By DAN KARELL
Plenty of blame has been flying around from coast to coast, trying to find a reason for the U.S. Men’s National Team’s recent second-half struggles.
Even with a nearly full-strength starting eleven last Wednesday in Chile, the U.S. wilted in the summer heat of Rancagua, giving up two second-half goals to fall, 3-2, to Chile. The defeat left the Americans with just one win in their last nine games.
On Monday, U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann said he believed that a lack of player education and fitness during the MLS offseason were the main culprits to the low run of form.
“It’s an educational topic we try to talk them through,” Klinsmann told MLSSoccer.com “You’ve got to understand again to take these things in your own hands, and whatever you lack in that moment, when these phases happen, that you have to work yourself back: ‘OK, I understand that I’m not where I should be now … for sure I’m behind now, so I’ve got to get myself back into pole position,’ and that’s what they’re going through right now.
“They’ve lost their pole position because [the World Cup] was a lot for them. [And] our players are not yet in an environment where they actually get put into line right away.”
It could be argued that the talent drop in the Chile game was more immense than in the past, as Klinsmann gave second-half looks to national team newcomers Gyasi Zardes and Wil Trapp. But with those players in preseason and out of rhythm, it would have been hard even for the highest-level of players to have a standout performance in their first game in three months.
“It’s difficult for me now to get them out of vacation. Some of them played their last game in October. In October!” Klinsmann said. “I want to help them get back into shape, get back into rhythm, but, oh, by the way, we’re going to play [two friendlies]. So some learned over time and prepared themselves really well, and some don’t have that knowledge yet.
“They don’t have that ‘oh, OK, at the beginning of December, go to Athletes’ Performance in Phoenix and get myself fit.’ That culture we don’t have yet. What the other sports are doing really well, they use their preparation for preseason, four to six weeks prior to going into preseason with their NBA team, NFL team of whatever, they go to these fitness institutes and they get themselves fit.”
The U.S. returns to action on Sunday at Stub Hub Center with a friendly against Panama.
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What do you think of Klinsmann’s comments? Think he makes valid points? See the team’s struggles being more his fault than the fault of his players?
Share your thoughts below.
He is also homophobic based on his non-response to Robbie Rogers.
1. he did respond 2. you realize JK and Rogers are very close, right?
so yeah…no homophobia there.
Klinsmann had to be called out in a book and then questioned publicly before he would even speak to Rogers.
“It really saddened me that even after I wrote to him twice, he was silent.” — Robbie Rogers
Sorry, but there is probably only one explanation for this.
I really don’t mind the long layoff in non WC years. Soccer players get a lot of wear and tear and they should seize the opportunity to rest. The “German Way” if fine when you have lots and lots of top quality players and you can just call next man up when one of them gets used up.
The US need to play different formations. You have to be able to match up against different teams. So I don’t blame him for that. He’s absolutely righ on what he says. This message is for MLS as well as the players. He can’t compete with the ret of the world if the US will continue to operate on a different schedule. The Euros, Copa America, and WC are all designed to have the players in their best form entering in the tournaments. MLS based players are 2 months into their season during the WC. We are usually in good shape for qualifying since the calender begins in October (i believe)
See, this is why Jurgen is a marvelous choice for US coach — 100+ comments about almost nothing. What better way to sustain interest in US soccer! Gulati is a lot more devious than we give him credit for.
Fact: five of the six goals we conceded during the WC were in the second half, so you can’t blame that on pre-season fitness. Truth of the matter is that is a real issue and a continuing trend that needs to be addressed. There’s not much klinsmann can do about the players’ fitness in the short time that he has them so why not focus on a game plan that everyone understands especially with so many new players? Am I the only one that thinks other coaches do a far better job of putting their players in a position to succeed while also having everyone on the same page? For what it’s worth every tactical analyst I read has never had a good thing to say about klinsmann’s tactical choices. I’m not saying he needs to be fired but if the team doesn’t perform well at the gold cup his tenure needs to reevaluated.
Jürgen Out
There is no better than Klinsmann at assigning blame to others!
I find it absolutely amazing that JK NEVER accepts responsibility for anything that ends up badly. Contrast that with coach Pete Carroll who immediately took all the heat off his offensive coordinator by saying ” we made that call together” Didn’t look that way when he threw his headset after the interception but he put the blame on his own back. Point is, JK will NEVER take the heat and will throw his players under the bus every time his tactics or line ups fail. At some point, you cannot keep blaming fitness or any other number of excuses and have to accept the responsibility when you come up short.
Could it be that two starters, Shea and Altidore, had about a week in camp and little to no game minutes in England prior to camp. Im no super soccer brain but it doesnt seem that could have hoped to be even close to game shape. Its amazing that he chose to start them then blamed players for not being in shape.
Be a man JK and take the heat for your teams performance. After all, you pick the players that are to be on the field. If you pick the wrong ones, take the fall
Kind of strange you pick out the 2 guys who scored as being a weak point. Perhaps they feel off in the second half but there some other names I’d pick out as really being a problem before them.
Kind hard to take this seriously. For most of my life, the US has been known as one of the most fit teams in the world. We were at our best compared to other teams in the dying minutes of games. Under Klinsmann, it’s been the opposite – we get scored on relentlessly late. Not to mention all those hamstring injuries at the World Cup. Klinsmann has always been known for overtraining his players. He needs to wake up and realize the problem is him.
He’s not going to wake up. There are so many others who can be blamed!
Everything right now is about Klinsmann gaining information he can use towards building the team for the Gold Cup. Giving formations and players a chance to see if they can play a role. That’s where this team will be judged. I couldn’t care less about these friendlies.
Not saying JK is totally wrong, but if in every interview you do, you blame the players for losses and bad play and take no responsibility as a coach, you will eventually lose them. These guys are professional athletes with pride in what they do; they do not want to hear that everything is always their fault. JK needs to be careful not to lose them, which happens all the time to coaches who constantly berate and blame players in the media without also showing personal accountability. I don’t care if it is the German way or whatever way; JK has failed before, so his methods are not infallible.
I would not call JK totally wrong, but I do really worry that he will lose those players who feel his criticisms are unwarranted and that he does not have their best interest at heart. I cannot imagine players like Wynalda, Mathis perfoming at their best for him. We all know how it affected Donavon (though Donavon bears some responsibility, JK did not make things better and it is the coach’s job to get the best from his players, especially from his best players.)
Bradely had surgery and many wondered if he would even be ready for the camp, to see him fade in the second half was no surprise. Similarly for Jozy and Shea who while training had not been getting (m)any games.
If you look closely at EPL players, over a season, you will notice a lot of them get thinner over the course of the season, sometimes players look truly gaunt by seasons end. It is very difficult to train in the absence of competitive fervor to get to that lean, mean look. It is part of what people mean by “game shape”. Expecting the players to come into the camp 2 or 3 months after their last game without significant de-training is simply put unrealistic. No EPL coach really expects his players to look that sharp in August, JK is being unrealistic if he thinks MLS players will be sharp after a couple weeks in camp in January.
This guy accepts blame less than Lance Armstrong….
I don’t think the fact we lost with a B team to a Chile B team is a big deal, nor do I care that we lost some of the friendlies since the World Cup. Friendlies don’t matter anyway. If anything, I wish that Klinsmann took the opportunity to try out more new players instead of the usual fringe players that are either on their way out (Wondo) or probably not good enough (Shea, Wood).
I guess the thing that concerns me is that I’ve been watching the USMNT for a long time, and the team doesn’t seem any better than it was 10 years ago, regardless of the coach or players playing in Europe. We’re a decent second-tier team and seem no closer to reaching the first tier than we were in 2006. Anyway, I hope that changes.
Stop complaining about the MLS schedule and the layoff. Euro clubs do NOT play 10-11 months. The stop in mid May and do not resume until mid August. That is a 3 month layoff. MLS is Dec. Jan. Feb. so it is the same amount. Plus Bundesliga and other Euro leagues other than EPL take a winter break as well. So just stop the whining and the constant excuses!
I think everyone agrees that the long MLS off-season is not ideal for domestically based players, so yes, that’s an issue. However, it’s not the only issue and it’s not an issue that other leagues don’t have. It’s a timing issue, where this camp and these friendlies are not at an ideal time for some guys in our player mix. Other countries have games that fall at inopportune times for them as well, just fewer, because they have a shorter off window. That said, fitness in general has really never been any kind of chronic issue for the US national team. It has long been a strength and I don’t say that based on what might be backhanded compliments, etc. I can say it because I’ve been around long enough to consistently have seen it.
It’s a good thing to try and work out better ways to keep MLS players fit during their off-season, but it not a general lack of education on fitness, etc. and it’s not what we(he) should be pinning this performance on. It’s a contributing factor due to timing, but there are several other factors. Experimenting with new, young players. Moving players to new positions. Trying out new formations. Starting players that can’t get a competitive game in for their clubs and haven’t for quite some time, etc. These all contributed to the performance more than fitness IMO, particularly in a friendly where you have more subs to use to address the fitness issue. Whether you choose to use those subs wisely and whether or not you chose the right players for the roster and the starting lineup to give yourself a good chance for a positive result are key to the fitness piece, but it certainly could have been mitigated. What he really should say is that this was somewhat of an understandable issue given the timing, one we should work to address, but what really happened is that we were trying to get a look at some different players and a new formation and we lost. We lost and that’s okay, because the result wasn’t so important here.
Additionally, I’d like to know why people keep suggesting this was nearly a first choice lineup for the US.
– Brek Shea hasn’t been a first choice player for the US or club for quite a while
– Birnbaum’s first appearance
– Bobby Wood has been getting looks lately, but hasn’t been playing a lot for his club and I can’t imagine calling him a first choice player for the national team yet.
– Jones at CB is a new experimental even if he’s a first choice player
– Yedlin is becoming a regular, so you can argue that one, but it’s not like he’s been a guaranteed starter.
– Rimando is a regular callup and great piece of the team, but he’s been our #3 keeper, not our #1
– Mix has also been a regular call up and may be on the verge of becoming a first choice player, but he played 0 minutes at the WC and if Jones wasn’t playing CB, would Mix start? At least arguable.
Yes, we had several regular starters and this was a B/C squad for Chile, but it’s definitely overstating things (and I’ve seen it multiple times) to say this was some kind of full strength squad. It was an experimental lineup with a handful of regular starters.
We need more good sense comments like this. People, it was a meaningless friendly thousands of miles away, using a new formation, with players out of season, may of them who don’t usually play for the team. Why should people be surprised that they lost? I was surprised that they took the lead twice.
I have no problem with 3-5-2, works best with current cycle of players.
Donovan gave us the Gold Cup, in 2013.
Davis been mediocre with USNT under Arena, Bradley and Klinsmann. Davis having assists vs Panama and the Azeris isn’t great resume for 30’s something player. I rather Corona or Shea over Davis. YES, Shea plays well coming off the bench but a mediocre starter.
the fact is that JK, as a whole, is doing just fine. a 15-10-8 record in friendlies with some major first-time achievements is still in his favor. he got us the Gold Cup. we had the best record in US history in 2012. we clinched 1st in the Hex like we should. we did so by tying the record for most points ever in the Hex. then he got us out of a GoD we “had no chance in”.
point is, this guy has gotten the job done as a whole. we should question things like this whole fitness problem, and player selection (like Wood, or Wondo/Davis over LD, etc.) but lets keep it rational. if, come the Gold Cup, we don’t win it and don’t even make the final, we have a problem. we need to clinch the Confeds Cup and winning the Gold Cup is the best way to do that. it needs to happen.
I agree with fitness and being without rhythm didn’t help USNT, but players like Woods and Wondo are horrible forwards and no business with USNT, playing players like Jones out natural position made things worse, and Shea isn’t 90 minute player.
Like when played some C Viking national teams before bigger game, it help players get their rhythm back and develop understanding with each other. And USSF should program 3-4 friendlies beginning of year (JAN-FEB), so players could get rhythm & fitness back.
There are no big games right now . These games exist to make changes and give young guys a chance. Thus the 352. i am not sure why he went back to 442 in the second half. Maybe to help the new guys coming on have an easier adjustment, or maybe just to try to win with something familiar…
We need more games against B or C teams during Winter Break (NOV-FEB), so USNT rookies develop understand different systems or formations, not lose rhythm of play and fitness, and USNT-rookies develop and which players have the best chemistry with each other. Mainly because MLS break is too long.
The problem is timing. You can’t expect players to go into camp in the time between Thanksgiving and New Years when it’s their off season. So you have January and early February and then MLS starts its pre-season training.
We had friendlies during DEC, that’s when Donovan first cap. We also almost two weeks from friendly to the next friendly.
Because Klinsmann only has two players on his roster that can play the wing positions in a 3-5-2 (Shea and Yedlin, and obviously Shea is not 90 fit). In the second half they were too tired attack, so they had to sit back and pick their spots. If Klinsmann had brought the personel to play a 3-5-2, he could have stuck with it. But, in typical Klinsmann fashion, he spent time training in a formation, but failed to plan in case of fatigue or injury (We all knew Shea would need a break, so that is all on Klinsmann). It is the same thing from when Jozy went down against Portugal. He made half a plan and went forward without a back-up plan. Here he does it again, but then blames the failure on the players lack of education. Pot, meet kettle.
I’m not a fan of 3-5-2 in general and definitely not with the USMNT squad. Ideally, I think wingbacks should be fullbacks who can get forward, not wingers/midfielders who then have to be relied upon to defend. The perfect example of this is Cafu and Roberto Carlos for the old Brazil teams. Obviously, we don’t have anyone close to that level but it’s pretty obvious that Shea at wingback isn’t going to work. Yedlin, Johnson, maybe Chandler, Beasley before he retired – those guys are potential wingbacks if JK stays with this system. Back in the old days, wingbacks were fitter than everyone else and could just run up and down the field all day. Now, everyone is fit. I just don’t think it works.
Plus, I just hate watching it, I hate it even more than 4-3-3. Guess I’m just more of a 4-4-2/4-2-3-1 kind of guy.
If you have no possession, and spend most of the game running after the ball, you’re going to get tired.
Exactly.
just saying; 47% of possession isn’t bad for an away team. still having sustained and productive possession would go a long way. our players were just not at that level yet; preseason vs. midseason.
W 2/1/2014 US 2, Korea Republic 0
L 2/6/2013 US 1, Honduras 2
D 1/29/2013 US 0, Canada 0
W 1/25/2012 US 1, Panama 0
W 2/21/2012 US 1, Venezuela 0
D 1/22/2011 US 1, Chile 1
L 1/23/2010 US 1, Honduras 3
W 2/11/2009 US 2, Mexico 0
W 1/24/2009 US 3, Sweden 2
D 2/6/2008 US 2, Mexico 2
W 1/19/2008 US 2, Sweden 0
W 2/7/2007 US 2, Mexico 0
W 1/20/2007 US 3, Denmark 1
W 2/10/2006 US 3, Japan 2
W 1/29/2006 US 5, Norway 0
D 1/22/2006 US 0, Canada 0
W 2/9/2005 US 2, Trinidad and Tobago 1
D 1/18/2004 US 1, Denmark 1
W 2/12/2003 US 2, Jamaica 1
L 2/8/2003 US 0, Argentina 1
W 1/18/2003 US 4, Canada 0
In games played in January and the first half of February, from 2003 through 2014, the US had 13 wins, 5 draws and 3 losses. You can question the opposition (Although World Cup qualifiers against Mexico are about as competitive as it gets), but fitness does not appear to be the issue. I’m sure it doesn’t help, but it is clearly not the reason.
Klinsmann’s Janearly Feb record is 3-2-1.
Correction, Klinsmann’s Janearly Feb record is 3-1-2 (W-D-L).
Well the qualifiers are easy to erstand. Most of the starters for the Nats were in Europe, as opposed to now. The other opposition were very weak.
That 2013 loss at Honduras had 9 starters playing in Europe at the time, and they looked more tired than I have ever seen the US team.
What makes a difference is the year and if it is a FIFA date. If you check, the US did better during WC years because they were getting serious in WC preparation. Other important factors are strength of opponent and venue (home or away). This kind of gross analysis proves and shows nothing since you leave out very important variables. As a social scientist and someone who used to do analysis for a living, I know what I’m talking about.
I really don’t understand how you draw the connection that this data shows that “fitness doesn’t appear to be the issue”. What you need to be able to show – if you are using results as the metric- is the match fitness of the US lineup deployed in the game compared to the match fitness of the opposition and/or previous US sides used during this period.
Here is an example:
If you take the US starting XI against Chile, and looked at when each player played his last 90 minute performance in a competitive match, I believe you’d find that the average “lay-off time” was about 2-2.5 months. No surprise, given most everybody involved was an MLS player or out-of-favor Euro-based player. But clearly, a 2.5 month layoff is obviously not grounds for “match fit”.
By contrast, the Chile side probably would have an average “lay-off time” of about 1-2 weeks, since these are domestic players in a currently active league.
Alternatively, you could attempt to show that previous US sides had also been similarly out-of-shape, but had managed superior results against in-shape teams. This would obviously require a lot of work (although it could certainly be done, as the data is there). But I don’t think you’d find what you want. Fact is, fitness matters, and it’s usually very easy to demonstrate.
JK’s name is going to be larger than an elephantiasis infected limb in the SBI Leading Topics section of this site because of this click bait.
He’s played a lot of experimental lineups and tried a lot of different players, which makes sense at the beginning of a new cycle. I think that has a lot more to do with the poor run of results than lack of education. Maybe in the Chile game they ran out of gas late but I don’t think that’s the case with the other games.
yep, and it’s a perfectly reasonable excuse. not sure why he didn’t just go with that one.
No matter how right he might be Klinsmann need to realize he cannot say those things in public. Our fans are just not mentally strong enough to take the criticism
the self-loathing usa fan is one of the stranger internet phenomena i’ve seen. i wonder if other countries have those, too?
Hahaha… well-observed. I don’t think it’s universal, but I do think American soccer fans tend to take cues from England, where unqualified support of the team/coach/players is non-existent, and every mildly positive comment about the national team is accompanied by some sort of apology or statement of self-hatred. We could probably do with a better role model…
same old problem that Jurgen has brought up so many times. hes not the type to just accept it and move on, these are the technical details that prohibit us from being as great as we can be and he is charged to bring up over and over again!
The 3-4 month off season, followed by a compacted, and overlapping with the international schedule, 8 month season that MLS uses is less optimal than the 10-11 month schedule that most teams around the world use. fact. he is looking at how burnt out and un-sharp the players were in the 60′ in January as well as in extra time back in June.
our players take months off and then jump into a crazy Mar-Oct plus Feb (preseason and Nov postseason) time of incredible travel and physical play. It would benefit all to push the MLS season start into late February and the playoffs into mid-later December.
If MLS doesn’t do it, i say let USSF schedule a December camp with some friendlies on top of the January-Feb camp!
You don’t lose to Chile’s “C” team because of fitness…you lose because they had better players, and better tactics.
Just be honest JK…you put a lousy, experimental line-up out there, and that’s why you lost.
Shea at LB during the second half was a bad decision..if only there was a decent American LB in MLS, ever.. Yedlin, who is coming off a vacation since November, hes got a point there.
It was not a FIFA date, so Klinsmann had to rely on MLS players who hadn’t played a match in two or 3 months. That could not have been changed. The Klinsmann bashers have no problem ignoring facts in their zeal to castigate him.
Seems fairly clear to me that all these things played a role. Any reason that can’t be true?
Coaching 101 it’s never the coaches fault and blame should be placed on the players accordingly
The second half and late game fatigue go back all the way through most of last year. You can’t blame pre-season form last fall, summer, and spring! Even at the WC it was evident, it’s just our players for the most part ran on fumes and adrenaline fueled by the importance of the games, and covered it up well.
I believe it is the failure of the team to establish lengthy possession during the game combined with the high pressure defense JK demands that has caused this trend. So until the USMNT can do better with possession or until JK changes style, this will continue.
For me, it still seems a pretty big ask of our players to play this way against the top sides in the world given the gap in talent. On the other hand, you have to start somewhere.
+1
this isn’t a recent trend; the team has been fading in the second half of games for a couple years now. if we are set on transitioning to a ‘press & attack’ scheme–no matter who our players are–then i think we should get used to fading at the end of games.
we don’t have the players right now to succeed against top (or maybe even average) teams playing like that. arena and bradley adjusted accordingly and established a counterattacking system, which often had the side effect of our guys appearing to have superior fitness, simply because they were conserving energy all game.
for better or worse, it looks like klinsmann (and the ussf, i assume) is going full speed ahead with switching systems, whether we have the right personnel or not. i’m prepared to see a lot more exciting, if unsuccessful, soccer–at least for the near future.
+1000 to “The talent gap is big and you have to start somewhere.”
So is Tottenham’s training awful? It looked to Yedlin was getting beat worse then anyone else out there, and at least had a hand in all 3 goals given up..Jones isn’t a center back and was lucky to not give up 3 goals by himself. Why is Bobby Wood on the field?
Yedlin was there for 1 week with tottenham… stupid analogy.
Jack,
Re: Yedlin
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/27/sports/soccer/deandre-yedlin-by-joining-tottenham-hotspur-swims-against-tide-on-us-team.html?_r=2
You all act like the right formation, or tactical plan would turn them into world beaters. The talent level is low, we don’t have players who can compete for top teams. He gets bashed when he says that, he gets bashed when he tries to make something from our rag tag players. The fact that none of our center backs can beat out old man Jones switching positions speaks volumes.
Playing Jones at center back is Klinsmann’s choice and an awful one. Everyone forgets he was lucky to get the offside call before half, where he was beat on a header.
Don’t forget Rimando saving Jones after that give away.
That’s what the friendly games are for – to experiment – and Jones at CB was an experiment. It’s not like Klinsi called for a passing play instead of the running play at the goal line in the WC final – oh, wait, this call happened in a different kind of football.
Good comment, so true, but I think it is impossible for American exceptionalism to acknowledge that.
The United States’ collective talent always has been low in relation to international soccer powers (whether clubs or national teams), despite that talent making major strides in the past 25 years. That never seemed to bother Arena or Bradley, who accomplished quite a bit with what they had. Klinsmann, arguably, has better talent available to him then either Bradley or Arena, yet doesn’t seem to know what to do with it.
Also, you notice that Klinsmann never takes responsibility for any decisions he makes. He always makes excuses. It’s all the players’ fault. After Wondolowski missed that sitter in the World Cup, Klinsmann said that people would — and should — give Wondolowski an earful in a real soccer culture. Throwing your players under the bus, even politely, doesn’t work.
It didnt bother them because they played bunker and counter, against EVERY good team. Now we try to play with them. And most times we get beat, but there are those days in Italy, Azteca, vs Portugal WC, etc. Where we stay with them or beat them. Still there are more Germany games than Portugals. I for one am glad we are trying. I dont think JK is a great coach, but who could we get that you KNOW is better? Some think Kreis, etc.. But we dont know if these American guys can do it any better than JK has. And i dont hear a lot of Low type coaches clamoring to coach the USMNT.
You rememberthe score of the games against Italy and Mexico, and all of JK’s talk about attacking soccer. However, do you remember those games? They were as Bunkered as you can get. Add to that almost 4 whole games bunkered in at teh World Cup, not sure when we have tried to actually play with a top oppent and get a result under Klinsmann.
Dont agree. We tried to play with Ghana, but they were way too strong and fast. The Nats outplayed Portugal, and Germny and Belgium were top 8 teams. As a whole they are trying to play differently. But the talent and school is not good enough yet.
I am not saying that we should have stuck with Bob Bradley as coach, but I think that with Egypt Bradley proved beyond doubt that he is a much, much better coach than Klinsmann.
Egypt failed to qualify for the WC with BB at the helm – I don’t see how it translates to BB being a better coach than Klinsmann.
No one expected Egypt to qualify much less get close. Bradley has proved repeatedly that he can get a team to “over achieve.” So far Jurgen has not done anything similar. The US’s experience in the latest WC was pretty much what we have come to expect.
RICARDO CLARK
Chris Wondolowski
I would question whether JK has more talent than Arena or Bradley. I would agree that he has more depth, but I am not sure that our current lineup is any better than what we put out in the three previous World Cups prior to JK’s arrival. 2002 First Match: Friedel; Sanneh, Pope, Agoos, Hejduk; Stewart, O’Brien, Mastroeni, Beasley; Donovan, McBride. 2006 First Match: Keller; Cherundolo, Pope, Onyewu, Lewis; Beasley, Reyna, Mastroeni, Convey; Donovan; McBride. 2010 First Match: Howard; Cherundolo, DeMerit, Onyewu, Bocanegra; Dempsey, Bradley, Clark, Donovan; Altidore, Findley. 2014 First Match: Howard; Johnson, Cameron, Besler, Beasley; Beckerman; Bedoya, Bradley, Jones; Dempsey, Altidore. If you had to put together an 11 consisting of those players, their form leading up to the cup, and the position that they played in the cup; how many on the 2014 roster would be in your 11? I struggle finding a spot for more than just 1 (Jones).
The 2013 record was the best in USMNT history and the US got out of the toughest group it has ever been in, based on FIFA rankings. These are facts that only fools ignore.
i don’t really like comparing groups from different years (esp. by fifa rankings), but a couple more facts:
– ghana was a disaster
– portugal’s best player was injured, and their second-best player missed our game through suspension
i think our group was a lot easier than it looked on paper.
I really don’t see how you think Ghana was a “disaster”. We’ve all heard about their behind-the-scenes problems, but the fact is the team looked VERY dangerous. Let’s recall they were the only team in the tourrnament to either hold a lead or claim a result against Germany. And they were very good against us, other than two slip ups that allowed us to claim a win— their goal was so equisite, it probably belongs in the Louvre.
Not to mention this was a team that could actually afford to start with MIchael Essien and KP Boateng on the bench.
For me, Ghana was probably one of the 10 best teams at the tournament. It could have gone very differently if they had held on against us or Germany. They were no disaster.
Joseph D’Hippolito
“That never seemed to bother Arena or Bradley, who accomplished quite a bit with what they had. Klinsmann, arguably, has better talent available to him then either Bradley or Arena, yet doesn’t seem to know what to do with it”.
The media awareness of US soccer in the Arena/ Bradley era was about a quarter to a half of what it is now, if that. No Twitter, Instagram, really no internet. We don’t know what bothered those guys because no one was around to ask them and BB wouldn’t tell you anything anyway.
There was completely different set of expectations for Arena and Bradley than for JK.
I don’t agree that JK has better talent, especially if you are talking about 2002 so you are right about the arguably part. He does not have a more reliable forward than McBride. The US has yet to replace him. JK does not have the best of Donovan and Beasley. He does not have any midfielders who are as good as Reyna and JOB ( ask LD about JOB). Friedel was better than Timmy.
And the veteran roles players like Sanneh, Wolff, Lewis, etc. were just as good and reliable as anyone JK has.
“Also, you notice that Klinsmann never takes responsibility for any decisions he makes. He always makes excuses. It’s all the players’ fault. After Wondolowski missed that sitter in the World Cup, Klinsmann said that people would — and should — give Wondolowski an earful in a real soccer culture. Throwing your players under the bus, even politely, doesn’t work.”
First of all, it is the player’s fault. Wondo missed that shot, not JK. I don’t remember ever seeing JK saying anything bad about Wondo, a man who owes his international career to JK. The Colombians shot Escobar dead after his WC mistake so Wondo got off easy and he knows that. I don’t see what JK said as throwing Wondo under the trolley; he’s right. He didn’t say Wondo lost the game, he’s saying in Germany, England, Brazil or Spain, Wondo would be crucified in public, maybe forever. Which is true.
Besides, JK is STILL capping Wondo. So if you don’t see that as a vote of confidence in Wondo, if you don’t see that as JK saying “we all make mistakes you can still play striker for me”, I don’t know what to tell you. You don’t think every USMNT player noticed that?
Second of all, JK blaming the loss on fitness is accurate and it also means that if they had been fit JK thinks they would have won. I doubt JK is overly concerned about being blamed for this loss, he’s more interested in using it as a teaching moment “ This is what happens when you aren’t fit”. If you look at the s**t storm JK endured in Germany leading up to the 2006 World Cup I think you’ll see he isn’t phased much by the US media.
These statements aren’t really for you and me. They are for the players.
I don’t think JK gives a f++k what you and I think.
Jurgen –one of God’s gifts to journalism. Always good for a superficially intelligent, fundamentally silly comment.
Surely, it was predictable that fitness might be an issue for the first game after a long layoff. So, you schedule an easy opponent, you do what you can in practice to get them fit, you accept the fact that you did’t have a good chance to win the game … or whatever. Or maybe you just ignore the complaints, because you understand that fitness was not something anyone could do anything about at this stage (see reference to long layoff above) and get on with whatever it is that you are supposed to be doing.
Tom Sermanni would have been fired 100 times over if he did all the things Klinsmann has done, rather than just one of them, which was trying too many different line-ups.
JK is almost in the Hot Seat if you ask me. I don’t think that’s too far out of the realm, and this also doesn’t mean I’m hating on him.
One can definitely make the argument that USSF is starting to see that JK is not the soccer God who’s been destined to make US a World Cup winning squad
He might be right about our players losing their edge (what do we know?), but his rhetoric is bitter-sounding. He shouldn’t be putting this on his players.
I feel for his ego, which is big and a little patronizing, and ultimately impossible to satisfy as long as he is the coach of the USMNT – a mediocre team on the world stage.
A little patronizing ? He is annoying as heck, everytime he speaks.
Someone close to him, needs to tell him to shut up and just coach.
Agree with the JK statements but the US isn’t “mediocre” on the world stage. Not world class by any stretch but 3 out of the last 4 knockout rounds at the world cup is better than mediocre.
I don’t think that Klismann used the term “mediocre” – at least it is not apparent from the original post above. At the world cup, we have been rather average – we got out of the group by the skin of our teeth in the last two WCs (one easy group and one tough group), but then were eliminated by a better team. The team competed well, but was not a real contender to go deep in later stages.
The poster above used the word mediocre.
I don’t think the list of countries making it to the knockout stages in both 2010 and 2014 is that long. Again, not saying the USMNT is a juggernaut, and there’s plenty of room for improvement in virtually any area you can think of, but they aren’t mediocre.
It’s not only fitness, it’s sharpness and class. They lose a lot of that during the offseason. MLS schedule makes it tough for the players. They need to find games elsewhere.
How about the parts of the streak where it was mostly Euro-based players in the middle of their season?
when did fitness become an issue for the NATs? we have previously always been in the upper echelon when it came to fitness.
Historically the USA had the edge in fitness against other CONCACAF teams except Mexico. Do you really believe TV analysts in matches past saying things like Brazil has great talent but the USA has its Fitness? Don’t you think teams like Brazil/Germany/England/etc. have players on the best teams in Europe and South America where fitness is practiced and achieved at level greater than what the USA were able to achieve except a few USA players who were on good teams and were getting frequent playing time! Most fitness is achieved with club or by a player on his own. . . not in a sporadic one or two week USMNT camp!
Please. Foreign soccer coaches and analysts have always lauded the US MNT for it’s fitness, heart, mentality and organization. Klinsmann has criticized the US players for all of those things except organization because that would fall under his responsibility.
It also goes along with Lahm’s claims that fitness and training was really all Klinsmann wanted to focus on at Bayern.
I just never bought the story line that the US was one of the fittest teams in the 90’s or early 2000’s. . . (however, maybe in WC appearances where there was a long camp prior to the tournament). How many of the USMNT players during that time period were getting consistent playing time at a first tier (or second tier) European league? I can’t think MLS players achieved an upper echelon of fitness from that league during that time period! (Then again, maybe MLS USMNT players knew how to get fit back then on their own!)
I always saw saying the US had really good fitness back then as a sort of backhanded complement by TV analysts. This is because you would hear their analysis be paraphrased into: Brazil/Germany/England/etc. has great talent, ball skills, speed on the ball etc. . . but the USA have great fitness so they can run all day, which might make this a good game! — basically they had to say something about some US team attribute that might make a difference in the game when they were playing teams outside of CONCACAF (that probably were more fit that the US team)!
True enough, saying a team works hard can be a left-handed compliment and some past US teams had only that going for them.
Nevertheless, it is not just American commentators who have opined that the US brought a distinctive approach to the world cup (at least until this year) well-coached, good team work and team organization, hard working… The wise acres on the Football Weekly were pretty much in agreement on this before the last WC and none of them can be accused of thinking much of US soccer generally.
LBC203,
How do you define fitness? Because in some quarters “fitness” is about more than physical fitness, more than about Stu Holden and Landon Donovan being able to run all day.
No one, I don’t care how fit you are, can run for 90 minutes. But if you can come close to that like Holden and Donovan used to be able to, then you will be able to use what skill you do have more effectively than the guy who is more tired than you.
Landon said after the Ghana loss in 2010 that what separated the US players from Ghana’s players was that they had just a bit more big game experience, more savvy, that they knew how to win these kinds of games while the US players did not.
And he was right. The US need to learn how to win in adverse circumstances and when the going gets tough. The US players could maybe run all day but the players from Ghana knew WHEN to run.
I mention Stu and LD because, at their best, I believe their phenomenal fitness levels helped them to be the great players they were not just physically, but mentally.
Fitness breeds confidence and clearer thinking.
I don’t see why any USMNT fan would object to JK pushing these guys to be as fit and obsessive about the game as possible. Look at how Tom Brady keeps up his fitness year round and really does nothing but prepare to play.
keep in mind we also used to always play teams like Guatemala, offseason Sweden and Honduras during the January camp. This is all after playing a pretty good in-season Chile team away.
fitness, drive, mentality, organization etc. all still our strong points, I just think Jurgen is trying to push for more.
From what I recall, we did not play very difficult teams during our former camp cupcakes. Also we did not play so many games against opposition in other countries. We just had home games against weaker Concacaf competition.
The team was made up almost exclusively of MLS players out of season. Training camp fitness is nowhere near the same as match fitness. I can’t believe some of these comments.
I thought the endless number of changes (3-5-2, Mixx as a CDM, etc.) would allow us to make the “ball do the work.” And when it doesn’t work… blame the players for being out of shape!
This isn’t Fifa, you can’t put anyone, anywhere on the field and hold R2 the whole game, with players that have been going through 2-3 training sessions a day. They aren’t machines.
If I recall, didn’t his staff in 2006 for Germany have Americans as fitness trainers?
One win in nine games? What were the other 7 excuses? When did National team coaches start blaming players rather than accepting full responsibility for the failure of the team?
when did USMNT fans irrationally demand results in friendlies.. oya i guess thats always been going on.
we should probably schedule some games vs Guatemala and Cuba and bring back the 442 to satisfy the angry mobs.
……….Or better yet why bother playing friendlies to begin with. I mean winning really doesn’t matter and the results really don’t mean anything. Secondly all it seems to do is hurt our FIFA rankings and upsets the fans. How about we just save the fans, teams the players are pulled from and the association the heart ache,possible injuries and expenses, and schedule scrimmages with College and USL teams…maybe an occasional MLS team here and there…..because the results really don’t matter
now you are making sense..
so they shoudl pay teams that they should drub 12-2? what’s teh learning cureve in that?
Some fans say we should try the 3-5-2 and give chances to new players. It’s a time for experimenting and giving chances. If it wasn’t for those things, guys like Brooks might not have played in the WC and scored a winning goal for us. The one good thing about many of these comments, at least it shows that people are getting passionate about the USMNT. These friendlies are like exhibition games in the other pro leagues. They basically count for nothing and mean nothing. It’s always better when you win, but it doesn’t mean much when you don’t.
Gary Page,
Friendlies may not count and might be meaningless…..but not for the coaching staff and the players.
It gives them many insights into their players and their tactics that they might not get otherwise. Even if it is just a friendly, it still beats practicing against each other.
At the very least, especially with this team, it gives the staff and players an insight into how well these guys integrate into the collective, off the field.
This seems like a very together team and while I’m not a great believer in chemistry, it seems to work for these guys. Unlike a club team, the USMNT has very few chances to get together and on and off field cohesion really helps a national team. If you don’t believe that look up the history of the Netherlands, a bunch of prissy, backstabbing, self centered, underachievers.
And for rookies and newer guys it gives them experience, on and off the field, in playing in a variety of exotic locations that they may not been to with their club team. I don’t think they throw bags of urine at you in Seattle….do they?
Friendlies do matter:
-It affects your world FIFA rankings and these rankings are used to determine success based on results over the previous four years by the world football governing body.
-It gives you an idea where you rank/stand on the world stage, whether your formations or player selection are up to par, gives you a chance to fine tune a working “machine”.
-It highlights the effectiveness of the coaching staff and the program in place, to see where we are in the development process (results base on Success and results, rather than just the weight of your resume and ideas).
With that said I understand now why Klinsmann is not under any pressure like other coaches around the world. I mean no matter the results it doesn’t matter, the blame will always be on something or someone else……the lack of team fitness or lack of quality on the team or Transition of old to new players…something. The criteria for national team head coach is different for Klinsmann than his colleagues world wide. Its crazy how comparedd to our coaching staff CONCACAF coaches, with less experience, making less money and working with home based players in a lower level league compared to MLS, are held to a higher standard and using what they have to close the gap to the top spot
This explains so much. Remember Landon’s little beer belly pooch from before the WC? It all makes sense now. Forget skill. Just get your ass to the gym.
Or take your profession seriously and dont get fat during the off season. In the word of FRANK, “BE A PROFESSIONAL!!”
It should be clear by now. If you want to play for JK, you have to eat, drink sleep, concentrate and focus on soccer 24/7. It’s the German way.
It’s the pro athlete way. That was JK’s point. It’s what most pro football (soccer) players everywhere else (at least where the game is taken seriously) do, and in this country it’s what most pro athletes in other sports do.
The message will get across. As MLS improves, the competition for roster spots and then playing minutes will become more intense. It’s a process; not something that will instantly change because one USMNT coach pointed it out.
He could be more effective if he taught the players what their roles are and how he wants them to play together instead of preaching so much about fitness. Control what you can control, Juergen, and do your job to teach the players what kind of style you want. We need a proactive style more than we need lessons on fitness.
how do you know he’s not doing that? Some of you guys with your ridiculous theories, and opinions are hysterical.
JK is very good and deliberate at what he says in public. Hewn was and expects his current and future players to be in game shape year round like the players based in Europe. He doesn’t want them having much of an offseason. That’s how professional soccer is now. You can’t expect to get into game shape with 2 weeks of preseason practice.
You are right. I have no idea if he is doing that or not, and I hate when fans with little knowledge of a situation think they have the answers.
But by the looks of how the team plays, I would say that if he does spend time on it, then he does not do a very good job of explaining roles or teaching the style of play that he wants. He sound great when he tells the media and fans what style he wants to play, but that seems to get lost when it is time for the team to execute it.
The team needs to start playing better (I don’t care what the results are right now, but PLAY better), and it is his vision that needs to be implemented in order for that to happen. Whether or not this team gets anywhere will have much less to do with its fitness levels and much more to do with how good of a teacher Klinsmann is.
I wouldn’t doubt if JK purposely picked a match in Chile with its hot and humid conditions, played against players in-season to show his MLS players where they need to be in the offseason. This wasn’t just a lesson to his current players but to up-and-commers, players who are just starting their professional carreers. Hence the public comments about off season and pre-season conditioning.
+1
Ding-ding-ding-ding!! We have a winner!!! Thank you.
JK does everything for a reason and he does not seem to be too caught up on friendly results yet – at least not at this point in the cycle. JK was bleeding the next guys into the world of international football. He has a plan and know what is needed to get the team there. This friendly win-and-loss stuff is all fan business. He gets it but also gets the bigger picture.
I am not talking about the results of these friendlies. I am talking about the way that the team is playing in these friendlies. He has a great understanding for how he wants his players to be physically, but he seems to be a complete mess when it comes to tactics. This “experiment” with Jones in the middle of a back 3 in a 3-5-2 is the latest tactical head scratcher.
don Lamb,
“I am talking about the way that the team is playing in these friendlies.”
Are you saying you can play well if you are not in top shape? In the modern game, at this level, the FIRST thing is fitness. That allows you to use whatever skill you have. It’s hard to be sharp and skillful when you are puking your guts out and are unable to breathe.
This is why JK makes such a big deal about it.
The US may or may not be as talented as the big boy pants teams but if the US players aren’t as fit as humanly possible, they can forget about being competitive the big boys or with Chile.
If you watched the Chile game a lot of the giveaways and bad passes in the second half were, it seemed to me, due to tiredness. So bring in fresh legs you say? Yeah, but then how are players supposed to get fit for 90 minutes if you don’t let them play 90 minutes?
And some players deal better with being tired. Mikey for example, while just as tired as some of his team mates, was able to be somewhat effective in the second half because he knows how to play when tired.
“He has a great understanding for how he wants his players to be physically, but he seems to be a complete mess when it comes to tactics. This “experiment” with Jones in the middle of a back 3 in a 3-5-2 is the latest tactical head scratcher.”
The US has little experience in a 3-5-2. And if you never play it you will have even less experience.
I don’t understand why you expect these guys, who had never played as a team before ever, let alone played in this formation, to play smoothly together. Especially against a quick, relentless team like Chile, who never give you a moment’s rest and were at home. Everyone, even JK, knows that Chile plays this way. A good way to test your guys don’t you think?
That is why you do this in a friendly.
As for Jones, who else do you think could play that particular role? He was less of a traditional center half and more like an attacking sweeper. While JJ is no Franz Beckenbauer he might be able to play in a somewhat similar fashion, once he figures it out. And JK certainly knows all about Der Kaiser.
Right now, this is Jones’ team; he’s the guy who is going to get everyone else going. And yes he was going Tasmanian devil all over the place vs. Chile but to him this most likely was a practice session, an orientation for the 3-5-2 for him and his team mates. I’m, sure when it matters Jones will have his act together. He almost always shows up for the US when it counts; maybe you remember the Denver snow game, and the World Cup?
Maybe he does not make Russia but the USMNT players who do will benefit in the meantime and afterwards by playing with him.
don Lamb,
More recently than Beckenbauer, a very famous libero, are two German players who may have influenced how JK looks at Jones.
That would be Lothar Matthaus and Matthias Sammer..
Matthaus, a noted sc++bag who famously hated JK like you do, was a very successful box to box type who late in his career moved to sweeper and wound up going to the 1998 World Cup and thereby making his 5th World Cup.
Sammer was also a very successful defensive midfielder who moved to sweeper and became a regular for Germany at that position.
Both players were very successful in that role for Germany.
JK played with both guys. Along with Beckenbauer, they may have influenced how JK sees Jones’ future role. JJ isn’t playing the position exactly like those guys but then again JJ’s role is still evolving.
,
Somewhere deep in your post, I think you found the root of it all: “this is Jones’ team.”
As long as that is the case, we will be a sloppy team with either an unorganized back line or an unorganized midfield with horrible possession in those places. His team MVP World Cup is a myth. His stats were horrible. He had a screamer against Portugal — great goal, but he was not a great player over the four games (he was great against Belgium).
Jones is so far from players like Matthaus, Beckenbauer, and even Sommer, that I shutter to think what is going on if Klinsmann is actually molding the team in a way so that Jones can fit into one of their roles.
Maybe he should simplify the tactics instead of going 3-5-2 if he sees such deficiencies in their fitness. You are going to say that he is “testing” them, but I wish he would teach them more than test them.
don Lamb,
I’m not suggesting Jones is as good as Beckenbauer, Sammer or Matthaus, three excellent players, or even that he is deployed the exact same way .
We don’t agree on JJ’s merits but if he isn’t the player who drives this team right now then who is?
I’m suggesting that those three midfield players in the latter part of their careers moved further back and all achieved various degrees of success with it.
Your previous post seemed to indicate that the concept seemed alien to you..
JK played for Beckenbauer and played with the other two, so the idea of using Jones further back is probably not a coincidence and is hardly unprecedented.
Simplifying the tactics is something you can always do when it all hits the fan but right now is way too early in the cycle to be hitting the panic button.
JK is teaching them. Show up fitter and more comitted or suffer through games like this. That is the lesson..
National team managers have no time to be showing these guys how to pass a ball or take a corner. If he has to teach them skills, then they should not be called up.
Not saying he should be teaching them skills. He should be teaching them how they should be working together. That is the most important thing that a coach can do.
The fitness piece could very well be a valuable lesson, but there is no way it is more important than the players knowing exactly what they should be doing on the field.
Jones is simply not the type of player that should be making a transition to the back. He is positionally undisciplined and he makes far too many costly mistakes with the ball at his feet. Even without the mistakes, he is not a great passer.
And I am not suggesting simplifying the tactics as panic, but as a way to build a foundation of understanding. There seems to be absolutely no understanding among the players at the moment.
don Lamb
“Not saying he should be teaching them skills. He should be teaching them how they should be working together. That is the most important thing that a coach can do. The fitness piece could very well be a valuable lesson, but there is no way it is more important than the players knowing exactly what they should be doing on the field.”
When you are not fit a lot of stuff goes out the window.
But everyone seems to be forgetting that the USMNT scored two very nicely developed goals to take the lead before they basically fell apart. The goals were a perfect example of “how they should be working together” and “players knowing exactly what they should be doing on the field”.
“Jones is simply not the type of player that should be making a transition to the back. He is positionally undisciplined and he makes far too many costly mistakes with the ball at his feet. Even without the mistakes, he is not a great passer.”
Again, perhaps we can agree to disagree about Jones. Your criticism of JJ reminds me of how most everyone on SBI used to say Mikey could not pass the ball.
JJ is a better passer than you think. Perhaps you forgot that great pass he made to Dempsey for Deuce’s goal in the opening loss in WC qualifying to Honduras. JJ has had a few of those.
“And I am not suggesting simplifying the tactics as panic, but as a way to build a foundation of understanding. There seems to be absolutely no understanding among the players at the moment”
With this US talent pool we are not talking Barca/ Chelsea/ Bayern Munich first teamers.
On the other hand even if you include the newbies and the much despised designated village idiot, Brek, these US players are among the best soccer players in the world, This squad included a number of World Cup veterans. This is not some high school team.
I don’t know what JK expects but I expect them to be able to handle an unfamiliar formation, new teammates and difficult conditions. It is not too much to ask of players of this caliber in exchange for the honor of playing for their country.
And even if they don’t care about the patriotic stuff, playing for the USMNT does offer them a unique opportunity to raise their profile, maybe get a transfer to a bigger club and engage in additional revenue generating opportunities.
In other words it is a path to more money. What could be more American?
And they did reasonably well handling the situation. Even with all the stuff we mentioned, if Mikey hits that third goal, and he probably should have, this whole conversation is very different.
Finally, you may well be making too much of this.
In 2013 Belgium went to Cleveland and humiliated and destroyed the USMNT. A few days later in RFK I saw that US team, after some more time together, beat Germany.
don Lamb
“Not saying he should be teaching them skills. He should be teaching them how they should be working together. That is the most important thing that a coach can do. The fitness piece could very well be a valuable lesson, but there is no way it is more important than the players knowing exactly what they should be doing on the field.”
When you are not fit a lot of stuff goes out the window.
But everyone seems to be forgetting that the USMNT scored two very nicely developed goals to take the lead before they basically fell apart. The goals were a perfect example of “how they should be working together” and “players knowing exactly what they should be doing on the field”.
“Jones is simply not the type of player that should be making a transition to the back. He is positionally undisciplined and he makes far too many costly mistakes with the ball at his feet. Even without the mistakes, he is not a great passer.”
Again, we can agree to disagree about Jones. Your criticism of JJ reminds me of how most everyone on SBI used to say Mikey could not pass the ball. He is a better passer than you think. Perhaps you forgot that great pass he made to Dempsey for Deuce’s goal in the opening loss in WC qualifying to Honduras. JJ has had a few of those.
“And I am not suggesting simplifying the tactics as panic, but as a way to build a foundation of understanding. There seems to be absolutely no understanding among the players at the moment”
With this US talent pool we are not talking Barca/ Chelsea/ Bayern Munich first teamers.
On the other hand even if you include the newbies and the much despised designated village id++t, Brek, these US players are among the best soccer players in the world, including a number of World Cup veterans. This is not some high school team.
I don’t know what JK expects but I expect them to be able to handle an unfamiliar formation, new teammates and difficult conditions. That is not too much to ask in exchange for the honor of playing for their country.
And even if they don’t care about that stuff, playing for the USMNT does offer them a unique opportunity to raise their profile, maybe get a transfer to a bigger club and engage in additional revenue generating opportunities.
And they did reasonably well handling the situation. Even with all the stuff we mentioned, if Mikey hits that third goal, and he probably should have, this whole conversation is very different.
No, this conversation is not any different if Bradley’s shot goes in. This is not about results. The team is playing horribly, and it is due in large part to how poorly organized they are and the decisions they are making on and off the ball. Klinsmann should be correcting those things. I don’t buy the “when you are not fit a lot of stuff goes out the window” excuse for one second. That is so lame.
Chile is a dry climate. The weather is very much like California except not as hot. Santiago is about 1000 feet above sea level. It is no way a humid climate. So your point here is not relevant. Chile happens to be very good team.
If you have watched sports, or played it, for any length of time, you have seen time and time again when a coach will tell a team to do something and the players get excited and forget everything they were told. If you have taught school, you know what Klinsmann is talking about. Also, it is a psychological fact that under stress, people make more mistakes.
never mind stressed and fatigued
It is often hard to separate training on technical and tactical skills from fitness training. If you are tired and slacking, you can’t get into position, make run or simply lose control of the ball because you are tired. So PLAYing better very well may just be a matter of fitness.
He is not winning. That I know for sure
During the 2013 qualifying year the US national team had its best year in history. They also did well leading up to the WC and during it. Those are results that count, not these friendlies.
I am not talking about results. I am talking about the WAY that we playing.
We’re not playing well at the moment. But our player pool collectively is in crap-tastic form, too.
We’re OK at right back, left center back, and keeper, though even Fabian Johnson is having PT issues and you can make an argument Timmy Chandler is in better form, and at keeper Guzan has had some not-so-great outings lately for Villa. Who knows if we see Tim Howard again.
Other than that, what we really got? Striker is grim right now. Altidore just finished a horrid stint at Sunderland. Dempsey is 32. Wondo is 32 and it’s a wonder he’s still with the team. Boyd is hurt. Johanssen was hurt. Agudelo took a year off. Bobby Wood isn’t good enough. Rubin doesn’t shave yet. Zardes is probably the only American striker in any kind of form and…hey, Klinsmann’s duly taking a look at him.
Midfielder looks worse. Klinsi’s doing his best to work in technical players like Mix and Nguyen but they’re works in progress. Michael Bradley’s getting over foot surgery and is still clearly rusty. Bedoya’s pretty good but is more a defensive shuttler than an attacking winger. Green is still too, well, green. Guys like Holden, Gyau and Gatt can’t stay healthy. Yedlin’s a RB playing wing for the Nats because of his pace. After that…dunno. Zusi? Meh. Brek Shea is consistent only in his inconsistency. We could badly use guys like Nagbe, Akindele, Osvaldo Alonso, and Gedion Zelalem but citizenship issues are holding them back.
Beasley retired, leaving a hole at left back. Garza looked like one possible answer but now he’s hurt and Robbie Rogers will probably get his cup of coffee with his old buddy Jurgen sooner rather than later…we’ll see how that goes. Short of that…there’s that hole at LB, as usual.
The real short version is: we’ve gotta ton of guys hurt, and even more who are out of form. I think it’s temporary, but while we’re seeing answers emerging – in places – the team’s definitely in rebuild-and-reshuffle mode right now.
Appreciate that post. Good stuff there. I am by no means disillusioned about the player pool.
I hope Klinsmann has a plan for how he is going to get this team to play. I still don’t think that a lack of fitness is what is holding them back, but I guess he still has plenty of time before meaningful games to get them playing how he envisions.
Urg, our starters are a mess right now huh. We honestly dont have the talent a Chile has and while the MLS is okay. Trapp was crazy out of his depth for example.
oh BTW Johnson started Gladbach last 2 games but at right midfield.
There’s something telling in the fact that USMNT pretty much never (or very, very rarely) had fitness problems before JK. In fact, fitness was almost always our biggest advantage, but now almost every match has fitness issues.