I repped this for the last bit, as yes we should take our time with this hire and probably pick our real guy from teams actually playing at the World Cup. That however leads straight into where I disagree and why this appointment is so completely disheartening: I do commend you, superdave and others for your patience, your level headedness and obviously you guys are every bit as passionate about the team as those who are fed up. I however believe your perspective is skewed, we failed to qualify for the World Cup, because of dumb business as usual decisions like this one, if we don't change our behavior now after this wake up call, will we ever? Sarachan may be literally the worst possible hire, might as well have stuck with Bruce if you are just going to keep all the assistants and put a worse, less accomplished version of him in charge. Having any coaches who were involved in the debacle at T&T at our next game, let alone all of them sans Bruce is unconscionable, completely unacceptable. Those of us who are pissed off are not overreacting, we are being levelheaded, those calling for more patience and more trusting of the process are insane, literally doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.
The big deal is pushing us forward for the future at a key time for that interest. They showed they were not capable at the Gold Cup when the established roster had shown to be insufficient and thus major integration was required. They integrated nobody for when games mattered. I yelled at the time it was a big deal and was told I was overreacting then too. They tried because of a couple games against minnows and we had enough to easily qualify against lowly CONCACAF anyway. I was right then, and if anything I wasn't adamant enough in retrospect. Now this is going to be who we're entrusting again for this objective? False dilemma we have to settle for the same exact direction that failed miserably or rush a hire of a full-time coach. A hot prospect coach from an MLS academy even would have been better than this and obviously would have taken the job because it would have been a great opportunity. Would have fresh eyes, many less loyalties, lack of conflict of interest, more of a focus on youth, and an idea how to evaluate and develop a little for progression to the 1st team.
1)Put out non-MLS side under Sarachan 2)Get Ass kicked 3)Claim this proves MLS needs to be the spine of the team. 4)Profit???
Those two opinions are not mutually exclusive. Bring in the U20 crew, the U17 crew, the U14 crew, anyone who was not directly part of the debacle while you wait for your real guy. Bring in the staff from an MLS team out of the playoffs, or the staff at a DA, whatever. I have been being told our coaches, our licensing, our development academies, our youth teams, etc are all strong and getting better, yet the best we can do is Sarachan? Come on, anyway you slice this it stinks of incompetence from the top down.
Because lack of games is a problem in international soccer as it is. The "oh gee maybe we'll just not play anybody until past February" attitude is why I said it seems rudderless. The universe didn't die when you failed to qualify for the World Cup, stop wallowing, get your asses out there and play.
Sarachan is in for only ONE FREAKING game. ONE FREAKING GAME. Maybe Camp Cupcake if it is held. This is the reality we are talking about. He is not the coach for 2022 cycle. Do not conflate our rational levelheadedness with not being pissed off.
Yes, you are. There's a coach already on the payroll who's gonna coach one game and maybe have camp cupcake (although I don't see the point in having it with an interim coach). BFD.
USSF is up there near FIFA and the IOC in terms of the levels of corruption. If you think I’m being hyperbolic just wait until Sunil is voted in again in February. It’s a lock barring him being caught with hookers, drugs, or child porn.
The only possible benefit to this Portugal game is to get the taste of T&T out of our mouths and set a new tone with a new group. As you guys say, it is one game and maybe one camp cupcake, so $ is not a barrier. Being on the payroll already is a nonsensical point, we have countless coaches on the payroll who were not part of this qualifying debacle. This choice is asinine and senseless. Coaches who were involved with the T&T debacle should not be involved in the next game, full stop. If there are not good qualified American coaches jumping at the opportunity of working with the senior side, even as the caretaker for a game or two, that is an indictment of its own. All the youth coaches have time on their hands, all the MLS coaches that got bounced have time on their hands and the best we could do is the guys responsible for the biggest disaster in US Soccer history? You are forking kidding me.
just a thought, but considering that us soccer has been stagnant in terms of improvement for decades....maybe corruption tends to retard/prevent progress?
You'd think you could get any of a number of MLS coaches who will be eliminated after Thursday (all but 8 of them) to take the team for a couple of months.
Why on earth would anyone have an opinion on a guy who's going to coach 1 game only? It isn't a bellwether, it's not a harbinger, it's not a sign of anything other than USSF needs someone to run a camp and pick a lineup for 3 days and that's it.
well if they arent hiring someone until after feb at earliest and maybe until after russia...theres a good chance this interim is there until then.... are they really gonna hire another interim?? theres only 4 jan camps per cycle...i dont want arena's underlings running one of them...which is clearly what we are looking at here...not the "1 game" as advertised.
No one should. It's a Europhile, biased idea. It would make up an unsatisfactory roster. Most of our pool is in MLS. They weren't tapped under Klinsmann because he thought they should make it to a good European league first magically before he gave them a chance. Then Bruce integrated very few of these untapped MLS players because of his loyalties and bias toward vets. Selections of players for the roster should be done individually and at the end you'd probably wind up with a good mix. You'd love the MLS players in a year or two who became European players because they were given the opportunity internationally to be scouted against guys Europeans actually respect. Then they'd be DeAndre Yedlin's or Geoff Cameron's sexy ass to you.
The game is probably the most meaningless game in decades, so who cares who's coaching? I can't believe anyone can get so worked up over this. Save your energy for the crappy permanent choice.
Well, camp 2018 is in the '18 WC cycle, so we have 5 before the next WC and therefore one to waste. I see little value in a camp cupcake in 2018 anyway. Certainly if we have an interim coach.
Not sure how reliable this is, but here you go: https://talksport.com/football/west...ven-bilic-front-runner-usmnt-job-171024259393
Glad that the USSF is NOT running out and hiring a full-time coach less than a month after the old coach went bye-bye (assuming they were not looking before Bruce 'resigned'). I would like them though to hire a coach that can use Camp Cupcake as a starting point for their introduction to the player pool. If they keep Sarachan through that camp, that would be disappointing. Will be interesting.
Would agree, if not for the suggestions within today's news that we may not see another hire until after the 2018 World Cup. Which has its practical benefits - but my concern is that it's a sign that we're adrift. Sarachan is a holding pattern - I think we can all agree that he represents no direction or plan. He's not even a caretaker - he's a seat-filler. A placeholder. In effect, we don't have a national coach. And I'm disheartened by the fact that we appear to be resigned to remaining adrift for the next few months, and possibly well into next year. Realistically, perhaps there was no other option. There won't be many coaches who are available and willing; we'll need to see the results of the January election to see who even is leading the organization; our current leaders are probably as shell-shocked and out of ideas as the fans. I can accept that - but I'm certainly not gonna be happy about it. And let's not pretend that it's "okay" either. It's never a good thing when your national team is leaderless, directionless, and is floating out to sea. A good, functional national team is proactive and efficient - and after a setback, during the downtimes, it uses the downtimes to re-evaluate and plan. They won't be as active, but they'll keep the motor running. But as has become quite apparent in recent times, our MNT is not a good, functional organization. And this extended period adrift - while not a calamity - is still deleterious, in that we're wasting time that could be used for more productive ends. In an ideal world, even without a comprehensive plan for the future, the team would still be looking to make the best use of this off period. An interim hire obviously isn't long-term, but a good caretaker can still achieve progress towards the long-term objectives. Getting the team organized, evaluating talents, getting the team familiarized - there's things a caretaker can do to keep the tools somewhat ready and in condition for when the real replacement takes over. That's the ideal. But as we're all well aware, this level of functionality is beyond the US MNT. So we're probably not surprised, but we're still not happy. This isn't a disaster or a crisis. The house isn't collapsing - it already collapsed back in October. And Sarachan has been appointed to watch over the ruins until we finally get around to hiring someone to rebuild it. We could've hired a caretaker to clear the debris and prep the worksite in the meantime - but we're unfortunately not that proactive.