I wondered about that game, too. For Klinsi the result was crucial. It certainly was "entertaining" and "memorable" in many ways. But it was also probably the most bizarre US game I've ever watched since I began watching in the late 1980s. It really should have been stopped in the middle of the 2nd half as the conditions were unplayable. Hard to know how to rank such a strange, theatrical spectacle. I voted for the Ghana win, but reluctantly. It was satisfying to end the Ghana bad luck run in competitions, and it was in the World Cup. But the majority of that game was played on the back foot and just trying to survive. It was anything but attractive. With Bora I will always remember the terrific 2-1 win over Columbia in 1994, a game the US deserved to win and should have added 1 or 2 more goals. That was one of the US's all-time great results. Personally, I'll also always have a fond memory of Bora's 4-3 win over Germany in the pseudo-competition the "US Cup" in 1993. That was a bit of a coming-of-age moment for the US. With Sampson there is always the US's shock 3-0 win over Argentina in the 1995 Copa, another historic US performance. Plus, we also had the 4-0 drubbing of Mexico in the 1995 "US Cup" and the epic Keller performance in the 1-0 US win over Brazil in the Gold Cup Semi-Final in 1998. Under Arena we had the legendary 3-2 group phase win over Portugal and the 2-0 Round of 16 win over Mexico in the 2002 World Cup, two of the all-time great US victories. Plus we had the 2-0 defeat of Germany in the 1999 Confed Cup, a bit of a statement game for Arena after the sad 1998 World Cup. Under Bradley we had the historic 2-0 win over #1 Spain in the Semi-Final of the 2009 Confed Cup, another all-time great result. Plus we had very satisfying competitive wins over Mexico by 2-1 in the 2007 Gold Cup Final, the 3-0 must win over African Champs Egypt also at the 2009 Confed Cup, and the epic thriller 1-0 win over Algeria in the 2010 World Cup. While Algeria wasn't an international heavyweight, the drama of that game ranks it among the all-time US results. Under Klinsman.... The best we can do is the dour 2014 Ghana game vs a team ranked below the US and after being out-possessed and out-shot by significant margins. Or the Copa win over Costa Rica. I don't think any JK result in a meaningful match will rank among the all-time US best. It's hard to find a meaningful game I can look back on with real fondness and joy.
When we beat them, these were our and their position/points in the Elo rating at the start of the match: September 10, 2013: USA #17/1816 2 - 0 Mexico #23/1772 Diff.: +6/+44 June 16, 2014: USA #13/1837 2 - 1 Ghana #32/1705 Diff.: +19/+132 June 7, 2016: USA #36/1710 4 - 0 Costa Rica #20/1768 Diff.: -16/-58 June 11, 2016: USA #22/1751 1 - 0 Paraguay #37/1722 Diff.: +15/+29 June 16, 2016: USA #22/1767 2 - 1 Ecuador #14/1865 Diff.: -8/-98 A + difference in points (and ranking) means we're considered stronger at the start of the game, and considering home advantage, we should win against them (vs. MEX, vs. PAR). The +132 difference with Ghana was large enough to expect us to beat them anywhere (bookies bet on us to win that one too). The only two "unexpected" wins are vs. Costa Rica (mostly because of the big score, 4-0) and vs. Ecuador (a team known not to travel well, but that was considered clearly stronger than us with their 98 points advantage). The win that gave us the most points and moved us up the most in the ranking was the one vs. Costa Rica (were not for it, we'd still be in the mid-30s). Still, the toughest rival we've faced (and only Top 16) and defeated is Ecuador. So, based on that, I give it to the Ecuador win. Costa Rica we're, in spite of their medium-sized point advantage, supposed to beat at home.
Actually the US lost 4-3 to Germany in that 1993 US Cup game. Either way that game was very entertaining and the US fought their way back from 4-1 down to make it exciting.
Ha! You are correct. That game was so much fun for me as a US fan that I'd convinced myself that the US won!
This thread is the best evidence for Klinsmann's failure. 6 days in (as of my posting) and little enthusiasm/nostalgia about his non-friendly coaching performances.
It's Ghana far and away. Vanquished the demons associated with playing them, and was critical in advancing to the R16 for the third time in five tournaments..something only the elite nations (plus Mexico) have done with regularity. It wasn't pretty, but it was crucial..and that makes it his "best." Klinsmann got quite a few things wrong, but that WC wasn't really one of them. We did pretty well with what we had at our disposal and the draw we got. And we were never going to beat that Belgium team who had arguably the most raw talent in that tournament.
Nobody told Klinsmann not to bring Donovan, Agudelo, etc. to quell our attacking options and compel us to play Dempsey as a lone high with 9 back who weren't gifted at retaining possession and bringing the ball up leading to records in futility outside the scoreboard.
Indeed. The JK true believers have not made a case for a memorable JK victory. They seem to have little enthusiasm. They don't have much to work with.
Oh, there was that one guy who wanted to extol the amazing successes of our Copa victories, but that was such a hollow argument that I don't think even the JK contingent were backing him up. I'm sticking with Ghana. Not pretty, but our most significant victory since 2010, and it would've been significant had it come under any coach.
Ghana was a pretty solid team too. For a stretch, they were beating Germany in their second game and put the world champs on their knees. It ended in a draw though. I don't completely believe the argument that Ghana was a team in turmoil. That stuff didn't come to light until after we beat them, but then they show up and draw with Germany after that? Doesn't make sense. Maybe after they drew is when they started on the downward spiral.
I voted for 'Other'. None of these games are closed to legendary, as each of our other coaches had (great post Mr. Martin). My 'Other' game is the Gold Cup Final 1-0 win against Panama. It was his only trophy won during his tenure. Though the tournament was won by Landon Donovan, it is still JK's "best" win.
Ghana throw Muntari, Boateng out of World Cup Style points mean nothing in competition, but Ghana on the front foot or not were certainly in turmoil. CR in the Copa comes closest to a signature victory, but JK, unlike Bob and Arena, never bested a 'top team' in competition. 4th place in the Copa, however, is about level with quarters in the WC and the finals of the Confederations.
I find this hard to believe considering JK would most likely still have a job if he had made it past Belgium. He couldve gotten eliminated in the group at the Copa and failed to qualify for the CC, but getting over Belgium wouldve trumped all of that.
Yes, it's hard to get too excited about our performance at the Copa when we got blown out 0-4 by Argentina in the semi finals without getting a shot off. Of course Klinsi, himself, loved to over exaggerate this stuff. And there would be some who bought into it.
As I said earlier, I believe the snow bowl was his best win as a coach because I felt it was a reflection of his best coaching moment. As far as his most important win, I would have to go with those that say Ghana but I don't believe it was a reflection of his best moment. We barely hung on and it can easily be argued that he helped dig a bit of a hole by not planning for injuries to one of his key players (of course I'm referring to Jozy). the Costa Rica Game was important because it was critical to our success in the Copa but that final game with Argentina was sooo bad that I still have a bad taste in my mouth that I have not been able to remove. This is inspite of the fact that a semifinal result is quite good. For this reason, I can't really count Costa Rica.
One of my favorite memories! I was lucky enough to be at that game. I saw it from the endzone with my then future wife (who doesn't like soccer). Fully agree that we should have added at least one or two goals. Lalas had a goal called back that should have stood (offside). We had a few near misses (Wynalda post, Balboa bike that would have been one of the all time best wc goals).
Colombia are elo-ranked 8th, Costa Rica 16th, Ecuador 18th, Paraguay 37th, and Argentina 2nd. The US faced great competition in the Copa. Semi-finals was an accomplishment equal to a Confederations finals or a WC quarters.
Key word: "faced". 2 of those games we were supposed to win at home and we did (CR and Paraguay). Some might include Ecuador in that list as well. To your benefit, there's ways to twist the formula to make Copa Semis = WC quarterfinal. For instance, say we dominated Brazil to reach the Copa Semis, and then lost on PKs to Argentina. To some people, that might make the two equate. But the WC is the WC, and making the quarterfinals obviously means your a game away from the WC semis, which is why I'll never see the two side-by-side. Maybe.... just maybe.... a Copa final would equate. If we had beaten Argentina, then I might agree with you. Instead, we were slaughtered like lambs.