Arena's teams always played with crazy amounts of passion and pride for country. Im stoked to see that fire back on the pitch. I know I'm probably in the minority, but having him back is a good thing. Even if just for the 2018 cycle.
Yup. That candy-ass group photo before the Mexico game wouldn't have gone down on Bruce's watch, that's for damn sure.
I have to say I have faith in Bruce to get us through the hex because he is the best fit with preparedness and knowing the system in such a time sensitive situation. At the same time, it makes me less excited to think about who else maybe could have been a better choice with more time. Thanks to Gulati amd JK, we may never know.
Bad for Armas, but luckiest injury in Nats' history, IMO. Mastro was a clear upgrade, and I doubt we would have had the run we had with Armas....
Donovan was always held to a different standard. Deuce or McBride could go on for several games without scoring or assisting before the fans started to clamor they were garbage. Landon had a single game with no goals and no assists, and the fans would come out criticizing him for his lack of heart or poor mentality. Even as a teen, he wasn't forgiven for missing a chance or bumbling a ball, and got critics even if he had only provided and assist or scored a single goal. I'm glad that as fans we've learned from what was done to Donovan and Adu, and we're much more lax in our demands from Pulisic, for example.
Bruce wouldn't have said that loss to Mexico in the CONCACAF Cup was "a good game for both teams," either.
So rumor has it this may happen. Wow! Press in Bolivia saying Etcheverry will be in US for Christmas and will meet w/Bruce Arena about poss opportunity as assistant #USMNT pic.twitter.com/SZFpownjBo— The Bolivian Yank (@TheBolivianYank) November 25, 2016
Great story. I was there, too. There was an added degree of elation at the very end of the match because, due to an unexpected upset elsewhere in the Hex (Panama won I think...?) we clinched qualification with this result. The players got the news after the match was over, and celebrated for an extended period on the field. A lot of the crowd who knew the Hex math stuck around to cheer them as they went around the grounds, maybe like 1/4 the crowd.
Had a feeling I wasn't the only one of the boards in attendance that day. The post-game celebration was so spontaneous and exciting. It was Honduras losing and Mexico drawing that sent us through, putting us in second place with a two-point lead going into the last match, when Mexico and Honduras went head-to-head. The only shame that day was sending Jamaica home. I remember their fans being jovial and courteous.
I was at that game too, incredible day. T&T won in Honduras, their only win of the entire Hex IIRC. Not only was it less than a month after 9/11 but we annoucned the start of bombing in Afghanistan a couple hours before kickoff
Whenever there's talk of us hiring a manager who's latin american, has some connection to latin america or even an assistant who's latin american or has a connection to latin american, I'm very hesitant. I wouldn't want to discriminate against coaches based on race, ethnicity, anything like that, but I would make sure I do the due diligence on what types of players they prefer and are willing to consider. I think there's a fundamental problem with a lot of latin american coaches that they so rigidly prefer technical players. Latin american players are probably on average very technical, so latin american managers prefer latin american players as well, which isn't a problem if they are better players, but Klinsmann made a concerted effort to get more Latin American players in the team, and it just didn't work out. Some of the players he was calling up just weren't very good. Its stupid to make a concerted effort to call players in or not call players in based on ethnicity or race. I just have a bad feeling one of these years we are going to hire a latin american manager who's going to call up the Alvarado's, Orozco's, Jose Torres, Corona's, Castillo's, and then people are going to wonder why we got bad results. It even would make me hesitate to hire an assistant, not just a head coach. What influence does he have in the selection of players? Is Jose Torres (just to give a possible example) going to be a fixture in the team based on Etcheverry's presence as assistant. What we don't need is to try to become Chile. Thats not our player pool. If anyone follows the U-20's, you'll have noticed that Tab Ramos (a rumored name for the NT position past 2018) has tried to turn the U-20's into exactly that over recent cycles, and its completely failed. He picked players who now are completely off the radar for the U-20 WC instead of Jordan Morris, I think because they fit his style of play more. He's given every indication that the best striker for the current U-20 cycle will be left out because, in short, he's too athletic. I just don't like coaches like this. If Etcheverry is not going to have that type of mindset, hire him as an assistant. No problem, but there's a real discrimination in Latin America against athletic players, tall players, non-technical players. I prefer technical and skillful players as well, but there has to be a limit. Yedlin has very limited technical skills, but he's our best (or one of our best RB's). You can't just stop calling him in because he's not technical.
Although I agree with that sentiment about that pre-game photo, I can understand why both teams had that photo done. It was most likely done as a repudiation of Trump's anti-Mexican statements during the Presidential campaign. The USSF probably felt it had to do something, as the representative soccer body of the USA on the world stage.
Lets put it this way, of all the Mex-Ams that JK called in, were any of them even mildly close to making the full Mexican National team? The answer is of course not. So what makes you think we will beat Mexico with Ventura and Orozco and Catillo on the field. You want to get into a technical battle with a team knowing you are well weaker? You are better off playing your 'anglo' style only because you won't beat them at their own game.
This is true. Bruce preferred individual candy-ass photoshoots. http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/the9...-the-least-sexy-sexy-photo-shoot-of-all-time/
Not the US national team's problem. Tell them to fxck off, get their ardido going, and get the 3 points.
Technically Gonzalez, but he is as American as anyone else, came up through our development system and lived his whole life in the US until he signed with Pachuca, so I'd agree with your overall point. The guys we've had who were dual nationals developed in Mexico for the most part simply haven't been very good players (or in the case of Torres was decent but a horrible fit for our style of play).
I never said it was the USMNT's problem. I said it was more than likely a public relations move on the USSF's part.
The USA follows the English mold. Just like Scandinavia. It's a mold that has got stalled, and has won nothing of late. Klinsmann was an attempt to move us to a more German-like model, combining individual skills with group effort, the technique and the physical. A much more modern system. However, we didn't have the players to implement that. What to do if you want a mix of technique & top notch physicality in your team, if you got no players who have both? Easy! Just combine the two. But, bummer, it doesn't work. So we're at the point of departure: should we keep true to our English style that, let's be frank, is not going to get us any trophies any time soon? Or try what JK tried again? Or go for broke and just try a full Latin-style team? It's a conundrum. Because the Latin players we get tend to be not exactly the best. If they were good enough, they'd stick with the NT that already plays their own style. So, it looks like we're stuck. Long ball, lots of hustle, runners & pushers, goals in set pieces, etc. Because we haven't figured out yet how to do a smooth transition, and JK's plan was taking us nowhere fast.
Id be cool with that.."American Devils" will become a term of endearment.. "Los Gringos del Diablo"..