I feel compelled to give you a hint without giving it away totally so... It rhymes with Vandon Ronovan. Good Luck!
The club was founded in 1920 and I'm sure that's not a complete list cause I figure Abe Lenstra had a couple hat tricks in his career.
FSF has no reason to lie... or make it up... and go over his posts when he is translating Dutch for us... he knows the English language... and I bet you most BS posters do not know that... I would like to see the convo myself... but I trust his words... and that is a shock if Gullit is telling the truth... if you do not want to accept that, fine... but Im shocked
Have you ever played the telephone game? None of the people playing are deliberately making things up, but yet the story comes out a lot different on the other end. Cobi interprets what previous coaches said, Gullit interprets what Cobi said, viewer interprets what he sees Gullit say on the show, bigsoccer posters interpret what is posted here. The chances of a misinterpretation in that chain are high.
I don't believe FSF is either lying or making anything up. His posts are a major positive contribution to these boards. But, he did not post a verbatim translation and, even if he did, I would still argue that something was lost. Possibly back in LA where the supposed conversation took place. Maybe Cobi said, "Gee whiz. Really? I never knew about playing a compact defense. The 95 coaches I've had since 6th grade never said a word. Frank Yallop never told me. Sigi Schmidt never told me. Bruce Arena, Steve Sampson and Bora Milutinović never told me. Maybe that's the reason we were so bad defensively this year and it had nothing to do with a near-total absence of defender skill? All because nobody every told us about playing compactly. Ya think?" Compactness in defense is something taught to junior high kids.
His Dutch is pretty good, but that's not surprising for a young, smart guy who's been there for over a year. He has to pause a few times to find the word he's looking for, but he is to be commended for learning the language at all, particularly when so many people speak English there. He's definitely picked up a northern accent, too. JOB's Dutch is better, though.
I don't think it is a big secret that, in a relative sense, American players' tactical sense is underdeveloped. We've traditionally relied on a limited game plan that plays to our main strength, which is our athleticism. And I don't think it should come as much of a surprise that the Galaxy are a tactically limited team. They're limited in virtually every department. A great many players, coaches and pundits have pointed out the technical and tactical deficiencies of American soccer. One example is Jamil Fearrington, here. There is progress on the technical front, imo, but I'm not sure that tactical awareness is making the same sort of progress. On the other hand, it shouldn't surprise anyone that Ruud Gullit is a wee bit arrogant either. But he does have a point.
But what's so controversial about what he's saying? Just look at almost any International tournament we play in - at every level. Our success more often than not is due to athleticism, high octane pace, and tremendous expenditures of energy - and as a tournament progresses our effectiveness starts to run out of gas. Thinking on the ball and maintaining possession, breaking down a team, evaluating and adjusting to an opponent, playing at different paces, etc. etc. are not our strengths. But you could probably say the same of other teams, like England.
I don't necessarily disagree with you. But what is "controversial" is the suggestion that neither Cobi or any former coach of Cobi's understands that a compact defense is a most fundamental tactic. That is simply too much to swallow, IMHO. There has to be a misunderstanding somewhere in the scenario, as presented. Maybe Gullit was intentionally exaggerating to make a point and simply stating, in so many words, that it's a lot easier to defend if skill and solid tactics than it is to constantly rely on "athleticism, high octane pace, and tremendous expenditures of energy," to use your words.
If he goes to Real Madrid he doesnot have to learn Spanish, he can speak Dutch overthere with the Dutch crew. Royston Drenthe told in an interview that he is teaching Raul Dutch. So they can force the rest of Real to learn it too.
Think what your NMUSteam could achieve with a coach like Hiddink. The Australians hired Guus Hiddink and he started a friendly international match campain as a preparation for the do or die matches the Australians were facing. With a large part of the players playing in the English Premier League you would assume these players had enough tactical knowledge. It turned out to be otherwise. I read in Australian papers that the players were amazed by what Guus taught them. These were things so fundamental you wonder what the hell those EPL coaches do overthere. I donot have a high opinion of most English coaches after those remarks of the Aussi players anymore. In the end it took a referee blunder to take the Italians to the next round!
I'd actually like to see Hiddink coach the US national team. I think he'd be awesome at it. And you're right (for once ) about the overall level of tactical awareness in the EPL.
I personally think you are getting too bogged down in the specifics of the example which was sort of vague. (Ruud was instructing Cobi - I guess I'm out of it, but when would this have happened?)
That's BS, the only question that can be definitively answered 'no' is, "Was he at the time of transferring good enough to displace Paul Bosvelt"
Can someone explain. Why would Cobi even be in training with Ruud as coach? Didn't he retire (at the end of the season) before Ruud became coach...