Hard to believe we haven't had a group of attackers scale the heights of the Dempsey, Donovan, Beasley cohort.
Hmmm.... lived in Chicago, Senator of Illinois... USSF Soccer House in Chicago... 1+1+1 = THANKS OBAMA!
I think most of our Youth coaches are a result of the NJ/NY power structure that put Gulati in power in the first place. Isn't that where Blazer came from? But aren't there assistants, isn't there oversight. Klinsmann picked Porter for the U23's because he had influence with the figurehead of that power base.
Will Parchman @WillParchman 9h9 hours ago The U.S. U17s have been outshot 38-11 and 12-2 on target in its first two games at the World Cup.
While the U17s may not be the messiahs so many BSers purport to expect, this is a little unfair. The U17s were up 2-0 at the half and that often leads to lopsided stats when the leading team foolishly tries to bunker out the game. In the first half, the U17s not only had the lead but the possession advantage - even if Croatia had double the shots (reportedly not very threatening). The less said about the 2nd half, the better, apparently.
Because the current structure of the USSF pre-dates MLS and the rise of professional soccer in this country. The majority of the USSF General Assembly has nothing to do with the USMNT or MLS. I just think people need to understand what the USSF is. Folks here seem to think Sunil Gulati is sitting in "Soccer House" stroking a hairless cat, making decisions about soccer in this country. That's not even in the same ballpark as reality. I actually don't know who has the authority ot fire Klinsmann. Can Gulati make that decision and execute it by himself? I actually don't know. It may be more complicated than that. [One complication, of course, is that we owe him sooooooooooooo much money. And the USSF doesn't have barrels of cash like the FA and DFB.]
I take the statical picture, and the foolishly bunkering, not so much as an indictment of our potential baby-messiahs as it is of our coaches and their directives.
Yes, although I differ from Wynalda in that I don't think the coach has to be American, he simply has to be able to get a grip on our domestic league which houses and develops the majority of the talent that will make up the team. Personally, I would be keen on bringing in Pareja, for example, as an habitually successful manager and tactician who thoroughly knows MLS and has a great track record of getting production out of youth. I do agree with Wynalda's indictment of Klinsmann as not truly in this with the rest of us, but in it for himself (his frequent "genius" moves and history of trouble with the other high profile players on his side--even as a player--do definitely smack of that), but that is an indictment of Klinsmann himself, and not necessarily every manager we'd be interested in.
The reason so many of us bought into Klinsmann being the manager was he seemed to be an ideal combination. We thought he'd bring his European perspective/experience and merge that with the knowledge he'd gained about the American system and players. Klinsmann's been here so long that his son is a US youth international. Presumably Sunil bought what we did. Klinsmann said a lot of the right things when he was pseudo-campaigning for the job regarding youth development, syle of play, etc. etc. He's like a politician that promised us a lot and hasn't delivered on most of it. Like a bad politician, we can't get rid of him until his term is over. There's no way to "impeach" him, or Sunil for that matter. The USSF doesn't have the kind of money to buy-out Klinsmann from his contract. Klinsmann’s contract runs through July 31, 2018, at base compensation of $2.5 million and “escalating over the term of the agreement.” It also promises unspecified incentive bonuses hinging on performance in international tournaments. That's a ton of money for the USSF. SUM is interesting, though. As this article about the USSF finances states: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...0/ussf-releases-latest-financial-information/ *The USSF’s partnership with Soccer United Marketing, MLS’s marketing arm, expired last Dec. 31 but, as of early this year, continued to operate under a “memorandum of understanding with SUM while a new agreement is formalized.” USSF revenue from the agreement rose from $15.4 million in 2013-14 to $18.3 million in 2014-15. Its weird. The USSF and SUM are in a bizarre dance right now. I don't know if the kerfluffle between MLS/Garber and Klinsmann has thrown a bit of a monkey wrench into negotations. The USSF gets a lot of revenue from SUM. Presumably when the USMNT plays friendlies in empty stadiums (like the recent Brazil and Costa Rica games) that doesn't go over well. You know who else could put pressure on the USSF if results continue to decline? Nike. As that link states: The USSF’s contract with Nike, which runs through 2022, reaped $20.3 million in revenue in 2014-15: $10 million base, $1.7 million commitment bonus, $3.9 million of equipment, $4.1 million in merchandise royalties, $500,000 in discretionary funds and $250,000 in World Cup bonuses. Nike has invested a lot in the USSF and the USMNT/USWNT. They undoubtedly have an interest in the USMNT not becoming an underachieving dumpster-fire.
Companies want to reach more potential buyers. If more young people get interested in following the USMNT because "the coach is, like, a former German World Champ and a Buddhist and very cool," the last thing that matters is whether they win or lose, so far the audience in the vital 15-24 bracket grows.
I don't know how many of those people have truly become fans and spent lots of money (or time) on the program, though. I strongly suspect that for the most part those people just post in support of Kllinsmann on the internet in a drive-by manner and that's that. Mainstream social media (Twitter, Facebook) is chock full of those people, but few of them know the first thing about the team, strongly suggesting that they don't spend much time on it, and if they don't spend much time then it's unlikely that they'd be spending their funds.
Doing well in friendlies can be enough to increase potential buyer reach; after all, there are many more friendlies than "real" games.