By FRANCO PANIZO
This was not the start the U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team had envisioned.
The U.S. was left with one point and fell to fifth place in Group A of the CONCACAF Championship on Sunday after suffering a 1-0 defeat to Panama in their second game of the tournament. Substitute forward Carlos Small scored the match-winner for Panamanians in the 78th minute, latching onto an aerial ball and sliding a shot past goalkeeper Zack Steffen.
The Americans had opportunities to pull ahead in the game at Independence Park in Kingston, Jamaica, but struggled to create much in the final third, just as they did in Friday’s opening 1-1 draw against Guatemala.
Tab Ramos’ side had an early header from Matt Miazga cleared off the goal line, but never came that close to seriously testing Panama goalkeeper Jaime De Gracia again.
Steffen had to bail out the U.S. from falling behind in the first half, as an aerial ball caused all sorts of trouble for Miazga and centerback partner Cameron Carter-Vickers. The ball was whipped in over the top and then laid off to an onrushing Ismael Diaz, whose ensuing low shot was saved by Steffen’s foot.
The U.S. had good spells of possession before and after that play, but too many times lacked sharpness with the ball once it entered the final third.
Unable to score from the run of play for the second straight game, the Americans paid the hefty price after another pass was clipped into the 18-yard box. Miazga and left back John Requejo were beaten on the play, which saw Small allow to the ball to bounce before slotting it into the back of the net.
The U.S. will next take on last-placed Aruba on Wednesday, and will need an improved showing and a victory to get back into the conversation for a World Cup qualifying spot. The Americans currently trail Guatemala, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Panama.
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What do you think of the Americans’ loss to Panama? What needs to be fixed in order for the results to come? Still see the U.S. qualifying for the World Cup?
Share your thoughts below.
I told all of you to watch out for Panama…they are cohesive and have dominated…they showed they are in another leavel…but NOOOO…THE COMMENTS before the tournament were unbeliavalble like if we were in the world cup already…
Klinsi isn’t the problem the problem is club teams and their kick and run format. Most of these players are already technically defecient and ingrained in the kick and run philosophy by the time they enter the U.S. system. It seems like the only technical players are first generation with immigrant fathers who played in real systems or street soccer.
Thank you. DITTO.
At this point, in this tournament, The USA needs 3 wins. No complaints about coaching, coach selection, Klinsmann’s impact or Sunil’s impact will have any effect until after the the tournament.
It is a question that if the USA gets 3rd in the group whether or not the coaching staff should be changed or if the selection criteria used to chose the players should be revamped, if JK’s seemingly for-life tenure should be ended before the elimination tournament for qualification or if Sunil should be unelected.
If the US fails in that qualification tournament, then all of the above will be in full bloom!
Dennis,
Sunil is the President, the face of the organization and certainly powerful and influential.
But he is not not omnipotent. And he only has one vote out of 15.
That’s right Jeff Agoos has as many votes as Sunil.
http://www.ussoccer.com/about/governance/board-of-directors
The first time that Sunil wanted to hire JK he could not get it done, in part because he could not get enough votes to sign off on JK’s contract.
So all that stuff you want done? You are going to need to get these enough votes out of these 15 people..
Is it true he worked at 7-11 before he got his present job?
It’s possible.
More likely you have heard suggestions that he should be working at a 7-11 which is no doubt your standard SBI racist reference to his Indian heritage.
Obviously US soccer is in an interesting time. There is more growth in the pro ranks than ever before, the quality of MLS is rising year after year, but collage soccer is still inadequate. The only way that the U.S. will start developing loads of battle tested u20 players ready for this type of tournament will be to build a pro u20 or u23 league for MLS prospects to cut their teeth in. MLS and USL are working on it. 5 us based MLS clubs will have full reserve teams this year. There are more to follow. Give it 4-6 years and our U20s will start looking like teams of young pros playing week in week out just like Euro and SA teams look. One coach won’t make that happen. Three or four training camps won’t make that happen. Only pro clubs developing this age bracket of player will. They are just starting to focus on this area in MLS. Give it a few cycles and we will be as good or better than Mexico.
So few of these U-20 players are college players it is impossible to blame that, in fact none of the players on the squad list a college, except for Moore they are all affiliated with pro teams. 12 of the 20 are with non-US teams.
Who needs the world up? We did well in the Milky cup!!!
The goal of US Soccer is not to win youth tournaments. Granted, we aren’t trying to lose them, either. But US Soccer is committed to a style of play and development that is geared more for the senior squad, which involves complicated play and movement, and lots of skill, instead of brute force, speed, and strength. For youth players still developing that intelligence and movement, there will be struggles. THAT’S OKAY. The point is to win Gold Cups and compete for World Cups, not win youth tournaments.
First of all, I have serious doubts about the wisdom of cultivating a one size fits all “American style” of play. Second, I haven’t seen any evidence of new “complicated play” and “lots of skill” in any of the USMNT squads.
Justin, you must be smoking JK’s jockstrap!
The continuation of the disaster known as the Klinsmann reign of the US soccer.
Exactly how has he failed. He lost out t a strong belgium tea in ot, after getting out of he group. He has posted the highest winning percentage for a year of any USMNT coach. He has won games in Europe, mexico, etc.. He won the gold cup, the Hex, …
Now he continueso pick strange lineups, and e ignores guys that most of us would like to see. Most dont se the progress they hoped for and JK promised. But USMNT does play out the back now. THere is progress, just not super fast.
Sorry my ipad typing is atrocious and i didnt proofread it.
Not your Ipad that is atrocious it is your logic
keep drinking the JK koolaid
“it is your logic”
What is atrocious about the logic?
“keep drinking the JK koolaid”
If you know anything about Jonestown, the source of this expression then you would know that to be accurate it was very likely both Flavor-Ade and Kool -Aid that were used.
Wake me up when JK is fired.
Fire Tabare!
Gulati continues with his failures!
Why didn’t we bring in Duane Holmes,
Gboly Arriybi, or Yomba. Also, can’t we bring in a new player since Flores is injured?
Perhaps they simply aren’t that good
Remind me how many times we’ve won this competition (HINT: ZERO)
I try not to stress ynt results, trends are more concerning. I see wave after wave of talented squads and good coaches just fall flat when it comes to ynt’s in real tournaments.
Glad this trend hasn’t carried over to the senior side, who are amazing over achievers!
Still 9 points up for grabs vs some minnows in this group. Figure it out! It takes some unconventionalism and grit to succeed in these situations.
“good coaches”
Which ones are good coaches?? I hope you don’t mean Tab Ramos. What evidence is there that he’s a good coach?
His coaching experience consists of
– a lousy academy team he was involved with
– the U-20s who looked terrible under him in 2013
– the USMNT which has looked terrible with him as assistant coach over the last six months
– the U-20s who look terrible so far in 2015
you got a point…
Porter, Rogden, others .. all “good” coaches or at least “hyped” coaches…
I mean I think they are great coaches until the results just don’t show up.
Panama’s coaching staff were all seasoned Argentinians. Costa Rica and now Honduras employing guys like Pinto.
it would be great to hire a real vet in American (not USA but this continent) football at some level in the USSF system.
seems like a trend of young coaches coming in with all kinds of excitement and promise but struggle to navigate tricky games vs gritty/passionate central american opponents.
That is a good point. US have too many “good old boys.” Need to get some new blood coaching the lower levels (and preferably South Americans) if we are ever going to change.
Wont happen under JKs watch. He wants subservient drones that follow his commands
Interesting.
Who did you have in mind?
It’s a common thing to see guys here on this forum flip out over poor results talking about they should fire the NT manager/technical director (or really anyone at the upper echelon of U.S. soccer) for another manager’s mismanagement of a younger team and/or then proceed to do the blame game and try to find someone else for the job because they think they’re that qualified to fix such a problem. Nothing new here. You know, it’s very difficult to put a bunch of guys learning different football styles from MLS, Mexico, and Europe into a cohesive playing unit, but I’m gonna let the higher ups decide Ramos’s fate after the tournament and will say nothing else more until then, thank you.
Aside from a few moments of flair, the Canaleros were the better athletes… faster, bigger, nastier and hustled a lot more than our tiny, minute players… Funny, the US used to be faster, bigger, nastier and all hustle….
for two consecutive games, a bunch of Guatemala and Panama kids have played better than our U-20 “professional” players. The budget of these two countries is probably 1/50 th of what the US team is. Very disappointing.
I noticed that also, we need more A.A. playing for us and less hispanics and anglos.
” we need more A.A. playing for us and less hispanics and anglos.”
Right that’s obviously the problem, because no hispanics played for Guatemala or Panama right??
Apparently US soccer seems to have given up going into the ‘barrios’ to look at real soccer players. By real I mean kids that have been playing as soon as they can walk and continue playing pick up games wherever they can, in the street,at the park,at the beach,etc. US soccer is content to look at college or ODP kids that can afford the fees that these ‘clubs’ ask. Until then, and with their lack of fundamentals and skills and so-so coaching, nothing will change. Guess they can always go to Germany and find some kid whose parents are us citizens.
None of these guys are in college or headed there, you cannot blame college soccer for this. Pay to play is still the model for youth soccer in the US. When thousands of 11 year-olds are identified and recieve better training free of charge, a few of them will become real international stars by the time they are 20. For now, those 1000s are simply the stars in what are mostly pretty bad games against kids who offer no challenge. The few who do get better experiences are so far ahead of those who do not that it is impossible to select against them. Only when those hordes have similar opportunities will the best players develop.
Less hispanics? LoL Anglos? Folks is funny.
Nothing like some good old fashioned racial engineering to form the team…. but…. if we’re going to go with archaic european tribes, I vote for something bada$$ like the Vandals or Visgoths. Didn’t they sack Rome? Yeah… glad we’re finally now getting to the key issues in player development. wtf…..
True but that’s because they are young and aren’t positionally intelligent enough yet to deal with that
Both outside backs were terrible.
Why doesn’t anyone ever blame MLS for our players being poor technically and tactically? Around the world the clubs develop the players. Not that Klinsmann, Ramos, etc are great managers, but they have the players 1/10 of the time their club coaches do. It’s ridiculous that they shoulder all the blame.
Most of these U20s are with foreign clubs. That’s why they get the insta-label “most talented pool we’ve had in years”. It’s like Klinsman scouring lower-division German players for our senior team. They MUST be better.
One of the few players with MLS experience, Thompson, has also been our most creative player over the first two games.
Why exactly do you want to blame MLS?
7 of the Under 20 roster are with MLS teams.
Of the guys who were involved tonight, Jamieson, Thompson, Acosta, Moore and Miazga are MLS products.
one word………..M.I.E.R.D.A
Ives, the word above should be removed for being vulgar and offensive. Sorry Javier, you should keep it clean.
I agree, Goya and Goya are very vulgar and offensive.
Oh what BS! If you watched tonight you would see Thompson killed many attacks. Even Doyle was saying the kid has great talent but has yet to do much with it so far. Our issues the past two games have been a bad system and a lack of execution from the players. It’s really that simple.
This has nothing to do with MLS v Europe or JK, Sunil, etc. Ramos’ system and lack of in game adjustment has been a problem while our stikers can’t finish anything right now. Couple that with a midifled not clicking in the failed game plan and you get these two results.
We need to win out from here and show the team can be flexible . Like they showed in 2013/2014.
Professional development needs to start as early here as it does in other countries. MLS needs to start in the 8-10 range. MLS development academies need to be a lot bigger. Having 60 kids for metropolitan areas with millions of people is ridiculous.
Lastly, if MLS wants to be only top division in US, then they should be responsible for developing the talent to fill the top division.
Last time Tab Ramos failed with the U-20s, Klinsmann rewarded him by appointing him assistant coach of the national team.
How will Ramos fail upwards this time, perhaps Klinsmann will place him in charge of all US youth development?
Winning is not what we are talking about
Based on some of the comments, everybody seems to think winning this tournament is our birthright and we should dominate no matter the year or circumstances. FYI, we haven’t won this tourney since ’07, and that was a different format. We did finish runner up 2 years ago, and have played arguably the tougher teams in the group. We can still get it together to make the playoff-spot, but we’ll probably need to win out vs Aruba, Jamaica, and Guatemala.
T&T. We played Guatemala already
I blame Gulatti. We have never failed so much with our youth teams than under “Mahatma.”
The US had successfully qualified for EVERY U-17 and U-20 World Cup until 2011. Gulati was around at US Soccer for decades before that… What year did Klinsmann get involved again?
I’m fairly certain that Gulati was given greater control sometime in the past few years, but Jurgie is just as much of the problem. Both need to go.
Keep trolling your own pieces, buddy!
“Gulati was given greater control sometime in the past few years”
You are “fairly certain” of that huh? He’s been head of US Soccer for the past decade. In the last few years he’s joined FIFA’s ExCo, but that has nothing to do with why the US youth teams suddenly suck.
In other words, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Don’t let that keep you from spewing your opinions, though, after all this is the internet!
Hey Bobb/Sunil’s mom, why don’t you actually address the lack of progress rather than attacking you little boy’s incompetence.
Gulati screwed up… by buying into Klinsmann’s snake oil salesman pitch. Now the youth national teams are heading towards their fourth major failure under Klinsmann’s tenure as technical director of US Soccer…
“The US had successfully qualified for EVERY U-17 and U-20 World Cup until 2011. Gulati was around at US Soccer for decades before that… What year did Klinsmann get involved again?”
JK was hired by the USMNT in August 2011.
The 2011 tournament ran from 28 March – 10 April 2011. I suppose you could blame the spectre of the impending hire of JK for that failure. Or you could blame Bob Bradley.
And the Under 20’s did make it again in 2013. And JK was around for that.
But, don’t worry, the US could fail this year so you still have a chance to blame JK for that . There is always hope.
The U-20s made it in 2013 and they were horrible, it was clear that Tab Ramos was in way over his head. Yet not only did Klinsmann keep him on as U-20 coach, he also promoted him to assistant coach with the full national team six months ago. Or should Klinsmann as technical director of US Soccer not be held responsible for any of that, either?
The U-17s failed for the first time under Klinsmann. Richie Williams kept his job.
The U-23s failed to even get out of their GROUP, they were nowhere close to qualifying for the Olympics. Caleb Porter was hand picked by Klinsmann to lead that team.
Heck of a job that Klinsmann guy is doing, fooling all you clueless Americans into thinking he knows more than you just because he is from Europe and talks like a motivational speaker.
I dunno Porter seems like he would have been a goos choices for that. Good College coach with college age players… on the surface its not a bad idea.
Fabuous post!
“Caleb Porter was hand picked by Klinsmann to lead that team.”
“hand picked”?
What makes you think that?
JK was hired in August of 2011. As senior team manager not yet Technical Director. .
Porter was hired in October of 2011, two months later.
Reyna was US Youth Technical Director at the time .
The articles at the time only say US soccer hired Porter but if there was one guy responsible, most likely it was Claudio.
JK stoutly defended Porter after the Olympic debacle but what did you expect him to do?
Porter did a crap job with that team and got quietly moved out but apparently other people like the guys at Portland to this day, think he can coach.
So maybe, that sort of failure does not mean you are a crap coach.
GW, don’t bother. Bobb has shown he has no idea what he is talking about.
For me and I don’t know the answer. But are the coaches playing to theses kids strengths or are they playing in the system that Klinsman wants all NT players to play in??
I don’t blame Tab at all. He is there probably following orders from the great JK. From what I hear, if they are playing like the senior team, then its on orders of JK.
I would say, Tab should have never gotten involved with USMNT because his opinions are probably overshadowed.
To ChrisTheLSUTiger,
I bet you never thought the criticism would get this wacky as exemplified by manny f here….. then again….
Lots of people on here going full retard.
+1000
I watched this game and what I saw was a lot of racing up and down the field but nothing, and I mean nothing, even resembling a controlled buildup. They seemed to have no idea how to create a shot and that is just wrong. Maybe this is JK’s top to bottom, playing the same system approach? or maybe this goes back to Tab. Loved him as a player but he’s out of time and out of excuses as a coach. He is not delivering anything and think maybe he should go. Take JK with you btw.
It’s interesting to continue to see comments about how this team is supposed to have talent and how the coaches are to blame for results… perhaps it’s our own evaluation of “talent” that should be re-evaluated… outside of a few nice touches by Thompson, i’ve seen NOTHING in two games that suggests that Tab has very much to work with…
Exactly. Ramos is having the same problems as as every USNT coach. Not enough talent.
As much as journos and fans say otherwise our players are just not that good and it shows agains motivated teams with good coaches.
true, but the talent is good, the style of coaching is poor. A coach can FORce kids not to do things like having the goalie punt, not allow any balls into space. not allow any high ball crosses or you will be substituted out. You must play to the feet, You m,ust ONly play give and go. break the cycle of kick and run. It will never happen. The poison of old style english stuck in is chronic. Everyone knows chronic is harder to cure than acute.
Except that the U.S. did NOT play long ball in the same tourney in 2013, and that team was also coached by Ramos.
People really have short memories.
Maybe you need to re-watch the final they played vs Mexico. That was the most confident and technical I’ve ever seen a U.S. team play el Tri. Those guys were playing toe to toe with the Mexicans, in Mexico.
and they lost 3-1
As I recall, the game went to extra periods, the US had lost several starters to injuries and the game was played in Mexico. If you watched the game, the US was on a par with Mexico and the score was not indicative of the difference between the teams.
Let’s call the position goal keeper, or keeper for short. And if you want to abbreviate, GK is ok. But please, no more goalie. please!!!
Thank you!!!
How do you know the talent is good, Doc?
Is it too late to hire Jesse Marsch?
It looks like it is time for Ali Curtis to take over, he has a 600 page plan to fix US soccer…
Ali Curtis went to Duke. He knows waaaay more than you. Probably as much as Alexi Lalas.
I think the blame for this one really goes to tab ramos here. How in the world does he trot out pretty much the same 11 that played 2 days ago in this kind of heat. The last 30 or so minutes there was just nothing in the tank, nothing to push forward with. Everyone wants to talk about the depth of this team, well lets see it. Also as normal panama was embarrassing. Their flopping and winning all game is sickening. The ref also played right into it, did anyone get carded in this one? I kept tally, there were six, count em, six yellow cards that were not given to panama players for fouls while we were trying to break. In every other competition in the world, a tactical foul on the break is a yellow, except for this cigar rolling referee. Now as for the players:
Steffen- We should really calm down on this kid, i think he has a bright future but he’s not the best thing since sliced bread. Hasnt been tested much and has failed when forced into action
Moore- Impressed again, looks like a solid prospect
Hyndman- A step above anything else on the pitch either game
Gooch- Unbelievably slow on the ball and slowed down pretty much every attack
Spencer- Looked more like an NBA center from lithuania, than a footballer.
Jamieson IV- pure crap on a stick, galaxy fanboys can stay on their rocker here, was truly awful, wasteful with his rip and poor on the ball.
Steffen has tools, but may be a bit of a head case. I hope that get him right at Freiburg.
Cameron-Vickers is real. Remember that he’s young for this competition.
Moore is good going forward, but needs to find a team so that he can develop the rest of his game (defending).
Hyndman has the technical tools to be good and it seems like they’re going a good job with him at Fulhum. I hope that they can stay out of League 1.
Canouse I’d like to see more of.
Thompson is the best of the small attacking players IMO, but he has to find his best role.
Gaul could be good, but I think that he’s best when played wide.
Sadly, those are the only guys from this cycle who seem to have a chance to be senior internationals.
Agree on CCV
I actually thought moore was pretty solid on both sides of the ball. Looked very fit at the end.
It’s just dumbfounding because this team based on their club situations are so talented. Maybe not the star power of the 2013 team with gil but still tons of talent top to bottom. They just dont look 90 minutes fit.
Hard to defend this result. Tab is mismanaging the team coupled with a lack of team work going forward. Poor finishing too.
Agree…. this tournament is showing why Ramos just doesn’t have it as a head coach. He might have a role somewhere in US soccer, but he is crashing and burning right now.
The team just seems to have no tempo. Too many players trying to do it all them self, with very little of it actually coming off.
Man they looked like crap. How can we do so bad against these tiny countries?
Maybe they all had coaches that told them to kick the ball as hard as they can whenever they get it.
I really liked the punts upfield from the keeper to the short striker. Those were a good idea.
I am sorry but you are wrong. This is primitive, college type english B division soccer, WE must get away from goalie punting. There is no way except possesion with the goalie distributing the ball with a throw. The weakness of ALL american goalies is their below par distribution which takes them all out of the top tier, Just compare Neur to Howard and you will see what I mean.
Dr K. I believe that Increase0 was being sarcastic. So I think he agrees with you, and I do as well, the long boot from the keeper can work on occasion, but it cannot be what we regularly do, we must distribute from the back.
I hoped the “short striker” part would make it clear.
Thanks for being polite Dr.K. Many wouldn’t be.
Dude, I think he was being sarcastic. -_-
Dr.K doesn’t even watch the matches…
After watching the game, you it was obvious which team was ready to play. Panama outhustled the USA to everything. The USA is full of attacking players, but too many times, when not having the ball, several were just ball watching.
*you could tell it was obvious
That’s because the McDonald boyz lack cohones. They play like girls when they see chorizo. No seriously, they are scared of the Panamanians.
I feel bad for these kids. They have no clue. What they play is some alien college ball amalgam of the real thing. with proper training and a de-emphasis on size and athleticism/workrate, they might have the time to show some skill. Just think, no backheels, no nutmegs, no stepovers, all game long, just plain vanilla select-team type boring, predictable soccer. Every kid is a clone of every other kid. Whats wrong? whats going on?
Gooch tried to score with a back heel. So there’s that. But I think flair is not our problem. We can’t even do the simple stuff.
Sad but true
agree…
Dr.K they have de-emphasized athleticism and this what we have. We started 4 attacking players (Thompson, Gooch, Arriola and Flores) who are basically the same. All are technically good, but small and not particularly quick/fast. All 4 are Sunil Gulati/Paul Gardner type players.
Of course the two athletic attacking players who we have, Jameison and Spencer could trap a bag of wet cement.
This is team of modest talent, that is poorly chosen and lack preparation.
Panama’s players were on the average bigger and more physical than our kids. They won every head ball and most every 50 50 ball. They were engaged and realized that the other players with the same shirts on had a common purpose. We were unprepared. lackluster, timid, unathletic and could not string more than 2 or 3 passes together in second half. The game should have been 2-0 Panama.
I have been saying this for years… we need experienced managers! Who the F#&* is Tab Ramos as coach! As a nation we need to harbor our talent with the best coaching out there… Ramos, Williams and any other inexperienced coach, get them out of here… #USMNT @USMNT
While that is true… youth national team coach is not really a job that draws in the best coaching. Its not well paid and its got no flash.
What they need is guys with more experience training youth teams, which kinda dont exist in the US.
Hire Oscar Pareja from Dallas…..
I concur …
“youth national team coach is not really a job that draws in the best coaching. Its not well paid and its got no flash”…
We are the United States of America, its time to inve$t in our future if we want to be a competing country with other nations… loosen up the pockets and bring in some experienced managers, host them, have them tour and experience our country’s amenities; who would not want to live in Los Angeles or Florida (youth Camp sites).
Thanks Aaron and Doug Svuba. You guys are right on target. The change has to be made at the top. Gulati, Klinsmann, Williams and Ramos are clueless. The whole Federation is clueless. We need Coaches with vision who are able to evaluate and mold the available talent in a Cohesive Team. The USA is out coached and outclassed each time the Team steps on the field. Klinsmann punished the players from the last Olympic Team because they did not qualify. As a result most of these guys have not gotten a look from the Senior Team. Let’s see what happen with this Team which his chosen boy is in charge of. Good players don’t often make good coaches.
Yes, let’s fire everybody in sight, shall we, Chicken Little?
Let’s become the first FA to fire the federation head and senior team head coach over a pair of bad U-20 perofrmances, immediately after the senior team cleared the Group of Death, finished top of the Hex, and won the Gold Cup with ease. Because, after all:
“The USA is out coached and outclassed each time the Team steps on the field”
For delusional clowns like you, whole thing his obviously going to h*ll because the senior team couldn’t play like 1970 Brazil against teams like Germany and Beglium, and incurred the humiliation of single-goal losses when they really should have just dominated, given our combined $30 million pack of players out there. Right?
Maybe you should judge the senior team by our A-team’s performances against our peers, rather than the very best teams on the planet. Perhaps you missed the WCQ against Mexico in Columbus, where we tactictally and technically played El Tri right off the pitch, in a very one-sided match. Perhaps you missed the circles we ran around Nigeria (another team that qualified for the knockout round) not two weeks before the WC started. Were we “out coached and out classed” on those days?
Absurd revisionism.
If Ramos is doing a bad job, then so be it… we fire him or we cut him back to being an assistant. But all this “off with everbody’sheads” nonsense is just rubbish
Of, course, I’m sure you have all kinds of great replacements in mind, right? Mourinho? Ancelotti? They are lining up around the block to coach in CONCACAF. I forgot.
*Starts slow clap.
Well, it should be noted that the examples you give aren’t exactly good measures of the team’s performance and how it really squares up to its rivals, even in Concacaf. I seem to remember a penalty that wasn’t called for Mexico when they played in Azteca that even the US commentators agreed should’ve been called. And Mexico fielded a B squad at the Gold Cup while it was experiencing complete upheavel at the national squad level. Oh, and the game in the snow against the Ticos who then went on to beat the heck out of the US in Costa Rica and were quarterfinalists at the WC. Seems to me that you’re a bit of a revisionist yourself, only focusing on what you wanted to see from the performances over the last couple of years.
The US is a good team. This U20 team isn’t playing well and, in fact, the U20s have been fairly lackluster for a little while now. Folks on here are overreacting, but everyone knows they should be doing a bit better given the quality on the field.
However, don’t use revised history to make it seem like the US was on a great run of form when it actually benefited plenty from some favorable conditions and then did as expected in the WC. Yes, as expected. They weren’t going to beat Germany. Should’ve beat Ghana. and Portugal was not the world beater that folks made them out to be, even with Ronaldo. With the injuries they didn’t have the depth to be a contender. Group of Death? Try Uruguay, Costa Rica, England and Italy.
Okay now this is more reasonable… and I respect it. We have had our share of luck and our story isn’t a nice as Costa Rica’s right now. It will all play out over the next two summers, and if we cr@p the bed the way that Ramos’s teams have maybe it’s time to get serious about the management and strategy. I just don’t think the sky is falling. Our teams have been ready to roll in June, when things matter.
+ 1
Excellent post!
Robbo,
I could’t agree with you more. Gulati has advanced through the utter ineptitude of US Soccer. He’s a clueless clown who has never coached or done anything related to player development, but always thinks that he’s the smartest guy in the room. He and his ilk of MBA types are a cancer on sports in this country. And yes I have met him, have coached and have an advanced degree just like him.
The rest of the gang are former players and that’s how they’ve gotten their jobs. Jurgie is not highly thought of in Germany for good reason. Actually a lot of people there hate him. Ramos in not way deserves to be U20 coach.
None of this would be tolerated in countries like Germany or Italy where you have to prove yourself as a coach.
+ 1
Another trolling bozo. Your suggestion for Gulati’s replacement? Didn’t think so….
Another knucklehead with the Donald Trump “You’re Fired!” mentality.
If the horse can’t jump the hurdle, shoot the horse.
Which is a great plan. As long as you have an infinite number of horses. And an infinite amount of time.
Exactly how many times have you been in the same room with Gulati?
If the answer is what i think it is, than you are guilty of the same thing you acuse him of. What experience do you have?
I am not saying we dont have the right to question these guys, but to speak in htperbole helps and accomplishes notning.
Full disclosure. I “was in the room” with Gulati once and that was in the first year of MLS. So yes pretty long ago, BUT my impression was very much “who put this guy in charge?”
So please elucidate me regarding his qualifications to be making high level decisions regarding the game. He has none as far as I can tell other than possibly having Paul Gardner on speed dial.
Right now were are wheel spinning in on all levels and Gulati’s guy Klinsmann is in conflict with the chairman of the country’s professional league.
Yesterday’s match was a symptom of the dysfunction within US Soccer.
Fair enough. You have seen him in action, somewhat. So i willdefer to your knowledge of his ego, since i have none. But i just think we are looking at bad results in terms of scores, in games that dont matter. Youth tourneys, friendlies the first fall of a cycle,etc… Dont these exist to look at new players, get youth involved in tne system, and try different approaches?
That being said, i am not a Sunil fan, but i do think JK catches some undeserved grief from the message boards. To be fair, he does some off the wall stuff too..
Ramos needs to go. There is too much talent on the USA roster for the performances we are seeing to be acceptable. He is simply not getting the best out of what he has to work with, time to go in a new direction.
I disagree about the talent.
Too many people (especially our coaches) think that simply because these guys are training in a Europe they must be stats on this level.
I guess that you might be right.
a.) Ramos is not the right man for the job
or
b.) What we have been told about how talented these guys actually are has been overblown
Its probably a combination of both
This team looks disgustingly similar to our senior team: pacy and athletic, but lack any type of offensive creativity and flare.
I thought this team was supposed to chalked full of talented attacking players? #notimpressed
Could not have said it better. If this is the US future, it looks mighty bleak. Thank god Aruba is in their group.
It’s also supposed to be chocked full of professional players. The way this team is playing we probably would have been better off with a college all star team. It is time to panic.
This Is Embarassing.
What chance do we have now of advancing?
Decent chance because still only have to finish top 3 to advance. 1st each group wins auto spot. Likely won’t get that. Next two plus other group’s next two play off for two more slots. We are just one win back with three to play but would need to pick it up and maybe win out. I expect a W against Aruba and then they need similar results from TnT and Jamaica. I think they’ve played the hardest two in the group. But that’s no excuse. We’re supposed to be the big dog and I get frustrated with “it’s just two games” or “one team” type talk.
Agree. They still have a shot, but T&T and Jamaica aren’t pushovers. And Jamaica will be just as motivated, or even more so, as they have to put in a good performance at home. And we all know that Concacaf teams are all motivated by the prospect of beating one of the big dogs? Just seeing the Panamanian coach celebrate you’d think they’d won the tournament.
The other big dog, Mexico, may soon find itself in the same situation – they still have to play Honduras, Canada and El Salvador.
And that is something that needs to be stressed – these U.S. youth, with a few exceptions, have yet to face the harsh environment and ultra-motivated rivals that they’ll face in Concacaf. This is a first for a few of them and they’ll be the stronger for it going forward.
Cue total panic meltdown in 3… 2… 1…
When do you expect for people to show concern, when we are out of the tournament? I agree, panicking is not the answer, but nor is being complacent to the status quo. Questions need to be asked about Tab Ramos ability to coach this team, his tactical approach as far as subs and certain players playing out positions. We also have to consider, that we have not had a U20 team that we can proud of, in years. So we can say not to panic, but changes need to happen, because with the amount of talent we had on the field, we shouldn’t have been struggling to get points on the board against these 2 teams.
Ha that’s funny you did exactly what he said you would
It’s not like the careers and professional mindsets of Adu, Agudelo, Bunbury, Shea, Agbossomunde and others was hampered by missing out on those youth tourneys and Olympics. Those guys turned out great with absolutely perfect club situations!
Had you read my post, you wouldn’t have jumped to that conclusion, but if it like I can be unconcerned and we could just say that everything is fine and continue to accept the current situation with soccer in this country.
Why do we still have Tab Ramos coaching any US program?
The buck does not stop at Ramos
Bing, bing, bing we have a winner. Sunil Gulati is the root cause of this mess and should never be allowed any aspect of the game in this country again.
+1
Jurgen Klinsmann is the technical director of US Soccer. Gulati’s biggest mistake was giving so much power to a snake oil salesman.
+1. We have all heard this a million times, but worth repeating that JK’s reputation in Germany (especially in Munich) was irreparably damaged by his coaching style and technical abilities. What a deal Sunil and USSF gave him – you certainly can’t blame him for taking what no other credible federation would offer him. Incredible that Sunil seems to lack any serious accountability for his performance and decisions….
^+1
“Incredible that Sunil seems to lack any serious accountability for his performance and decisions”
Probably because he was elected into this unpaid position without opposition last time. I doubt he’s going to fired by the electorate of State association hacks when they could give FA about anything other than their own fiefdoms. Secretary General Dan Flynn is the one who could get fired, but once again, US Soccer is making pretty good money, and not qualifying for a youth tournament isn’t going to really rattle the cages of the people who actually hire the folks at Soccer House. Don’t qualify for the actual WC and that following election could be interesting.
I do agree the Jurgen-rot the NT coaching ranks have is ultimately the fault of Gulati & Flynn, but it’s funny that the anti-Sunil crowd had always blamed him for not getting JK earlier. Now that lot is crying for his head over actually giving them what they wanted.
From 1997-2009 we had a string of 7 straight qualifications. From 1997-2007 the US always qualified from its group to the knockout stage at the U-20 world cup. The 2009 and 2013 teams were eliminated at the group stage at the world cup. The 2011 team did not make it. This team may not make it. You’re justifying diminished expectations under claims of “rationality” when a rational review of the facts would suggest slippage.