The extent of the "conspiracy" that I buy is that Jay Berhalter had an outsized influence in getting his brother hired. Berhalter washed out of the Swedish second tier because his team was getting lousy results, then they got promoted the season after he left, staying up since while making a couple deep cup runs and finishing as high as 4th in the Allsvenskan. Underachieving. Then, he lands in Columbus, which was a shit situation. They had a nice jump when he arrived, but then completely fell off after the 2015 season and frankly haven't been all that impressive since. His teams never did well enough to even reach the Champions League, and managed a goal difference of +6 over his whole tenure. Not super impressive. Is that the ideal resume for a US manager, worth waiting over a year for? No. Is it good enough if your brother has a high-level role in the federation? Sure seems it.
Mexico takes the lead off of a free kick just outside of the box after handling. The Peruvian player getting out of the sight line of the keeper really helped...
Mexico takes the lead again. Defender couldn't track the ball and Mexico caught the goalkeeper near post. Players all over the field are not happy about fouls called and not called.
Yeah, but it seems you're in that forum way more than I and you know what's going on. Their MLS stuff goes way beyond Berhalter getting hired. They think US Soccer just wants MLS properties on display over Euros -- that is, the players. If only all the Euros were put into the starting lineup instead of the crappy MLS players, things would be ok. SSDD. Except the team really does seem horrible now.
Oh, I know. Way too many people who think there's a Supreme Law handed down from Mount Garber to the US sidelines for a certain quota of MLS players to feature. It's weird.
A good majority of them don't even watch MLS, let alone give it the time of day. They also believe that ALL US prospects have to go to Europe so they have to fight for their spot. They also believe that they shouldn't have to fight for playing time in MLS........... They get overly excited over video high light packages of every time a player touches a ball during a game.........and then completely IGNORE poor positioning, poor defending, poor runs, etc. Some are arguing over why no one calls the US's formation a 3-6-1..........some sampsonian conspiracy........... Some think that SUM doesn't do enough to market national team games (men or Women). They are a highly hypocritical, conspiratorial bunch. It's quite laughable. We truly will not find a worse place on BS:
I do like the disconnect of people who might not have been born when Garber become MLS commissioner credulously claim that Garber is an "NFL guy" who will never understand soccer.
With so little soccer on tap tonight, at least there is some rugby going on right now (Seattle v Toronto in the playoffs - hmm, that sounds familiar).
If you're evaluating an MLS coach's body of work, playoff results aren't the best way; any asshole can get lucky and win a Cup (looking at you, Gary Smith). That Crew team finished 5th in the East with a +4 goal difference. That's fine, but underwhelming compared to what you'd expect for a guy US Soccer seemingly moved heaven and earth to get.
Quotes from Berhalter after the loss. Don't shoot the messenger. https://www.espn.com/soccer/club/un...ad-problems-to-solve-before-upcoming-gold-cup "I think we need to be calm. I think we need to look at the game, look at what we need to improve on, and then set out to do it," Berhalter said. "It's really tough after a result like this and start making excuses. I don't really want to do that. But what I'd say is we're still getting guys where they need to be, and we're not there yet, and that's pretty clear. So we're going to keep working on it." "The guys worked hard. They gave what they had. They came up short," he said. "And it doesn't mean that we're going to scrap all the plans. We're always evaluating, we're always seeing how effective we can be, and where we need to improve. And we're just going to continue that process." They worked hard? Process? The Gold Cup starts in 5 days. Does he know this?
Hey, it worked for the Astros and the 76ers. They stunk up their leagues for years, but look at them now! Of course, time is of the essence when it comes to international soccer, so I'm going to stand by my presumption that Team USA's men won't be close to formidable on a consistent basis until the 2026 qualifying cycle.
I mostly stopped paying close attention to the USMNT around mid-2015 due to Klinsmann. I check in every now and again, but I'm much happier being a more casual fan.
I wasn't worried until I found out these guys make up the primary Gold Cup roster. I follow the team but had somehow missed the roster release.
Only? Probably not. I think we could fit the entire group into a medium-sized conference room, however.
Tonight's Guam v Bhutan World Cup qualifier was supposed to eliminate the first team from World Cup 2022 (Bhutan won at home 1-0 in leg one). However, Macau, who won their home leg 1-0, has refused to travel to Sri Lanka for what they call security concerns. Though not official yet, this will likely mean Sri Lanka advance and Macau are out. As awful as the recent terrorist attack in Sri Lanka was, declaring the country off limits to international soccer for security reasons would likely throw many many other countries' abilities to host matches in doubt. This would arguably include the US and some European countries.
Really? I get he was a bad coach and insufferably arrogant and smug in his attitude, but sports are absolutely littered with such people.
But I have so many sports to consume that I can't give all the teams I support (and I do support the USMNT) my focused attention. Klinsmann killed, for me, what made the USMNT "American". All the constant criticism about the U.S. not having good enough players or being very good was absolutely correct - on the surface, but the one thing American teams don't do is quit. We always punch above our weight. Under Klinsmann we stopped doing that. He turned us into who we are, a middling country with a deep pool who loses its best talent to more established and richer sports, and sees the development of many of the prospects we do have delayed by the specter of NCAA eligibility. I still follow the MNT, and I want to see it successful, but I've got other things to draw my attention when the going gets tough. Klinsmann's biggest crime was making the player pool see that the emperor had no clothes. We weren't a world beating team. He robbed our players of their delusions of grandeur. He made them see the placebo for what it was. And he, to this day, doesn't seem to grasp that very American thing. I hope we get it back some day. Hopefully in time for 2026.