Well, that's why it was posted here. And how so? He has scored 2 goals for Hamburg since almost a year ago when I made the comment. (3 international goals in that time)
He scored some important goals for us in Qualifying and in the Copa America Centenario. I also think with the right Manager and tactics he can get better. When I read that he is not that good I just shake my head.
OK. For the record, I said that good. Implying that I didn't think his level is as high as a lot of other folks around here, .i.e. unpopular.
I do think wood has some talent but he’s been pretty brutal for club and country imo in the last 6-8 months
For that to be true a "Nativist" faction of the USSF establishment or fandom would have to actually exist somewhere beyond the imaginations of people unable to come to terms with Jurgen Klinsmann and many of the players he brought in not being good enough. Words like "Nativist" and "xenophobe" were ad hominems that started getting thrown at critics of Jurgen and certain under-performing dual nationals he brought in to insulate both from criticism.
I’d be all for US soccer severing all ties with nativists such as Arena, Donovan and Wombach. I’d never thought to call people like that “ad hominems”. It doesn’t make sense me, but much on here doesn’t. Oh well.
I repped your initial post. Wood is fast and powerful, thats it. He's not a good finisher, not technically good, doesn't help with the target game, not good in the air.
Arena was not a nativist. At worst he displayed a preference for MLS, which itself is anti-nativist in its player policies and willingness to build teams around foreign talent. Even then that preference of his is questionable given that Wood was a regular for him despite not lighting it up at Hamburg. And Gonzalez was a favorite despite being a dual-international based in Mexico, and rather outspoken in favor of progressive causes, just like Arena's captain.
Yup. Wood was a really good Bundesliga 2 player, and would be a really good MLS player. He's not a Buindesliga player and isn't international quality for a "top 20" team. HOWEVER, we don't have a ton of in-their-prime forwards that would fit that description. And by that I mean none. And there really aren't a ton of kids in the pipeline that look to have that potential. Fingers crossed on Sargent. So Wood stays in the pool of USMNT forwards until a group of others knock him out. My unpopular opinion: The USMNT and US soccer is in nowhere near the bad shape that many hyperventilating Big Soccer posters make it out to be. There is a helluva lot of really intriguing talent in the pipeline (#9 issues aside). Pulisic, McKennie, Sargent, EPB, etc. are just the start of the wave. And while it's painful, exclusion from WC18 may be the best thing that ever happened to US soccer. Oh unpopular opinion #2: When you're a fan, it means you're a fan during the tough times too. Some of the vitriol directed at our players is nauseating to me. Sports teams lose games. Life sometimes isn't fair. Get over it and root harder then ever for our guys! 99% of them work their asses off for the program!
[1] It's natural to be a fan during tough times....as long as you have some confidence that your side tried its best. People forget The 300 ended up all very very dead. But there's no doubt they tried their absolute best. That Spartan side in defeat deserves the admiration of its fans. But when you are shown a scheitshow of incompetence and half-arsed effort, then does that side deserve the admiration of its fans? Even the most ardent fan of the Angle-Saxons has a hard time summoning the smallest trace of admiration for all those "Ethelred the Unready" types who were torn between running like Brave Sir Robin or throwing bags of Danegeld at the Vikings and sniveling on their knees for their life....Just sayin'. [2] But the 1% Rule!....
Clint, don't you always argue prospect is Latin for "hasn't done anything yet" or something along those lines? I'd agree there may be a wave on the horizon. I'd also agree there may not be a wave on the horizon. It's still largely Pulisic surrounded by a sea of mediocrity. I'd love for Sargent, Taitague, Fuente, etc to break out but they haven't. Cupcake was an atrocious roster. I'm also curious as you seem to be arguing opposing viewpoints. If we're in pretty good shape and have a great wave of talent coming thru, then the argument is little needs to change. Which you seem to suggest. Yet you also state missing the WC could be the best thing "that ever happened to US soccer". That implies learning from significant problems and ushering in change. Combined and this accounts for a number of your posts, you seem to be arguing we're in pretty damn good shape but missing the WC is an eye opening situation which will create real change. That's a contradiction. You're suggesting, akin to if you were in a business meeting with me, you'd stand up and tell everyone this is the wake up call we all needed, the greatest wake up call of our careers but, everything is going quite well so no need for real change.
Sure. They're just prospects. But there's a waaaaaaaaaaaaave of prospects on the horizon that those of us watching youth soccer have high hopes for. Many will fade away, but the numbers are such these days that even a minor "hit rate" will produce good players. In the past we had a handful of good prospects, and if 90% of them didin't hit............then we needed to desperately count on just a few guys. Here's the thing. The state of the USMNT now in 2018 is a reflection of our development programs 10-15 years ago. That's when the current "in their prime" players were being developed. We can all complain about the performance of such players like Altidore, Bradley, etc. in WCQers. However, those guys were the actual success stories. Those were the few guys that broke thru. Altidore was starting for us at the 2010 World Cup as a 19 year old because there was almost nobody else to count on as a target forward. The USSF development academy was formed in 2007. Some of the kids breaking thru right now have been at DAs like FC Dallas since they were 9. We're only now seeing them. So we're at the start of something. Year-by-year-by-year MLS continues to invest in youth and talent development. And those investments will continue to bear fruit. There's just a delay in between the investment and impact on the USMNT level................... I can tell ya. Nobody other than the most ardent FCD youth and USYNT watchers had heard of Weston McKennie when he was 17. He didn't play for the US U17s at Bradenton because he chose to stay at FCD instead. He moved to Schalke, debuted for their first team within a year of arriving, and is now starting. There are more Weston McKennie's out there that the non-youth watchers don't keep an eye on. Taylor Booth of RSL just moved to Bayern Munich. Chris Gloster of NYRB just signed with Hannover. Jamie Dunning of FCD just moved to Feyenoord. There's seemingly an announcement of another kid moving abroad to a big club every week, as well as highly thought of kids like Chris Richards signing with MLS. The assembly line is rolling and rolling and rolling.......................and we'll keep ramping up our investment. Instead of focusing on the negatives of our current USMNT, I'm choosing to be excited about the future. Because there's a lot to be excited about for the future. I think the US failing to advance to the World Cup COULD be the best thing that ever happened to the program. It snapped many (not all) out of their complacent stance that we were doing just fine with the USMNT and MLS. NO. Things needed to change. HOWEVER, we also understand that sports teams lose games. A number of teams ranked higher than the USMNT also failed to qualify for the World Cup. So what really needs to happen is an autopsy of our failed qualifying bid. What actually killed us? What could we do better, but wasn't the cause of our death? What are we actually doing right, and should be further invested in. Some act like they just want to kill the whole thing and start over because the whole thing is a disaster. That's not the case. There are actually parts of the program that are progressing nicely, and the youth development programs are really starting to improve. We've gone from no nationwide professional development initiative (the hole that Bradenton was supposed to fill)....................to the current infrastructure VERY quickly.
This highlights one of the problems we're discussing in here. Why the need for our elite prospects to go overseas. I disagree this assembly line, of essentially seeing kids developed for Europe for free will ramp up development. In some cases in might but multiple MLS owners have questioned academy investment when they don't receive a ROI for it, i.e. transfer fees, solidarity payments, training comp. Plus, many of these kids develop themselves. Kobe developed Kobe, just as Pulisic largely thru countless hours alone developed himself. Forgot who wrote the article, maybe Will Parchman, but multiple MLS teams due to our current system/regulations have decided to invest more in foreign talent than American youth. Many of us are simply discussing both. This thread alludes to where we need improvement, so negative aspects will be discussed. In the YNT forum or YA forum, it's naturally more positive as it relates to individual player success. A good example would be being excited about the talent/potential Sargent represents while also discussing why he flat out said going to Germany represented a better path to playing time and why a team like SKC and the league is not attractive to our top youth striker.
There is no way US will win or even get to the finals in 2026 even if they host it and I don't see them being a powerhouse at least in the next 25 years. Maybe not an unpopular opinion on this forum cause many people see reality but certainly unpopular among casual soccer fans from US I read on internet.
I would agree fully with the first part. but the second part is less clear. I guess it depends at least partly on what would be defined as being a powerhouse. Disclaimer(s): I am not an expert in our youth programs and/or the quality of our young players (especially in comparison to other developed soccer nations). I am fully aware that a great deal can happen in a prospects road toward stardom and most of those things are not good for his career. A very few make it....regardless of the country and development system. The fact that we have fewer per capita than other nations makes our position a bit more precarious. That being said, I have seen the growth in quality of soccer in general and youth soccer specifically (at least at the lower levels) over the past 40+ years and it is quite amazing. Right now, we are beginning to see the results of that growth among players that were 7-13 10 years ago. Of those, most are probably a couple of years away from being ready for a world cup place on the US team. (assuming, of course that they will ever be ready....some won't ever be ready). for 2026, we should be looking primarily at players that will be 23-27 for the core of our team. We may have a few 19 year olds but we can't count on it. With that in mind, the players would mostly come from the current U17 and U20 teams (the ones that just finished playing). Will they be ready to win it all? probably not. But I would expect an improved team and depending upon many variables a team that should be able to advance out of the group and possibly beyond the initial knockout round. From there, it is a tournament...who really knows? As far as the 25 year comment I would just say that in 10yrs the 25 yr old players are currently 15, in 20 yrs the 25 year old players are only 5 yrs old and in 25 yrs the 25 yr old players are newborns. Considering the growth in the quality of soccer in the past 40 years and (in my opinion) the increasing rate of growth in quality and numbers I think it is pretty hard to say teh US won't be a major soccer nation. Where will they fall in with the Argentina's, Germany's, Brazil's of the world? Maybe not at their level but that's why it depends, at least in part, upon the definition of "world power". Of course it is also possible that I'm being overly optimistic or perhaps some other factor will intervene to stall or reverse any growth/progress we have made and that we will be forever doomed to be a 3rd rate country knocking on the door of the 2nd rate club.
The problem I have with the US rethoric is that they make it look very simple as if they just take for granted that they will produce enough quality to win a World Cup during the next 25 years when in fact it is short time for such a leap in quality. I mean, countries like Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Spain could give 11 players who are not part of the National team to the US and most of them would be definetely on the starting eleven. That's the gap that exists nowadays. For example Argentina probably won't take Icardi, he would be the best striker in US history. It's like me saying that in 10 years we can have a better basketball team than the US, even with all the resources put on the development of basket I don't see it possible in less than 25 years. Another issue I have with the rethoric is that it almost implies that the US will be the only team that will drastically improve and everyone else will remain the same. This is not true, powerhouses like Germany and Spain seem to be improving more every time, there are countries like Mexico, Nigeria, Russia that also have big populations and football is the main sport that could improve drastically if they decide to do it. I'm not saying the US can't do it, what I say is there are a lot of countries with great potential that also could improve, most US fans talk as if everyone else will remain the same, including current powerhouses that as I said are improving even more like Germany, Spain or England that have been U20 World Champions. And the other issue I have is that even if US can produce players with enough quality to win a World Cup they would only have 2 or 3 chances before that generation gets old. Just look at Holland, they have produced immense talent, revolutionized football, and yet they haven't won the world cup.
The rhetoric works the other way as well. I've seen plenty of fans assume the U.S. will never improve to any significant level, while their country of choice will always improve and never hit a significant down cycle.
Agree. I would only point out that 25-40 years ago we didn't have any players that were capable of playing in a top league let alone a top team. When we played minnows, the games were nail biters because we often had inferior talent. Eventually we had a few (not many but a few) players that were capable of playing in the top leagues in Europe....not as stars but as role players. 40 years ago we had players that played for the national team that were playing for jr. College teams. (I don't know if you live in the US and know about the US college system but that says a lot! I am not talking about winning the world cup. If we were to win the world cup anytime soon, it would be due to some perfect storm of events. The biggest and most important differfence between countries like Germany, Spain etc and the US is where the US is in terms of their development curve. In Germany, for instance, they have a mature soccer culture. People have been playing for many many years. They can improve and refine their development process/system which can give significant improvement in a relatively short time but they can't change as much the pool from which they are choosing players to develop. It is what it is in terms of numbers and a baseline skill level that they begin with. In the US, we have a long way to go....both in terms of improving development and improving the baseline of the pool from which to develop. I would say that the shorter term results from improvement of the development system might be less than countries like Germany or Argentina just because their baseline is already high. Better input leads to better output and an improvement in teaching is likely to reap greater rewards. The US, however, has the greatest advantage in it's potential for improvement of the baseline. I would say that the vast majority of the US' improvement over the past 40+ years has been an improvement of the baseline. We didn't even have a pro league until 20 years ago and that league was primarily concerned with survival until recently. Now they are just beginning to learn how to integrate development. We also have a 2nd division that is growing rapidly and will probably become more important to development than MLS. I understand and agree that winning a world cup is extremely hard. If the Argentinas, Germanys, Brazils etc have only won a few times each and other top teams have never won, it says a lot. I am not making any prediction about winning. I am only saying that the US will likely be a top team in 25 ytears. I also am qualifying that by saying it depends how top team is defined. If I had to guess, I would say that The US has the chance to be near the bottom of the top ten countries in 25 years. That would mean a legitimate ranking of anywhere from 7-13. My guess is that is still quite a bit higher than many would predict.
I think you have it a little backwards. At worst he was a nativist and at best he was just a coach who didn't put in the effort when the usmnt needed him most and failed to look beyond the small group of guys that he already knew who obviously were mostly in mls or highly publicized guys who played in europe.(omar played with the guy for years so he basically qualifies as an mls guy) ot rant: bradley is hardly outspoken on progressive causes I mean saying 'don't shoot up gay clubs' is hardly or a progressive opinion well it shouldn't be anyway. If you don't want any clubs to be shot up ur normal and if you do want any club to be shot up for any reason ur crazy. normal isn't progressive. back on topic: lets not forget his lineup in honduras everyone but omar and pulisic were in mls...and omar is in mexico and played for arena for years...in mls. I think bruce desperately wanted mls players to lead the way the issue is the us is way low on talent both here and in europe. the unpopular but true opinion about arena being the usmnt coach at that point is that he was probably the 'best' option...but he wasn't a good one at all. He failed to do the leg work in putting together the roster to qualify he clearly was fooled by results in the waste of time gold cup and matches against absolute garbage teams. Arena failed at his job of putting a team together and was clearly in over his head, this is also why mls should stop hiring retread coaches and try new/young minds to help push the game forward.
agree with most of what you are saying and you are missing the easiest knock on the us being elite argument. I mean the basis of the argument is the us is a bigger country getting serious about the sport they have to catch up in ten years. if that is true then india/china will rocket past the us and countries like brazil/germany, right? I mean china is investing billions in their youth teams they are a bigger country and they have no problem taking talented athletes from their families and telling the kid and their family they will play that sport and nobody can argue. The point is those kind of numbers don't tell the whole story its not that simple. you could argue that the us is way behind from where they should be at this point, right? el presidente said it the best and most honest...THE US WILL NEVER WIN THE MEN'S WORLD CUP. (and on a smaller note the next wwc may be the last chance the women have to win one for a while)