If Guardiola took over the national team.

I was banned from the national team board so this is the only place where I can talk about our boys.

I know is crazy and we cant afford him but wouldnt that be sick

Guardiola will be like Phil Jackson we all want to see in soccer...

There's no reason why the federation couldn't afford him. I would wager that we pay more than most for the head position.

Guardiola isn't the holy grail either. He has players of an extremely high caliber that were groomed to play a certain way over the course of their development.

Now go and watch Guardiola take over a team who has no identity of style, and no production line that fits into the system seamlessly. The jury is still out on whether hes a great manager/coach. Andres Villas Boas was trying to do a similar thing with Chelsea, and we know how that worked out. Its very difficult changing the culture of a club, something which Guardiola didn't have to do at Barca.

I just dont understand all the hoopla over Guardiola. There may be better coaches than Klinny, but Guardiola certainly wouldn't be at the top of the list as a replacement.

most coaches need time.

Boas went to Chelsea and failed because the team is already stablished, it takes time to install a new style, but is not impossible.

For now Klissmann is the best we can do and Im happy to see him there, but in the coming future, we will need somebody like Guardiola, somebody who has won tittles left and right as a coach.

That is the thing about people that win something, they know how to win, they have that mentality and they never give up.

Klissmann brings that world champion mentality to our boys, but he was a world champion as a player, no as a coach, but is still good.

Now, to bring a coach like Guardiola will be the ultimate challenge, a coach that won everything.

No saying we will be world champions over night, or that success is 100% possible.

The probablities and chances are higher thought.

The biggest example I give to Americans is Spurrier at South Carolina... you can research and do the math.

The rumor is that Argentina and Brazil are going after Pep, we should at least think about it...

If economically is possible, I will go for it, why no?

It will be like dating a super-model, it may no workd out, but if you can afford her, why wouldnt you?

No. Just no.

Guardiola could be great for American soccer as a whole. He could instill principles that are deeply ingrained at Barcelona and Spain, and he may be given the mandate to do so. But as far as assembling a winning team, which is still what the USSF would require, he wouldn't be the best candidate.

Klinsmann is being given some space to tinker, but that wont last too long if the NT flops in major tournaments.

Im curious to see what would happen if Guardiola accepted an offer, we are talking of one of the greatest coaches of all time taking the american team...

that would be like Phil Jackson going to an nba team with no history of winning...

No it wouldn't. There's a huge difference between coaching a club and coaching a national team.

Again, I would disagree that Guardiola can be talked about as one of the greatest coaches of all time. He had to change very few things at Barcelona. He had star players in key positions. He had a culture where certain systems and styles prevailed. And he did this in an environment where other clubs were leaning heavily towards counterattacking styles, and still do actually. Their use of specific pressing is something he could probably take credit for, I don't know, but on the whole Barcelona's philosophy is not something Guardiola implemented. If I remember correctly, the Dutch influence going back some time, including as recently as Louis van Gaal's time in charge were real catalysts for the change in philosophy - something of course Guardiola was privy to as an ex player.

There is a reason so few teams have emulated Barcelona - its pretty damn hard to do it. You can't instill that kind of culture overnight. Barcelona should be praised for what they've done, and Guardiola deserves due credit, but until he replicates anywhere near the success at another club, how he can possibly be responsible for whats taken place at Barcelona. Hes never coached a club whose technical and tactical ability were nowhere near as honed as some of those Barca players. That will be a huge challenge for him, and it wont come as a surprise to see him flop at his next club.

guardiola had nothing to do with winning 2 european cups

phil jackson had nothing to do with the lakers or the bulls also

Yeah, thats exactly what I was saying

Anyway, keep dreaming.

messi has no credits also unless he wins something with a different club

Guardiola coaches, believes and lives a certain style of soccer that we have absolutely, positively no chance of playing at this point. Our players are not capable of playing the Barcelona style. It would be an absolute, unmittigated train wreck.

To play that style you must have players with great technique, in particular sublime first touch. Apart from Clint Dempsey, what technically gifted players do we have on our NT? We don't have anywhere near the skill to play that style of soccer.

You have to know who you are and what your identity is and play to your strengths. Through the DA system, and coaching and other initiatives we are attempting to address our technical deficiencies, but that is going to take years to realize at the level of the full NT.

And to think that one coach can just come in and make the difference in something like that is just plain ignorant. No matter how good of a coach you are you can't make Michael Jordan play like Shaquille O'Neil, and you can't make Shaq play like Magic Johnson. You have to use the skills that you have, and first touch and technique are NOT something that the US squad has to offer.

I know that but is still nice to think about it.

We should start thinking about the next coach after klissmann, a great coach like guardiola would keep adding to our "remodeling" system if we give him a 4 years process.

the sooner you start the road to greatness the better, and if we can afford him, why no?

heck we didnt need to go to the moon, but we still did it just bc we had the money to do it...

bringing guardiola will be like buying a lambo, do you really need it? no, but if you have the money why no? how bad can it be?

There are certain tactics that Barca does that we could do in the MLS. But we don't?

mls lack of south american, mexican, spaniards or italian coaches?

First off I don't know that saying buying him would be like buying a lamborghini. I do actually really like the man, and obviously he had stratospheric success at Barca. However, there is a question about just how good he really is.

His situation at Barca was something of a perfect storm. It was the coming together of an amazing youth development system that taught and trained a very specific technical style of play, with a coach who lived and breathed and believed in that, a magically talented squad with some of the worlds' best players, and an ownership who repeatedly spent massive money in the transfer market.

There is a question over how succesful he could be with another club, and that is not a knock against him. As I said I personally like the man and am a fan.

But here is the big point. I don't think you followed what I was saying. YES hiring him would be an unmitigated disaster, it would NOT work. Pep has a very specific style, belief and philosophy that he coaches and the US team would be completely unable to play it. We could not be succesful playing the Barca style because our players completely lack the technical ability to perform it. We do not have the skills nescesary to succesfully perform in that system. It would be a BAD hire.

That's not why we went. We went because we were in a race with the Russians to try to show that capitalism could achieve more than communism.

Pretty bad, if you don't know how to drive a stick.

Besides, do we really have the money? Paying Guardiola while also paying off Klinsmann's contract, which still has more than two years to go, could be pricey.

there is no luck in sports, you are good or no good, guardiola is good.

what is the worse that could happen?

with guardiola we dont make it to a world cup... big deal, with klissmann we may make it to the second round of the world cup...

assuming we hired guardiola and we dont make it to a world cup, then what?

espn wouldnt pay attention to soccer anymore?

we will lose all those great ratings and media attention?

americans would hate soccer... lmaof

again im all for at least making an offer, why no? it shows we are at least trying...

you can learn how to drive a stick.

if we do have the money, go for it, dont waste time, we are a big rich country, why no?

thats like the big rich muscled dude who's scared of going after the hot cheerleader, since when?

It's the NFL equivelent of having Tom Brady and a terrible running back and hiring a coach who will only throw it 15 times a game. Bad match, it wont work. If I put diesal gas in my normal car the engine will break down. How many ways can we say it? We are 100% incapable of playing his style, we do not have the ability. Hiring him will not make our team suddenly technically proficient, they lack the possibility of executing his style of play.

You say "learn to drive stick" but that starts at the youth level. You can't take a bunch of 23-34 year old footballers with poor technical skill and say "learn to be technical" ... They do not have the ability to execute his style of play.

just to be curious.

how do you explain Steve Spurriers success at the University of South Carolina?

He recruited players capable of playing his style and had them implement his system.

Now, how do you expect us to take a player pool of TECHNICALLY weak and inferior players and make them play a technical style of soccer? We can't just recruit Brazilians and Argentinians and Dutch players to come play for us.

We do not have access to technically competent players ABLE to play Guardiola's style.

He's been there for 8 seasons. He's had the time to weed out the "old style" players he got from the old coach, implement his system, and put in the infrastructure to mold the team to his style and expectations. He also has the ability to choose from recruits from all over the nation; a countless number of which, come from a similar system and set up.

The US National team coach doesn't have those luxuries. Klinsmann is trying to switch over to a style that our talent pool simply can't supply. He's implementing (as best he can and has the ability too) things at lower levels to help supply that style. However, it won't be until the next coach or even coach after that where the fruits of this labor are actually realized. Klinsmann won't be given 8 years, let alone the decade or more necessary to begin seeing players properly developed under the environment he needs for the NT level.

lol What a train-wreck of a thread!