US v Brazil, US v Scotland Review: Are You Satisfied with Klinsmann’s Progress?
Posted on June 1, 2012 6:00 am
The guys review the US v Scotland and US v Brazil friendly matches in May 2012. Should we we happy with the progress Klinsmann has made? Herculez Gomez makes his mark. Landon Donovan dominates, and then gets dominated. Fabian Johnson slides right in to left back with ease. Bradley and Jones confirm their status as CM forces. Edu makes stake to CDM but is a ghost at CM. On The Straight Red Card.
Agree about the change in midfield. If something goes well, why not do it again? And Bradley has shown his offensive ability for years. A case of a coach outsmarting himself.
YOu guys sugar-coated what Klinsman said, or, at least, selectively quoted. He said we need to hurt people. He said we need to collectively whine at the ref. Like CONCACAF refs aren’t gunning for us already. Let’s finish that game in Guatemala with five left on the field instead of the usual nine or ten.
He screwed up tactically and Gooch scrooched the pooch (if Dee will pardon the expression). And Brazil is damn good. That does not mean we are “naive” or need to be “nasty.” He is playing largely with Bob Bradley’s team. A very experienced team for club and country.
The best players on the night were two of the least experienced – Johnson and Gomez. Naivete seems not to be the issue.
Totally disagree:
Klinsmann said we need to be “nasty.” His first language is not English so I will then go on to discribe what he also said. He said we shouldn’t give the Brazilians so much space. We need to get in front of them and not sit back.
I think the English word that he was really looking for is “pesty.” A dictionary would describe this as “one that pesters or annoys : nuisance.” He might have used “stingy” as well.
I agree with him. We need to get in Brazil’s face and pester them, give them less room, get in their heads. We don’t need dangerous tackles like Jermiane Jones’s tackle on Neymar. We just need to be inches from them, for the entire match.
He doesn’t want us to grab a guys nuts and then dive to the ground like we will see from our opponents in CONCACAF qualifying. He doesn’t want us to behave like Rafa Marquez and show “ardito.” He just wants us to not sit back and give Brazil space, like we did with Italy or Spain (in he Confed Cup).
Another example of Klinsmann not quite understanding the American English vernacular is when he said that he was “pissed off.” Even though this phrase is thrown around in locker rooms and conversation, it is considered very inappropriate for a coach or even a player to say these words to the public.
I was happy to see a soccer coach in the US finally show some fire for once.
BTW-I agree that he screwed up tactically, but then again it is just a “friendly” — time to experiment, if just a little. But you shouldn’t experiment with Brazil and his midfieled and defensive tactics were wrong.
This is a dodge. He said we should step on toes and hurt people. It doesn’t matter if he meant to say that. It matters that he did. And that CONCACAF refs are already quick to card us and don’t need more prompting. After all this time of talk about speed in the final third and technical ability and pretending he is playing a 4-3-3 when he is playing a 4-5-1, he plays a 4-3-3 against, of all countries, Brazi, and he blames his players for doing what he told them to do.
And there is no German-English problem with the French import word naive. I suspect it means exactly same in all three languages, and he deserves a punch in the nose from twenty or thirty guys in our pool for using it. Arrogant, Eurosnobic nonsense.
As for showing fire, how many NCAA tournaments has Dale Brown won? Jimmy V, RIP won one, but he never would have said that NC State should step on toes and hurt people. And did Pat Summit win all those games and championships by calling out her players for not hurting people enough? Did she complain against her players when UConn was just better? How many “fiery” coaches have won the World Cup? How many “fiery” coaches have won the U.S. Open Cup in the last, oh, say, three years? Just to pick a number at random.
To say something boring is preferred to saying destructive nonsense for the purposes of a coach, whose business it is to deflect headline grabbers so he can go back to the drawing board.
Now, Klinsmann may be preferred to the stone-walling of the current edition of Peter Nowak, but that is not saying much. And Nowak has actually won something as a coach.
Bruce, Bob, Sigi, Bora, Jason Kreis? Kreis is the fieriest in terms of most likely to say something interesting or call out his own players. But he is young. He will learn better, or the fines from MLS will teach him.
You say Klinsmann is not expressing himself well in English. He rewarded the Dema Kovalenko of the Bundesliga with the armband while Jones was in the middle of an eight game suspension for violent conduct. I get his meaning loud and clear.
I meant “ardido.” : )
No I think Klinsmann meant we need to hurt people. I think his English is good enough that he knew exactly what he was saying there. The guys take on this topic in the next segment.
So you approve of intentional injury? Could you please send a memo to the guy with whistle in Guatemala saying you know that the Yanqui coach wants his players to injure people, some of whom are half their size, and you think it is a fine idea?
If he expressed himself accurately, he must be condemned. Intentional injury is not standing up for oneself or one’s teammates.
So, he is defending bad sportsmanship???
That will only result in red cards and free kicks that can turn into goals. Soccer is not MMA. Hurting people is not what this sport is about.
Klinsmann’s knowledge of English is better than most Americans…
So true… Sadly ^
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