Reyna Future USMNT Coach

[onlyifvickplayedsocr]

I recently saw CR and da Bruce on ESPN news talking about U.S. Soccer etc. and I realized that CR would make an excellent UMNT coach for several reasons.

1) He's an experienced midfielder in the EPL. Above all, mid-fielders understand tactics and positioning.

2) He's obviously well spoken and intelligent. He says all the right things.

3) He could demand the respect of players being the former captain of the USMNT.


Yes, there are many examples of former great players who have flopped at coaching, but I think he may make a pretty good Bruce Arena successor. Has this been discussed?

If BA doesn't stop eating Taco Bell and Wendy's everyday, we need to start thinking about... Who's next?

[Ray Luca]

First of all actually backs seem to make the best coaches. Some even say keepers do, but that is not true.

If Reyna was a coach our team will be playing the ball back 100 times a game or we will be passing east and west and going no where fast.

[onlyifvickplayedsocr]

"First of all actually backs seem to make the best coaches. Some even say keepers do, but that is not true."

I disagree with this. Midfielders are the QB's of soccer. They design the offense and they have to play defense (unlike NFL). Why backs?

[Captain10]

If Reyna's slow and deliberate style is how he will coach his team to play, then I don't want him anywhere near a team older than 10 years old!

[John L]

Any player who plays "Smart" football with a tactical awareness of where he is on the field and whether to attack or build and how to look for open spaces for himself and others will make a good coach - Teamwork and Communication are much more important than which position you played

Germany has had a Sweeper (Beckenbauer) and two forwards (Rudi Voeller and now Jurgen Klinsmann) as their coaches and have done very well with them

[bigtoga]

First of all actually backs seem to make the best coaches. Some even say keepers do, but that is not true.What kind of ridiculous statement is that? lol That's just comical. You can say/believe any generalization that you like ("Midfielders are actually the glue that holds the team together", "Referees today are ruining the game!") but without context and examples your "statement of fact" is meaningless.

Please join ZANI, phisy, and the rest of the BigSoccer superstars in the "Ignore List Lobby"

[superdave]

"First of all actually backs seem to make the best coaches. Some even say keepers do, but that is not true."

I disagree with this. Midfielders are the QB's of soccer. They design the offense and they have to play defense (unlike NFL). Why backs?
Fine...name the mids who are great managers.

[Ray Luca]

"First of all actually backs seem to make the best coaches. Some even say keepers do, but that is not true."

I disagree with this. Midfielders are the QB's of soccer. They design the offense and they have to play defense (unlike NFL). Why backs?

Any one with the ball in our game is like a quarterback that is number one. Also that is one of the many reasons our game is better then pointy collision.

Main and most important reason is I was a back and many of the coaches I know were also backs. Plus you actually get to see the whole field for most of the game.

Arena was a keeper but the space between the team and the keeper at times is just to far away. One of the reasons I would not pick a captain who was a keeper. The keeper is especially not useful on the practice field either.

They don't always train with all the field players they go off with the keeper coach to train.

[Ray Luca]

Any player who plays "Smart" football with a tactical awareness of where he is on the field and whether to attack or build and how to look for open spaces for himself and others will make a good coach - Teamwork and Communication are much more important than which position you played

Germany has had a Sweeper (Beckenbauer) and two forwards (Rudi Voeller and now Jurgen Klinsmann) as their coaches and have done very well with them

Actually the one of the three that was far and away the best was Beckenbauer a back.

[Ray Luca]

What kind of ridiculous statement is that? lol That's just comical. You can say/believe any generalization that you like ("Midfielders are actually the glue that holds the team together", "Referees today are ruining the game!") but without context and examples your "statement of fact" is meaningless.

Please join ZANI, phisy, and the rest of the BigSoccer superstars in the "Ignore List Lobby"

What I said was true for the most part.

[Karl K]

I don't know whether Reyna will make a good coach or not...he may, he may not, assuming he wants to be one.

But there is so much more to being a successful coach than what position you played, or whether you were a great player...or even a player at all!!

To be a successul coach, you need to be:

--an executive/administrator (with an understanding of short and long-range planning)

--a psychologist

--a trainer

--a negotiator (especially true for national team coaches; YOU try prying away a player from, say, Alex Ferguson)

--a talent evaluator

--a scout

--a tactician

When you take it all into consideration, there's a reason Jose Mourniho makes $10 million a year.

[Casper]

From my perspective, any candidate for USMNT coach needs two things:

1) Familiarity with the peculiarities of US Soccer (MLS Experience, playing/coaching experience for US Soccer, coaching a National Team with similar challenges would all qualify).

2) Demonstrated coaching success at a high level.

Bruce won two MLS Cups and several NCAA championships.

Claudio hasn't coached jack.

If he becomes a manager in MLS, Premiership, or even Colaship, and succeeds, we can put him on the list. Until he has that experience, I'd rather have Bradley, Kinnear, Yallop, Novak, Nicol, Clarke, Sigi, Ellinger, Myernick, Sarachan ... you get the idea.

He won't succeed Bruce. If he chooses to be a coach, he could be Bruce's replacement's replacement's replacement.

[Sandon Mibut]

Fine...name the mids who are great managers.Peter Nowak, Johan Cryuff, Ruud Gullit, Steve Nicol (also played defender but started off in the MF)... you want me to keep going?

[Rocket]

Nowak seems to be doing a good job at DC.

He might be a good replacement for Bruce if our team does a Sampson in Germany '06.

[Northside Rovers]

First of all actually backs seem to make the best coaches. Some even say keepers do, but that is not true.

What position did Arena play?

Your whole post was just goofy.

[Ray Luca]

What position did Arena play?

Your whole post was just goofy.

He was a keeper I said it in one of my posts. Talk to other good coaches that you know ask them where they played as a player see what they say.

[Maximum Optimal]

Reyna has the smarts to be a good coach someday. On a different note I think Arena's successor will be one of Nowak, Hiddink, Yallop or Klinsmann.

[chessplayer]

Nowak seems to be doing a good job at DC.

He might be a good replacement for Bruce if our team does a Sampson in Germany '06.

I don't know, this is only Nowak's second year coaching. He is familiar with MLS and his intensity and coaching style are obviously successful with the combination of folks at DC, but he doesn't have the spectrum of coaching experience yet that I would want in a National Team coach. Besides, the commonality between his success and BA's was Kevin Payne, so while we know that BA can evaluate talent, I don't know if Nowak is working with Payne or if Payne is getting the players for Nowak. If it is Nowak, the man can do that quite well; the drafts and signings that DC has done have been ingenius (Boswell, Gomez, Gros, etc).
Besides, I was thinking he would be taking over Poland's NT eventually, after his 3-year deal here is up and he gets a coaching job in Europe.

[chessplayer]

Reyna has the smarts to be a good coach someday. On a different note I think Arena's successor will be one of Nowak, Hiddink, Yallop or Klinsmann.

Yallop? There's a good coach. He did a great job in San Jose. He was one of Arena's assistants at DC in the late 90's, though, folks may not want someone from the Arena extended coaching tree at the helm. Otherwise he seems to be qualified. I think the jury is out on Klinsmann until Germany wins the World Cup, in which case he would be more expensive than a home-grown option in my book.

How about John Ellinger if he turns around RSL? He is getting the MLS familiary now, and has been in the US program for years. The success of our U-17 programs shows that he can evaluate talent, the only mistake I think he made in that area was in bringing Clint Mathis back to MLS, but he seemed like a worthy chance to take a year ago.

[MarioKempes]

Peter Nowak, Johan Cryuff, Ruud Gullit, Steve Nicol (also played defender but started off in the MF)... you want me to keep going?

First one that came to my mind....Felix Magath at Bayern Munich. He was quite a midfielder for Germany in the day.