That speaks to his intelligence and skill on the ball. This is my favorite Feilhaber play. Intelligent, patient, and silky smooth. Feilhaber.
Alas, the US national team did not need any of that with Jurgen Klinsmann brilliantly guiding the team to a Lost Decade.
Great that when Arena came in in 2016 he made full use of Benny's Rhythmic Gymnastic skills in helping the US to qualify for WC2018! Wait did someone say in 2017 Benny got only 6 whole minutes in competitive matches under Da Bruce.
Interesting aside, Donovan, Feilhaber and Kjlestan each lead MLS in assists between 2014-2016 (Donovan lead the league in 2014, Benny was 2nd to Giovinco in 2015, Kjlestan first in 2016). I don't think anything close to that has happened since. None really featured strongly in the NT at the time; interestingly.
Sacha had 5 caps and 2 goals in 2016. Returning to MLS and reinventing himself as a CAM dime dropper got him back into the NT picture under Klinsmann. Bruce also never used Sacha in 2017 outside of a Cupcake appearance.
It was just an offhand observation, not really an opportunity to litigate the Klinsmann vs. Arena thing yet another time. But now that you bring it up, it does bring up something I've always liked about Klinsmann. That he got fired.
Nothing to litigate. Da Bruce did not use either Sacha or Benny in the 2018 qualifying campaign, that is a fact.
I could be having the worst day ever (I'm not, btw), and all I have to do is see that clip and I'm on cloud 9. One of the great moments ever for this USA fan.
Donovan, Feilhaber, Kljestan, AND Nguyen.... Klinsmann talked a big game about proactive soccer and then had no interest in guys like that. MLS assists: 2014: Donovan 1st 2015: Feilhaber 2nd 2016: Kljestan 1st MLS MVP: 2014: Nguyen 2nd 2015: Feilhaber 3rd 2016: Kljestan 3rd
Bruce Arena explained very clearly why Donovan did not make WC2014, "Does not have Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant genes did not know what you were going to get from him". You are aware that the pool exists outside of MLS right? In any case MVLee got his first callup in 2014 in 7 years under Klinsmann. 6 of his 9 caps started in 2014. Kljestan was a regular under Klinsmann getting 23 caps in total and 5 caps and 2 goals in 2016. Klinsmann never called Roldan and preferred Acosta over Trapp so there is that but Arena also never called Trapp, quickly discarded Roldan in favor of Acosta.
I thought Klinsmann's lineup choices were bizarre all around. He put a huge emphasis on ball-playing center backs, sometimes at the expense of defensive ability -- and at the exact same time he ignored technical ability in favor of work rate in attacking positions, which negated all the benefits of having good passers at center back. It was completely backward. He seemed to be favoring secondary skills at the expense of core skills at every position. What ended up happening repeatedly during Klinsmann's tenure was that our center backs made pinpoint long passes to players who couldn't hold the ball under pressure, and then got burned when we lost the ball. Re: Lee Nguyen, he started his pro career as a winger but his career didn't take off until he was moved to the center. And yet every single one of his USMNT appearances was on the wings.
That is all made up nonsense. Klinsmann, unlike Berhalter, knew what an effective international player looked like. JK understood that appearing to have technical skills in a lower tier league that would not translate to the international game was useless.
It's funny... imagine still defending Klinsmann in the year 2023, as if he's out there getting jobs and having any sort of success... oh right he must be choosing to remain unemployed, that explains the 10 games with Hertha Berlin.
Nobody cares, my dude. My post didn't mention Klinsmann or Bruce, so no idea why they had to be brought up. The guy who took Mix Diskerud and Chris Wondolowski to a World Cup? Really makes Berhalter's fringe picks look downright rational by comparison.
Unfortunately for people who want to dodge Klinsmann discussion, IMO the US World Cup efforts for 2022 to 2014 are worth exploration as a comparison. Setups that are somewhat similar on paper, question marks over where the creativity will come from based on the managers' selection, and controversial player selection decisions such as Reyna. Every World Cup will have the debates over player decisions unless the US wins it, but the 2022 controversy echoes most clearly in 2014 IMO. Berhalter wins the comparison, but that doesn't mean that the comparison cannot be instructive.
Reyna gets his 3rd post-World Cup goal for Dortmund in another sub appearance. Coolly slides it past the Freiburg goalkeeper (who seemed to have his sightline partially blocked?) from the edge of the box. Smart finish.