I don't really agree with the "collusion" aspect to all this, and I'm not a Goff fan by any means but I don't believe he would actively spread information he knew was incorrect. I do believe he gets all his information from the team and is simply "reporting" what the team has told him and he has been doing it this way for so long he doesn't always cite it that way is my view of this. United starting closing practices under Soehn in 2007 and hasn't allowed any press to view anything substantial from a practice since then. Everyone at that point had to go to the principals in order to get information during the week about practices. So, if Goff reports something about a player outside of team released information, it's because he went to RFK after practice and interviewed the player himself. Something that rarely happens outside of fluff pieces. And the team will often refuse to let you speak to specific players too. So I do believe Halsti if he says he never told the Post anything and was never watched in practice, so anything reported had to come from the team, and therefore if it is inaccurate, it's the team bending the truth at best or lying at worst. That's why most local sports media stopped covering the team outside of game day information. Media outlets were refusing to be, essentially, mouthpieces for whatever "news" United chose to release. I know this for a fact because I was there the year they closed practices and talked to people first hand who simply said it wasn't worth it to bother. The Post and Goff were willing to accept the situation and so kept up reporting. I don't think it can be helped that that exclusive relationship turned a little too friendly and co-dependent, but I don't believe the Post is party to actual lies that they know are lies. And I will point out, that is pretty much the standard line from DC whenever they don't want to play someone. It's always they "aren't fit" or don't fit in or whatever. If this was a one off or a truly disgruntled player with an axe to grind, I'd take it with a grain of salt, but it isn't. Other players have said the same things or very similar things. He is saying fits exactly into what I have been seeing with my own eyes and hearing with my own ears over the past 9-10 years. I also agree that I read that to mean that Halsti wasn't throwing teammates under the bus. He's simply saying players had to figure things out on their own so he had trouble integrating himself into a team where he didn't play enough for people around him to understand what he was doing. I believe his point was if the team had tactics and practiced specific things, it wouldn't be so hard to make things work between all the players on game day or when lineups changed. What other sports team or sports league refuses to ever let press into practices? I don't mean close a portion of the practice I mean close practices completely for the entire season. It's shocking really.
Thanks for that perspective, Marco Antonio. It's cool to have someone who's had your POV on this forum. You're right, the totally closed practice thing is highly unusual and, dare I say, completely unnecessary. PS: I know you're not El Diablo, just that guy who reported on United and had that podcast. The funny one, just not on purpose. I keed!!!
That's what I think as well. I just don't believe that Goff isn't aware that he is actively ignoring the other side of the story. I've never heard or read in any of his pieces that "the player was not available for comment" or "the player declined to comment". It's okay if he is basically PR for the team - see the Chris Rolfe piece. This has been the league's issue for years. They are not in any substantive discussion or reporting and actively punish the journalists that try. That's a big reason why I stopped caring about the league and just follow DCU. It is also a reason that MLS will never make it into the active sports discussion shows on ESPN/FS/etc. because the league makes it hard to talk about anything. I admit that I am a bit too negative in my assessment of DC but after more than 20 years of watching - starting at 16 - i see an organization that doesn't give a shit about the fans. So why should most of us give a shit about them? For me it is impossible to quit the team no matter what they do. That sucks for me (and for other posters on this board ). james
I am Marco in my own mind! The good and the bad, unfortunately. Some days I'm like the 4-0 Columbus Marco and sadly more often than not, I'm the 2000 Season opener Marco. But, there you go. Swing for the fences I say, it's the only way you can live with all those tappers to the mound. And I agree with James. MLS can't keep up this politburo throttling of the news if they ever expect to make it to the big time in US sports coverage.
Love 4-0 Columbus Marco. Not only did I attend that wonder, but I was gloriously shitfaced after three months of sobriety. The girl I was dating at the time was in recovery so I abstained. She was well worth it, until she wasn't, and that game was the magical line of demarcation.
That was a bit hard to get through, but unfortunately, what I took from it confirmed my worst fears: Ben Olsen has no idea what he's doing as a coach. It all makes so much sense. No tactics, players just go out and "play" -- but with heart, guts, etc. all the meaningless intangibles Olsen keeps spewing about when he gets interviewed.
But was he wrong. Adu's career arc would imply he was spot on. I like Goff, but I could also see this as being more or less true. It's not like DC United is front and center on the WaPo sports page. So maybe Goff could write a story about how often DC United players get injured and the quality of the training staff. Or why this team is sticking with a coach that has the longest loser tenure in DC United history? He could write those stories. But he doesn't. I wonder why?
Why doesn't he investigate why a team that made the playoffs the last two seasons and is in playoff position now is sticking with their coach? I think the question answers itself.
I'm pretty sure MLS as a whole focuses more on the "little things" and the mental part of the game, more so than the tactical part. Whether you talk to Olsen, Marsch, Heaps, Vermes, Arena, Kreis, or Curtin, they all stress the same things("they wanted it more", "we needed to grind this one out", etc. ). This isn't an Olsen specific phenomenon. You could argue that becoming more tactical is MLS's next stage in development. I think Halsti makes a good argument in some spots, but that article as a whole sounds like sour grapes to me. He'd have an argument if he came here, did well, and still rode the bench(Salihi). But he missed 2/3 of the games because of injury and was virtually ineffective and quite often a liability in the 1/3 he played in. He didn't fit into the style of MLS as a whole, that was pretty clear by the end of last year. Going back to Scandinavia will be good for him. That style is slower, smarter, and more methodical. That will suit him much better. Also, those "intangibles" you mentioned aren't meaningless. Going along with what I said above, in a league like MLS where the margins between teams are razor thin because of the salary cap and single entity system, those intangibles often decide which teams win or lose in any given game. Obviously, DCU isn't the best team from a tactical standpoint but I'd argue that very few teams are in MLS, at least IMO.
Because he knows the coach is only good enough to get the team into the playoffs -- not very difficult in MLS. Maybe if they has been in the championship game or won the cup it would be a different story.
Is there a translation to sour grapes in swedish? Which isn't to say there is no truth to what he said... just that he might not have an unbiased view.
Yeah -- it's great following a team who wants to rest on it's considerably ancient laurels and just do the minimum. I can spend my sports bucks somewhere else, you know. Update: And as of today, (8/15) we are in the playoffs. But in 15th place in a 20-team league. So, uh, we've got that going for us.
One final thing I would add is that the burden of proof is on the local team and local media. If anything said by anyone no longer beholding to any of them is negative, they are free to discredit said disgruntled former employee and their claims. That has not happened. It's been crickets from the team and the Post. Granted it's a nothing Swedish fluff piece, but then again it's a negative perception that would normally be squelched like the Nocerino tampering punishment.....Or maybe MLS headquarters assumes we can't read and/or bother to translate Swedish. No doubt the Post and the team love the retweets and page views or whatever so they could give a damn what's true or fair or even rational since page views conquer all. Then again maybe they are right and we're the dupes so why bother to excuse the man behind the curtain. No, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
If I were them and some of what he said is true (or even if its not), I'd probably ignore it in the press. Probably a few hundred or so people even know the interview exists.
I do wonder how many regularish users there are on this board and @B&R United. In both places there seem to be a handful of superusers, a few periodic ones, and probably quite a few more lurkers.
QFT. Essentially he said Olsen was a blockhead, he wasn't injured when Olsen said he was and that Goff never interviewed him. Of those three points, whether or not Goff ever interviewed him is largely irrelevant. How do you respond to the other two points? I'm not a blockhead? or You, too were injured? A pointless exchange. Let it be, if Halsti becomes the MVP of the Danish league and leads his team to Champion's League glory he gets more credibility, but then again I think his career trajectory is Finland's second division -- if there is such a thing.
And you quoted Ben calling himself an above-average player and an average coach. That sounds about right, and perhaps isn't that far away from Halsti's evaluation.
There is also a long history of European players coming to MLS and finding that what they consider to be "in shape" for a league season is not what their coach (or the MLS style of play) demands for a league season. Good luck to Halsti. I liked what I heard about his personality, but I wasn't particularly impressed with what I saw as his play on the field. Then again, I like Ben Olsen personally, but I've not been particularly impressed with his performance or results as head coach (I also acknowledge that he may be overperforming on a weak hand).