I actually think there is some truth to this and thought this was the case when TS was hired. I won't call TS a sucker; I genuinely like the guy and feel that he wasn't the type to play the politics that one must play at this level. But I did give side eye when he got the job. That said, I thought he would make it through a WC cycle. IMO, giving that "prospective coach" the keys to throne at the time, would have caused too much of an uproar. And if that prospective coach is, who I think it is, then:
I'm very worried that you're right. It seems like a convenient way to get her in, but I'm not sure it was really a plan. More of a set of stumbles.
But he only lost one game!!! My opinion is that Gulati actually watched how incredibly well Germany had done since last year, not only in winning the Algarve Cup(where they destroyed Japan in the 2nd half), but bringing up a wealth of young talent as well. In comparison to the German's, Gulati felt that TS had fallen way behind in his own program
Yes, that must be it...the same folks who let April twist in the wind for an entire cycle while tactics stagnated, players were in open revolt, and Germany, Sweden, and Canada (remember that?) made significant strides "over-taking" were carefully analyzing world women's football on a day to day basis for micro-trends. Sure. Yup. I fully believe we'll never know what political coalition solidified against the guy. Although you'd have to think if he's replaced by an inside candidate, that person would've been heavily involved in back-stabbing him. There's no shortage of suspects fully capable of such behavior and well enough armed to do it.
Agree. I wouldn't doubt that there were "outside forces" but within the circle of influence of this team that could have contributed to his dismissal. IMO, there seem to be "caretakers" of this team that may not always be on the bench but are always circling around. You have Jill Ellis and April Heinrichs, then you have Janet Rayfield and Marcia McDermott and a few others who sometimes do "advisory" rolls or scouting rolls. Then you have the retired players 99ers who are often asked advice or maybe even give it without asking, who knows. Not saying any of them were involved or even asked their opinion, but I believe there are some folks whose opinion weighs heavy when it comes to this team. So it will be interesting to see who the Fed chooses. IMO, that may give us a clearer picture of who was involved.
Rayfield, McDermott, and the people you call "99ers" are all relative outsiders. But you've hit on a couple of leading suspects as well.
Two things I got from that interview was that Sermanni doesn't believe that player dissatisfaction is what got him fired, and that the US Federation had tasked him with integrating new players into the system. Hopefully this trend continues with the next coach. If Tony Gustavson is hired as the next coach perhaps the US Federation saw an opportunity to bring him in as head coach before he was snatched up by someone else. Who knows?
^^this^^... is what i believe is happening. it fits sunil's mo exactly, and matches what he did with the bradley/klinsi thing.
That gives Gulati and U.S. Soccer CEO Dan Flynn, along with whomever may be assisting in the process, a month to dig in on the search without any distractions of on-field performances. Gulati admitted Monday that the process could stretch into the summertime. And then there’s current interim coach Jill Ellis, who improved to 6-0-2 as temporary U.S. boss with Thursday’s win after also guiding the team in fall 2012. Last time around, when Sermanni was ultimately hired, Ellis withdrew her name from consideration. ellis today, gus tomorrow if she isn't given a deal which allows her to go back to her post after the WC, she will decline again, and people will be running around saying, it was Gus. No, she declined it again, and he was the second choice. The locker room bosses want her to stroke their egos. the ole guard, esp wambach, have some issues with a guy dictating their minutes. At the opening whistle of the China game, jill went direct ball to sydney and crosses to wambach later. that fits the old mode (run the legs off an opponent and let wambach body up late for a header) of the team. Gus has been playing with marta and vero, so he got crazy ideas in his head now about how mid-fielders should be, play and dribble? Ops, sermanni had those ideas. Gus will drop any job in the world to coach this team unless he is getting the German, France or Brasil job, which I don't see. jill is the safest bet on the las vegas boards.
One of American soccer's darkest days. To this day, I absolutely resent how our ladies performed during that game.
Ugh don't remind me of that day please. I looked like a 5 year old girl who lost her little red wagon for a whole week after that loss.
It's amazing when you go back and relive the horror of that game. It's just simply mesmerizing to look into the eyes of those players. If you watch the key moments of that game, and slow it down some, you can see that they knew the agony was coming. The looks on their faces. Their eyes had that look of terror. They were terrified. It's like they knew they were supposed to lose, or that Japan was destined to win. It's just a strange sense, and you can see it in them, if you watch the video stills closely. This video captures just that. The team knew going in that it was win or bust. That miraculous win over Brazil was only going to truly matter if they finished the tournament with success by winning the Final. They failed to accomplish that. There were tens of millions of American casual sports fans, and non-sports fans even, that through the soul of patriotism, were heavily rooting for the USWNT that day. Those spectators (which were the majority of Americans watching that day) don't care or never will care for what the USWNT does, or ever will do, before or after a WWC Final. It's all about proving that America is the BEST in the world. It all came down to that one day for this particular large group who were watching. They left their recliners and bar seats in frustration with an utter distaste for America not getting it done in being #1 in the world against Japan.
A great video! But, come on guys, it was an inspiring performance by the Japanese. Winning the world cup takes luck. We had it against Brazil; we didn't have it against Japan. Let's hope it's our karma next time around. All the preparation in the world, all the skill, all the hard work goes for naught if the soccer gods are not on your side. It's the same in all sports, but soccer is maybe the most capricious of all -- because the goals are so few and so hard to get.
Well, looks like Sermanni might not be unemployed for too long... Australia fires de Reus; Stajcic takes over as interim coach -- http://t.co/rkF3lSVK0X #Matildas— The Equalizer (@EqualizerSoccer) April 17, 2014
Gustavon couldn't even win the Swedish League with what looked like on paper the strongest 'club; team, ever(within less than an year(5 US NT's, 6 Swede NT's, 5 Brazilian NT's, 2 Spain NT's, 1 respectively from Denmark, Norway, Holland) Anybody could of coached a team like that to 2nd place in Sweden.
That why I earlier wrote, if he can pull of a win in WCL he would be a good candidate for the US job, if not ... not so much.
Especially since so many quality players have already left Tyreso - like Caroline Hansen and Jennifer Hermoso.
I dont see this coming down to resumes'. Jill Ellis was a successful college coach...end of story. I dont think she's ever won the big prize on any level. I think this comes down to who will get the most out of the players that they have without needing to reinvent the wheel.
Btw you are mixing the 2013 and 2014 teams they never played at the same time, four of the Brazilian came as replacment for two of the Americans, one of the Spaish girls the Dutch and the Norwegian (and one of the Brazilian is not cleared to play yet) . And of the Swedish WNT 2013 one was on maternity leave and another wasn't yet (part of the WNT that is she got her first cap this year).