"Thank you, Jurgen. And good bye. Time to Move on from the Sterile Klinsmann Interlude"

I don't understand where all this Klinsmann hate is coming from. I feel like I watched a different world cup. As the Men in Blazers stated I feel like Jurgen has been vindicated in almost every decision he made.

 

Absurd article written by someone showing their soccer ignorance. Costa Rica has significantly more players with more technical skill than we do. All Latin American countries, even the smaller ones, have always exceeded us in this department.

 

Paul Gardner is an idiot.

 

This is a thing? really?

 

The was one of the dumbest articles I've ever read on soccer. I don't know how Klinsmann can be a "massive failure" having won the Gold Cup, finished first in the hex (with ease) and made it into the second round of the World Cup. Perhaps there are some points to consider that he made, but this reflexive need to find the most negative possible analysis of the performance of the US is perplexing.

Specifically, we need an American coach. Why? He focuses too much on German-American players? Yep, that didn't work out at all. And how about Yedlin or what young Americans got the shaft because we brought in Fabian Johnson and John Anthony Brooks? How about the American players just get better instead of coming up with a system that eliminates any competition from dual nationals (much less why the dual nationals count less as Americans)?

Just a stupid article all the way around.

 

60% on the US big soc said we'd get out of the group.

 

You will parade this forever lol.

This guy is an idiot. Costa rica has a ton of players playing in Europe. We dont. Oh well.

Algeria has nothing but players playing in Europe this time also 7 of their players were trained by the french national team...

some of our best performers were trained by the German national program.

It is what it is.

 

I got about 4 paragraphs in and then I realized that it was a Paul Gardner piece.

EDIT: For shits and giggles, I went back and looked at his last two paragraphs. They're virtually what I would've written were I writing a Paul Gardner parody article.

 

Experts from other countries.
On the BBC they were calling Demspey "Donovan"...
I doubt they exist.

 

So the bloated group of death is all there is? That justifies our quality hence mission accomplished? Was CR not in a tough group? How would we have faired against Uruguay, Italy and England?

The JK team selection was made prior to any friendlies which would help better pick players, why? Why drop Donovan? Why play with slow wingers instead of the speedy youngsters? Why Brad Davis? Why that squad selection vs. Belgium? A Belgian shooting practice, and jubilation for a great keeper. That's it?

 

Because he didn't bring the Mexican-Americans in LigaMX to the World Cup and his name doesn't end in a "Z."

 

Klinsi made plenty of good and bad choices in the Cup. I'm not afraid to criticize the bad ones. But this article is just another Paul Gardner bashing European soccer and calling for more Latin-Americans diatribe. It's really old.

 

I mostly disagree but Paul Gardner is certainly not an idiot and he knows a ton about soccer, especially USA soccer. His opinion is over the top but he does make a few good points. Read it with an open mind and forget his conclusions.

 

Gardner's always pulling for a more latin flavor, so this is hardly shocking. He's always been a little nutty this way. Latin-american seems beside the point to me. If player's good, then I don't care if he's latin-american or german-american, or from Kansas. The idea that there's cultural superiority in soccer is depressing. He's not a eurosnob, he's a latin-snob, different presentation, same disease.

 

I've never read his articles before, so I had about as open a mind as possible. Based upon this article, he's an idiot. It's also clear that he has a pretty big agenda going on when he says that the "obvious candidate" is Tab Ramos, who was successful in not qualifying for the second round in the U-20 World Cup as opposed to Klinsmann's failure in qualifying for the second round in the real World Cup. So, I find nothing really worthwhile in his conclusions, nor his points.

 

If he's adamantly advocating for more Latins and using Ramos as example, then I harken back to that U-20 team which was, basically, Latin. They had some nice moments in terms of being aggressive and having some flair, but they were extremely small and got their asses kicked by Spain and brutally pushed around and outclassed by Ghana. They were OK against France even though Pogba and crew outplayed them in a fortunate draw for the Americans. I wasn't left with much of a positive impression that this was a great future for us. The only guys I really liked were Louis Gil, Yedlin and O'Neill and only one was Latin.

 

I'm guessing this happens after a World Cup exit correct?

 

I'm equally puzzled about the approval and even adulation he gets from so many. It is like being in a parallel universe.

 

Jurgen is fine. He made mistakes. All coaches do. I dont understand the coach hate on this forum.

Arena did great things. Bob did great things. Jurgen has done great things.

They all have. Someone is always going to go for their favorite. I think all of our coaches have done admirably considering our talent level.

 

I think this is true, but I think it's in part due to the talent consistently - painfully slowly - getting better. I don't see a short cut past it. More players in Europe, a better domestic league, bigger salaries, more dual nationals.... it's all just noise. Meanwhile the sport, the team, and the players plod on a gentle upward slope that they've been treading on for 20 years.