You could fairly rate Vela ahead of them right now, but Kaye is probably overstating the matter. Vela got shut down comprehensively by Seattle in the semifinals, which we can all agree is a little below the standard of, say, Liverpool, where Pulisic just had an exquisite performance. What's Vela done to prove that he could up and "play at Barca" or is otherwise playing at the level Pulisic and Davies currently are, for example? To your point, I'd rather not face him in a Mexico shirt still -- but we could have some superior players this very cycle. I don't think the distance is as wide as Kaye is making out.
I agree, which is why I said it's surprising to me. But Kaye's not the only player that rates him highly -- a few months ago Antoine Griezmann called out some publication for not including Vela in a clickbait all-time best XI of Griezmann's club and country teammates (which included members of Barca, Atletico, and the World Cup winning French side). And I assume the only reason Kaye mentioned Barca is that they tried to get Vela on loan last year.
Just started listening to the podcast the interview with Bruce was interesting. Dunno if I agree with what he said about about the nats but still interesting
You mentioned multiple things that I seemed to reference which makes me wonder if your referring to me, hopefully not as you wouldn't have understood my view at all. I believe he was left off the team because Klinsy wanted absolute control and to leave his imprint on the team, and have the culture be fundamentally his. I don't believe for a second Donovan could be a cancer (and said as much), or that his attitude was poor (and said as much), but I believed and said that Donovan's approach, not his words, was a fundamental living, breathing, walking form of contrast to what Klinsy was preaching. Donovan didn't have to, and wouldn't have said anything (he's barely said anything of consequence in the six years since) to still be perceived as a threat or a problem by Klinsy, his approach itself was the threat in Klinsy's mind (to me) and booting him served multiple purposes. As for Ibra, I referenced him and Keane, and there have been plenty of other, just to show that what Klinsy did had been done numerous times before and after. Coaches leave elite players at home all the time, whether because they don't get along, they feel their authority is challenged, or the team itself just doesn't want to lose the chemistry they've built success with to a diva who might not add enough to compensate for the loss of said chemistry (Ibra). Anyway, I wrote this just to clarify (and you may not have been referring to me at all and if so I apologize for misconstruing things) Maybe others had the cancer opinion, I didn't see that at all, but it's possible. Seems silly though as I can't remember Donovan ever being controversial in the room about much of anything beyond some issues with Beckham in LA in some article like a decade ago.
That's just silly. He lost a critical home match vs Mexico that we'd collected all 3 points from in '02, '06, '10 and '14, and collected at least a point from since the era of Reagan if not longer. Those 3 points were critical in '01 (we don't qualify without them), and while the road loss to Costa Rica was par for the course, after 2 games, being on 0 wins, 0 draws, 2 losses, and a -5 GD is a hole few could ever dig out of. I don't put it all on Klinsy, I think both guys deserve blame for catastrophic mistakes, but lets face facts there, every other iteration of qualification in memory other than '98 in the hex featured 3 points from those two matches, and even back in '98 we made up for the home draw w/Mexico by drawing them at Azteca, something that was HIGHLY unlikely w/a team already quitting on Klinsy at that point. As for making it out the group stage, you sure give Klinsy a ton of credit for that. I think his idiotic instructions and tactical adjustments against Portugal cost us 2 points, and his decisions for the 23 should've cost us the Ghana game if not for a great pile of luck from JAB, of course karma came calling two years later when JAB put his autograph all over the 0-4 rear kicking that sent Klinsy to the slaughter house. I don't want to start a whole thing because I may just be arguing tone here, there's just a clear Anti-Klinsy, and clear Anti-Arena contingent that just posts polemics, when in truth I think both had catastrophic failures that played a key role in the disaster in '17. Klinsy logged more horror show "what in the hell" semi-final round qualifying results than I'd seen in decades, the roots of the failure were there for all to see. Arena's veteraness leanings, and stubbornness had had increasingly negative effects on the national team going back decades too. They both turned in horrible performances in that qualifying campaign that cost us big time. I still think the 1990-1995 drought, the incompetence to the very roots of the fed, and simple bad luck, has as much of an impact on qualifying as anything either coach did. 1. They were left w/o a pile of starters that would have typically developed from previous generations that didn't develop for that cycle from 1990-1995, ditto reserves so we wouldn't be so horribly impacted by Jordan Morris and JAB going down a month before the critical disaster matches for instance. 2. The incompetence of the fed is the chief reason we ended up with both coaches when neither should've been hired, in my view it's also responsible for the great developmental drought of '90-'95, and so many problems in the locker room in general. 3.Bad Luck: We had to have in like 75 minutes all of these things to happen to crash out, excluding terrible decisions from Arena: 1.Horror show own goal by Gonzalez the likes of which we've never seen. 2. Horror show goal from distance that that player doesn't score on, and that Howard doesn't so ineptly defend probably 29 times out of 30. 3. Crazy goal scored, bouncing the ball off the cross bar, then ricocheting off the back of the Mexican Keepers head and back into his own goal. 4. Fake bull--- ghost goal that never went in that should've been seen, and also would've been reversed by VAR if VAR had been approved earlier. The horror show defending by Costa Rica on the second goal. 5. Jozy and Dempsey having 3 chances, and you got a hit post, a great save, and a total shank out of them. I try to be balanced with it, and at the end of the day, I think the general sentiment of the board after the debacle captured things correctly, and the particular sentiment of individual posters was more off. I don't really agree w/any one individual being to blame, as the articles argued in the aftermath, this was a collective failure from the top down, and the coaches were just symptoms of infinitely bigger problems, and we can see that in the 14 months of wandering the soccer desert with sarachan instead of Moses, and then the NON-hiring process that got us our current garbage coach (hopefully he's learning how to be better than the '19 abomination he was, but I doubt it) and the total incompetence of how the fed handle disputes with women, and how our new chief got s canned after less than two years, the rot is to the core, and they don't want to fumigate it, which is what was and is necessary. Thank God for the comments posted by people that worked under Berhalter's ---head brother, w/o them, he'd probably be in even more authority and things would be even worse than they already are.
I wasn't referring to you, in fact, I wasn't referring to any one person. I was just trying to summarize/generalize the views that I believe some people had. In my post, I wasn't really trying to cover all the views (that would take too long) but rather to indicate the breadth. Some thought he wasn't good enough (one extreme) to others believing he was a cancer (another extreme). FWIW, I don't believe it was for soccer reasons either but I definitely don't think there is any legitimate evidence that says he was cancer in the locker room. I also don't believe he was trying to undermine Klinsmann (the position of some). Your position is actually not too far from what I would agree with.
Hanging on to a match against the best team in the region is dumb, especially given the historic weakness of that cycle's US.
And this is why I think my argument is the most sound. They both made catastrophic mistakes, but the core issue is that a head coaching decision for a gazillion dollar soccer enterprise which hinged on qualification could go into limbo because some ---- whose critical importance is nebulous at best, had to have a surgery. A HC decision w/a WC on the line shouldn't hinge on Flynn's eating and exercising habits and genetic history, it should hinge on a well working Fed, and instead, our fed was and is a total ---- show, and as someone else mentioned, it's a more multi-variant version of the stupid that nearly caused Ghana to refuse to play a WC game. It caused them some embarrassment in a WC, it caused our national team to suffer an abomination and humiliation in qualifying that is without par in my view. The problem was the fed. The hiring and holding onto Klinsy for far too long, and the quick hiring of Arena, the failure in qualifying and the Sarachan/Moses wandering the desert of friendlies act, and the nepotism and non-search w/Berhalter can all be traces to the same source. The Fed. That's whose to blame then and now.
It's definitely complete b.s. I think one could find ways to argue that Arena wasn't too horrible in his proportions considering the status of Yanks abroad three years ago, but after the total apocalypse that was Couva, and the fantastic classes from 2015, and especially 2017 and 2019, it was totally inexcusable, and complete horse ---- to have the a 67% MLS tilt during what should've been a tear down and rebuild w/youth and handfuls of vets to guide the way. Instead of that, Berhalter gave us lineups loaded with MLS has beens and never was's and past it, overrage players. Arena made some errors, no doubt, but he also had injuries to lots of guys, and terrible chemistry issues. Berhalter took over w/a good room under Sarachan and a lot of positivity following his play the kids approach, and he managed to crap all over it in less than six months time. It remains pretty close to utterly baffling, the problem is, he's given himself excuses that could play by spending months training total hacks and schlubs in his system to artificially give said players a leg up on younger, more talented, but more potentially mistake prone (theoretically due to said youth) abroad who didn't have Pulisic or McKennie or Adams imprimatur. He kind of rigged 2019 for his kind of players. Unfortunately for him, and for our viewing experience, the players he rigged the system for couldn't even hack it against 3rd and 4th tier concacaf sides, let alone quality opponents and by late fall '19 he was getting a ton of "Fire this moron" heat following the humiliation of Canada. We can hope he learned something the rest of us learned more than a year ago, that his preferred MLS vets largely suck and can't hack it, and that his system is garbage. We'll see. If nothing else, he seems less confident in his 23's and approach than he was 18 months ago, 12 months ago and even 10 months ago so there's that to lean on.
I tend to lean these were the guys that were in his first camp, which made him more biased than a typical coach would be, especially like a Klinsy. Now add that he'd been coaching MLS for years and knew the players far far far better than he did the guys off in Europe, the add the veteraness angle which seems to always plague player coaches, and you can get guys that just repeatedly when presented with one button that says, "Familiar," and one button that says "Unfamiliar,", it often appears to the guys like the buttons say, "Safe" and "Risky," instead, when it actually doesn't and so they keep punching "safe" over and over again unless "risky" seeming options make themselves so plain it's impossible to ignore (Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, and now Reyna all getting rave reviews in Germany). I think there are probably other issues as well, no doubt, but I really do think it could be as simple as: "I know these guys, I don't know these other guys as well" and when combined with "these MLS guys are easier to get into a camp than these Euro's I'm not entirely convinced of," and then add that the MLS guys also have already trained in a brand new system he's trying to implement you can see that he's both directly and indirectly rigged the competition w/o even potentially realizing he has. There are times when a bias we have is clear to us, and the reasoning behind it as well, and there are times when it isn't. It really seems like Berhalter has a blind spot here than some sophisticated conspiracy, just a bias that he doesn't necessarily recognize because he thinks it's based on evidence backed reasoning, when it's not.
Oddly Klinsmann never really understood Donovan even after giving him chances that no one else would have. I think he was projecting his attitude/behavior on Landon. He would have done what he was afraid Donovan would have so he left him home. LD was arguably the best US player ever but didn’t have a huge ego outside of a few times during games and would likely have done whatever was asked of him. Oh well water under the bridge.
The basis for even a half-way decent conspiracy theory requires, at minimum, two things: ability (the conspirators have the ability to conceal their actions) and motive. What is the motive for MLS owners to want to have their assets go and play for the USMNT, which currently has ratings and attendance numbers in the toilet? It's not 2003; if anything MLS owners see intl call-ups as more and more of a nuisance.
Interview with Yedlin today. -He speaks very highly of Caleb Porter for helping to develop him as an attacking fullback and names him as the best coach he's had. He's also a fan of Jurgen Klinsmann for giving him his shot with the national team. -After the World Cup, there were a lot of offers from abroad (from Germany, Italy, and England, including Southampton). However, MLS narrowed the options down to two for him: Tottenham or Roma. He says the message was "We can't justify you leaving the league for these [other] teams." (Though that could just mean that they didn't meet the league's valuation.) He picked Tottenham primarily because of the common language, and secondarily because he wanted to emulate Kyle Walker. -At Tottenham, he was initially excited to be there, but then started developing bad habits and making dumb decisions, which he attributes to his lack of playing time. I'm not totally clear on the connection, but it might just be that with little realistic hopes of seeing any playing time, his focus drifted away from soccer. -Yedlin is a proponent of pro/rel in America, and not a fan of MLS playoffs, where teams with mediocre records can be crowned champion. But the arguments are well-worn enough not to have to summarize here. -Yedlin reiterates that he wants to see some change in the country before he considers playing for the national team again. (Ike says that he doesn't think Yedlin will be the only player to express those feelings.) That said he still sounds excited about the team, and especially the younger generation. He has positive things to say about Berhalter as well. -He doesn't really share the viewpoint Benny's expressed in past episodes that the team is missing a large veteran presence to motivate the younger players and keep them in check. Yedlin thinks guys playing at a high level in Europe don't really need that because they already get that at the club level, and he thinks guys like Pulisic and McKennie now have enough experience with the national team that they could provide the sort of presence Benny is talking about.
Yedlin interview was good. I posted this elsewhere but meant to post it here: https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2020/07/the-us-soccer-podcast-episode-14-gregg-berhalter US Soccer started an "official" podcast hosted by Charlie Davies and of course he gets to interview all the people we want to grill, Berhalter, McBride, Stewart, etc. It is corporate fare for the most part so I imagine we will all read between the lines in order to reinforce our preconceived notions and then argue about it.
I've always found this argument naive and a sign that people were looking for anything to complain about. I just watched two coaches in the the Europe League and Champions League finals make the same tactical "mistake" to press high to win the game. That goal was on the execution of the team.
Michael Bradley's inability to trap a simple headed lofted ball with nobody within 10 yards cost us 2 points v Portugal. With time running out you press the opponent so they are forced to hit a long 50/50 ball which the defense is always favored to win. Done! Your defensive line must execute and win the long ball header. Done! Then comes the simple trap and control of the 2nd ball ...
Ha. I remember being run thru the mud when I posted about this after speaking with someone close to him. He was criticized for moving to Spurs over a club which would be a better fit. But he confirmed it. MLS HQ literally took over the negotiations with Euro clubs and presented two options to him if he wanted to transfer abroad. Sea wanted the best fit for their product and he had options in France and Germany which would have been a better fit. MLS HQ wanted the marketing angle of "big club".
I've got no problem crapping all over Bradley, he didn't even have to trap it, he just needed to send it to Bolivia, or just loft it high as hell, or yeah trap it, he did the only thing possible that was a worst case scenario, try to play it clean, and then fail to play it clean and be shoved off the resulting turn over. However look at the defense, is that organized? I don't see it organized, I see it stretched thin w/Omar having no clue what he's doing, everyone spread the hell out w/the best player in the world not named Messi making a run at them. How is that the best option? It's not. It was a terrible decision to press the hell out of a team that's more comfortable than we are on the ball by a wide margin, and much more comfortable in tight spaces, and also featured the second most talented one on one guy on earth whose also insanely fast and can shoot from distance, cross, and score from the box. I'm sorry, the previous poster mentioned seeing guys do this in the Champions League. That's all well and good when your midfield and defense is worth tens of millions of dollars minimum and features some of the most talented players in the world. Our defense and midfield was a collection of misfit toys and MLS filler w/what, one champions league caliber player maybe? I'm sorry, I'm not pressing w/a bunch of guys who are about to give up a billion shots to Belgium, get played completely off the field vs Germany, and accomplish the only thing you can't do w/a lead in the finals seconds which is give up the ball to freaking Ronaldo on a breakway and have an 800 year old Beasley be the one thing between him and the goal. How that can be defended is utterly beyond me. It was moronic. Period. You want to use that tactic w/world class soccer players, sure (though I'd really think hard on it if the other team had Messi or Ronaldo), you want to do it w/Klinsy's 23 and XI against Ronaldo's Portugal? That's insane. And not surprisingly, it failed.
It was stretched because the players didnt execute. We had more than enough talent on the field to keep them pinned in or win a long ball and either possess the ball or play a long one into the corner. The idea that we have to drop off is one of fear. We need to move past that and go out to beat teams instead hoping we domt lose. We had plenty of defensive players on the field. Our lineup at that point was Beasley, Besler, Cameron, Johnson, Beckerman, Jones, Bradley, Gonzalez, Yedlin, and Wondolowski. Too many players started too deep and dropped further when the long ball was played, Bradley, turns the ball over, nobody tackled or fouled the ball, Beasley didnt prevent the cross, and a defender (I think Cameron) lost his runner. There was nothing on the play that required better players to prevent them from scoring.
Listening to the US Soccer pod Stu Holden sounds like he had some bad surgery after the Jonny Evans attack. He says he went in expecting a 4-6 week recovery and got a surprise micro-fracture surgery with a full year recovery. He said he would have liked a second opinion etc...