Comments from Klinsmann on future of US soccer (ESPN World Cup 2010)

When I saw that interview, I thought three things.....

- Klinsmann is right.

- That was a look into his interviews with the USSF.

- I can't imagine that sat well with the current power structure in US soccer.

 

Jurgen is going to run into frustration when he tries to introduce these more technical players and realizes that they were not getting experience that they should have gotten at the right age.

So he will want to effect more technical players moving up through the Youth teams, but will these technical players get the time at the club level that they need due to lack of size and strength or whatever.

 

And this article too which Wahl has tweeted. I remember reading it at the time but had forgotten it...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8789682.stm

 

Hopefully the USSF, MLS coaches, on down to the youth level coaching will embrace the changes that Herr Klinsmann wants to implement instead of fighting them.

 

I love how Lalas gets cut off right before he opens his mouth. No, really- I LOVE how Lalas gets cut off right before he opens his mouth.

 

He probably didn't have anything to add. Klinsy pretty much said everything that needed to be said.

 

As has been pointed out before, many of the things he's talking about here were essentially outdated in 2010, and even more so now. He was still operating on the status quo of 2006.

I think his hiring, despite this very public airing of grievances, points to the idea that there's been a subtle, yet profound, changing of priorities at Soccer House. We'll know for sure on Monday, when we found out just how many keys the Fed is giving to Klinsmann.

 

I am VERY interested to see exactly what Klinsmann and the Federation agree on in terms of the identity of our brand of soccer.

Germany was play it out of the back quickly and on the ground, etc.

He also said each nation has its own qualities.

In my mind, this is what it all comes down to. What will he decide are the elements of American soccer to develop as our identity.

Stay tuned folks, it will be a turbulent but exhilarating ride.

 

What happens Monday?

 

Having watched this a couple of times now, what really strikes me is how JK goes off on one. The pundit answer to that question about our player pool depth could have been short and pithy, or could have been a little bit longer. Instead Jurgen gives a 2 minute answer which shows that he has both passion and ideas for how to develop the U.S. game.

I think exciting times are ahead. Perhaps one thing we should be thinking about rather than will we get the Klinsi who had success with the German NT or will we get the Klinsi who bombed with Bayern is will US Soccer be the kind of employer to give Klinsi the freedom and support that he had at the German NT or will they lose their nerve like the Bayern board.

 

Loose their nerve or fail to see he got the right tactical mind to round out his experience?

When Klinzy was head of the German team, he Got Löw as his technical guy, who is still there as head of the team. It was deemed a great success. (although the only real success in the 2006 WC was scraping out over Argentina in a shootout after being down in the 80th minute - otherwise they came out of the traditional host's soft first round bracket and their only strait win in the knockouts was to beat middling Sweden in the round of 16)

When he took over at Bayern, he hired MLS tyro Martin Vasquez as his first assistant and was gone in months.

A quick clue to how this lastest US hire will go is who he names as his assistant for the USA National team. I'm guessing Löw isn't coming, but Vasquez is unemployed after his getting sacked at Chivas USA.

 

What JK is complaining about in that interview isn't going to be fixed while he's coach. We should certainly put more effort into fixing it (Reyna has been for a year now), but it's a question of distributed coaching. JK's crituque is that the US players aren't technical enough when they are old enough for national team duty. He can't change that by himself-- he isn't going to coach all those kids himself. The ability to coach and develop talent needs to be distributed into the US system. That's a tall order.

 

I think this is one unfortunate reason why in the short term JK might be seen as a failure. I think US soccer might need a "2 steps back, to move 3 steps forward". I doubt JK is some magician and will make the US team and system dramatically better in the short term. Yes, player selection and tactics can always been marginally better, but marginally better in soccer doesn't usually result in dramatically different play. How we rate JK will have to be done 8-10 years from now. After the world cup I hope JK can stay within the system to keep it transforming because 3-4 years is not enough to transform the system. This is an 8-10 year process.

 

Now substitue Bradley for JK and see how you feel about your statement.

 

Instead of being a naysayer.Why don't you offer some tips as to how to get better results.
I'm all ears.....

 

We can't expect immediate results. JK's new system will need a few months before players adapt to it. What I want to see is how he changes the DA. How can he incorporate the inner city kids to catch on. If he can end pay to play then I will be Impressed.

 

Vasquez is at RSL-AZ Academy. Just signed last week as the Academy Director after having spent a year at Chicago Magic as Technical Director.

 

OK, here goes.

You say the process takes more than four years and yet seem in the camp that wants to get rid of a coach who has had moderate success in half that time. I assume it's because we got pasted since the last World cup. It can't be fbefore then, because we did fairly well in the year and a half before the cup.

Now you seem to be saying that Klinsmann is the answer even though he has no record of staying on task for more than 2 1/2 years at anything in coaching. He quit the German National program from exhaustion, then got fired from Bayern for lack of results.

One thing I can guarantee is that Jürgen won't last the 8 years that it is claimed it will take to revamp a National development program. Its just not a demonstrated part of his makup.


and Klinsy wasn't the guy that did it in Germany to begin with. He only took the products of that German youth program. To his credit, He does understand that the US development system doesn't have the horses to build a German clone program (first touch comments) but is he the guy who, as National team coach, will revamp the development system?

So what we should be doing is following the ideas of the guy who DID revamp the German system, der Kaiser.

Now, Beckenbauer is an older guy and probably not interested, but the things Klinsy is railing about aren't coaching issues, they are those development issues. Nowhere in his ESPN rant did he say we failed in the last cup because Bob Bradley sucked. He said it was because we don't have enough players with a first touch who can play the game.

Beckenbauer recognized that (at a higher level) for Germany. Put Klinsy in the task of solving those problems for the USA. He can clearly identify the problems ( all development, not tactics or coaching). He probably has an idea of what individuals need to do to get to be a better player. Have him put those ideas into action at the development level. Give him 8 years to do it. By then a generation of players will emerge.

What he said was:

So the task he HIMSELF set to solve is to develop more Dempseys and fewer Bradleys., not scream at second tier players from the sidelines.

Now your turn....


He has no tactical coaching record. Why is he now coach? What will he do in the two years he probably only has the energy for as coach?

What concrete things do you think he will do as coach to make the USA better and why you think it will happen? What is his coaching record really?

Change is no good without commitment or vision. he has a good grasp of the development issues. Where is his vision and commitment as a coach? What has he himself said that makes you think he is the tactical guy to mold what he calls sub par players at the world level and mold them into a team?

I just think we have the right guy in the wrong job.

 

Festivus in July!!

 

He can't change the DA directly. That's Reyna's job, and he's having a whale of a time with it.

What he can change is the USYNT selections. Stop selecting big kids who have no clue how to play the game and start selecting kids who do, meanwhile giving them coaches who know how to create competitive teams around such players.

One interesting thing in youth soccer coaching is that most of our youth coaches don't trust a truly good American player - because they don't believe any exist. They have a tendency to say things like "look, this ain't Brazil" as excuse for overconservative player selections and style.

Players like Leo Messi, Neymar, Xavi, Robinho, Iniesta, Guardiola, Pirlo, and a myriad of others would have had a VERY difficult time making it out of the youth ranks here. Those players stop getting selected even for top club teams after U12 and it's dam difficult for them to get back in to even the club level, let alone the National Teams. Most just tire of the head-banging and give up.

Mexico just won the U17 WC with a squad of players that are available in numbers here in the US. 5'5" to 5'9" on average with great quickness and speed. Those players as adults will be 5'7" to 6'0", more than robust enough to handle the senior game.

Our players like that are struggling to get on the field in their own home towns.

 

This is a Hugely inciteful post! Using my own son as an example; he started playing travel ball for a U10 side when he was 7. Pretty gifted technically but a small kid. We had been kicking the ball around since he was able to walk. He made it on to state cup level teams but never ODP. He was too small and while he had far better technical ability and vision, he was never a man among boys untill his Sr year in high shcool where he went from like 5'8" to 6'2" the summer before. He was All State in high school that year scoring more than 2 goals a game on average as an attacking midfielder. He had also done the same thing as a JR but only made the state 2nd team because he was small. Now in college, his coach uses him as a bruiser CB. He's now 6'3" and 195. The coach doesn't take advantage of his technical abilities at all. You see this on our youth national teams. Mario Rodrigues is a man among boys but it's our tehcnically gifted players like Pelosi that are getting looks from quality teams in Europe. Men among boys win games in the youth ranks but as soon as the boys catch up, all the effort that went into those who matured early is wasted. They never got the technical attention they needed. Couple this with the lack work ethic in todays youth ranks, not so much the willingness to run but to do the mundane drills, coerver work, passing, etc... over and over and over, we have a long way to go....

 

Any of those players would have utterly dominated the youth ranks in the USA.

Sorry, the idea that there currently American versions of Xavi and Messi who are getting overlooked because they aren't big or athletic enough seems pretty ridiculous.

Here is a video of Messi at 5 years old:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DWZ0fD64Uk&feature=related"]‪Lionel Messi 5 years old‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

Here is Messi at age 10:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYHu0a4Rfmc&feature=related"]‪Leo Messi 10 years old‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

Here is a goal by Messi at age 10:

http://youtu.be/wbJYtyV1Q-g?t=1m33s

You really think that this player would end up being overlooked by "top club teams" in the USA, and give up soccer as a result?

 

Sure. The clubs first question is "where is your checkbook?"

How many scholarships do the clubs offer? Got figures?

In that 10 year old clip he is wearing a Newell's club jersey. He is already getting a stipend and his family got money.

Know any clubs here that do that with 10 year olds?