By RYAN TOLMICH
HARRISON, N.J. — Jurgen Klinsmann, like many, is interested in seeing how Borussia Monchengladbach handle Fabian Johnson in the coming days.
Johnson was dismissed from the U.S. Men’s National Team on Monday after asking to be removed from Saturday’s clash with Mexico despite Klinsmann stating that the fullback had no apparent injury. Johnson’s club then revealed Tuesday that Johnson was undergoing treatment for a thigh injury upon his return to Germany.
“I understand the club. They want to look their way,” Klinsmann said of Monchengladbach. “If you want to test it out, then see if he’s playing on the weekend and you’ll have your answer.”
Johnson’s replacement Tuesday was Brad Evans, who came up with a pair of timely clearances in front of goal. Evans revealed he and the rest of the USMNT were informed of Johnson’s dismissal before the news broke Monday, and added that he isn’t in a position to comment on the potential injury issues faced by his teammates because all players are different.
“I can’t say if how I feel on the field is different than somebody else, and a guy who was experiencing injury before maybe thought it was time for another injury,” said Evans. “It is what it is. I’ll leave it at that.
“Distractions outside of the team, whether it’s (Landon Donovan’s) comments, whether it’s outside media presence, whatever it is, my focus is on the field. At the end of the day, that doesn’t concern me.”
Here are some more USMNT news and notes:
NGUYEN HAPPY WITH “TASTE” OF USMNT ACTION
Lee Nguyen’s time on the field may have been brief on Tuesday, but the USMNT midfielder was happy to get some action on the international level.
The 29-year-old midfielder entered Tuesday’s meeting with Costa Rica in the 72nd minute, making his first USMNT appearance since February. While he may not have gotten an extended look, Nguyen was glad to rejoin the national team to earn his sixth cap.
“I’m just glad to be here to support the team in any way possible,” Nguyen said. “Whether it’s getting minutes or not getting minutes, I’m here to support my teammates.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get the result tonight, but it was a good little taste.”
Nguyen’s taste was enough to impress teammate Jozy Altidore, who insisted that the USMNT needs more players with the ability and guile of the New England Revolution star.
“Lee, when he came in, you saw in between the lines he’s clever,” Altidore said. “He gets on the half turn, and there the strikers can run off of them. We need more of this. We acknowledged that and it’s something we have to improve on.”
EVANS LOOKS TO GET ON SAME PAGE AS YEDLIN
Teammates at the Seattle Sounders from 2013-14, DeAndre Yedlin and Brad Evans developed a bit of chemistry as a fullback-midfielder combo. Now, with their roles reversed, that chemistry needs a bit of refining.
Formerly a wide midfielder, Evans has been played mainly in defense this year in Seattle and Tuesday’s start for the USMNT came at the fullback position. Yedlin, meanwhile, has been pushed up the field by Klinsmann due to his speed after featuring mainly as a right back on the club level.
Having flip-flopped roles, Evans believes that he and Yedlin have some work to do in terms of getting on the same page with one another on the field.
“With his speed, a couple times (I’ll pass) to his feet, but the rest of the time I want the ball in behind and let him run,” Evans said. “We just weren’t on the same page for whatever reason. He saw something that I didn’t see or he felt something. If I had the ball at my feet and DeAndre comes to me, I’m expecting one of the forwards to book it into the corner. One or two times it happened.
“For me, it’s about the familiarity playing with DeAndre now,” Evans added. “We’ve kind of switched roles. Usually, I’m playing midfield with him, in my experience, playing right back. Now we’re switched, so it’s little things that we can do better, and you can only get that through experience with each other.”
KLINSMANN HOPES TO PUSH TOWARDS ‘IDEAL’ STARTING XI
The fielding of an entirely first-choice starting XI is a rare occurrence in international soccer, but Jurgen Klinsmann is hoping to move closer to the feat in the coming months.
Following months of experimenting and several setback losses, Klinsmann is hoping to assemble what he would call his first-choice starting lineup. Still, Klinsmann understands that the idea of calling in every player he wants is not entirely possible due to several factors.
“There is always an ideal starting lineup, there’s no doubt about it, but what is ideal?” Klinsmann asked. “We juggle injuries. We juggle schedule. We juggle so many things that are difficult to have where every time we have the same 11 that is getting starts. If they don’t get starting spots in their club teams, then you see right away in training that they’re behind. You have to reevaluate every time you go into camp.
“There’s a whole reevaluation process in place and coaches have an ideal lineup, absolutely, but unfortunately it’s never like that. We can’t say we’ll go with the same 11. I wish that would be the case.”
Hey TINHO JK DOESN’T SCORE GOALS IS PLAYERS DO ,LIKE I SAID GUN WITH NO BULLETS? HE HAS QUANTITY NOT QUALITY GOT IT LOL
No. JK is wrong regardless.
Why would any team release their players to international duty to a coach who doesn’t believe his players when they say they are injured? Fire JK already!
The US players cannot even touch the ball properly. They are suburban trash who have their places because their parents could afford to send them to travel and camps.
Talking about Jermain Jones? Danny Williams? Altidore? Wood? Zardes? Yedlin? Diskerud? Nguyen?
“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” ©
Not sure about the suburban trash comment, but the quality of USMNT first touch has always been suspect, but it seems to be getting worse these last few years.
Actually, thinking about it now, I would say that’s becoming a global issue. A couple decades back, the best internationals all had consistently solid first touch (and Brazil was freaking great at it – my memories of Brazil are dominated by long switching balls that just seem to die on the foot of the yellow jersey receiving it). Now, not as consistently. Maybe the ball is different?
I have news for you guys .THAT’S NOT THE COACH ,THE PROBLEM IS THE PLAYERS VERY VERY WEAK PLAYERS ,CACKY ARROGANT, NO SKILLS ,NO WONDER THEY ALL COMING BACK FROM EUROPE ,THEY ARE NOT THAT GOOD PERIOD. JK HAS A GUN WITHOUT BULLETS .GOT IT LOL
Right, because he spent the last 15 months destroying the bullets.
Fab is one of our best players but asking out with 9 mins to go is pathetic given what was at stake, playing biggest rival, ect. I hope he has fun bombing out of CCL and it was all worth it
I’d go along with that opinion.
Sitting in an airplane causes loss of circulation. It’s quite possible that he was not in as fit a shape as necessary. It is up to the player to say how well he is. Often players come just to get the trip and the excitement. Klinsmann wants his players to be fit. Whether Johnson was play-acting may never be known. It was quite clear watching the game that he did not want to substitute a defender. It looked as if he wanted to substitute Wondo and not Rimando. I think the team needed a goal and putting in a defender instead was extremely annoying to Klinsmann. He lost his cool. But the fact that Altidore and Dempsey played sub-par did not help.
That’s what I understood. Wondo looked like he was coming on, but JK had to switch gears when FJ asked to come off. Then, we hear how JK was holding the last sub for Rimando? Pretty confusing, especially since I don’t recall Rimando warming up, though wasn’t really watching for that, either. Pulling a cold keeper off the bench for a shootout sounds unwise, regardless of how well he stops PKs in practice.
Maybe it’s already been touched on, but don’t recall any discussion on JK’s admission of wanting to save his last sub for the GK for the penalty shootout. The team was absolutely dragging through the 2nd half and extra time and was in desperate need of fresh legs, and it was obvious. That was the glaring mismanagement of the Mexico game for me, given the heat, intensity, and chasing the game due to lack of possession.
For those of you who are as sick of Klinnsman as I am, please send Sunil Gulati an email.
Here’s his address: skg21@columbia.edu
At one point, Klinsmann had used a different line up for 70 odd consecutive games. That includes World Cup qualifiers and the World Cup itself. This excuse about players being injured, unavailable is a giant smoke screen designed to hide the fact that he wasted a valuable opportunity over the past 15 months to blood new talent–in a gradual, methodical, incremental way–in the places it was most needed. For instance, pressing the mathematical limit on the number of permutations of center backs, where we have plenty of options, without identifying a single CAM. Not one.
What this whole process has made so crystal clear is that Klinsmann doesn’t have a process. And if he does, we the fans, to whom this program belongs, ought to know what it is.
Seriously, does anyone know what the plan is? Any white papers on US Soccer’s website? I’m not talking about amorphous crisp like “changing culture,” I’m talking about concrete steps JK is taking and implementing to improve our program. We switched to a calendar year system and decreased team size. Anything else? Cause otherwise, we got sold a bunch of dung.
“This excuse about players being injured, unavailable is a giant smoke screen designed to hide the fact that he wasted a valuable opportunity over the past 15 months to blood new talent–”
Yeah? Prove that. You are full of s++t.
I;’m confused. You complain about all the different lineups and then say he didn’t do enough to bring in new players. If you are going to try out new players, and some will undoubtedly be tried and then discarded, than how can you do that with the same lineup? Your complaints seem to contradict themselves. This is the sign of a non-thinking ideological approach, holding two contradictory thoughts and not seeing the conflict between them. It’
s a form of what psychologists call cognitive dissonance.
no, his comment isn’t necessarily contradictory; you just have to eliminate your bias.
do you really think that klinsmann couldn’t bring in nguyen (just an example, name your own) for a couple games with the same starting 11? does that seem impossible to you? hell, that seems almost necessary to me to integrate a new player. i bet i could figure out how to do it, and they wouldn’t even have to pay me $3M.
your comments are all making sense but impossible to enlighten some here Nate
People still commenting about FJ…
You do realize that other players on the USMNT were upset with him when he asked to come off, right? Both goal .com and espnfc reported that. Klinsmann could have definitely handled the public situation better, but if the players were not happy with him then that’s actually quite a serious problem.
Am I the only one who reads Evans comment (“maybe (he) thought it was time for another injury”) as an indictment of FJ’s attitude? That seems like a rather shocking accusation to me. Fabian Johnson has been the poster child for the success of Klinsmann’s “Germarican” experiment (J. Jones with in the program before JK).
Is there some kind of locker room mistrust of FJ? What exactly is Evans insinuating?
hey maybe its the good old fashioned us against them split. How screwed up is this situation getting?
You can feel a strained muscle before it’s pulled.
Hunky,
I read Evan’s comments as ” Leave me out of it” a sensible stance when you consider that FJ and JK seem to be the only two people who know what really happened between the two.
Did you ever get in the middle of a domestic dispute? My advice? Stay out of it if you can.
.
If you want to look for the anti JK angle you will,of course , find it.
Klinsmann picked his ideal starting 11!!!
For the Gold Cup Klinsmann stood by his picks as the best team with the most in form players to win the tournament!! He repeatedly said this!!
Then, somehow, he picks a completely different first team for the concacaf cup!
Klinsmann has now two different first team rosters in 5 months, and 2 failures. Perhaps it’s not the personnel on the team that is the problem.
Players who were available for one game, but not both include Cameron, Brooks, DMB, Bedoya, Johannsson, and Chandler. At least 4 of those are often starters and two important subs.
you realize there were differences in the rosters for both, right? differences which Gary points out as playing a key role in why there were two different lineups.
ThaDeuce,
“Then, somehow, he picks a completely different first team for the concacaf cup!”
There was a month or more between the Gold Cup and the CONCACAF playoff game.
That is a long time
This was the US lineup vs Jamaica in teh Gold Cup:
USA: 1-Brad Guzan; 16-Brad Evans, 6-John Brooks, 13-Ventura Alvarado, 23-Fabian Johnson; 5-Kyle Beckerman (10-Mix Diskerud, 67) , 4-Michael Bradley (capt.), 20-Gyasi Zardes, 8-Clint Dempsey, 11-Alejandro Bedoya (2-DeAndre Yedlin, 78); 9-Aron Johannsson (26-Alan Gordon, 73)
It would probably have had DMB at left back (thus moving Fabian to right back and Evans to the bench) and Cameron but both were not available.for the Gold Cup. Jones was recovering from injury and Besler was not on the Gold Cup squad.
Since then AJ and Brooks were hurt and unavailable for the playoff game, Alvarado hasn’t been playing for his club and Mix hasn’t exactly been hot since then either. And Bedoya got sick on the eve of the playoff game.
That’s your explanation. Fantastic and barely believable I know that players might , in one month’s time, recover from injury or get hurt or sick but hey truth is often stranger than fiction..
Shocking isn’t it?
I think Nguyen and Feilhaber are fine and all as CAM for qualifying, but Lee is 29 and Benny is 30 it might be a step up in quality but a step back in age. SO there is that to think about.
So you’re saying they’re keeping the seat warm for Freddy?
No, they’re keeping the seat warm for a player like Pulisic or Akale or Junior Flores or GZ or any other midfielder that doesn’t just settle for the safe/backpass(Hyndman, Kyle Scott, and De La Torre are more 8’s to me). I know these players are SUPER young, and may never fully pan out, but these players can make things happen off the dribble, as well as pick out the killer ball. We NEED players like that, because we have far too many that play safely and never look to move off the ball, pass and immediately make a run, or move into space to open up space for teammates to move into.
Good comment. Also, I suppose the Freddy reference was a joke.
In all seriousness Freddy might be just what we need against the bunker of St V &G, he’s playing really well in NASL but probably wouldn’t help much against real pros.
If you are going to play a creative smurf type against weak opposition. you may as well play Emerson who at least may have a future with the USMNT.
Or was it? Just kidding. Or am I?
Hyndman can do that..
Yes as we saw against Serbia this Summer and Honduras Saturday if creative means should I hit a 50 yard line drive or a 50 yard high ball. I think we put a lot of stock in a 19 year old reserve in the Championship. He is not ready for full national duty but since my statement was St V&G maybe.
Translation of Evans’s comments: Yedlin has no idea what he’s doing in the midfield, but I like him and as a veteran I know how to gloss over my comments
Ideal starting XI is no more Jozy Altidore!
dude, just copy and paste from now on. it’s got to be annoying having to type essentially the same comment on every post.
Ideal SBI posters is no more Dan!
haha
Mom, stop embarrassing me in front of my friends!
your friends…? haha
I believe by now most are on the same page on this.
“Nguyen’s taste was enough to impress teammate Jozy Altidore, who insisted that the USMNT needs more players with the ability and guile of the New England Revolution star.
“Lee, when he came in, you saw in between the lines he’s clever,” Altidore said. “He gets on the half turn, and there the strikers can run off of them. We need more of this. We acknowledged that and it’s something we have to improve on.””
Maybe I am reading too much into this with all that is going on with this team, but Jozy seems 1) jealous that the subs got to play forward with an actual attacking midfielder, and 2) upset that his coach, who is too busy playing 3 defensive midfielders and wingers who can run and do little more, won’t play any midfielders with any sort of skill and vision.
I think it’s number 2, He’s getting a lot of blame when we just aren’t creating anything. People want to hate on him but I think the US’s best run was when Zusi was in form. I’m not saying he’s amazing but he gave us just a little bit of width and creativity.
and how’s that working in the win/loss column?
When words are ambiguous, you see what you want to see.
3 defensive mids? Jones is a #8, Williams is a #6. it’s the definition of a double pivot. the problem with that is most of us don’t want to see a double pivot. but it certainly wasn’t 3 defensive mids.
if you are talking about Mexico…again, I saw two #8s and a #6.
think white kix was referring to the players’ best positions, when (against mexico) you had 3 nominally defensive mids (bradley, jones, beckerman) behind the forwards. i don’t completely agree, since i think bradley is a box-to-box rather than a d-mid, but the point stands that–no matter where you play them on the field–none of the three are straight-up attacking mids.
At this point only the biggest Eurosnobs outhere are defending Klinsmann and don’t want him to be fired. People are not are not truly big USMNT fans and only care about WC and big-time WCQ matches, not even Gold Cup. People who think that anything European is better. People who think that playing in 2nd division Belgium is better than playing in MLS. I can’t imagine someone who has any respect for USA soccer suggesting that he should stay.
I am no eurosnob and I want him to stay.
Give the man some time
What was Wahlberg nominated for?
i’m not a Eurosnob, I am a big MLS fan, and i’m not ready to pull the fire trigger.lose both games in November? then i’m on board.
people need to stop putting other fans into one of two buckets; JK Fanboy, Anti-JK. there are ALWAYS more than two opinions on any one matter. and usually those other opinions are the more informative, more dynamic, less hyperbolic than the two extremes.
you can want JK out without being “anti-JK” and you can want him to stay without being a “fanboy”.
bryan, I really like the idea you expressed about too many SBI replies being too extreme on one side or the other. Reminds me of our US congressional politicians and the gun debate. So, here are a couple in the “middle” comments. Since JK chose/hand picked the players who have lost the last 3/4 important games, he needs to bring some new players on board fast & win in the WC qualifying games otherwise it should be “Aufwiedersehn”. Also, his public handling of FJ is another mark against him. I don’t know the skills of potential new players but the US is not going to win future difficult games with Jozy, Dempsey (not more than 1/2 a game), and Beckerman. So, bring on younger US players and if we still loose it is because WC SOCCER is the most challenging and difficult sport event in the world. The US fans will have to be more patient until our US soccer baby begins to mature and reach the highest level of success (top 10-20 in the world)!!!
Adi, totally agree. i would say it isn’t just the gun debate, but literally any and every topic that comes up. kind of set ourselves up for that when we refuse to accept more than a two-party system.
yeah, i think at this point he really needs to win those WCQs in November….but needs to do some convincingly. i’m talking total dominate of St. Vincent and taking the game to T&T in T&T. that would be a start to getting us back on track. even beating St. Vincent at home and losing to T&T away would show me it’s still not working. so you could argue that losing the T&T game is the final straw.
and yes, his public handling of FJ is not good. nor the handling of the many other players he has called out publicly. i see no benefit in him doing that.
and yes, i think we all agree we need to replace our aging starts. and like you said, fans need to realize no one has stepped up to do that. that is why everyone wanted to veteran lineup against Mexico. we lose anyway, and everyone complains we are too old. can’t have it both ways. i would agree JK needs to bring in some more younger players, but there is no guarantee it will change anything. but a guy like Finlay would be good to see, among others. hopefully we’ll get some of that in November.
You are asking people to actually think and that can be hard work.
no kidding Gary
i know, crazy concept. damn internet.
Yevgeniy
:People are not are not truly big USMNT fans and only care about WC and big-time WCQ matches, not even Gold Cup”
People? You mean people like Bruce Arena?
“Former Galaxy captain Landon Donovan this week suggested in an interview with ESPN FC that Jurgen Klinsmann’s job ought to be in jeopardy if the US, following the failure at the Gold Cup in July, fail to win at the Rose Bowl.
Arena said that only certain national team results actually matter.
“The only judge as national team coach is World Cup qualifying and the World Cup. Nothing else,” Arena said. “All the other stuff is meaningless, to be honest with you. Your confederation championship is important as well.
“Friendlies are a waste of time, they’re a complete waste of time. The scores, the results, who wins, loses or ties, it doesn’t mean anything. They’re played at a different level for a different purpose. …
“There’s always a focus on results, but you’ve got to know what results mean anything.”
Tell it to Bruce.
.
“Your confederation championship is important as well.”
so, he does think that gold cups “actually matter”. and the concacaf cup isn’t exactly a friendly (although i agree with him that it’s not nearly as important as a gold cup).
Nate Dollars
http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2015/10/08/la-galaxys-bruce-arena-questions-usefulness-confederations-cup
For these without access to a computer:
“Arena, the US national team coach from 1998 through the 2006 World Cup, took teams to the FIFA Confederations Cup in 1999 and 2003, and he’s not really a fan of the event.
“For the most part, the competition part of it is somewhat useless,” Arena said following the LA Galaxy’s training session Thursday morning at the StubHub Center. “I guess the part about being in [the next World Cup host’s] country and getting the lay of the land is important, but the Confederations Cup is one of these competitions where I’m sure the national teams and the players would rather not have it, because it’s just another game or series of games at a time when players need a break.
“So the competition part of it is really insignificant. I guess the logistics part has some value.”
“It’s an interesting concept,” Arena said of the CONCACAF Cup. “It’s a money-maker. It’s footing the bill of a confederation that, somehow, their books have not added up right over the years, and they’re probably trying to get a little bit in reserve.
“I think it’s a great concept, though, but if this happened between El Salvador and Mexico – no disrespect to El Salvador – I’m not sure it would bring [the kind of crowds and money that US-Mexico will].”
yeah, i had already seen the article.
Also I like how Lee was clearly told to play on the left to start, then a few minutes in he just said screw it, and went into the middle.
except it was obvious that Lee was playing a very central LM…which has been a staple of the US under JK. the WC had Jones at both LM and RM at times. he did not play wide, by design. same position Lee played last night. he has the freedom to pinch in, giving the fullback and/or striker the option to go wide.
“Lee was clearly told to play on the left to start”
First of all how do you know that is what Lee was told?
Second of all Shea has done that in the past when he was at left mid and the action dictated he move elsewhere, often winding up playing on the right side.
Third of all Lee’s game is about moving where he needs to be to do what he does so I doubt that JK would prevent him from (how exactly would he stop him? sub him out?) doing exactly what he was brought on to do. .
YES!! We need more Nguyen. I remember seeing him change the game immediately when he came in against Colombia in England and then….zilch.
Its a crying shame he hasn’t been used more. And as one Texan chance creator begins his decline…its time for another to take his place. He was the only guy creating things last night. We have plenty of guys who can make plays once they are created for them (Yedlin, Wood, Zardes, etc), but we need a CREATOR. Hook em, Lee!
I get so mad watching JK jerk Lee around while playing clowns like Williams and Mix over him. If he ever got to start and got significant minutes, I have total faith he could own the position. One couldnt help but notice he was the only one that could even dribble on CR last night. If only people made runs, they would get the ball. As much as I don’t like Jozy, he was spot on with this. Lack of guys like Lee playing AM are making him and who ever he’s paired with look bad. Williams was a total turnover machine. Jones is not an AM or he’d be playing there for the Revs. Mix is OK but not as good as Lee.
GIVE THE KID A REAL CHANCE JK. Do the right thing for once
Agreed on all fronts. Nguyen needs a real chance to show his stuff.
Except the “kid” part — Nguyen is 29.
Putting Yedlin in the midfield seems like a waste of time to me. He has so much more upside as a fullback. Sure he might back some mistakes, but I’d rather him being learning from those mistakes. He just doesn’t know what he’s suppose to be doing in the midfield. He doesn’t create space for himself, doesn’t combine.
Mostly agree with you, but that assist to Wood wasn’t half bad… He needs to learn how to cross the ball consistently. That’s a skill that a mid and a RB needs to have
No he is good nearly every time coming off the bench. When the game gets stretched, players are tired. there more space for him to exploit. I think that space he can find more often coming out of the back, creating mis-matches.
you are kidding . Are you an England lover? Crossing the ball? how sophisticated.
Every team crosses the ball, some more than others.
While I have seen this opinion expressed several times here, I can’t agree. He is very raw defensively and I think it will take him some time to learn good defense. Playing winger demands much less skill IMO and is a better outlet for his speed to get behind the back line and get to the end line and pass back, without putting the defense at risk, as is the case if he is p;laying FB. Maybe his long term future is at RB, but to get the most benefit from him now I think he is best as a wing.
Agree 100% also it would be nice to see FJ or NaBe at RM i.
hold on….just finished banging my head against the wall…OK
so, five years in, the national team coach decides to “settle” on a somewhat consistent line-up? Wow, what a true genius, where would this team be without a coach who won a World Cup as player? Would an American coach learn in only five years that given the lack of playing time together for various players composing the NT, some consistency is required to build familiarity and continuity among the players on the field? I don’t think so, that’s why JK is paid what he is apparently
Also, you’d hope that the next LOGICAL step would be to play to the players’ strengths in the positions they play at club level and thus having the highest chances of succeeding? No, wait, read Evans’ comment: “We’ve kind of switched roles. Usually, I’m playing midfield with him, in my experience, playing right back. Now we’re switched, so it’s little things that we can do better, and you can only get that through experience with each other.”
Oh well, maybe he’ll get to that by the time the Hex rolls around
to be fair, it’s not about finding an XI that will be with you for your entire contract. so five years in is irrelevant. all that matters is we are a YEAR into the next cycle and apparently just now getting an idea of his XI.
“We’ve kind of switched roles. Usually, I’m playing midfield with him, in my experience, playing right back. Now we’re switched, so it’s little things that we can do better, and you can only get that through experience with each other.”
i agree with the position argument, as a whole, but that is not a good quote. he was referring to when they were both with Seattle. now they are BOTH playing RB for their clubs. so if they were to switch, which is what you are implying, one of them is still out of position.
blokhin,
So in 2011 when JK was hired you expected him to develop a starting eleven for the 2018 World Cup?
Tough crowd.
how about for the 2014 world cup? i think blokhin’s comment was pretty clear that he was talking about the actual concept of an ideal starting 11, which, while klinsmann gives lip service to it, doesn’t seem to be one of his priorities.
What else is Lee going to say – he knows how petty and petulant his coach is.
It only proves Lee is no fool!
Except when it comes to hair decisions…
This article is a little bit of fresh air.
It’s about 75% commentary about the players, and 25% about the coach.
I wish we got more of this across the media spectrum, print and TV.
I’d like to see guys do player analysis like Jon Gruden, stuff like that.
Like the NBCSN guys do during the EPL. Even during the WC, Ballack & those guys talked about the players mostly… then the talking heads would always bring the conversation back to their favorite topic.
Instead what we get is the Continental Tire Analyst Corner from TT for 30 seconds and the rest about Klinsmann.
And don’t say that’s new… it’s always been like that the last few years.
Ok… Maybe 60-40… but it’s better than 95% you know who
+1 Jurgen’s quotes are usually kind of predictable and awkward.
would love to hear more uncensored player talk
“If you want to test it out, then see if he’s playing on the weekend and you’ll have your answer.”
because everybody knows, no one could possibly recover from any kind of injury in a week. go easy on us, klinsmann–we’re just ignorant americans!
The question in my mind is, “If Fabian did quit, why did he do so?” FJ never struck me as a weakling or a prima-dona so what would cause a guy to say “No mas!”
It’s the difference in the mentality between a friendly and a must-win situation. If FJ didn’t view the game as massively important, and wanted to protect his starting job at Gladbach and continue to play champions league football, then he can decide to play it cautious and not risk injury if he starts to tighten up. JK’s view is that it was a must-win situation, and FJ should have played through it if he was unsure.
One thing i think has been overlooked on this issue is the timing. The incident happened Saturday night. In quotes right after the game Klinsmann praised the players for giving their all, playing as hard as they could, and similar language. Then they fly to NJ for the next game and it is Monday about midday that FJ is sent home. If the problem was obvious at the time of the game, why did FJ fly with the team to NJ before being sent home, almost two days later? It is my speculation that Klinsmann found out something during that interim period that caused this action. What that new information is, we don’t know.
could be flight related? i knew in the pics posted with them at the 9/11 memorial he looked especially down. i think Howard had his arm around him and it screamed “he’s trying to cheer him up”.
I’m thinking that the training staff checked him out and he had a fitness test and the training staff came to Klinsmann and said, basically, “we can’t find anything wrong with him. He could have kept playing and can play vs. Costa Rica.” Now, this is all speculation, but it is a logical way to fit the facts that we have.
One thing that is also being overlooked is the number of times Klinsmann has voiced skepticism about a player’s injury or called injured players into camp. He has many patterns and most are not positive
“Ideal starting 11”
How about you pick a system that works for the players then tell them their roles in that system and what the game plan is? Then maybe working towards an “ideal starting 11” will be worth it.
I think Klinnsy has told Gulati that if his replaced as technical director then he would resign as coach. I think Gulati should call JK’s bluff
I hope you mean it’s the other way around. We want him out as the coach first and foremost
There’s been talk that Klinsmann has been “good” as Technical Director. Proof is in there has been no real results at the youth level. The U20 lost to eventual champion Serbia in the quarters, but that was an exceptionally gifted team, so it has been a disappointment. No Olympics for 2 cycles. But the real miss is that he has failed to reconcile the High school/collegiate development with the USSF development model. No coaches licensing, no identification camps, nada, nothng substantial or long term. As bad as he has been with the USMNT recently, he’s been worse as TD
The USA is not out of the Olympics, and they will have a very good chance in March to qualify.
Anything that gets him out of here is good for me.
Will not happen I’m afraid.
Yeah and what happens when they face a team who’se strategy is to beat the zone or isolate players 1v1, use movement to pull them out of position and use their confusion to create chance after chance. Any midfielder should be able to defend. Any attacker should be able to create. Any outside player should be able to cross and shoot even the FBs.
This is so glaringly obvious.
I thought we were putting up with lack of consistency and less than ideal lineups across the last year while he was working that out.
It makes all the little decisions I’ve questioned but supported because, “We back the team” (Landon, players out of position, etc…) over Klinsmann’s entire tenure look like he never really had a vision.
This Johnson thing is ridiculous. Why we even had a sub left at that point of the Mex game is beyond stupid. We were down a goal, needed to score, Dempsey looked gassed, and Klinsmann wants us to believe that he was saving a sub for a keeper switch IF they made it to PKs. That is not a game plan.