I do. First, because those rosters will be from the January camp which is MLS heavy. Second, because having Trapp and Zardes will help Berhalter fast track his system.
Our talent compared our top competition is far lower than crew vs rest of MLS. For example, his core player that we are pining for could never make the Argentina national team.
Yes, in many games it will be more like Hammarby than the Crew. Mexico will not bunker, of course, but no MLS team plays like Mexico that I can think of. Everyone gets hung up about playing Germany or Spain in the World Cup, but we have an entirely different experience in CONCACAF.
Fair enough Patrick but developing a team style that will win vs. CONCACAF but fail vs. better teams is a losing proposition in my mind. The same strategy that will work vs. elite teams should also work vs. CONCACAF opponents as we should have better or equivalent talent to any other team in our region.
I don't think it is an either or. If anything the Crew showed the ability to play up to competition. So, I think we agree and GB is on the same page. He believes he will be giving the team a base to work off of. It can then be tweaked to go against minnows and giants. I don't think the team has ever had a consistent system like Stewart and Berhalter are envisioning for a long time. Maybe ever. In 1994 we had a bunker. From 1995 to 2012 we had American coaches from the NCAA game. Then we had a German/Austrian staff that I'm not sure ever tried to do more than put our best players on the field with a lot of motivation (when the talent dipped, this approach was in trouble). Then back to two NCAA/MLS guys who tended to change things every few months if not weeks in an attempt to match up with opponents rather than play to our strengths. While we can want a different base system, this is what Stewart wants and I do trust him. The USMNT is going Dutch now and that is cool with my avatar at least
The way Dave smirks and shakes his head when asked about the NT job tells me all I need to know. He's happy where he is. He may even survive another season in the first division.
Trying to avoid the nepotism angle: the big plus I see to Berhalter is that he has excellent familiarity of the M.L.S.-based U.S. player pool, and that appears to be where he is looking to build from. Obviously, we've got Pulisic and a few others in Europe, but the reality is that we just don't have the depth of talent playing in Europe to be the team we want to be. (We may not have it in M.L.S. either.) Still, I'm playing a hunch that U.S. soccer is saying that it is time we look more to M.L.S. They made this selection from the philosophical foundation that it can be best executed with a coach that knows the M.L.S. player pool. Just my .02.
I think it’s safe to say that Don Garber certainly feels that what’s good for MLS is what’s good for the USMNT.
Has the downturn in US Soccer this year had any ill effect on MLS this season? I truly don't know, and am not sure what metrics to judge that by, but it would be an interesting discussion. My hypothesis would be that oddly it might have helped MLS as soccer fans wouldn't have been nearly as distracted from club teams during a World Cup year without the US in the WC. It certainly couldn't have helped attracting a ton of new fans to MLS that would have caught the bug during a possible deep US run at the World Cup which would have then bled over to MLS after the cup. But how much of that was countered by other factors?
MLS has been trumpeting their, "increased TV ratings" from last year. I think they are up a small percentage. If not for having two, maybe more, games as double headers with World Cup games, the ratings would be down. I believe one double header game drew 5-6X the usual MLS number. If those games had been on following a USA World Cup game, going by 2014 ratings, you would have probably seen 10-20X viewership numbers and MLS ratings up substantially. Plus, you would have had 10-20 million people exposed to an MLS game as opposed to 1-2 million. Fox also scaled way back on its coverage of the World Cup. There would have been much more hype and buzz about the World Cup, which would be general soccer buzz that would have led to more interest in soccer in the USA and MLS by default.
There's dozens of Big Soccer posters who are quite familiar with our players across MLS and Europe. And not just current 1st teamers but most of our teen prospects. Going forward most of our better prospects will be coming thru the foreign ranks so familiarity with overseas leagues/clubs will be important. In general, familiarity with MLS is incredibly overstated. It's simply not that hard to do. Funny thing is increasingly, familiarity with MLS equates to familiarity with foreign players as that's where all the DP/TAM money is going.
You're mixing church and state here...MLS needs an MLS friendly coach not for the players, but for the $$$. MLS learned quickly under JK: either we control USSF or we lose money.
There is a very good chance that all of our starting 11 will be composed of players outside of MLS. Who are we building with from MLS? Trapp? Bradley? Altidore? Reggie Cannon? lol
We need a pool of at least 20 players who should expect to receive meaningful playing time. MLS is vital to us. You forgot Villafana and perhaps Carelton.
Absolutely we need depth players, but BUILDING our vital pieces? Those are all Euro based players. Villafana is a a workhorse LB who is one of the most limited players in the pool, he's good to have, but I'm praying Robinson continues to grow as a player. Andrew Carleton barely played at all this year for Atlanta, even when they were up 4-0 he found only 161 minutes of playing time - no shot he is around the core of the NT right now.
What you guys are trying to sell would be a lot more attractive if most of our guys abroad weren't such total failures.
Seems to me like its a different strokes for different folks sort of thing. If you get a chance still young enough to be valuable to a big European club, take your chance. If you are a top player getting some prioritization, you'll most likely get better training than you'd get at home. If it doesn't work out, come back to MLS and build a career. If you don't get a golden opportunity young, go the Clint Dempsey route and become a dominant MLS player and then go abroad. I'm always happy to see our guys go to teams in Europe where they get time and do well, but I think we can get a bit desperate to just be in Europe. When guys have to go on multiple trials even when they cost pennies, for me the writing is on the wall. It's extremely easy to find examples of players taking different paths and still having solid careers and being very helpful to the national team. To pretend there is only one way, whichever way you personally favor, is absurd.