Maybe if we have more homeless, barefoot children kicking dead rats around in the street, our youth teams will be world class by 2069.
Meh, too soon to talk about a lost generation. The Dutch were good in the 2006 Olympics but that team did not provide one single NT regular. I'm sure opposite cases have also happened.
Well, they did have Eric Pieters (18 caps), Jonathan de Guzman (14), Urby Emanuelson (14), Ryan Babel (43), Roy Makaay (43). Royston Drenthe has 46 appearances for Real Madrid and only 1 for the Oranje. Needless to say, if a US eligible player had 46 appearances for Real Madrid ...
Yes, with Germany for example. They haven't even qualified for the Olympics since 1988. This summer will be the first participation in 28 years. Still won 2 WCs (1990, 2014) and 1 Euro (1996) in the meantime. Success or failure at the Olympics doesn't necessarily mean anything for the full NT.
The 2016 January camp was compromised and had half u23s for this drivel sh**show??? ~30% possession and 1 shot on goal in 180+ minutes?? How would they have played without the amazing experience of training with JK?? Also, no one seems to mention it but the u23's were forced to play a similar style to the full national team strategically (I'm sure this came from JK's orders...and hurt them considerably from a competitive standpoint, imo)....how is no one criticizing JK for this? how is he being let off the hook for this???
You'd have to look pretty hard to find anyone not criticizing JK for everything right about now... That said, I would not say they played the same as the full NT. A big reason for that is the MNT currently has no "style" and it's very much a game by game basis, but also because Herzog played the same way from start to finish, and it's not really something we've seen from JK. Almost every match was some variation of the 4-4-2. I have no issue with the formation - it keeps a team balanced and allows a coach to make small adjustments throughout the game to respond to the opponent. However, it really didn't fit this team. In particular, the team lacked quality, natural wingers, meaning often times one or two people were playing out of position (not including Acosta at full back). If you look at the final two legs against Colombia, Hyndman was on the left and often times tried to tuck in to where he feels more comfortable, which left Acosta alone in an already unfamiliar area. Colombia exposed this early and often. Gil scored cutting in from the right, but that goal was really created by Rodriguez, and Gil didn't even get the start in the next match. I thought Arriola had to focus on the defensive side of things a lot in his 45 minutes, but he didn't get caught out of position and he and Payne did well to shut down the right side. Kiesewetter was horribly caught out on the second goal Tuesday night. He's just not use to putting in that work rate and he literally walks as his man makes the run in behind him and sends in the great cross.
LOL, Makaay was the overage player. Most important, this group has collectively logged 69 minutes in the next two world cups. In the next world cup they'll be too old. Yes, virtually all would be cappable by the US but I'm just saying that our group doesn't automatically suck more than previous groups. Only time will tell.
A post mortem http://americansoccernow.com/articles/united-states-u-23-failure-a-huge-setback-for-program
Puerile and in fact stupid reasoning...how many U.S. Players ply their trade in the German league??? and of course Germans??? Lost because some of these guys might have been noticed and purchased by a bonafide team.
I think the point is that qualifying or not qualifying for the Olympics (or any youth tournament for that matter) isn't a great barometer for future senior national team success. Its a barometer, but not the best barometer. Holland didn't qualify for the Olympics partly because they lost at home to Slovakia. Thus they got a tough draw for the knockout game and lost. Do we believe Holland is going to be OK? Yes.................... The best example for the US is the 2004 team that failed to qualify. Today members of that team have amassed an enormous number of USMNT caps and had long careers (Donovan, Beasley, Convey, Onyewu, Eddie Johnson, Beckerman, Chad Marshall, Nat Borchers, Brian Carroll, etc. etc.) Most qualifying efforts, regardless of age group, are conducted with a team that ISN'T the best group of kids we can put together in that age bracket. In this case Yedlin, Brooks, Zelalem, and company would have helped. Its tempting to also say that the failure to qualify for the Olympics is a sign that youth development hasn't advanced in this country. However, we all know that's patently false. Youth development in this country is making enormous strides. Perhaps the results aren't there to see yet. What's disappointing is that Klinsmann and the USSF really put forth an effort to make this a real team with games throughout the cycle. It wasn't hastily assembled like previous cycles. It didn't matter.
You mean the Holland that didn't qualify for the Euros? Not to say that this indicates the future of the younger Dutch players, but hoo-boy let's notice how systemic failure can happen.
Olympic groups: Group A Brazil South Africa Iraq Denmark Group B Sweden Colombia Nigeria Japan Group C Fiji Korea Republic Mexico Germany Group D Honduras Algeria Portugal Argentina
I'm sort of glad the US didn't qualify, because now I don't have to hear people argue about how we're in a group of death, and that our players are going to face a terribly difficult challenge against teams that are probably worse than us.