Im really not sure how Ellis comes out of this looking good at this point. If the US wins, and they can, people will talk about how the players over came adversity and a horrible offense and rallied around a defense that Ellis went out of her way to cripple. If they dont win it's pretty much all on Ellis, the roster she chose and a lack of any sort of meaningful tactics over the last year. On the bright side for Ellis, I believe making the semi (or maybe getting third) secures her reign of terror thru the Olympic redemption event.
The quarterfinals are here. This USA squad has played 29-30 matches under Ellis and has lost 2 times in 30 games, once in France and once in Brasilia. That is a great record. They are neck to neck with Germany as 1/2 atop of Fifa rankings. They are in the quarterfinals, they are dominating so far. Not only did Ellis coach to that, but she spent the last decade raising these players. That is a monumental contribution, and it is absurd that it is unappreciated and ridiculed.
Winning all but Two matches ( not all on Jill's watch) isn't the standard. April and Ryan only had one or two losses and were unmitigated failures.. Ryan's performance in the loss to Brasil was the worst in history. April's management of the team in the 2003 cup was bordering on criminal. We expect more.
Having a competent offense where sequences of over 3 passes can be strung together in the offensive half is neither nitpicking nor unrealistic. No one has asked for Barcelona play, just adequacy. The fact that our defense is stellar does not excuse at all an incoherent offense, and this is completely on the coach. The coach chose the players, the coach chose the formation and style, and this dreck is on her.
How many passes is the min before the ball gets to the striker? And dreck? As I said, petulant and nitpicking.
At this rate, 0 - because the ball never gets there - or 1 - because we booted it up the field. I have to wonder how much soccer you've actually watched if you can look at our team and see a coherent offense. But you're right. Dreck is too nice of a word for our offense. That would imply the offense is mediocre. Maybe trainwreck is the better word.
I made the mistake today of reading through the threads from the 2010 U20 cup. And there were a lot of the same complaints then that many people have now: route 1 attack only, midfield in confusions/disarray, poor set pieces/corners, lack of preparation for formation changes, bad pks, poor tactical choices by the coach, confusing/poor sub choices, players disappearing on the bench, etc. It really isn't us, it is her.
Well, it depends on if the complainers are any different. I guess the standard that I would use with giving credibility to someone at odds with the coach is if they are willing to give even some credit if we win the whole thing. If not, then there's nothing Ellis can do period and there is no real discussion to be had. I realize that the USWNT fans' expectations are and should be higher than USMNT fans as well as most all Women National teams. But to say that we need to win 'pretty' or 'convincingly' or 'whatever', sounds a lot like the Brazilian fans of old -- I bet right now they would much rather just have a winning team. There's been a lot of talk about the 'skill' gap between the US and other teams has closed a lot, yet that doesn't seem to weigh into the discussion at all. I thought I heard that Ellis was responsible for a different defensive approach as well and yet with our defense shining, she get's no credit for that either. I agree that I would like to, expect to, see 'better' offensive soccer from this team. But I'm happy with wins and I'll tip my cap to Ellis if the US wins the whole thing. Doesn't mean I think she's a great coach, but it would go a ways to showing she's not an incompetent coach.
The only thing I'll say is that this only popped up during the WC, after everyone had praised the defense to the high heavens. I still feel like she jumped on it just to show that she wasn't at fault for anything else and the best thing on the team was all due to her.
I can not wait to see the backside of Jill Ellis as she is sent off from this team, along with her crony friends. I hope it happens sooner then later.
So I guess my question is this -- what coach have we had for the USWNT that has ever done well at a major championship that y'all think is a good coach?
Tony DiCicco and Anson Dorrance were the two best, I think. I think Randy Waldrum is a good coach and could improve the US team.
Sure, but she also did zero player development which really hurts the program in the long run (as we are feeling now and will in the near future)... and arguably Pia blew a WC because of poor player selection. I don't think another coach in the world would have been starting Rachel Buehler.
We go around this every cycle. A National team coach isn't judged on development, nor should it be the coaches role. What you want a National team coach to do is win senior tournaments, period. And to do that she should be selecting the best players and squad, period. Age makes no difference. Pia recognized that when she declined to be in charge of development. She thought her focus was winning cups and she did an admirable job. They can be the best developer on earth, but if that doesn't translate into cups, they are failures. This is especially so with the USWNT, which has a higher standard than any program on the planet. Since it started, it has had more success than any program, men or women. The semis is a given. Bronze is unacceptable. If we aren't in the finals, the cycle was a bust. Development is the leagues and the technical director, which is April. They have to be able to present the best players to the National team coach. Traditionally here, the NCAA has had a great role in development. That's kind of odd, since the NCAA isn't part of any FIFA pipeline or program. If you want development, figure out how to make the NCAA fit into the FIFA player development cycle. Is there any USA player in history who hasn't gone through the NCAA? Horan doesn't count. She's not there.
Clive, nobody is arguing their first priority is to win. But saying development isn't part of the women's game is simply very very wrong. Pia could have easily had the same results with same starters, but brought in younger players for friends and other matches that didn't matter, instead she played the exact same people for literally years and years. get it??? This was bad. This isn't the argentinian or spanish men's system. Do you realize there is a difference? this is women's soccer in America with a league that sometimes doesn't exist and some of our athletes play for only 4 months out of the year in a league. It's fine if you don't think it's important, just stop mentioning it here, but the reality is everyone else does, including the man who runs USA's federation. Sunil on the importance of the next coach: ""We want someone that can get the most out of this group as well as develop the next group," - key word develop. (Jill, like Pia failed at this - resulting in the ugly soccer we see now by 33 year olds with hundreds of caps) http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2012/sep/04/uswnt-usa-womens-soccer-team-pia-sundhage "If there was one criticism of Sundhage, it was that she did not engage the US program enough to actively develop and recruit fresh, young talent. She developed the players that she already had, and that worked. Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan combine for the best strike partnership in the world. Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd keep proving to be clutch in major games." "But the next coach of the US women must be more willingly involved in the youth system, Gulati said, in part because whether or not several veterans (like Wambach, Shannon Boxx and captain Christie Rampone, all age 32-plus) will be in the picture in 2015 remains unclear." "We want someone that can get the most out of this group as well as develop the next group," Gulati said. "That's the goal. And to make sure that the U.S. team is at the medal ceremonies throughout and hopefully on top of the podium."
That's a constant refrain that doesn't necessarily stand up to scrutiny. Pia replaced players who needed to be replaced (and had more injuries than this group), brought young players along (A-Rod, Morgan, Krieger, & Holiday come to mind right away), and stuck w/ players like Wambach who were in their prime. WoSo players are proving to be capable of relatively long careers and later improvement than the "experts" seem to have thought. She also coached the team during a time when from a development standpoint, players already in the pool were at a HUGE advantage because of the weakness of WPS in terms of making it possible for prospects to stay in the game vs. go off and start their "real" careers. Pia certainly could've done more with age group nats, but I think she very quickly figured out that was a political 3rd rail for her that carried high risk and NO short term reward.
As a point here, my question was to try and get something constructive and if there were any ideas on a good coach -- because if you don't have one, a real one, then it probably means you won't like anyone no matter who it is. I tend to think, the counter point to your statement is also true: "You can bring in almost anyone to coach and the fans will still think the coach is an idiot." I mean going back to Tony and Anson is going back to the days when the US had a HUGE advantage in terms of talent pool and development (such as it was back then.) So, it seems that in the last 16 years, there isn't a coach that people were happy with. Wow. That's quite a statement about the ineptitude of USSF or the standards of the US women soccer fans. In today's world the 'development' picture has done a complete 180 from the 90's -- if you look at Europe, their women's teams are supported by the professional soccer clubs (men's clubs.) They have in place a whole system for development that just doesn't exist in the US. They also have good financial footing. If you look at the boats that Klinsmann has rocked on the men's side for development, the women have the same development issues. I hope the US figures it out.