FIRE VLATKO NOW?!?! a Reverse Jinx

WTF does this mean? You don't agree with Rapinoe's politics that is your prerogative. But Rapinoe is not the team. She is one individual.

 

Just crawled out of under a rock??? Check every post regarding the U.S. WOMENS soccer team on any social media. AMERICANS can’t stand the U.S. soccer team… because of that one individual. Right or wrong, that’s reality. So that’s WTF it means, bruh..

 

On the other hand, he came up through the youth ranks at Barcelona, so if we wanted someone to implement a new style across the whole of the pipeline, he could be a good choice.

I think its also important to keep in mind that Matt Crocker put in top down stylistic changes for both club and country, so it is part of his modus operandi.

 

Do you hang out on truth social?

Your reality is not reality at all. The USWNT is highly popular. If you search for haters after a loss you will find them. But that is not the day to day feeling about the US women.

 

Very interesting, especially given how assiduously the NWSL has investigated every questionable or worse act by coaches, or player complaints about coaches, for the last 15 years. and fired a raft of coaches for a variety of reasons. So if Cortes has baggage, and it's not clear that he does, one would hope that the USSF would have already done the proper due diligence.

That's point one. The second point is that hiring a Spanish coach who is steeped in the Spanish system would be /foolish/---and it's rather shocking that USSF doesn't seem to get that. Our players are not steeped in the singular Spanish system of play--and trying to immerse them in that individual and team technical style at this stage of their careers is not going to work. As James Bond noted above, Spanish players learn their system/style of play starting at a very early age and it is reinforced throughout the youth leagues/youth NT's, club and senior NT's, etc. It's not something that is going to be picked up in a couple of camps--or in a couple of years. IMO he'd be a crazy dumb choice--and Cortes must know it wouldn't work as well, though he might be tempted by a big offer, if that were to come. This notion that if we hire a Spanish/former Barcelona coach, we'll start playing like Barcelona seems exceedingly naive.

 

who says he has to? it's an option!!

 

You are lying to yourself if you think a large section of the USA doesn't like the current USWNT culture. I can deal with a lot and try to keep politics aside in my sports and there were enough players that I liked that I ignored the ones I didn't. But when Rapinoe and Morgan came out in favor of transexuals playing in women's sports, that when I lost it with them and decided to not follow the team. Totally anti-women on their part IMHO. Anyway, at the end of the day, what can any one individual do? Just stop watching and stop caring.

 

how does he do that in practice. there is no place for him to have that influence in the current model.

 

Yeah, okay. Not even worth debating. You do you.

 

In the end, Vlatko deserves thanks for a classy departure. He could have waited around, hoping against hope to stay on, perhaps delaying a process that needs to be quick so we can get a new regime in place in advance of the Olympics.

He's a 95th percentile soccer coach who ended up with a huge spotlight that demanded he be in the 99th.

Good luck to him in the future; I suspect he'll return to being a fine NWSL coach.

 

Sorry, while this might be a winning approach for club teams where you have lots of flexibility to go find the right players to fit your pre-determined system, this is 100% backwards for national teams where you are stuck with the elite player pool who is eligible to play for your country.

IMO a lot of what Vlatko got wrong is not adjusting to his player pool. Virtually his entire tenure until his last game, he insisted on a single DM despite the fact that with Ertz's long layoff we didn't have anyone who could adequately cover that role. I think it was an error to not even try a 3-in-the-back approach that would make better use of high offense/less defense players who might be better wingbacks than fullbacks (Dunn, Huerta, Fox), although I admit it's not clear we had enough standout center defenders for that.

Adapting to the player pool will be even more important for the coming WC cycle, because the next coach needs to figure out how to optimize the logjam of offensive players...Macario, Swanson, Smith, Rodman, Thompson, Demelo...and you can perhaps even throw in Morgan and Williams for the Olympics.

 

Agree. I thought he always handled himself well and by all accounts was respectful and kind to the players. Classy and well liked. By stepping down, he continues to to try and do the right thing for the US program.

He will do well in the NWSL where it’s apparently difficult to find coaches who actually treat their players appropriately. Sad, but look at how many have been dismissed. His style and tactics won’t be an issue in NWSL, either.

 

I agree that the best coaches adapt to the talent at hand. I also agree that it can be more difficult to implement a more sophisticated style of play given time and training constraints placed on NTs.

IMO…what I think many are underestimating is:

1) the potential ability of current players to adapt / learn and play within a new system, especially a couple players coming back from injury
2) the US has a massive player pool. Who we have come to see as “elite” players given the old paradigm may not actually be “elite” players in the eyes of a new coach with new ideas. They may look at the exact same current “elite” player and see only an elite athlete, but a limited soccer player.

I would use the case of an in her prime Alex Morgan trying to play in Lyon as an example. She was arguably the best 9 in the US at the time. The US was clearly the best team in the world. She was younger and faster than now, and scoring in bunches for the US. She went to Lyon and was moved to the wing…and didn’t start, and by most accounts looked out of her depth. She didn’t have the skills needed to thrive in that system at that level….despite being one of the best if not the best forward on the best team in the world.

There likely are other potential players that would look “elite” if put into the right team environment, playing in the right system.

3) Change is never going to be easy, but the US needs to modernize our approach to the game on multiple levels. It most likely will need to start at the top. The country is too big and diverse to expect an organic, massive bottom-up shift and change.

 

the 3-back done for England. It was meant to tighten up the defense after their #1 CB, Williamson couldn’t make the WC due to injury. But what’s really been incredibly good for them is the influence of thr two FB’s, Bronze

current FC Gotham coach Juan Amaros should be considered for the job. He also coached a previous club in the Spanish league.

i genuine thought Vlatko was trying to get an more Euro version with his false #9 tactics. But instead , the US ended up in the top 5 in ‘direct’ attacks—-in company with such illustrious teams like #1-2-3-5 Vietnam, Monaco Korea, Zambia. Even American born coached teams like #8 Jamaica # 10 Nigeria put more of a passing effort than we did

 

Why not? He can be in the passenger seat making social posts and earning 500k for each post.

 

Ever the cynic?

 

With all due respect it is time to put Alex Morgan out to pasture.

She is finished. No goals. Missed penalty kick.

Has had a great career, but it is time to move on.

This past WC it was time to move on from Rapinoe as well.

The coach wasn’t strong enough to do it.

 

I think its the opposite in the USA. you can select anyone without any real hindrance from an NWSL team or College. An NWSL or College team is hostage to draft, salary cap etc. A College team, test scores and all sorts of other things.

I don't beleive in designating players as elite or standouts outside of the system in which they display their best form. As you say, Huerta is a wingback in a 3 back system. She is not going to be optimal as a Fullback in a back 4. If VA did not see a wingback-driven system as working, then taking Huerta was pointless. Not an elite player in a back 4. You mention logjam of offensive players, but in spite of all of them being good, I'm not convinced that all of them will or can be great on the pitch at the same time.

 

The ESPN article mentioned that Crocker is the one doing the interviews and who will determine the future of the program. He put in place systems at the club and national team level that integrated the youth pipeline with the senior team system. So, basically, I don't think the current model will be the future model.

 

I hear you, but I don't see how Crocker will change the system that feeds these teams, the ECNL. It is privately owned, makes its own rules and has already rebuffed the USSF's efforts to force change, the GDA. By all accounts, Rory Dames is still involved at an ECNL Club. They can do whatever they want at present. The issues here start young, long before kids get into YNT camps/programming.

 

Hope you're right.

 

U.S. Soccer and Vlatko Andonovski Mutually Agree to Part Ways » https://t.co/YupK3TDouD

Sporting Director Matt Crocker names Twila Kilgore Interim Coach of #USWNT. pic.twitter.com/cmmki0i6EF

— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) August 17, 2023

 

Crocker doesn't need to change the youth system for the whole country. That is for people even higher than him at USSF. He just needs to change the youth national team system.

 

Yeah, I dont agree, but all good. You can only make so many great meals with average ingredients.

 

Not all ECNL / GA / NCAA teams play the same. Start selecting and rewarding players that play the type of soccer you want to see implemented….I want to believe this would force others to reevaluate their development methods.

What we really need is a comprehensive coaching renaissance . A complete overhaul of methodology and priorities across the youth soccer landscape. And I believe that could happen even within the current pay to play structure.

Train the coaches to develop the players. Incentivize coaching education and demonetize it, or least make it more accessible from a financial perspective.