Even if it doesn't hurt them financially and they fill US stadiums with fans of the visiting team, don't buy any merchandise, go to friendlies in the USA, or to the US's world cup qualifiers. This federation needs to be embarrassed as much as possible even if they don't care. If necessary, do so for the entire World Cup 2026 cycle when that starts as well.
I haven't watched any team matches for the last 9 months. I don't intend to until the federation gets off its arse and hires a permanent coach. If they aren't taking this team seriously, then why should I?
The flaw in the logic is that I would be stunned if a coach is not in place by January camp. This is a team that only intermittently plays so it's not like you're boycotting an Astros team that guts their payroll for 3 years and loses 100+ games each year and you're boycotting a game nightly, and then they finally break financially with 10k crowds and the spending starts. This is they play again in January. Or March. So if you start a boycott now and they hire someone when they return from Europe or when U20 ends you basically miss one game. That you weren't buying a ticket for anyway. I do think their lack of success is having a mild impact as we are back to 5 minutes of pregame and straight to anthems and whistle. I think one bit of naivete on the SUM conspiracies is it is not in USSF's interest -- or even the MLS stadia who might host -- or SUM that might produce the event -- for the team to be unsuccessfully piloted by a former MLS coach. I think MLS has a limited interest in its players and coaches and "graduating" and looking good to sell their product. But financially on these games their interest is a competitive team whose tickets you want to buy. The real question is has USSF become such a boy's club Fed that it can no longer do what is in its sporting and financial interests? You see this in corrupt feds around the world, the player strikes, the execs who think they and their prerogatives are more important than the team on the field.
Question: What exactly do you want? In other words, what would it take for you to end your boycott? @Statman says "hire a permanent coach". Is that the same for you or do you have other criteria?
1) Hire a permanent and competent coach, one who will take advantage of the talent the US has and mold it into a cohesive team that wins. 2) The resignation of the entire USSF board. It's becoming increasingly clear to everyone that new leadership at USSF is badly needed. Outside of getting WC 2026, the current group has failed miserably in everything else related to the Senior MNT.
That wins where? CONCACAF? We don't know yet - we've only played one CONCACAF country this year, to my knowledge. And we won. That wins against a gauntlet of Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, England and Italy? That might be a different guy. That wins a World Cup? We don't have the talent pool for that. Oh, define competent, please. I have a feeling that YMMV. The entire board? All these guys? President Carlos Cordeiro Executive Vice President TBD Immediate Past President (non-voting) Sunil Gulati Athlete Representatives Chris Ahrens, Carlos Bocanegra, Angela Hucles Pro Council Representatives Don Garber, Steve Malik Adult Council Representatives Richard Moeller, John Motta Youth Council Representatives Dr. Pete Zopfi, Tim Turney At Large Representative John Collins Independent Directors Val Ackerman, Lisa Carnoy CEO/Secretary General (non-voting) Dan Flynn To be replaced by whom?
Besides hiring a permanent coach, I would end my boycott if the USSF/SUM/MLS cartel was dismantled. No justification at all for linking, among other things, the marketing and TV rights for the USMNT with a professional soccer league.
Boycotting isn't enough. We need to actively destroy MLS and SUM with Garber in prison. MLS is committing white collar crime with the stuff they get away with. FIFA just don't have the balls to outlaw that fake league and ban all MLS players from competing internationally.
Heads should have rolled after we missed the WC. But the same regime continues with no concern at all.
A team that finished fourth place in the World Cup, playing in their national stadium, tuned us up. Stop the f****ng presses. Let's act completely surprised so we can fire the outrage machine back up.
I want to see how Weah, Pulisic, McKennie, Adams and Sargent play together before I boycott anything.
It has nothing to do with a loss to England, even a bad loss. It has everything to do with, what the hell are we even doing and where the hell are we going as a soccer nation? More so, what are we doing to improve? What is the game plan? Just bend over accept mediocrity or are we even aspiring to be among the elites in the soccer world? I can take a loss in a friendly... in fact, I appreciate experimenting early in a cycle. More so, I would be disturbed if we held on to the old guard to try and get results in meaningless friendlies early in the cycle at the expense of building for the future (aka 2018 cycle). But, it’s time to move this machine forward. Play time is over. Earnie, hire a damn coach already. At this point it’s simply negligence. There’s been time to line up the right coach and he has not done his job. Likewise, the USSF has failed to define a coherent plan for the 2022 cycle...which makes me wonder, what the hell Earnie is even doing. At this point, the players and fans alike are mentally checking out, and we are about to enter into a whole new set of problems if we don’t fix this sinking ship. We waited too long to fix the sinking ship in 2018, and I fear the USSF will repeat their same mistakes in this new cycle. In short, I’m up in arms because there’s no iniative from the USSF.
Worth pointing out that a more reasonable schedule would be garnering different (read: better) results. So linking it to embarrassing results could be taken as at odds in terms of explanative value. I think we then need to link this to broader mismanagement by USSF, how long it took to fire Klinsi, this pointless GM escapade, and likely one of the harder 6 month schedules we've had, and not for the quarterfinal team of 2002 but instead the further diminished rebuilding remnant of the 2017 failure.
A full boycott could be bad considering how many games we actually play in a calendar year. But organizations such as the American Outlaws need to be pressuring US Soccer to make a hire, it's literally crazy that we've heard nothing from them all year. I'm all for supporting our players on the field, they deserve it, but we need to pressure the Fed.
I think we got played, they floated an unsourced rumor of a November 1 hire right when people were getting upset in October. The complaints died down just enough, you know, "they told us the date." They got back the freedom to fart around some more. Some people like me kept complaining but the pitchfork brigade stood down just enough. Now it's late November. I don't think the boycott idea is completely bad, but I expect that when we get back from Europe and/or the U20s finish there will be an announcement. Berhalter's season ended a week ago but the US including Earnie were in Europe. If it's him I assume we're waiting for the dramatis personae to be back in the same country together for a press conference. They have a Tuesday game, I assume back on a plane Wednesday. If not him, well, U20 ends Wednesday also, and they are in-country. Ramos could be announced this week just the same without undercutting his team. If one of those two is the guy I expect an announcement Wednesday or Friday (not Turkey day), Monday at the latest. Failing that, the reality is the next game is sufficiently far off that while they have acknowledged a January camp will happen, there are no 2019 games officially announced yet. The implications for a ticket boycott should then be straightforward. It's not that I don't get where you're coming from. I've skipped unsavory Olympic hosts, and last year I stopped watching the Texans for the year when they refused to sign a decent QB after Watson was hurt (they won 1 game the rest of the season). But in that case there literally was a game Next Sunday and Next Sunday, etc. I admire the principle but you're like the Coast Guard chasing a smuggler who only makes a round trip run across the gulf once every two months.
Well, it was Englands B team, most of which I had never heard of. (Take that for what it is worth, maybe I should have heard of them.) And it was our A team. So I agree to a certain extent, but more alarming is we played like sh!t, regardless of the opponent.
This. A boycott isn't going to do anything unless the message reaches the top. Even then its doubtful. Honestly I know the "handing the keys to the kingdom" approach (to an outsider) didn't work with JK, but I don't care at this point. The mistake with that wasn't the handing over, but the person chosen. We need to learn from the mistakes around that, and continue to take that risk until it works. Because the alternative is..... well...……. this....
Give me a break. We've played cowardly minnow donkeyshit soccer no matter the opponent. We still run a garbage system that produces no opportunities and failed us in the last WCQ cycle. USSF is rotten.
I have come up with a further USSF complaint. If Berhalter is the selection, why wasn't he on Columbus' elimination put on a plane over to Europe -- spare no expense, I don't care what the fare is -- to at least watch the practices and games? He doesn't even have to run things, there would be value in simply watching. He could begin to decide what he thinks of players in person, and the players would be more motivated in his presence than playing the caretaker's term out. I get that we might not announce Berhalter now if he's here and they're there. But then why not send him to the team and announce it there, and he can pull the classic new manager in the stands bit. Methinks it would be more of a PR thing to have the announcement in the "postseason" and start fresh next season, but then you're in practicality two games later in the schedule when the new coach could have already begun observing. I mean, the "PR approach" is more concerned with appearances. A desire to sell next year in a certain way. Whereas a "soccer approach" is like this team is struggling and needs change. If he is the new coach and supposed to be a change agent then why isn't he taking over or at least ventriloquizing now. It strikes me the reasons why you'd delay an announcement on past the elimination of Columbus would be non-soccer, emotionally manipulative. Here is your new coach on Thanksgiving weekend, we'll start fresh in the new year. Except with this team flailing in the deep end, I'd like the new hand taking some role ASAP, even if it's just sitting at practices and thinking to himself, Dave's got this all wrong. I'd rather be starting that process and all that comes after it sooner rather than later.