What's wrong with Chula? Better than Carson, if for no other reason that there is less toxicity around than Carson with the Refineries and the Chargers It's not particularly obscure. Even if it is, taking the time to learn something new is considered a positive in our world.
I promised to with-hold judgement until the USA's Gold Cup run was finished...and so I will..... But this team is not making it easy for me........
greg is the best coach the us has I mean did you guys know he coached in europe and mls? he hasnt won anything but does that matter?
the "system" is a mask for politics and the old-boy network. Lets find a away to make sure both Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore continue to be starter relevance by limiting their competition. For Bradley= No Morales, No Canouse. But lets give a kid whos not even on the gold cup roster a start instead. JEEZ this is like Arena 2006 all over again. For Altidore= No Wood, Limit Christian Ramirez minutes in the past friendlies and not call-in the hottest American striker in Andrew Wooten. Joe Gyau, a winger, was just called in from the same bottom 2. Bundesliga player pool. But why leave out Wooten? Why?...……….WHy? Ream and Gonzalez are both older than Wooten, so the age card cant be played. Then we run into Gregg berhalter's personal issue of his close attachments to Zardes and Trapp. Both these players play the two positions of Bradley and Altidore. So now we have a major problem. Garber's (the big boss of SUM,MLS and a USSF board member) close attachments ( Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore) are going to occupy 1 DM/CM spot and 1 FW spot and then you have Berhalter's pet pal's in Trapp and Zardes occupying the other DM/CM and FW spot. before Berhalter even makes his gameday squad, this is his building blocks based on favors and personal connection. -------------------------Altidore-------------Zardes----------------- ----?-----------------------Trapp---------Bradley--------------------? ----?------------------------?------------------?-------------------------? --------------------------------------?------------------------------ If we are lucky only 1 of the above 4 will start and that should be either Altidore or Zardes. Now we have the issue of saving Arena's legacy by having Gonzalez (whos also close with berhalter) and ream around. ream can still hang in there a little bit in a tucked in LB capacity. Gonzalez? hes a disaster waiting to happen just like 2 years ago. Guess who was Berhalters coach and mentor...…..you guessed it.... Arena. it does not end here, the worst player on our mega-talented U-20 team is Aboubacar Keita. Hes a Berhalter developed Columbus academy player and a Virginia University (Bruce's college legacy) former player. Tab Ramos has to play this guy just to kiss their asses, even though Keita gets steamrolled harder than a train-track. We will never make progress until the old-boy network....... supports a healthy and natural transition into more adaptable hands and makes it about the future and not them. Here come the company men.............
After last night I would seriously consider letting @Excellency select the system, formation, and starting lineup vs Venezuela than sit through more uninspiring 3G ball
Normally, I don’t care if we lose a friendly.... normally, I don’t care about experimenting in a friendly... But this was just a waste of everyone’s time. The formation was incoherent. The player selection was incoherent. The energy was flat. And there were no signs of anything promising. They should seriously consider firing Berhalter after the Gold Cup.
Anything less than winning the Gold Cup and I agree. That means even an impressive tournament followed by a PK loss to Mexico in the final is not enough. That said, he's our coach through the next WC even if we crash out in the first round.
I took Berhalter's postgame comments as, in essence, (1) the poor players were nervous because of the roster selection deadline (yet played hard) and (2) we're working on implementing The System so give us more time. So-- no accountability. He'll continue to play his guys and tinker with formations because he's under no pressure to deliver results. And, let's face it, we'll dominate the GC group stage and Gregg's fanboys in the media will spin that as vindication. Then, if we lose in extra time to MX in the final, well, we usually lose to MX, right?
Of the 14 American coaches who've stuck in MLS in recent years - Bradley, Marsch, Vermes, Porter, Schmetzer, Curtin, Arena, Vanney, Olsen, Kreis, Kinnear, Schmid, Heaps, and Gregg - our current manager had the 2nd worst career winning percentage. The only one with an inferior mark was Olsen. Kreis, whose hiring for the US men's 4th most desirable job was much maligned (though I thought was unfair), managed to beat him out in spite of managing two expansion sides and another virtual one who've still never made the playoffs. This doesn't factor in any of the realistic foreign options and Tab who has done a solid job as u-20 manager over the years. I'm going to go out on a limb and say he wasn't the best man for the job, he's part of the problem, and will remain one who we won't be satisfied with outside of short stretches (during which, yes the lapdog for the establishment media will claim he was vindicated and attack fans like their ignorance was the problem). This is what we waited a year for? This is an effed up fed. Just let Earnie do his job. He seemed to do fine with the youth coaches. The business people and boy's club clearly got to influence the senior gig for the senior team because that's the moneymaker and where their rep is staked. Well this way they're only continuing to lose more in both regards.
I'm truly convinced that the USA is going to miss Qatar 2022 at this rate unless something drastic happens.
I’ve got to say, although I’m glad he’s not our permanent coach, I’ve got respect for him based on how he tried to experiment compared to Berhalter. For instance, it was obvious to see that Sarachan was trying to usher in the new era of American talent, and allow the best young players to grow familiar with one another as they move forward in the cycle. In that way, I can tolerate a defeat because it’s easy to see the big picture. And, I still say this as I didn’t want Sarachan to be the full time coach. However, what the hell was that last night? You know what, I’ll give a pass on a old player here or there when you’re trying to fill in a hole in the line up. For instance, let’s hypothetically say, there’s not a legitimate left back option... I could tolerate throwing out a Fabian Johnson or Tim Ream there to provide that bridge for the big picture of what the team is trying to accomplish. That’s a good use of past-their-sell-date talent. However, why are Tim Ream and Omar Gonzalez occupying center back spots when Carter-Vickers and Long are available? I’d much rather lose with them and let that be a learning experience to build on instead of holding a position hostage by fielding Ream and Gonzalez in center back spots. Furthermore, in what universe is 6 midfielders ever been used effectively? No wonder why the team was disjointed... they’re running into each other with nowhere to go. Which, if you are going to force mediocre ass Wil Trapp or Michael Bradley into the XI.... maybe it’s not a good sign that they’re not international quality when you have to overload the midfield to compensate for their deficiencies. I swear that it’s painfully evident that there is some backdoor corruption going on that mandates that at least one of those two plays. And, my God, Tyler Adams is currently the best player on our team. Personally, I believe he’s surpassed even Pulisic and McKennie. And Adams is a straight up, center midfielder. Quit trying to be so damn cute with this, “oh he’s a RB and a DM” to try and impress us with how clever this system is. Any coach knows, put your best player where you can maximize that players strengths and also give him the most touches on the ball. That’s sort of a duh! For what it’s worth, I’m not proclaiming to be a soccer genius, but still, I’ve been following this sport passionately since before some of these players were born, and if it’s something I cannot understand, chances are that the players can’t understand it either. Hence, why it seems so obvious that the lineup appears so incoherent. Ultimately, that was about the most frustrated I’ve ever been from a friendly before in my life. Because it’s obvious he doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing, and the USSF is going to screw up another World Cup cycle.
So neither Sargeant or Amon made the roster, yet they would have been surefire starters on our U20 team. Why not put them with the U20s if you’re just going to cut them from the Gold Cup roster? Surely one friendly isn’t worth more than a U20 World Cup run. Can someone explain this to me?
Honestly, Berhalter is making the classic mistake of letting his ego get in the way of his coaching by thinking he’s so damn clever. The best coaches don’t make things more complicated. They make things more simple. Put players in the best place to succeed. And most importantly, get out of the way.
Julius Caesar has a slave whose task it was to ride with him to remind him of his mortality by whispering”remember you will die” as was the Roman custom for victorious generals in their triumph parades. Caligula forgot that and go arrogant or something. (I though he was just cruel.)
At this point I'd like to point out that Bobby Robson had a really bad record as an England manager, including failing to qualify for successive Euros. But after reaching the 1990 World Cup semis he's regarded as one of the England's greatest managers. I'm just asking you to be patient. Berhalter should be learning and adapting quickly. International players don't get 10 seconds to sit on the ball before crafting a beautiful cross-field pass like they do in MLS.