Quote from Pinoe On how Australia improved under Sermanni: “In the two games we played against Australia in September, especially in the first halves of the games, I was impressed with how they kept the ball, were patient throughout the midfield, tried to keep the ball on the ground and were dynamic and unpredictable. His teams like to keep the ball on the ground and play an attacking style, which I like and is parallel with the way the world’s game is going.”
I dont mind a bit that he's not American...in fact if he wants to bring Caitlin Foord along with him, Ill adopt her.
Here's a one excerpts Jeff Carlisle ESPN Blog Another open question centers on the extent to which Sermanni will involve himself with the youth programs. Sundhage made it abundantly clear during her tenure that she only wanted to concern herself with coaching the senior national team. Gulati, in his public statements during the coaching search, indicated he wanted greater involvement, and with good reason. The U.S. is widely perceived as falling behind its international rivals in terms of technical ability. DiCicco, who also coached the U.S. U-20 team to a World Cup title in 2008, agrees there's a need for more integration between the various national team programs. "To be able to communicate with our youth programs, and say, 'This is the type of player we need to develop,' it just hasn't been happening," he said. "Ultimately, if you give the youth programs direction, they try to get it right. Without it, youth soccer in American is just big business." having trouble finding quotes from yesterday as so may people r posting the story
One of the questions I have going into this cycle is, what's going to be Cheney's most effective position in the future? I believes she has unique qualities (calmness on the ball, turning, vision, one touch passing) to bring to the team, but she seems to be uncomfortable/mistake prone in the deeper CM/AM role she played in the Olympics. If she were a more threatening finisher, would we consider her the heir apparent to the Wambach target forward role? I wonder....
http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Womens...-Quote-Sheet-Tom-Sermanni-Teleconference.aspx The quote sheet is amazing IMO. He certainly says a lot of the rightthings (in a fairly diplomatic manner). Style of play - Positive possession. I can get behind that. YNT Interaction - Polite and smart. Making it clear he's not going to run all over Jill and April (and the YNT coaches), which would lead to an adverserial relationship and grind development to a half as people play office politics instead, but that he does want to be involved and give more direction to the YNTs. Youth Development - YES. Older Players - Not throwing vets under the bus but making it clear he's going to be pragmatic for the good of the team. Good start. Goal - OK, time will tell if he actually manages to do these things but it sounds good so far.
All I know about him is what he did in the two friendlies but it looks to me that he likes fast forwards and he played 4-3-3. If he's staying with two attacker I dont like Morgan/Cheney much. If he goes to three in the front then a rotation build around Morgan/Cheney/Leroux/Press/Wambach might be fun to try. Cheney could set in the middle and look for cutters in the seams.
Well he's got the first part of being a good coach down pat... saying the right things. Now onto the hard part ...
The 4-3-3 with Cheney in the middle of a Morgan/Press or Morgan/Leroux triangle is what I see in the future as well (Cheney acting as a reverse pivot as you said). I think the progression of our "possession" (or attempted possession) style will also depend on the passing/competency of our back line. Our defenders seem fine passing out of the back when given time on the ball, but once pressure comes.....YIKES.
“I’d like to stress here is I don’t want to judge players on chronological age. I judge players on performance, on their ability to want to continue to play at the highest level and knowing the performance of players who are in competition with them. While I’ve certainly had a very good relationship with Christie and Shannon, and hopefully we will going forward, as a coach, part of this job is to be pragmatic and make decisions that you need to make in the best interests of the team." sermanni in australia and other coaches around the world (in brazil for example) seem to use u20s the way many posters on this board prefer. but i agree with the sentiments of those who think he will not be bringing in as many youth here as he did in australia. and his quote above can be interpreted that way too. Some of our u20s are very good. But we have better u23s - only they don't have a world cup for us to go gaga over them. most importantly, we have the best senior team in the world. so even those u23s who are better than the u20s will find it hard to kick the players ahead of them off the team. not saying some won't make it, but don't look for a lot of change. this is not australia, or brazil, or even germany. some people post as if the uswnt players are crap. i just think they're wrong. my guess is sermanni will find a few new favorites just like pia brought in a few new faces. BUT NOT MANY. and the arguments will start flying all over again.
Oh, I agree and I don't think we should be using our U20s like that. Most UEFA teams don't have a U23 team anyway - they have enough turnover or make enough room for players before that on their senior team and their U20s are further developed given that they're already playing against senior int'l players in their league. We have a fair amount of players already out of college that coming into their prime and getting good development outside of the US. Those are the ones I'm more interested in seeing. U20s and the like, unless they're a prodigy, will mostly not break in IMO.
We should integrate younger talent like Press, Hagan, Henderson, etc. but also the thing is we need those experienced players as well to guide the younger ones into the international game. We can't just get rid of 50 percent of the team you know? I think like everyone else has mentioned, there needs to be a nice balance. Some people think that younger = faster and better but that's not always true. The US women pull off important wins for a reason right? People might think it's luck or some screw up but come on! At the end of the day, the USWNT get the job done and they have with their current roster for the past few years. The US ending up as runner-up for 1st place for WWC isn't too shabby either so we are doing pretty good. A lot of people want to get rid of Boxx, Rampone and even Wambach but they keep doing incredible things whether you like it or not. They may have down games and everybody does, especially friendlies when you aren't trying to win a gold medal or a world cup trophy but one or two games shouldn't automatically disqualify them as DONE or RETIRED. They are great players and of course USA has better players ready to replace them. We have a large pool of wonderful female athletes. We shouldn't ignore the youth but we also shouldn't start shunning the experienced either. There needs to be a good balance and I hope Mr. Sermanni is able to accomplish this challenging task. Let's not forget this can become a very difficult position right?
I agree with your post, and your comments are spot on for Abby Wambach. She's still very productive and seldom has off games. However, I will disagree on Boxx and Rampone when it comes to major tournaments. For instance, Boxx was mostly injured during the Olympics and had a relatively average WC. On the other hand, Rampone had an excellent WC, but has definitely been off her game ever since. It' hasn't been one game here and there, but many over the past year. Perhaps her legs are a bit tired after so many games and tournaments, but unfortunately this what a major tournament requires of a player. I just don't think that a 38 year old Boxx or a 40 year old Rampone can recover quick enough during the 6 games at the 2015 WC. If that's the case, then I'd rather Sermanni pick and train new players at these positions, even if those players cannot outplay Boxx or Rampone today.
I am looking forward to this new coach ACTUALLY giving youg kids a chance. And by that I mean not just bring them in to a 3 day camp and then say adios, but play them in an international friendly. My question has always been, because of USSF conracts with USWNT players is the coach required to play certain players? Because to me that's a problem. How are you ever going to give youth a chance when some 35 year old has a contract with USSF and the coach is pressed to play her? I see no reason for Abby, Rampone, Solo, and some of the others to keep playing in every meaningless freindly game. Bring in Hagen, Press, Henderson, etc., put in Barney in goal and give her some game time in a friendly against New Zealand. Why not? That's how you evaluate talent, IMO. Every friendly game does not have to be a Rock Concert. We don't need to see the "stars" every time. But unfortunately because of the "Cults of Personalities" with the USWNT, I bet the coaches are forced to play the "stars" because of attendance.
With all this talk about development of younger players there is still the issue of winning now!. Sermanni knows he is inheriting the #1 ranked team in the world and no matter how cool it sounds to develop young players he still has to win now. A few losses and all of a sudden the hire doesn't look all that good. He wouldn't be the first coach to be let go before his tenure is finished. Pia understood this and even with her great tenure there was a point people wanted to throw her off the ship. I believe Sermanni will chose the best players he can U-20's, 23's, vetereans whatever it takes to win.
I am sure that the contract does provide some desire for the contracted players be the ones in the games. I believe the contract also pays pool players if they get game time. I am sure that star players attract bigger ticket buying crowds as well. That is a problem for the coach when trying to get more players game time. It is a problem unique to the US system for paying players. Of course up until this point the US system has been very successful. There should be some tweaking going forward, or clear allowances for the coach to play more players in the pool. It seems like the building of a new league with USSF support and their desire to tie some pay to playing in the new league, might create some of the room that is needed. I am sure that the new coach discussed some of this in his interviews with the USSF, they are tasking him with bringing in some new blood. Of course is you leave Hope, Abby, Morgan, etc for all of the friendlies you will definitely lose ticket sales and lose visibility to the game, which will hurt long term. You will need to tell the fans who will and won't be playing or risk some alienation.
This is a great hire and I think the US will now actually get back to winning World Cups (in addition to Olympic Gold). Sermani played attractive soccer with his Australian team who did not have the skill nor athleticism of the US team. It will be amazing what he can do with the most talented team in the World. Pia had decent success but the gap was not winning the WC. I think the tactics the WNT used in the past were average at best and they relied on just having the best talent on a team to win. Now Sermani will mix a better strategic way to play, with great talent and his ability to manage personalities (which will be key). I don't think he will just bring up young players as others suggested, he had to do that in Australia as he didn't have enough good older players. I am sure he will however cast the net wide and give a wider audience a chance to make his squads so he can see what is out there.
Wambach ... she needs to look at the big picture both here and in the new league. There is really no reason for her to average more than a half a game for the next to years ... if her goal is to win a WWC then she needs play less and save her body. The problem with Boxx and Rapone, both of whom I like, is that the US needs these two years to integrate players into their positions. If they wait until 2015 and find out they cant play at a world class level then, what do they do? My bigger problem is how the contract effects someone like Mitts. It's not about how well she plays. The question is do I need a need 34 yo player on the bench. Wouldnt someone like Engen have benefited much more in the long run from having that spot? People going to friendlies want to see the stars but u still dont have to play them both halves. Most people want to see as many player play as they can. All plays need caps to improve and the next to meaningless years needs to be a time to spread the caps out.
I didn't say people don't need caps. I said that the system in place might discourage it. We definitely need a youth movement to mix with the solid core that we have. We surely should not just drop the team we have and play the u20 team with Morgan up top. I watched the u20 play. They are not better then the current senior team. Maybe a few players will get there, but not yet. But you are totally wrong on this point "Most people want to see as many player play as they can." People like you and me want to see the team grow, gain skill, integrate new players, etc. MOST people who go to the games want to see Morgan score and Hope touch the ball. Just listen to when the crowd screams during these Victory tour games.
I disagree with this. It didn't hurt the visibility of the NT before the WWC and it doesn't hurt the mens NT when they play if X-player(s) aren't playing the attendences are still there. 50% of the team can get cut, there are a handful of players based on skill level wouldn't be cut that doesn't mean the other 50% should be kept. The younger players & other players that are just called into camp or not called up have more qualites than possbly being faster, there more technical, their more adaptable, they up side if we(USWNT) is going to progress to a more possession oriented style. It's not a difficult position,it's simple it's only precieved difficult by the fans, pundits, media or athletes that say it's difficult.
Actually before the WWC the attendance was in a slump for the USWNT. The send off game had 5800 people at it. Versus the 13-20k after the WWC. People relearned of the USWNT during the WWC and it brought in new fans. And those fans are not necessarily soccer savy people. They want to see Morgan, Hope and Abby.
Sorry to ask what could maybe feel like an irrelevant question in this debate, but I come from a very different point of view: I am not a USWNT's fan, I am a Nadeshiko Japan's fan, but obviously I am very curious about the new coach of the team that's our big rival (that's said in a very fair, sportsmanlike way. I appreciate and even admire some or the USWNT members). What I want to ask is: do players like Becky Moros and Beverly Goebel have any chance to be involved in the new NT? They just won the Japanese Nadeshiko League title 2012 with INAC Kobe Leonessa (Sawa's side) and they gave a very good contribution (especially Goebel). They're quite young (or at least not too old), strong, athletical but also technical (at least that's what I see from them, day in day out in Nadeshiko League), they actually play in a national league (something can't be said or every US player) and they tried a very different kind of training: if you read Moros' and Goebel's blogs (on the website Pitchside Report), you'll read all they say about the impressive difference in training methods they found in Japan. Since the new USWNT coach seem to want to embrace a style of play mildly-based on a "positive" possession soccer, wouldn't it help if he'd integrate in his system players that are already used to a "different" style? Since the US federation seems to want to close some kind of "technical" or "tactical" gap with emerging countries, wouldn't it be useful to try some players who played at the highest level in one of those countries? After all, Nadeshiko Japan got better when players like Sawa or Miyama learnt something by playing in USA. At a totally different scale (I surely don't want to compare the importance of Goebel with Sawa), couldn't be helpful for USA having some players who learnt something different in Japan? Oh, I swear that I am not a saboteur! I don't want to push players that I think will make USWNT worse so Japan can win next tournaments. I am actually curious to hear what you people think about those players, because, watching them play in Nadeshiko league they seemed quite good to me (although I am aware that US players' pool is veeeeeeeeeery deep).
They played very well for the WNY Flash in 2011 as well. I think that these are the type of players, though not necessarily the exact players that people here want to see get called into camp and get playing time in games for the USWNT. People here think that Pia did not really give players called into camp a serious chance. The more experience in other systems particularly possession systems that players get, the better their skills should be and the more chance they will do well. Of course not every player is at the highest level no matter where they play. I would like to get Goebel get a look myself.
Well sure some players r more popular then others. People arent gonna skip the game if Morgan or Wambach or Solo only start and just play a half. Players in that second tier of popularity like Pinoe and Heath play split games in friendlies and group all the time. In 2011 people werent booing when A-Rod subbed out late in games to let that kid Morgan get some minutes. This year crowds were always excited when Leroux came into games. There will always be support young players getting time as long as it doesnt supplant the stars completely