I wouldn’t say Dest doesn’t care about the country or his teammates but I definitely think he wasn’t taking the opposition or the moment seriously. Hopefully a lesson is learned.
And that wasn't not even close. He was provoked, and briefly lost his mind under pressure. Dest just decided to vent, nothing happened before that, he just wasn't giving a shit, his ego was above anything else.
One other key difference was the ejected player's position. In the first leg, prior to the red card, T&T was attacking with just two players. One of those two players was sent off. It made essentially no difference for their tactical plan. They were bunkering either way, and still had all their defensive players on the field. We had our right back sent off and had to make a substitution to cover for him.
99th ranked team, where most of the players on their team play on semi-pro to amateur level clubs. We played poorly in the first leg, and fortunately, had a 3 goal flurry when T&T’s bunch of amateurs finally tired after playing a man down. And, then, we came out flat to play worse. We shouldn’t forget Couva. And the fact that we lose with the same sort of lack of heart and lack of professional from that game in the next game that we played in T&T….again, against a weak team that’s even weaker since then. Not the response I want to see. Psychologically, the team demonstrated a lack of resiliency and character after the red and folded under the pressure. Typically, when a team gets upset against such an underdog like this then there is no other excuse except lack of professionalism. Berhalter got out coached…. He continues to demonstrate that he can’t have his team ready and he’s even worse at game management. Anyone who isn’t disappointed with this window, honestly, believes that a 4-2 aggregate against Trinidad and Tobago is acceptable? That might be the very definition of unrealistic low expectations. Maybe, we should play Guam. Maybe then, we might actually beat a team soundly that we’re miles better than in every single position on the field by a long shot….and that’s not even in close. We have more in common with a combined France and England A team than we have in common with this T&T team. Nevertheless, maybe, we just need to lower the bar since according to this standard, we deserve to be ranked closer to 99th best team in the world. But hey, calling other people insane, again, just more and more character attacks.
I don’t have much of a problem with the roster or line up calls. For the most part, I think most fans would agree that’s the best we had available. Besides, Roldan or Jordan Morris weren’t going to win that game for us. On the other hand, what is the point of a coach? Have your team ready at kick off. Respond to adversity. Win the games you’re supposed to win. Berhalter didn’t do that and he deserves every ounce of criticism that he receives tonight. For the record, I praised him for Ghana. I praised him for Oman and Uzbekistan. I even tempered disappointment against Germany. I will not refuse to praise Berhalter for calls that he gets right. But if we’re noticing that he’s receiving a lot of crap, it’s probably because he deserved it tonight.
The problem is unlike with fans of club teams, or other sports for that matter, the agendas run deep around here. I mean, we still have people stuck in over Landon vs Jurgen. The weirdest factor I see and it revolves almost solely around US soccer fans, is the duty, almost like its muscle memory to defend the coach. They take it personal. They place their feelings over all else. In any other club or sport forum, people wanting a different coach are still accepted as wanting the best for the team. Here, people choose loyalty to the establishment first. Hence, questioning Gregg is far more offensive to them than simply questioning the coach. You’re questioning their church and their belief system.
May I direct your attention to Japan/Korea 2002 and the round of 16: (A good place to see Rafa in action starts at about 1:40)
I’m not sure I have seen him show any other expression than the “Botox lock” look. It is seriously locked in.
Does USSF evaluate Gregg's coaching at all? Surely they can't be happy with how underwhelming the US team has played these past few years.
I wasn't following when the whole thing down but I saw Dest kick the ball into the stands. Are you saying that kicking the ball into the stands is not a yellow?
LOL. This from a guy who literally said that nothing could ever convince him of something. That no evidence would every sway him from his belief. You are literally the poster boy for starting with a conclusion and then fitting dat around it to the point that you proudly admitted it as if it was a good thing. You make accusations, but you are literally that person by your own admission. Your church is that Berhalter sucks and you will never change your opinion.
You posted that in response to a post attacking the coach. One person suggested a 25 year-old player may be responsible for his own actions and you consider that as "muscle memory" and part of a deep running agenda. Maybe its a conspiracy. Or maybe the millions of sheeple who petitioned for Berhalter's return only exist in your head. Maybe even 23 year-old multi-millionaire can be held accountable for his own actions by people who can think for themselves.
Black and white thinking invades every online space and is quite, ********ing, annoying. We revisit Klinsmann because a small, vocal group insist he was the greatest and everything good today is because of him. The Berhalter debates go the way they go because again, a small, vocal group insist everything he does is bad and he's the worst. Most of us can talk about either without going that far but the vocal groups derail the conversation. It goes the same every game. Klinsmann was ok. Berhalter is ok. If we can figure out how to talk about just how ok they were instead of it going off the rails of "best or worst" it would be so much better.
If that’s what you saw, you don’t understand soccer, and should probably follow another sport that you do understand.