Alert: Klinsmann expresses absolute desire to continue coaching past the 2014 World Cup

And, if you listen to the Beeb, their commentators feel that was a very bad team by England standards - almost embarassingly so.

 

By "people," I'm guessing Spencer was responding to the one person in this entire thread that brought up the 2010 WC group.

 

says who? the 2010 draw was the best draw ever! I don't think I will ever see a good draw like that in my lifetime.

 

I think the World Cup will obviously play a part. Much of the typical staleness I think wouldn't happen with JK just by looking at how he has handled players either under performing or attitude problems in the past.

He was not hesitant to put Donovan, Altidore and recently (maybe) Dempsey in the dog house.

Even more important is the players believe in him. The is very important. Winning tends to do that. Now I am sure we will hit a slump (hopefully after the WC) and that would be a tough test for JK. How he handles that will be interesting.

Regardless I want JK to be texhnical director and continue with his long term goals. Getting a plan enacted over 20 years is how we turn our country into a factory of stars.

 

There have been some easier draws but we've never been apart of them. Not even when we hosted in 1994. Most.... take that back..... All of them have been moderate. No group of death(yet)... I really believe it's coming because we've never had a GOD draw(at least I think).

 

Easiest #1 seed?

Switzerland, Colombia and Uruguay? (Maybe Italy).

 

We haven't really gotten that horrific draw at the senior level.................but we've gotten some doozies at the youth level.

The recent 2013 U20 World Cup draw with Spain, France, and Ghana was essentially the toughest draw we could have possibly gotten based on the pots. Absurd.

We didn't win a game and everybody considers it a disaster. We could have been drawn in a group of Uzbekistan, New Zealand, and Greece................gotten 7-9 points in the group with the roster, and everybody would have considered it a wild success.

 

That isn't an easy group.... That group is moderate but very strong. IMHO, the group that we should hope to draw is group A.... Yeah, that's right..... Brazil's group. We would be the clear #2 then then it will be a #3 & 4# below us. So maybe.......

Brazil
United States
Iran
Worst seed from CAF

I doubt this because the host group is always shockingly easy. Might do a diagram of the possible draw.

 

Just for entertainment purposes only and subjected to change.....

Group A

Brazil - Host
Tunisia/Cameroon - #5 CAF Winner
Australia - #4 AFC
Mexico/New Zealand - CONCACAF/OFC Playoff

Group B
Switzerland - #7 FIFA & UEFA Group Winner
United States - #1 CONCACAF
Ecuador - #4 CONMEBOL
UEFA Playoff #1 Rank


Group C
Uruguay?????? - #6 FIFA/CONMEBOL-AFC Playoff
Bosnia-Herzegovina - UEFA Group Winner
Costa Rica - #2 CONCACAF
Burkina Faso/Algeria - #4 CAF Winner


Group D
Belgium - #5 FIFA & UEFA Group Winner
Nigeria/Ethiopia - #3 CAF Winner
Honduras - #3 CONCACAF
Korea Republic - #3 AFC

Group E
Colombia - #4 FIFA & #2 CONMEBOL
Russia - UEFA Group Winner
Ghana/Egypt - #2 CAF Winner
Italy - UEFA Group Winner

Group F
Argentina - #3 FIFA & #1 CONMEBOL
England - UEFA Group Winner
Japan - #1 AFC
UEFA Playoff # 2 Rank

Group G
Germany - #2 FIFA & UEFA Group winner
Ivory Coast/Senegal - #1 CAF
Chile - #3 CONMEBOL
UEFA Playoff #3 Rank

Group H
Spain - #1 FIFA & UEFA Group Winner
Netherlands - UEFA Group Winner
Iran - #2 AFC
UEFA Playoff #4 Rank

 

I'm usually on board with the one-cycle per coach approach, as well as the "American coach for the U.S. team" mentalities, but not in this case. Since the start of 2013, Jurgen has been essentially perfect. He's gotten his mentality and tactics through to the team, and it has us playing the best soccer I've ever seen an American team play. To throw that away after the next World Cup would be foolish, I think.

I'm almost to the point where I think Jurgen should stay regardless of the WC result. If we get blown out in all three group games, regardless of the opponents, then my tune will change. But, if we get drawn into a Group of Death (as we will, unless Mexico loses the playoff, I think), and still manage to put up a good show without advancing, I say keep him around.

This attitude is also the result of there not really being any suitable American coaches right now. Looking at the American coaches in MLS + Bradley, in my personal order of resume strength:

Arena (4 MLS Cups, 3 SS, 1 USOC, 2 GC) - No retreads
Bradley (1 MLS Cup, 2 USOC, 1 GC) - Same
Schmid (2 MLS Cups, 2 SS, 4 USOC) - Teams show a lack of mental strength in playoffs/late season
Kinnear (2 MLS Cups) - Ugly soccer, wouldn't be a good fit with the national team
Kreis (1 MLS Cup) - Unimpressive since RSL's CCL run
Vermes (1 USOC) - Getting good results in KC, questions about character and player selection
Hyndman - Hasn't won anything in 4.5 seasons
Olsen (1 USOC) - Lack of experience/questionable managerial talent (13th, 3rd, 19th place league finishes)
Porter - Lack of experience
Petke - Lack of experience
Heaps - Bad results in NE/lack of experience
Klopas - Definition of mediocre in Chicago
Hackworth - Middling results, seems like he has issues with player management
Bliss - Lack of experience, is he really even a head coach?

This list shows me that there are a lot of potential US managers out there, but who could use a few years of seasoning before they're ready for the job. Of the "qualified" coaches, there aren't really any who I would want at the helm over Jurgen. Given this, I think the situation is aligned perfectly for Jurgen to serve another 4-year term as national team manager, and then hopefully hand off the reins to one of Kreis/Vermes/Olsen/Porter/Petke/Heaps after a successful Russia 2018.

 

The thing is, during the last 16 games with 15 wins, we've only played Bradley and Dempsey a third of the games.

We've had a different lineup every game, 16 different players have scored during the streak. Four keepers have won. We've outscored our opponents 47-17 and had 7 shutouts.

We have beat some weak teams, but we've also won on European soil, on the road in WCQs, in tournament pressure and short turnaround games. We've beaten 3 teams going to the WC (maybe 4 if Mexico makes it).

In other words, Klinnsman has done something very special. This wasn't like Spain from '08, where virtually the same lineup was used game after game.

There have been fundamental changes in the program. Our mindset is MUCH different. It's okay to raise our expectations.

 

Are there more good teams this cycle? It's like almost every possible group would suck and would be scary. Like, we wouldn't have a chance against any Conmebol team? Or, just about any Euro team?

What are the chances our group will be tougher than Italy, CR, Ghana was? It'll certainly be tougher than the 2010 group, and we were fortunate to escape that one.

In short, I think we couple play very well and not get out of our group.

 

With the way the team has been playing in 2013 I honestly think Group of Death, bring it on. A couple of items come into play in the draw: 2 of the 4 groups seeded by a UEFA team will get both another UEFA and Chile or Ecuador, 1 of the 4 Conmebol seeded groups will get two UEFA teams. So we already know structurally which 3 groups will be hardest.

 

This is exactly the mindset that Klinnsman needs to have the team in come next summer. Don't worry about who is in the group, just beat the team in front of you.

 

True enough

 

Klinsmann has done lots of good things, but you're way off here. Its a hard fact that Klinsmann has utilized a much smaller group of players than Bradley ever did. Let's not give Klinsmann credit for things he flat out hasn't done.

 

Wut?

gotta link for that?

 

Huh? I just counted 38 names that Klinsmann capped in the last 16 games. Not called in, but actually put on the field. In what 16 game stretch did Bradley play more guys? What was the record during that period?

 

What? Jurgen has called up an enormous number of different players over the past 2 1/2 years. So did Bob.

 

Just to make it clear, when I used the Spain '08 reference, I wasn't talking about the US playing Spain and the Bradley player's pool, I was talking about the Spanish international dominance of winning so many games and comparing that team to our current NATs streak. They played a lot of Barca and Real Madrid players, certainly no where near the 38 different players we've used.

 

What about Bruce Arena for a third term, assuming Klinsmann decides to abscond? I kinda liked him (Bruce)....

 

That was an absurdly difficult group - the eventual tournament champion (France), 3rd place team (Ghana, who was knocked out by France), and Spain. You can make a case that France, Ghana, and Spain were 3 of the 4 best teams in the tournament (with the 4th being Uruguay, who knocked out Spain).

I really, really hope we don't get the same draw for the World Cup.

 

In the last 16 matches of 2009, Bob Bradley played 43 different players. 18 different scorers. Made the final of the confederations cup, finished first in the hex.

 

It's been well established that both Bob and JK have called up multiple players in the hex and pretty much tried every useful player they could find. Trying to figure out who came out on top is pretty pointless.