European based players or players that spent a lot of time there can't seem to keep quiet and soldier on about the USMNT WC disaster. Strangely, MLS based players haven't said anything substantive. If you read between the lines of what Jones, Pulisic, and now Williams are saying, there was a real problem with the team selection and a pro-MLS, pro-American born bias. We will get the full story someday (many years later, like Harkes sleeping with Wynalda's wife). https://sports.yahoo.com/danny-williams-eager-lead-usmnt-155736096.html Great interview. He is very impressed with our young players, is confused why he never got called, and says he heard from guys who were involved in Qualifying that there was a effort to market MLS through the qualifying games.
One of the long-whispered behind the scenes stories is that Don Garber wants each US Team to have a quota of MLS players on it. Part of that story is that Klinsmann leaving Donovan out of 2014 was his way of flipping Don the bird and saying the US Team would not be an MLS marketing team. Interesting that players are starting to hint at the story publicly. Still feels like conspiracy theory land to me, but the murky relationship between SUM, MLS, and USSF is great fodder for these stories to take root and grow.
You would think now is the time for players to speak up--there's no coach, and there's no USSF president. So, who would punish them for doing so? That said, I don't buy the pro-MLS conspiracy stuff. It was the same thing when Klinsmann was coach, just the opposite direction ("He only likes guys playing in Germany, even if it's only the 2nd Bundesliga.") I think both Arena and Klinsmann made more than their fair share of dumb roster and lineup decisions, but I just don't see any pro-MLS or pro-Euro bias in either. Arguably, Ream, Cameron, and Gonzalez were the 3 guys most directly responsible for the US losing the decisive games against Costa Rica and T&T. And I don't know what Euro guys we could have called in for the October games who could have helped other than Williams and Miazga, though Miazga presumably would have been replacing another non-MLS guy (Gonzalez or Cameron). Brooks and McKennie were hurt. Johnson stunk it up against Costa Rica, and pretty much everyone else was struggling for minutes or playing in a lower division.
No doubt Garber despised Klinsmann. Klinsmann was vocal about the lack of quality in MLS, and that the league did not adequately prepare players for the intensity of International Soccer. Klinsmann intentionally took unproven prospects from Europe, mostly Germany, to send a not subtle signal that he preferred his players not be in MLS. Klinsmann actively intervened and steered young players away from MLS - which would send Garber into fits of rage. And when Klinsmann left Donovan off the WC roster, it sent Garber into a legendary tantrum and telephone campaign. But quotas? I am not sure I believe it. And Klinsmann leaving Donovan out ultimately came down to a strict disciplinarian (Klinsmann) hating Donovan’s inconsistent practice habits, and sending a signal to the team he would not tolerate it.
As Garber had been very vocal about the perceived paucity of MLS player getting call-ups, it wouldn't be surprising if quota #s were bounced around somewhere. Jonathan Klinsmann's infamous tweet would indicate Donovan's exclusion was more than a footballing matter.
But it was statistically and anecdotally proven beyond a reasonable doubt Jurgen did it as a rule. So Garber would have had plenty beef in that instance. Now, Garber independently could have wanted the USNT to be part of the marketing machine, and that had influence under Arena the 2nd time. Arena did really act like a USS/MLS apologist like he was still on the payroll for them during his FS commentating gig. And now of course they're running the SUM head for USS president trying any dirty tactic to sneak her through. The batcrap crazy part of it is Garber wants to suppress domestic talent to prevent them from moving overseas AND have the USNT loaded with MLS players. Well, one thing precludes the other. So would they all be Zusis and Wondos, who nobody has interest in, hoping that still gets them over the line?!?! Just wish they'd come to the realization that the sport in this country is never going to be mainstream until there's a particularly successful national team. And accordingly, they have to dramatically change their ways to make sure that happens first.
I didn’t read anything in the article that states or implies that Williams felt there was an MLS bias in JK’s and Bruce’s non-selections of him. Williams stated that he was thrilled to be back with the team. He also said that he was happy to be selected captain, due to Bedoya getting a knock.
“Obviously I spoke to the boys when I was in Portugal. Everybody has a different view. I heard from a few people that they tried to ‘market the MLS’ a bit more, in the [World Cup] qualifying games and get a name for the MLS. At the end of the day it shouldn’t be about that. It should be about quality and bringing the best players and having a plan.”
If there is some big MLS bias, why bother with Villafana and Omar? Villafana could have easily been Morrow and Omar any number of similarly mediocre CBs, seems weird for the conspiracy to stop just short of a couple unremarkable Liga MX players. As for Klinsmann and MLS, was the Miguel Ibarra call up anything other than him blatantly trolling MLS? Because it really didn't seem to have any function otherwise.
Say what you will but this division and multiple players believing this, isn't healthy in the locker room. And it's 100% the fault of SUM/MLS. They keep pushing the nativist narrative. Did they really think players wouldn't catch on sooner or later? Even the players know the NT program turned into an anti-foreigner, pro-MLS marketing gimmick.
D’oh. I didn’t click on the “article continues” button. Duh. Obviously, signing Bradley, Jozy, Deuce, Bedoya, Howard, etc. to big contracts was all about marketing USMNT players AND MLS.
Yeah that explains why Klinsmann took Chris Wondolowski and Brad Davis instead of Donovan... But Klinsmann's biggest F You to MLS was when he gave Gyasi Zardes 19 caps in 2015 and 12 caps in 2016... "I'll play Zardes more than any other player in the pool, that will show the entire world just how crappy MLS really is!" I mean Klinsmann couldn't just be a sh*tty judge of talent, right? He's always two steps ahead, clearly that was him playing chess while Garber was playing checkers... brilliant! No wonder is coaching services are in such high demand! The worst players in those two games were Bradley and Jozy, because they came back to MLS. Duh, you can't have the pro-MLS conspiracy seem TOO OBVIOUS....
Exceptions don't disprove a rule. Bob Bradley blooded 27 new MLS players outside Jan. camp, to Klinsmann's 3, in a year and a half longer. And 2 of those 3 were dual nationals he had to cap-tie, the other a throwaway 30+ year old bench player. He also told Nagbe he needed to go to Europe to play more for him. It's a fact Klinsmann had this attitude and it wasn't about being a bad eye for talent. Bradley and Jozy deserve flack, but they fared better than Wood in those games. Yet he gets s**t for ire. That double-standard based on background bias and narrative fitting is indeed frustrating. That said, Cameron and Johnson didn't deserve outright exiles for one bad game, not even in their most useful positions. Nagbe and Gonzalez stunk it up, yet kept playing. He can have different biases, and again there can be exceptions (people would have freaked had he not played Pulisic). Nagbe was an MLS vet, while he managed Gonzalez for a long time with the Galaxy. That bias was predicted. With Villafana, he was a lb. It was slim pickings and pretty much him or Fabian. He tried to play Beasley at 35 and had to sub him in the 1st half. He did have an MLS bias, with the limited pool of MLS players Jurgen provided him. Whether that means a directive, I don't know. But there's smoke.
There were reports of locker room cliques and factions under Klinsmann as well. Not surprising given our fractured soccer culture. And I don't buy the quota conspiracy, as it's just not needed. Unless there's a drastic uptick in overall talent in the near future simple numbers tell us you can't fill a whole roster with Euro-based talent, let alone high quality Euro-based talent.
Of all our worst players down the stretch in qualifying, Fabian Johnson and Geoff Cameron were both directly responsible for one of the worst home qualifying performances in recent memory. I will absolutely listen to the idea that the idiotic JK v Garber & MLS beef caused a serious schism in the locker room which could not have helped matters, but at the end of the day, we failed to qualify because we had a 19 year old and a 34 year old as the most dangerous players, and very little in-between quality. We had players with European pedigree have absolute howlers, and MLS players who crapped all over themselves against Trinidad's B team. We had two managers do poor jobs constructing rosters-and in very different ways. We wasted time on players who weren't good enough early in the cycle, and refused to cast a wider net in the Gold Cup later in the cycle. We had both managers also make really poor gameday decisions; whatever we did against Mexico early was dumb, and them the Yedlin/Chandler sub late was stupid. Arena making Dempsey a "super sub" was a dumb idea, and his failure to rotate against Trinidad probably cost the team the World Cup. It was a complete and total systematic failure that, despite everything that went wrong, took a one in a million own goal, a goalkeeping error, a shot off the post in our game and a non-goal and goal off the back of a goalie's head in other games to end up the way it did. It wasn't because of MLS players vs. Euro players.
Agree with everything except for the Dempsey part. You were really stuck in the past when it came to him. The U.S. is a team that historically plays in space and he had become a guy who operated in a phone booth. Frequently for Sounders around that time he wasn't making an impact, and he scored in 1 of his last 10 matches for the national team. While hurting you defensively and for target play. Relying on him more wouldn't have resolved anything, and may have caused more problems.
We're going to have to agree to disagree on that one; mostly because you're factually incorrect. He's scored in 5 goals in his last 10 games, albeit none in his final 5 (GC final and the last 4 qualifiers). He was the only attacker to actually link well with Pulisic; without him on the field, our attack was extremely anemic barring Panama deciding to play like idiots on the road in Orlando.
Interesting theory. That would fit the choice of Orlando for the qualifier. A reward to the MLS franchise and a highlight of the fantastic new SSS down there* -- despite its two negatives for a qualifying match: relative ease of access for Panama fans + warmer and humid conditions that slightly favored Panama. Worked out just fine until Arena trotted out the same 11 physically-drained players in the heat and humidity of Trinidad a short few days later. *And nothing against the Orlando fans, who provide awesome support to their team. Respect.
I don't know that the venue choice was indicative of a bias; other than the usual Columbus game, the choices of venues was screwed up for the entire Hex. Seattle should have hosted a game and didn't. Red Bull Arena should NEVER host qualifiers. Orlando was a dumb choice. I have no particular gripes about Avaya hosting except that I'm sure flying from San Jose to Panama City wasn't exactly a hop, skip and jump.
I really don’t see the evidence that Euro players with better claims to playing time were snubbed in any way during the qualifying process. Some of our worst play came from non MLS players. Ream and Cameron were why we lost to CR which killed us ultimately. I 100% agree that the team, basically ever since WC 2014, performed like a team with locker room problems and a lack of cohesion was visible on the field. Why was that? I suppose MLS vs Euro could have played a role but that was never an issue from 1995 through 2012. I personally think Klinsmanns inability to identify a “core” to his team is what killed us. No core central pairing. No core midfield approach or pairing. No core 6-8 guys who are always in the locker room to make sure it is the right environment. Something stunk in the locker room this cycle (and before) but we can only guess what it was.
I think the claim of a "pro-MLS conspiracy" is very inaccurate "Conspiracy" implies something hidden and something methodical and purposeful - a specific agenda. But it wasn't hidden. Everyone knew Bruce preferred MLS players. From day one, Bruce was banging the drum that read "MLS is as every bit as talented and competitive", with a pair of drumsticks that were inscribed "US soccer has unique qualities which must be acknowledged". Bruce believed that US soccer has a special identity and the key to success was to get back to the roots of US soccer and what made US soccer different from the rest of the world. And for him, MLS was an organic offshoot of that unique US identity - so naturally, getting back to our roots meant embracing MLS. And Klinsmann's mistake was attempting to import soccer from overseas - in terms of strategy, team makeup, and the type of player he was seeking - because he failed to acknowledge the US identity. But I don't think Bruce was opposed to using European players. He wasn't intentionally freezing people out if they played overseas. He brought plenty of players from overseas and played them in important games. The crucial point is, however, that Bruce didn't know the overseas players as well. He had years of experience with the MLS guys, but he hadn't spent the time to scout out and evaluate the guys from elsewhere. And we all know that Bruce likes to play the guys he knows and trusts. Bruce wasn't going to bring in players from Europe unless he knew them well already or their quality was already well-established - not because he intentionally was freezing them out, but because he only called up players he knew. His short-term appointment was part of that - he wasn't as invested in looking up players that had less chance of contributing immediately. But another part is that Bruce isn't really a player and talent development guy. He's a man-management guy - he's a guy who focuses on a core group of players, not the one who looks to build it up and reinforce it. I think the really revealing part of the Danny Williams interview is the part when he mentions that Bruce sent him an email: "Bruce Arena emailed me and said ‘you’re in the picture but I haven’t really seen you.'" If he was freezing out Williams completely, Bruce didn't have to send an email. I think Bruce was genuine - he was indeed considering Danny Williams as a potential contributor. But he hadn't yet spent the time watching the tape and evaluating his abilities. And he had other players who he knew already from MLS who played the same position. And he trusted that the quality of the MLS players to be just as or more likely to get the job done. I think that was the meaning behind his quote before about Williams, when he said "We have guys in MLS who play his position." So I don't think Bruce was pursuing an agenda in his team selections - I think his team selections reflected his coaching philosophy and outlook. That doesn't I think his team selections were correct or justified. I think his coaching philosophy and outlook were obsolete and naive as his tactics. I think failing to make use of the time to figure out the best talent at his disposal is an incredibly dumb approach, even if your goals are short-term in nature. While I don't think his undying belief in MLS quality led him to purposely freeze out players, I do think it led him to making the wrong decisions.