Ironic that, immediately after reading an article about how "Arena's a winner", and everyone praising how Arena's instilling a winning mentality and good locker room chemistry... the bar gets lowered this far. Really, I expect the US to get out of any group that isn't filled with some kind of murderer's row of teams. If it's, for example, Spain, Holland, Chile, USA, then yes, we could crash out in the Group Stage. But, otherwise, we have the starting XI that, prepared well, can at least finish 2nd in most groups.
Without Donovan we don't have the lethal counters, so I hope we don't get top dribbling teams (Argentina, Brazil, Spain, France, Chile) or Eastern Euro teams, that have always given us trouble and must be powered up playing in Mother Russia. The nightmare group, for me, comes with Argentina, Spain, and Poland.
He's more a domination guy than a countering one. Also, the numbers are just following the pattern: World Cup outside Europe = Round of 16 exit (Klinsmann accomplished that); World Cup in Europe = Group stage exit, with 0 points (once with 1 point). The expectative should be adjusted based on those patterns.
Only if you don't actually want to hold this coach or program up to any sort of standard. For Christ's sake, JK made it out of a group containing Germany, Ghana, and Portugal. I can see us failing with a hard enough group, but the draw's a crapshoot. What if we got the equivalent of Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast, Japan? Or Belgium, Algeria, Russia, South Korea? Or Switzerland, Ecuador, France, Honduras? It's a bogus way to approach the World Cup when there are so many factors to take into account. We've only been to three Euro WC's anyway in the modern era anyway. Throw out 1990 because it's a team of amateurs. 1998 was marred by the Sampson/Wynalda fracas. 2006 sure, we should've done better, but to be fair, we lost some key people to injuries and age. Our squad right now is strong enough and deep enough to get results vs both teams. It's on Bruce to figure it out.
Arena is good but he is not a magician. I don't like the way our back line matches up with most teams in Europe. I also don't like the way our Keeping situation looks. I can't speak on behalf of everyone and I don't care what the article says. I think getting out of the Group Stage in Russia would be an accomplishment. Of course things might change with a fortunate draw.
Why are we so much worse in Europe than everywhere else anyway? I don't like that excuse in the first place.
I see it a lot like the statistics in the NFL that say teams that have to fly from the East Coast to the West Coast or vice-versa usually lose. Time zones are one thing . Continent changes and Time zone changes are probably more brutal. Is it an excuse? Sure. However, it can also be seen as a trend. You may not like it but there is some truth to it.
Being bad in Europe is overblown. We don't play enough games in Europe, especially recent meaningful games, for the stats to mean much. 1934 : 0/-6 - really? This was 83 years ago. 1990 : 0/-6 - pre MLS, we had semi-pro guys playing, just getting to the WC was an accomplishment (MEX was disqualified, so we were lucky to even go) 1998 : 0/-4 - MLS was 2 years old, the US had ZERO development program (Bradenton started in 1999) 2006 : 1/-4 - Only time we got a result, MLS is 10 years old, but still the US is relying on Bradenton to develop players. MLS development academies don't get going for a few years. 2018 will be the first time we play a WC in Europe with an established professional league with established youth programs.
I think European teams tend to be stronger playing in Europe making it more difficult for teams like US. We will see.
Arena's not a magician, but he doesn't have to be. Arena got us to the QF's. Bob Bradley got us to the R16. Jurgen Klinsmann got us to the R16. The pool's top end is perhaps not quite as high, yet we also have easily the most talented American ever with Christian Pulisic. Still relatively unseasoned, but playing at a higher level than any other American that I can think of. The team is filled with Top 4 league players, either former or current.
It depends on the group. Before the fact, hell yes it was the GOD. After the fact, Ghana's federation's ********ery destroyed their morale, and CRonaldo was hurt. Us playing Portugal with Pepe suspended and them being in a must win situation due to the horrible GD from the Germany game made it an average group for us to get out of. The win against Ghana was big. The other 3 games ranged from meh to bad.
This. Most Euro teams are like the giant Antaeus: very strong if in contact with their mother. The only big Euro team that's not affected seems to be Germany. Italy, Spain, England, France, Portugal, they under-perform away from home. On the other hand, it can be made a case that Russia is barely Europe and almost Asia.
Spain won their only WC on a different continent. We didn't advance in 2006 because we couldn't string together two solid games and it was Ghana that knocked us out, not the two Euro teams in our group. Getting out of the group being par is just plain naive. We are on the cusp and getting out is about a 50/50 proposition that can be moved by the draw, form of the team and luck. We are 4 out of 7 tries since 1990 with the three failures coming coincidentally in Europe. All of the 4 times we've gotten out have included some kind of luck.
Africa is in the same time zones though. 2010 had three teams from UEFA topping the competition: Spain, Netherlands, Germany. That's even better than what they get in Europe. And South Africa has weather that's quite compatible with Central Europe. I guess the case can be made that South Africa is more like Europe than Russia.
If the US qualifies and then fails in 2018, it's not going to be because the World Cup is hosted in Yurrup.
Surprisingly the offensive numbers are about the same, the defense has tightened up substantially . . . Comparing Jurgen Klinsmann and Bruce Arena by the numbers . Bruce Arena’s team has allowed a very stingy 0.6 goals per game. That’s 50% less than Klinsmann’s 1.2 goals against during the cycle. Klinsmann’s basket is better at 0.9 but Arena’s still reduced opponent scoring by 38%. The consensus reason would be that Arena’s defense is more conservative and better organized, especially when opponents reach the attacking third. In fact, the numbers suggest that is the case. Arena’s defense allows far fewer shots on goal by staying more centrally compact, forcing the opponent out wide and more effectively clearing the ball from danger. the big change from Klinsmann to Arena is opponents getting shots off much less consistently and getting less of them to the goalkeeper, resulting in much better defense. Arena has done this by dictating more positional discipline and less overall up field aggression, which is exactly what needs to be done to fix a team quickly. That Arena has brought structure to the United States defense without sacrificing anything offensively is the real coup. Klinsmann promised more proactivity but in the end that aggression probably cost him on the defensive end without gaining enough on offense. Arena has found the right balance and the USMNT is back on track as a result.
In Copa America Centenario, we had one of the best defensive lines in the tournament: Yedlin(EPL)----Cameron(EPL)-----Brooks(BuLi)-----Fabian(BuLI) Compare that to Colombia: Arias(Ered)----Zapata(SerieA)-----Murillo(SerieA)----Diaz(Colombia) Or Chile: Isla(Ligue1)----Medel(SerieA)----Jara(Chile)----Mena(Brazil) Or Mexico: Aguilar(LigaMX)----Araujo(LigaMX)----Moreno(Ered)----Layun(Port) We have a great crop of defensive players. As a matter of fact, defensively we're a Top 20 team without a doubt. The lack is with attackers. Beyond Pulisic and the aging Dempsey, we don't have World Cup quality up front. I like Morris, Wood, Agudelo, Zardes, but they're all unproven and frankly unlikely to reach the heights of the other two. Jozy has his days, but he's not been great against top opposition, he's never scored in a World Cup. Our midfield is full of workhorses with a lot of stamina who can track back. But there are virtually no creators beyond Pulisic: Benny & Sacha seem to be gone, and no one else is acting as a secondary creator except for Dempsey. We need someone with a killer instinct. A real poacher, a Lewandoski type. Besides the lack of a DM for the day we have to meet one of the giants, that's our most glaring deficiency. And goalkeeper will become a problem once Howard quits. Mark my words.
Kljestan and Feilhaber might still be in the mix. This is a quote from an article on si.com... "Arena said also not to make too much of the omissions of Sacha Kljestan and Benny Feilhaber from the Gold Cup list. He said he wants to look at younger players and could call up Kljestan and Feilhaber for the World Cup qualifiers in September." I think Arena knows what he has with Kljestan & Feilhaber. He used this GC to test other players, like Corona and Rowe.
Simply not true. Foreign media all called it the Group of Death. So did American media. And nearly all non-Klinsi hating observers even here in America. here on BS, well,...... that is another matter. You Klinsi haters need to let it go. He is gone, but he did plenty well according to most neutral observers at the WC. Few on here meet that description, LOL. BTW, Bruce did well in Korea, but had a much easier draw both in the Group stages and then by getting the Mexies instead of Belgium. he also had the best roster we have ever had at a WC. That does not reduce his accomplishments anymore than 2015 reduces Klinsi's accomplishments in 2014.