Did Youth Player “Coddling” Lead to US Soccer U23 Olympic Failure? Porter Naive?
Posted on April 3, 2012 3:20 am
The guys discuss several articles critical of the US Soccer U23 performance during Olympic qualifying.
Chuck Murphy says our players are too coddled.
Grant Wahl and Matthew Doyle point out Caleb Porter’s managing naivete vs Canada and El Salvador.
When Terrence Boyd went down with a bloody nose, why didn’t any of his players come to his defense? On The Straight Red Card.
twitter @straight_red
They probably didn’t defend Boyd because they don’t even know him. Does he even speak English?
On a serious note: what did you expect them to do? Nobody saw the hit and as far as they knew he just tripped and hit his face on the ground.
What would you’ve done?
Another example, to go along with what Brett, Derek and Justin O have mentioned: when Columbus Crew hosted Cruz Azul back in 2009, Joel Huiqui elbowed one of Columbus’ defenders on a play (a corner kick IIRC). Will Hesmer caught the ball, kicked it out of play and then ran to shove Huiqui, nearly starting a brawl. Not a good move under normal circumstances, but someone has to let the other guy know that beating up your teammates will not be tolerated.
Oh yes, and one bit of advice for any players reading this: I have never seen a referee send someone off for giving a two-handed shove (as opposed to punching or kicking, both red-card offenses), so that’s probably the best way to get the message across.
Well you haven’t, but I have many times.
Yes, Boyd’s English really is pretty darn good. See here at 1:00… I have a feeling Bradley or Gooch might have gotten in someones face a bit if they were there… Just a guess.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhrWynoRQzw
Outsider’s perspective… the U.S. team had a weak mentality & no grit. I agree with you guys that is has nothing to do with the academy setups & environs as much of the professional world has similar working environments. I think it has more to do with the inherent character flaws of the U.S. Gen Y.. as well as over hyped expectations.
Guys like Brek Shea which hasn’t demonstrated very much against regional competitors in the CCL have been hyped to become World Class stars… yet he performed the same way in these U-23 as he did in CCL.
You’re right. Gooch and Bradley would have gotten in the guys face at the very least. But those weren’t the names that came to my mind first. Jermaine Jones’ response would have probably gotten himself arrested and charged!
What I thought when Boyd got whacked was “Willcommen bei CONCACAF” (let’s hope Google Translate is working correctly)
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