The following is an excerpt from the 3/16 ESPN Chat: MIKE, NYC: What lessons did you take away from the U.S.'s failure to qualify for the Olympics? Who impressed you from that team? BRUCE ARENA: I think one of the lessons is that qualification is never easy and that playing Mexico in Mexico is very challenging. I thought for the most part our three senior players, Beasley, Donovan and Convey played well and our defincencies in team defense were too great to overcome. This sounds carefully worded (if not carefully spelled), suggesting more than just "our defenders weren't good enough." But I think Beasely, Donovan and Convey's lack of defensive contribution was a big part of our difficiencies in team defense against Mexico. Those guys play a lot more defense for the full national team, but seemed dedicated to attack for the u-23's. Does this amount to a criticism of Myernik?
If i were his superior (as Arena is to Mooch) I could think of ways to sound harsher....I really do not think Mooch has shown a great deal of talent to manage theU-23 team , and I would seriously question his abilities when it comes to the senior team as well
I hate to say this, but I think the best youth national coach I've seen is Thomas Rongen. I'm embarassed to admit it, because he sucked in MLS. On the other hand, he was willing to take an honest look at his personal and change tactics to maximize thier skills at the U-20 Championships. It was genius to use Adu. No way could Alvarez have made as big an impact (his unlucky injury worked out to our benefit). I give Mooch credit for resisting the temptation to play Donovan in the midfield. On the other hand, the defense was SO poor that we couldn't play out of the back. We need to make a concerted effort to find skillful defenders that can control the ball and make intelligent passes. The days of playing with "big, tall destroyer" backs need to be put to rest. We have LOTS of exciting offensive players coming up. Let's develop some of our midfielders into defenders and control play.