them back is what gets you the big bucks. He couldn’t cut off the breaks. He didn’t quite get to the free kick. A better keeper keeps it closer. We still probably lose and it’s not his fault.
agreed; hamid was solid, but not spectacular. if nothing else, he got some good experience without embarrassing himself.
I was waiting for someone to make a tackle that was not professional.