You've got it backwards. The first thing any good manager does when picking his first 11 is decide which 3 DMs he will play today. Step 2 is to decide if we can fit another one in, maybe on the wing. Claudio Reyna types go at LB. And destroyers play CAM or, moving in the other direction, as anchors in the middle of our back line. I remember seeing JK's first lineup and thinking it was crazy. But hey, I told myself, maybe he's just experimenting like a mad man and/or sending messages (e.g., to Mikey). I suppose that was the time to do it, well before actual qualifying. Still, it looked crazy. Then he came out and swore that this was not actually the case at all (i.e., he wasn't just experimenting). He told us that his lineups reflected his actual player rankings, and that he played folks where he thought they'd help the team the most. I didn't know what to make of that revelation. Was he telling the truth? Well, I believe him now. For better or worse, he just thinks differently than many of us do...
The team posted its best record ever last year; there's obviously the priority on winning. The problem is that while insisting on a certain type of player---basically a player who is as close to being as consistently influential on the field as possible---may raise the over-all quality of the squad it doesn't necessarily increase the capabilities of the squad. I'd first thought JK was simply slowly evolving the talent from its the natural non-attacking centermid base that was home to the most developed players. But I wonder if what he is doing why the player who aren't regulars in top leagues is coming parlously close to an All-Star team concept. Wonodolowski, Kljestan, Davis, Evans, and Zusi are all highly garlanded attackers. Captains. League Champions. MLS Best XI selections. UEFA CL ballers. Nary a one is a difference maker. Even USA Basketball which has access to talent USSF could only dream of abandoned the All-Star concept in team selection. Admire much of what JK has done with the team building but a squad of indentikit players leaves out some of the most effective attackers.
Freddy, Mix, Gatt, Agudelo, Gyau, Shea, Feilhaber, Torres. Hmmm. Torres was called in, but not used. Freddy hasn't played a competitive match since November, and isn't even training with his club. Gatt, Agudelo, and Feilhaber all played in the drab game vs Canada's B-team, in which the US also generated only 2 shots. Shea is coming off a long layoff due to an injury and the MLS offseason and isn't in any form to play. Gyau is barely a professional, a bench player in 2nd Division Germany. I understand the frustration and the wish for more spark to the Nat's. I agree with so many posters who argued that Gatt should have made the US bench for this match, as a rare speed/winger option. Feilhaber is a proven international 2nd half spark. But in general, wishing doesn't win road Qualifiers. Most of these guys are not ready to contribute on a serious level, or at least were not ready for that Honduras game.
A team that might go into the Azteca and wet themselves. Remember when an English player said that during introductions before our friendly at Wembley there was a US player visibly shaking due to nerves? If we were going to use youngsters in games like yesterday's.................then they needed to be brought into the squad much sooner. That list is just funny to me. Joseph Gyau is a bench player on a bad Bundesliga II team. What the hell? Agudelo has scored ~10 career professional goals, and we're going to use him isntead of Altidore or Gomez in a World Cup Qualifier? Feilhaber was so poor in MLS last year that he was benched in favor of players recently brought in from the Vietnamese (Nguyen) and Irish (Guy) leagues. Freddy Adu is persona non grata at his club, and it's been FOREVER since he's played a 90 minute game. Shea's not healthy, and hasn't played a 90 minute game since about 10 games left in last year's MLS season. To me a player like Gatt is definitely what the team could use. We need some width with pace. What the team really needs is frickin' Landon Donovan for God's sake.
Silly points in some of these comments. JK has built an effective team concept. Players like Gatt, Adu, et al are difference makers off the bench. You can't build an entire team of these guys obviously. The point isn't getting a Donovan but getting a Donovan effect through a combination of players. Donovan was afterall a Klinsmann prototype(leaving aside his occasional wussiness) while being a difference maker. It's not about getting all of these guys in now as not all are in form but instead about the process.
It's been the same thing the past 5 or 6 games. we visibly struggle to control the run of play in a game, and then think of some lame excuses to talk ourselves off the edge time after time. Like being completely outclassed by a 3 star team like Honduras somehow is normal? Only being able to create 2 or 3 serious threats on goal as a region superpower is somehow normal? Right now this national team needs to concentrate on keeping the ball and controlling the flow of the game. The lineup yesterday was not designed to do that, and with the heat factor added in, it showed. We tried to play a fast, athletic style against a fast and athletic team in their own backyard. People act like it's the backlines fault, well of course there will be one or two breakdowns when you're under the kosh the whole game! get a grip! This team is setting themselves up for either failing to qualify, barely qualifying, and getting bounced in the first round in brazil which at this point is a massive fail.
Everyone loves to crap on theoretical players who could possibly make a difference. I understand the arguments, I really do. There's only one problem, the alternative is what we saw in Honduras. I mean what we saw in Honduras was our so-called A-team. The team most likely to show up in Brazil. Minus Eddy Johnson of course. Funny how the best player on the field yesterday plays in MLS. And the player we need the most is sitting at home contemplating the future also plays in MLS. Most on these boards yesterday were praising Klinsi for his picks. Why? Because it's the lineup BS posters wanted. A heavy centric Euro based lineup composed of solid players who play for solid teams. Sure we can debate tactics and subs, but the end result was predictable for anyone who knows how important a CREATIVE player is. Emphasis here is on creative. Unfortunately the unbridled wisdom that oozes on BS has simply always been just that, BS. On the other hand what is most disheartening to me is the vitriol thrown at players who either don't have a club team, are bench players, or play in MLS. That to me is probably the most disappointing. Are we that closed-minded that we refuse to even acknowledge that our Euro based players provide little to no advantage over MLS guys. I mean how can anyone justify the play of Michael Bradley yesterday? Or how about Altidore? Was it really a surprise to most of you? Would the team really have been at a disadvantage with Wondolowski out there as oppose to Altidore? Precedent here is an understatement. The belief that players such as Chandler, Jones, Bradley, Dempsey, Altidore, F. Johnson, & Williams will somehow get us to the promise land is ludicrous at best. THE PROBLEM IS STARRING YOU RIGHT IN THE FACE.
i'm not an Adu hater. But why can't he stick with a club? He's been on something like 9 clubs already. The coaches know more than we do. Something must be wrong with the player if everywhere he goes they can't wait to get rid of him.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Our 79k masterpiece has been locked.
This is the big philosophical issue at the root of things. The USSF is trying to jump ahead, by providing a carefully planned vision for the future. They feel proper organization and mentality will create a soccer culture able to produce top players. I believe in the opposite: it's a strong soccer culture that eventually creates a style, a vision, and success. No team in the world has become good because they hired some guru to build a logical, clean, disciplined system. All the contrary. Most of the soccer superpowers are that because they have a huge soccer culture, in spite of poverty, corruption, lack of stadia, bad federations, total lack of planning, etc. To me, making the USA go far in a WC, _at any cost_, would have done more to advance the game than hiring a coach to revamp the whole system and try to dictate a "soccer culture." It's just foolish. You first sow the fields, and after plan how to reap. With JK, we're planning how to reap when nothing has been sown.
Seems like a combination of things. The pattern's clear, though: clubs don't want him Yes, there's been some bad luck (e.g., minutes slashed when his strike rate was among the best in Europe at Benfica, before the endless procession of managers that didn't rate him). And yes, it is clearly misleading to suggest - as many do - that this means he's not good enough to play for anyone (e.g., he was clearly good enough to play for Aris and the Union, just not good enough to earn DP-level wages, hence both teams trying to renegotiate his contract, w/ the Union even offering to extend it if he'd reduce his wages...people often gloss over that part). But the truth is that he *hasn't* caught on *anywhere*. And after this many teams, well, you can't keep blaming luck or circumstances. It's probably you. Multiple theories here. He parties too much and is thus inconsistent and out of shape. Or he's a locker room cancer. True? Who knows... There have certainly been rumors. And bits of suggestive evidence, e.g., pictures of him online w/ fans at places like Xfinity's bar and grill or at a Super Bowl party, Hack's comments about hist stature in the locker room, a former Monaco player saying he was too friendly in training and not serious enough, etc. There's evidence going the other way too - e.g., four Union members coaching and/or playing with Freddy before bringing him in, Porter naming him team captain, talk of Toronto being interested as he's worked w/ Payne and Rongen and Califf, reports of multiple offers from MLS sides and multiple offers from foreign clubs too...these things don't suggest 'cancer' or 'partier not worth signing'. Still, we *have* all seen the inconsistent play and him getting regularly pulled before 90 mins (even though he insists he's not gassed; fwiw, these moves always looked more tactical to me, though that's bad in a different way). My own theory - echoed by Chivas' current manager - is that one factor is him never being played at his natural position. The logic is simple. Say that over Player X's career, he's almost always been inconsistent at every position but one. Played in that one position, though, he's been pretty consistently good. Maybe we should give him a shot there to see if he can cut it at that one position where he's shown fairly consistent form at in the past. For whatever reason (some of them quite good, I assume), clubs (save Rize) haven't wanted to see what he could do here. Imho, this is fine, but in this case, don't expect more than he's shown w/ other clubs, i.e., he'll be good enough to start and will shine at times, but will also disappear more than you'd like...so sign him, but don't pay him the kind of salary that demands star-level performances. Or heck, maybe the truth is simpler still: he's young, and young guys are generally inconsistent. But he's not paid like a young, inconsistent guy. Teams keep signing him at wages that demand consistent impact. Put two and two together, young and inconsistent guy + stupid teams, and you get constant signings followed by disappointed teams. The truth, though, is that we only really know one thing: teams keep deeming him surplus to their requirements. The rest of it is just theories trying to explain this ugly truth.
This probably sums up JK's thinking when it comes to player selection. Freddy is okay with being close and others are not and that is what JK likes so they get selected.
He's looking for his 9th club since 2006. He can't even average one club a year. There's something going on with Freddy that we can't see. There's something going on with attitude or work ethic or an inability to co-exist with other players in the locker-room. I mean, Freddy lost a battle for playing time last year to Farfan. Maybe that says we should look at Farfan!!!! It's not that Freddy wasn't good, he just wasn't as good as Farfan. And the Union have decided that they want to go with Farfan and the Colombian Roger Torres in that role. And that's fine.................part of it has to do with the pricetag of Farfan versus Adu.
You are suggesting to bench everyone who played yesterday and start players who don't have a club team? Who are on who's bench? and only play MLS players? I know what you're doing....you wait until someone doesn't succeed then jumps out of the bushes and mocks the failure then offers up that only you know better. Its perfect because they can't refute the failure. I know alot of people like you. When something goes wrong in someones life they now have all the right answers to ridicule them. And when things go well you lurk to wait another day until eventual failure comes as we know it always does at some point, and then pounce. Wondolowski would have sucked worse than Altidore, Johnson did play well yesterday, Dempsey is one of the best American players of all time, (did you see that world class goal) Bradley didn't play well yesterday but is one of our best players and no Beckerman is not better. I know complexity is not your strength. Are you suggesting that once an MLS player leaves that they should no longer be considered to play for USMNT? Sorry Brek Shea......
The reason not to call in Josh Gatt is that he's not a very good player. Other than Shea and maybe Freddy, this list is the all-hype contingent.
Yet, you call for Freddy-couldn't hack it in Europe, nor in MLS thus far upon return Mix-Euro Gatt-Euro Agudelo-Euro within a year Gyau-Euro Benny-Flamed out in Europe, not much success with NE since Torres-Only guy on this list who has not and probably will not play in Europe, but also has been terrible with our NT. So, basically you want to build our NT our guys in Mex and MLers who aren't good enough for Europe? But then you also don't like Zusi or Davis, so really, you make zero sense.
Classic BS. I love it. Keep it coming. You want to talk about selective/short memories... why do we have to go through this every cycle? It's hard for the US to get results in the hex. Please bookmark this and remember it for 2017 and 2021. It will continue to be the case.
I know Ben used the word Eurotrash. So I could be wrong, but I don't think that his point was to bash European players. Or bash MLS players. Or praise either group either. Sam Hamwich had a line about "Freddy Adu being shorthand for creative players who try $hit", something like that. Clint tries $hit, and can actually threaten defenses. Maybe we need a bit more of that. And these guys are simply shorthand, a way to express that desire by throwing potential names against the wall that might fit that desire. That's all I think Ben was saying. Clint used to be lambasted for being lazy as hell (until those heatmaps came out; hey, some guys just *look* like they're not working, even when they are, funny body language/stride and all). And for being selfish and trying too many stupid stepovers. Some of these other guys Ben's named have also been criticized along similar lines. But they've also shown the ability at times to inject a little danger into our attack (albeit some, like Gyau, only at the youth level so far). Clint, of course, has proven his mettle time and time again as a club player, initially being out of favor w/ new managers before always eventually winning them over (and now, probably in part due to that track record plus his exploits as a goal scorer, he's gotten one of them on board from the get go, AVB). These guys Ben mentioned haven't proven so much at the club level...certainly not in high leagues, anyway. But some have shown a bit of life in a USMNT jersey. (Freddy, of course, played a role in 100% of the goals of the last two meaningful USMNT games we played before JK came in, and Benny was quite frankly the only creative passer I saw in our past two games.) Even if they're incomplete, raw, and/or less consistent players, these guys do seem more creative, more skilled on the ball, more attack minded, more full of ideas than some of the guys we've played. And very real concerns about our defense aside (can't we try to get better both offensively and defensively?), we don't seem to threaten opposing defenses as much as many might like. Quite simply, the gap b/w JK's rhetoric of the U.S. needing to be more proactive and positive, and what we see on the field, is hard to miss. And some may think this is negatively affecting our ability to qualify for the WC. So maybe Ben's simply saying to bring one or two of these guys along. Bring them into Camp Cupcake. At the end, pick a couple to bring along for real. Then, if it looks like we're pretty impotent on offense, consider subbing one of them in instead of sending in Edu as a CAM. Or maybe he's calling for wholesale change, I don't know. Maybe he wants us to field lineups w/ several of those guys from the start. Clint and Jozy or Herc up front. Brek at LW. Freddy as a RM who pinches in and plays more centrally on offense. Mikey and JJ as our two B2B guys, w/ one staying back whenever the other moves up. Two from Benny, Gatt and JFT on the bench. Something like that, instead of insisting on JJ/Mikey *plus* Williams or Beckerman. And don't fetishize regular playing time in Europe; consider it, but if a guy like Benny makes your team more dangerous than Williams, play him. Either way, Ben's ultimate message, to me, is the same: let's actually *try* to be a bit more positive on the pitch. (Me, I'm fine w/ this, though I sure would like to have tried going that route a bit more in friendlies first, just like giving Geoff and Omar some experience might have been nice. Who knows, though...maybe if we get Landon and Brek back, we're all of a sudden ok on offense.)
People are crazy when they say Freddy can't hack it Europe but right when they say he couldn't Hack it in Philly. Lol. You don't have to be a genius to see that the boy is special. I mean even Pele didn't care for Europe and I'm sure he wouldn't play for a coach like Hack for what it's Worth. I mean we let Hackworth manage and coach with his credentials but we can't let Freddy play free like he should. For Gods sake MLS needs to find a place for him and fire the ********ing coach who doesn't let him play even after a Hookah nite. I mean George Best and Gazza were two of the best party boys and great players. Surely you guys get what I'm saying.
Fair enough, I didn't recall seeing him play one lick so I made the leap. Thanks for the knowledge bomb.