Except that is/was the assertion. It is the assertion with some non German-Americans and it is the assertion with some German-Americans. Personally I think it is pretty hard to determine how much someone "cares". Dempsey was accused regularly of being lazy on the field (I think it was interpreted as not caring by at least a few) but in retrospect is that the overall conclusion people have of Dempsey's career or especially his career with the NT? Critique their actual play. It's pretty hard to critique their motives unless they wear their emotions on their sleeves (some do....see Jones)
Agreed. I'm still stunned by the lack or urgency at the end of the T&T game but I put that more to a disbelief that we could actually lose the game than lack of caring. It reminded me of how the (pre-process) Sixers would fight hard in the first three quarters but would invariable lose the game and everyone on the court knew it so there wasn't a sense of urgency. I guess nobody told T&T's C-team....
We keep using American based players to screw up the Euros and Euros to screw up the American players. If we start early enough in the cycle, we can comb thru the player pool and be in a situation where everybody understands where they stand and why. Moreover, we can accommodate the peculiarities of having different schedules. We cant do any of that if we take a silly "best xi pedigree" approach( Klinsmann) that pre-empts any kind of discretionary management and encourages a dog-eat-dog mentality.
You see you turned this into a recognition for a group of players who always try hard for our country and to show as a control ( some current american-soccer bred players that walk in crunch-time) that the German-Americans negative impact was propaganda and they cared. You had to open up a counter-thread and delve into personal attacks. Good Job Status Quo. Good Luck in 2018 WC..........oh wait..
It's not a best XI pedigree but rather a simple admission that, by-and-large, major league players are better than minor league players. Are there instances where a minor leaguer with a specific tool set is preferable to a major leaguer? Are there major leaguers whose style of play doesn't fit what we're trying to accomplish? Are there young minor leaguers who are rising and therefore better than major leaguers? I think the answer to all of these is a resounding "yes!" but what doesn't work is the MLS narrative that it's close to equivalent to the major leagues. FWIW, I do think and hope that LD's comment wrt MLS/LigaMX is true: the gap is shrinking (although it still exists and is not particularly small) I am intrigued by your concept of having two teams (effectively, major league and minor league) depending upon schedule. One can argue that this is what BA was trying to accomplish in the Hex.