His comments about Hamid bothered me a lot. Also how every player has to be a difference maker for their team. Right now Jozy(would be starting), MB, Birmbaum, Chandler, Orozco, Kitchen, Zusi are not difference makers at all. The rest play but difference makers? Wondo is a difference maker and he sucks against anyone but minnows. 2 of the biggest difference makers he isn't starting, Pulisic and Nagbe. I hate how I let JK get to me. I rarely let anyone get to me lol.
Fair that it is hand picked, but let's go back to the original point as I interpreted it, which was that in Europe the determination of whether an academy player will be a first teamer is usually completed by 21-22 where in the US that evaluation doesn't start until 21-22.
That's fair. I'm not saying that American professionals at a given age aren't behind their Euro counterparts on average, just that the comparison of 18 year old Euros to 24 year old Americans, from a professional experience standpoint, is an exaggeration.
Every time this guy talks, he shows less and less knowledge about our team and player pool. You can tell that the overall tone of the interview was that the players aren't good enough, and he shouldn't have to take any responsibility for how bad the NT has been in recent years. He takes his usual shots at MLS, no surprise. One thing I can agree with him on is his assessment of Hyndman and Zelalem. Good that he's not giving into the media hype and the overall US Soccer hype put on them. They haven't been good enough to play with the NT yet, and should need to play better to be in consideration for spots. I'm surprised that he's actually said that. Credit where its deserved. Here are a few things I picked out. Where is our next wave? Holy moly. We lost that generation that didn’t qualify for [the] London [Olympics]. My response: Just as had been suspected by some of us. Klinsmann has written off this group of players, no matter how incorrect what he is saying might be. He's painted them into a corner, and its unlikely they'll get out of this corner with him as the coach. I'd say it only reflects poorly on him because it makes our NT worse, and if he continues to blame this group of players and not give them a chance it would reflect poorly on our future results, but we know results for Klinsmann don't matter, and he's allowed to get whatever results he wants without his job being evaluated. What happened to the Bill Hamids, the Sean Johnsons, the Breck Sheas, the Mix Diskeruds? My response: This is what I mean when I say he doesn't watch MLS. If you are seriously can't tell me the outlier club performer between those four, you either don't watch the league they play in enough or your ability to evaluate players is way off. I don't really know what more Hamid has to do. He's unluckily part of the vendetta against MLS and the 2012 Olympic Cycle.
So that means nothing they do after that matters. Why even bring it up? If you want to go after that group of players, do it individually, don't claim its because of something that has very little relevancy to right now. Also, did we not qualify because of a talent issue or because of a flukey one-off tournament where we just didn't do a good enough job all around, whether it was the coach or player? The same thing can be said for the 2016 Olympics. Is that group of players going to be written off? Its nice to make the Olympics, and there should be accountability if we don't, but to use a failed qualifying campaign to write off a group of players is a bad idea, and it's something that hurts the overall talent of our NT players, if you are going to leave some of them out because they failed to qualify for a youth tournament. Is Herzog going to be written off as a member of JK's staff because of the failed qualifying campaign?
Jurgen has one solution and one perspective due to his experiences. It's hyper focused on the individual. He would be a great personal trainer. The problem is that his job is to select, train, and teach a group of people over short periods to get the best results possible as a group. So maybe he has the answer to getting each of those guys to individually maximize their careers but he doesn't have the answers on how to make them the best team. Some related additional info: http://www.vox.com/2016/5/30/11767704/practice-doesnt-make-perfect
Let me preface this with saying, the rest of this post is spot on, and I'm more knowledgable for reading it. I don't agree that he should get any credit for naming any players by name. He's been doing this for years and I expect that when he's finally gone we are going to get an earful from current and former call-ups and non-call ups about how terrible he was at everything. It is almost never a good idea for the head coach to call players out by name and certainly not a 19 & 20 year old who are doing everything right. They might not be getting first team minutes, but that doesn't justify calling them out publicly. IMO, it's nothing short of despicable but I'm not inclined to think positively towards the guy at this point and maybe someone has a more reasonable take.
Yeah, I'd prefer he not calls players out. My point was more that it's good he recognizes that these players have not done enough to get a NT call up. That shows good awareness from Klinsmann, IMO. You are right though that he shouldn't be calling these players out.
one of JK's least cringe-worthy interviews I have read...most likely due to the good questionin gfrom the interviewer. my issues with JK's comments: 1. that players must meet these artificial criteria with their clubs to be on the USMNT. first off, there are many players who play great internationally but dont do much for club or vice versa....just because a forward is scoring "every other game" doesnt mean he is going to be the right choice for the usmnt. there are players who dont necessarily have the stats who I am pretty sure could do well for the nats but wont ever get called cuz they arent stat suffer-types. (for example, i think amarikwa would be better than zardes in a wide forward 4-3-3 but b/c he doesnt score enough wont ever get to show it). furthermore, and much more important, JK CALLS UP A LOT OF PLAYERS WHO ARE NOT DIFFERENCE MAKERS WITH THEIR CLUBS REPEATEDLY. orozco? evans? altidore? bradley? bedoya? etc....he can say this all he wants...but what he means is if you are not part of the team already...then you better meet this criteria to get consideration...otherwise, the players in the team will stay. he needs to pick the players that fit his tactics and team...(i.e. if he wants to play defense and counter pick some speed options who can get behind a defense and some midfielders who can play a through ball) not just pick all the "best" players that fit his eccentric ideals and then mishmash them all together haphazardly. 2. my bigger issue with his comments is the IMPLIED IDEA THAT SPOTS ON THE TEAM ARE RESERVED on a semi-permanent basis....that status on the team is cumulative and only assessed rarely....and that once a player has been "moved-on" from...it is basically permanent. I'm not against ranking players for a roster for a big tournament like CA and using those rankings to pick a 23. I just want the ranking of players to happen EVERY TIME A ROSTER/MATCH happens.... seems to me ...the rosters havent been performance-based enough. (which also means that if an established player's form drops and someone else plays...that doesnt mean he has lost his sopt for for good...just taht right now, someone is in better form...thats it. and that established player has a good chance playing next game/tourney...thomas muller or lewandowski dont start EVERY GAME for bayern...germany used their whole roster in the world cup in brazil etc etc) Nagbe and pulisic are clearly among the top 11 usa soccer players RIGHT NOW...but likely wont start b/c other players "have their spots"...eff that. 3. which brings me to my 3rd issue......that the coach has to let players play b/c they cant call timeouts in soccer. this is total BS....there's scouting, match prep, roster selection, lineup selection, halftime strategy, subs.....the coach has a huge role in how well the team does...AT LEAST AS MUCH AS OTHER SPORTS. once a game has started, yeah, maybe not as much.....but who picked the players who are in the game??? i agree with whoever said....well then if the coach cant do much, why do you need millions per year to be coach then???
To be fair.... If he asked that , the writer would come across as a complete a$$--l- . That is not a question. It is a potshot from a disgruntled fan. Even if the potshot is accurate, it has no place in this interview. The interview at least in a professional sense would end there.
After reading what you said... And reading the article.... I have comes to a conclusion that Klinsman knows his days with the USMNT are nearing an end and he is making statements where he CONTROLS the narrative about his tenure. .....to prepare for when When he inevitably starts looking for his next job
Well... I honestly don't know why he would want another coaching job, except that he's a competitor that really wants to compete. Really, I think he is so much better suited to be a pundit. He's got the celebrity and the ease in front of the camera and a certain charm. He's got the worldliness and multilingualism. He can position himself as an insider from so many different angles and for multiple audiences. He can do so and make plenty of money. I'm guessing it's simply that he doesn't want to give up competing. Coaching allows him to continue to compete, and he's always been a competitor first and foremost. But I think punditry suits him much better.
It may necessarily not be a coaching job. He just needs a plausible reason for his steaming pile of garbage level failure: Our federation gave him all the resources he needed: complete control of the program at every level, handsome salary, very little criticism from the press initially, extension of contract before he even proved himself in the world cup, . Even applying for a job as a pundit will require that he did leave his prior job without having the perception of being an "incompetent fool."
Calling out Hyndman who was frozen out of the Fulham squad due to contract dispute. Miazga who actually moved to Chelsea which is something that fits his "pushing yourself" narrative. Miazga might not make it at Chelsea but he's out of his "comfort zone" right? Morris should've been on the team too. Early in the MLS season perhaps no, but hard to justify his exclusion from the team. As always it's the players fault. You just throw a ball on the field and it's up to them? It doesn't work like that. Klinsmann has his head so far up his own ass that he can't admit his faults. The ego of this man is huge. As for you pro-Klinsmann types. I don't understand why you still support this incompetent coach. You want him to remain in charge so you can stick it to MLS? You do know USSF and Gulati aren't going to give you pro/rel if Klinsmann bitches enough right? And echoing others points. Maybe he knows his time with the team is coming to an end? I sort of doubt it, we're stuck with him through Russia 2018 unless they fail to qualify (yikes). Should Klinsmann leave, you can bet he'll take the whole thing down with him. He'll blame the federation, his key players, MLS, all the way down to the kit/equipment manager.