There are an unusual amount of media interviews (and a Facebook Q&A) with Klinsmann in the last day or two. He spoke to a number of different journalists. He said a lot of noteworthy things. Here are some of the articles I saw. I think a lot of these comments are worth discussing. http://www.foxsports.com/soccer/sto...rmation-designed-for-christian-pulisic-112016 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/sports/jurgen-klinsmann-national-team.html http://www.reuters.com/article/us-soccer-world-cup-u-s-klinsmann-idUSKBN13F0PQ https://www.yahoo.com/news/klinsman...cking-playing-time-221917372.html?fb_in_app=2
I don't have an NYT account, and link is password protected. Care to quote the juiciest tidbit (obviously, don't re-post whole article)?
You've got mail, but it was basically more of the same bla bla, we're making progress, learning experience, I'm certain we'll qualify, people are only criticizing me because they don't understand soccer... basically the same crap he's been saying for five years.
Gee, I could have said the same and it would have had the same merit. The Anonymous One either knows something and the comment is therefore interesting or he knows nothing new and the comment is mere speculation, such as mine would have been.
My favorite is this one: “I always made it clear to Sunil, if you really want to move up to the top 15 in the world, you need to have consistency in what you’re doing,” Klinsmann said. “If you react emotionally, you will become a roller coaster.”
Some quotes from the NYT article... “I’m not afraid,” Klinsmann said. “What you need to do is stick to the facts. Soccer is emotional, and a lot of people make conclusions without knowing anything about the inside of the team or the sport. I still believe we will get the points we need to qualify, and I am even confident we could win the group.” And... "If Gulati decides to replace Klinsmann, it could be announced as soon as this week, according to several soccer executives familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss a personnel decision. This could be an ideal time to make a switch: The United States does not play its next World Cup qualifier until March, allowing a new coach several months to get acclimated. Bruce Arena, who coached the national team from 1998 to 2006, is the top candidate to replace Klinsmann if Gulati decides to make a change."
Probably not the right thread, but everyone should realize the above is most likely a true statement - we still have a ridiculously high chance of qualifying. That's not the issue. Jurgen's just confusing "limping over the finishing line" with "success". In fact, for all his condescension, we've become more of a soccer nation than we used to be - we demand better than just qualifying. He's not giving us that.
Steve Nicol: "His job is to get the United States to the World Cup." Yep. That's what he's earning four times as much as Bradley.
if it is "as soon as this week", it needs to be this week. we need to make sure the new coach gets a proper changeover and a chance to run the January camp, which will probably be the most important one in Camp Cupcake history.
"Ridiculously high" is an overstatement. I'm seeing simulations that are putting our chances somewhere between the low 60s and low 80s. It's still probable that we qualify, but it is no slam dunk at this point, either. If the March fixtures don't net us at least 4 points, those numbers will drop quite significantly. We just used up a significant portion of our margin for error.
Which is why I want him gone. If he was merely inept, I wouldn't say anything. But, inept and consdescendingly insulting the fan base is intolerable.
Yes to all that--plus, five years after he got a huge salary to take us to the next level, this jackass has the nerve to suggest that doing slightly worse than his predecessors in at least some ways is now all we should expect.
yup......order of the day next set is play for the point in Panama, park the bus, win at home against Honduras. 4 points is acceptable in that scenario, no matter who the coach is. That's about the best I can see Klinsmann obtaining. It would be an amazing result getting a 0-0 draw in panama given the circumstances (how good they look, how much we suck)
What other country could you trash the fans while delivering terrible results and not get fired? In Russia you'd get killed probably.
I wonder if there are any recent examples in which simulations uniformly predicted the opposite results of what happened? But more seriously, whoever said coaches who are secure don't need to do a sudden media blitz was correct. I didn't read the Reuters story, but I did read the New York Times story. It reminded me of this clip from "Seinfeld:"
I actually wrote something to that effect in my post and then deleted it for fear of sidetracking the discussion, but yes, obviously we should be feeling the opposite of secure at this point.