I hear you... For the record, I’m not waving the Dave Sarachan fan club, coach for life, flag. I think it’s an absolute failure and black eye on Earnie Stewart that he hasn’t named a coach yet. That said, let’s get in the Delorean and remember November 2017. The program was an absolute disaster. I don’t mean hit a rough patch. I mean in shambles. For what it’s worth, I’ve been following the USMNT religiously since the 90s, so I’m not as old as some, but I’m older than a lot, and I can vividly remember those years pre-Donovan where we fought for recognition even inside of CONCACAF. I remember non-Americans having this expectation that the best Americans can do is be 3 and out. And all the same, between July 2014 - November 2017, I have NEVER seen the USMNT as low as it had gotten. We were a sum of a bunch of bad players with an overinflated ego. There was no life to the team. It was hard to watch... which, I watched out of pure loyalty and nothing to do with entertainment value. The mantra for the 2018 cycle was “I don’t believe”. Fast forward to now, we still have room to grow, obviously. That ship isn’t going to change directions overnight. Our player pool is still in the dark ages, minus a few promising prospects who are still not old enough to drink. To that point, we have to remember Gyasi Zardes was called up not because he’s a proven USMNT product but because there is literally not one decent American forward in MLS... not one. So, we still have to deal with the limitations of our player pool. For that reason, I give Sarachan some credit for ripping off the band aid and saying the program needs to be rebuilt. Maybe we don’t like a decision here or there... Lord knows, I don’t think Wil Trapp should ever be penciled in as an automatic starter and I agree 4 dms is dumb. But damn, Friendlies in year one is where you try some shit. Let it be known, I criticized the line up when I saw it. But now... is the time you take your licks. That’s the problem with Klinsmann and Arena, they were never brave enough to take their licks early on so their hand was forced when it did count. To summarize, I don’t think Sarachan should continue, but I finally feel a breath of fresh air with this team that didn’t exist since June 2014. I have started to believe again.
Agree with the above. He could have gone out and tried to win these games with the old guard, but he went the exact opposite and brought in almost all young guys and then played them. I wish he would not have drank the cool aide in terms of Zardes, but giving Adams, McKennie and Weah the keys in the middle of the field is not a low risk approach. Identifying and grooming Steffen as our GK of the future is absolutely the right call over the last few games. He did all that he could do with his obvious limitations, and tried his best. He could have hid behind Bradley and Altidose and Howard, but he chose to blaze a new path for the team. Thanks Dave, good luck to you in your future career.
Trapp looks like Sarachan's place holder for when he can/would put Bradley in. We were a better team with someone creative inserted in the middle(Green). Can we please blood another left back Lichaj is not the answer as a backup and Robinson cant play every game. Acosta is not a winger. If you are going to play route one in most of the first half why play Zardes when you have a 6' 4'' striker? And why insert Bobby in the waning minutes instead of the 6' 4'' striker who flew all the way from Europe to ride the pines? Sarachan is still coaching like he is the long term coach.
1. Yeah. He set up the team to fail. It literally read like he just listed as starters the 10 players he felt best combined a) being good and b) needing testing. 2. Having selected a bizarre first XI, he didn't even put them in the only formation that made sense with those players, namely, a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield. 3. I had to chuckle to myself about the Klinsmannesque style at work. How many times did JK start an inappropriate team in a friendly, them right the ship with good substitutions? I feel the same way about DS as I did about JK when he did that...slightly more mad at the stupid first XI than I am happy about the substitutions.
I repped this post just because he's one of the few posters who, since the disaster in T&T, writes with nuance. Things can be bad without being worse than the Holocaust.
How each person views Sarachan depends on how you view the job that he was filling. As an interim coach I don't really care too much about his tactics because I am assuming that the real coach will put in his own system and I am hoping//believe that he will have enough time for that. Winning (except for the way it helps build a winning mentality) is/was unimportant (exception Mexico game). To me, the greatest needs we had after our little disaster in T&T were: 1. find new young players (regardless how anyone rates the individual players, it is undeniable that many/most of the players will age out before 2022). 2. Restore team chemistry, leadership and on field attitude. Maybe this is more subjective but I believe the consensus is that we had issues with these during the last cycle. It doesn't matter if you believe it was Klinsmann's fault, Arena's fault or the fault of both...they are important issues and they need to be strengths going forward because we will have plenty of weaknesses. 1. We can quibble about whether player A or player B should have gotten more or less time but Sarachan played A LOT of young players and left out (for the most part) any of the "known quantities" AND he gave many if not most of them multiple opportunities to show what they can do. Some were played out of position and some were left out completely but it gives the next coach a good place to start. When looking at Trapp, the next coach will see multiple games against different levels of quality and should be able to make a decision on whether or not he should be in any camps going forward. The same is true for quite a few players. 2. I don't know how much he fostered the chemistry etc but the team looks much more together than before. They appear to be fighing for the shirt and for each other. Perhaps that is largely due to having a mostly new crew, but he easily could have included many of the old guard. He's given they youngsters a chance to get a taste and establish themselves a bit at this level and when some of the older players are brought back (I assume they will), hopefully the dynamics will be much different than if they were coming into a camp of established vets as brand new rookies 3. as I said, I didn't expect much when it comes to tactics and the fact that he didn't show much doesn't bother me. The one exception is possibly Mexico. Mexico is the one game that important to win. We won but I'm not sure he gets too much credit for that one. Either way if I was to grade his whole time to this point, the Mexico game wouldn't ruin his overall grade (even if we had lost).
Sarachan has been the coach for almost a year, before that he was the lead assistant to Arena for almost a year. He has played a lot of young players but mostly the same core have gotten most of the minutes. He has also almost exclusively played one formation the 4-1-4-1 in 7 of his 8 matches. Almost a year, 8 matches with the same formation and the same core group of players. Has the team gotten better? Do they look cleaner, more fluid, more cohesive, a well drilled unit in what they are trying to accomplish as a squad? My answer is no.
Agree. I don't think he has done much of anything to actually impove the way the team plays together, or develop tactics and he has played mostly the same core. doing so, however, can be looked at as positive in some ways because it gives a clearer picture of a player's abilities. One game an skew a players reputation but over the course of multiple games it is easier to see what his true level is. Of course the flip side of that is fewer players are seen but the next coach will have a core of players for whom he has a record of several games. Especially considering the new coach will not have the benefit of having seen the players in camp, seeing multiple games may give him a better idea of what to expect from a significant number of players. He will still have time over then next couple of years to search for new players that Sarachan missed or omitted. Of course, as I said, it really depends on what you expect/want from an interim coach. I personally don't expect much from a person with his resume. Career assistant with only one head coaching job that I know of which ended in failure. Doesn't inspire confidence if you expect actual coaching. Tryout camp? I think he did ok. A+? not from me.
Eleven Bravo, I 100% know your stance and its not a bad one at all. I also believe Sarachan has earned the chance for a college Head coaching job somewhere and then he can work himself up to MLS coach at some point down the road. From my perspective, I am just really worried by the comments from other MLS coaches that they think there is a chance that Sarachan might be the coach. And it confirms that politics and economics are more important for Garber and Flynn than the soccer itself and nothing will change to suit whats needed right now.
What we can say is that the team has regained a fighting spirit that it lost during Arena's tenure. But honestly, what were people's expectations with Sarachan? He's just been a place holder. We know it. He knows it. The players know it. The federation knows it. So he's been a lame duck coach that at least looks like he's taken the role seriously. He could have "mailed it in" much more than he has. And it looks like he's managed to get the players to "buy in" to what he's trying to do. We may not like the tactics or the strategy or whatever, but at least the team seems together. The next coach (a better coach) can build on this work. So when he goes I'll give him a hearty pat on the back and say "Thanks for your service. This wasn't an easy time. Good luck in your future endeavors." Let's not forget that the federation has strung him along too...........................................
Lutheran HS needs a new JV boys coach. That should be Sarachan'ts next stop on his coaching carousel.
I haven't seen these comments. What are they saying and what are they basing them on? Do you know? Has anyone that has been in contact with Stewart given that opinion? Thanks