More than half of MLS has been founded since 2011. Most MLS clubs don't have first team culture yet, much less a clue what they're doing with youth development. We can't snap our fingers and be Spain. The culture Berhalter installed was a direct consequence of the horrific, fractured and toxic environment in the locker room at the end of the 2018 cycle. [As described in that Ringer article.] Had to rebuild the locker room with more of a "kumbaya" mentality. It was a lot of young players being brought in that needed support and not a ruthless approach. But now Adams is right. Now we need a more heartless approach in this 2022 cycle. These aren't kids anymore. And, by the way, a more heartless coach would have thrown Reyna out of the World Cup after his tantrum about playing time. So if people want ruthless, be prepared for ruthless.
There’s no credible way to be ruthless without tangible results being paramount, and this board seems pretty aligned in the belief that we’re not ready.
If (for the sake of argument) we really do lack 11 players who can start in reasonably high leagues, that's not the fault of our youth development system. (Although yes, it's always better to produce more and better prospects, and it'd be nice if we did both.) We already develop plenty of players who are promising enough to entice teams in those strong leagues to buy them. At that point, our youth development systems aren't responsible for them anymore. The other factor here is that players don't make their choices based on what's best for their national team career. If our guys in Europe all took a half step down in league/team quality, we'd have many more regular starters in reasonably high leagues without making any changes to our development setup. I'll never blame a player for trying to get the most money or prestige he can, but sometimes overreaching leads to temporarily stalled careers.
Ready for what is the question. Berhalter got this team to the Round of 16 at the World Cup. Unless people think this group has the talent of the top 8 team, then I don't know what to tell them. We could hire Pochettino and not get to the Round of 16. But whatever. That's not the topic. As if relates to Gio Reyna, I'm 100% positive that the next coach will evaluate Reyna and see how he fits. All I know, because I have effing eyeballs, is that Gio Reyna has been amongst our best players this cycle. So he will get the opportunity to demonstrate his value to the new coach just like everyone else. And Pulisic was playing great for the USMNT while sitting on the bench at Chelsea. I don't care. Really, I don't care. If Reyna is sitting on the bench at Dortmund, but playing like one of our best players for the USMNT...............that's fine with me. We don't pick players based on what the Dortmund coach thinks of them. We'll pick players based on what our new USMNT coach will think of them. Maybe a new coach will figure out Tillman for the USMNT. Cuz for whatever reason, Malik Tillman hasn't found his place yet. 0 goals and 0 assists. That's a puzzle that Berhalter couldn't put together. Then maybe we start actually having competition for places. But if a player is literally the Player of the Tournament at the Nations League, he's likely to continue to be involved in the next tournament. His was a spot not at risk. Do people think a "ruthless coach" is going to kick out the player named the best player of the tournament in their last event? No,he's going to kick out the guys who didn't perform. D'uh.
It speaks to the overall failure of our youth development. We do not develop enough quality players, and yes, the youth development and all its problems is directly responsible for that problem. Players can do whatever they want, but if they don't play, they have no place in our national team.
Gio's vision is his best ability & his defending is not as bad as people seem to think. He can ping passes from wherever he is. As a CM he is more effective, but also more exposed. He needs to improve his dribbling & ball hiding abilities. Also, it'd be nice if he took more shots from distance. That's a big hole in his arsenal, and it's expected of the modern AM.
I agree entirely. My point is that “ruthlessness” is only viable when it’s based on winning and losing. If the mindset won’t change the win/loss record it’s counterproductive at best. Gio will likely be integral to our success for the foreseeable future…starting at BVB or not. He’s that good, relative to our pool, and only 21.
He's also quite good at it so I wonder if one of his coaches was more into keeping the ball than long shots. I also think the ability to score improves with experience and we're seeing it in Pulisic right now. It's one of the reasons super young teams don't so wee at the WC.
MLS is 29 years old. NASL was around from 1968 to 1984. MLS is a huge success and will only continue to prosper. When I was a kid in school, most kids played soccer, and that was a long time ago. Today, millions and millions of kids play soccer The excuses run thin. Poor leadership and poor coaching are holding the country back. Uruguay with 3.4M does not need any excuses They just get it done.
And it took Spain long enough. One of the things Spain did though was to pretty much give away their coaching classes. That might be something we can replicate. In 2017 Spain had 12,884 UEFA A license qualified coaches. Germany was next with 3,866. England, which has the most expensive courses in Europe, on a par with USSF prices, only had 1,653. This has a knock on effect at club level. In a 2020 survey of 1,646 teams from 110 leagues in 79 countries worldwide, Spain had the second highest number of head coaches after Argentina.
I hate to say this, but with the new format I think it will be harder than before to make the round of 16. When you only had to finish top 2 in your group and could count on at least one lower-level team in your group. You could usually go 1-1-1 and advance to the final 16, beat the lower team, get a tie from one of the other games and scrape through. Now, with some narrowing down, you'll probably have much more of a "true" final 32 with the lesser teams eliminated in the group stage and then you have to win a one-off game against a top 32 team to make the final 16. I think it will likely be a bit tougher and you're more likely to see the true best 16 making it through because of narrowing the field before and having to win a knockout to make the final 16.
Yep, you are right. Getting out of the group should be all but assumed in the new World Cup, especially as a 1 seed. After that, though ... you really need to win the group. And even then, you could get a bad draw simply because another team has a bad first game (like Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia). Argentina actually won their group, but Spain, for example, came in second. There will be less groups with strong second teams, of course. I'm not sure how they figure out who draws the third place teams. But there will always been the chance of a very tough draw. You really can't afford missteps if you are in the space we're in. A top team can recover in group, or even make it out of the knockouts with a second place finish. That just gives us ANOTHER game where we aren't favored.
Just because we have a playoff game it's harder. We're not used to winning playoff games in World Cups. Even in 1930 we didn't win one.
Reyna is one of the players who you look at with Pochettino incoming and wonder about. I think that this is the catalyst that either makes or breaks Reyna. There are several points of interest in this regard. 1) Uncle Gregg is gone. It should be obvious by now that the Gio Qatar drama was caused by unmet expectations from family friends. They expected Reyna to feature because Gregg was basically an uncle. Reyna threw fits in camp like a teenager bucking his parents. Gregg came back and, like an uncle, welcomed Gio despite the drama and despite Gio not having played much at his clubs in over 3 years, certainly not producing the kind of form that warrants national team inclusion. Pochettino has zero strings attached with Reyna. How he views a young player who has essentially been idle at his club for 4 years is anyone’s guess. 2) Fitness is key. Pochettino requires his players to be fit and in form. This means that Reyna is going to have to be on the field. If Pochettino holds this standard for the USMNT, then this should force Reyna to sort out his club situation and get on the field immediately lest he be left out. 3) Back to the high pressing MMA style. If past is prologue with Pochettino, then we will see the high press with the USMNT. This means that Reyna’s role will likely be as an attacking player, a wing or a false 9 attacker. In those roles, Reyna will have to contribute to the press, which he has shown some willingness to do but has not shown that he can do effectively. He will have to get his mind in the game when he is off the ball. 4) Its all about trust. Berhalter is the only coach who has shown Reyna some trust over the past 4 years. Berhalter was a family friend who tolerated things that other coaches may not tolerate. Reyna is going to have to put his ego in his pocket and earn the trust of a new coach with no strings attached to him. This has obviously been difficult for Reyna with multiple high level coaches, most of whom are not nearly the level of Pochettino. Pochettino is the type who will give him a shot and stop calling if he doesn’t grow with the team. Many of Pochettino’s strengths in coaching are areas in which Reyna has struggled. Reyna is going to have to grow to participate, and grow quickly to be a featured player. Reyna has needed this kind of kick in the pants for 4 years. It’s happening now. He must get on the field at his club. He must mature quickly. I hope that it happens, but this is starting to look more and more like the modern day Freddy Adu story. Over-hype may be the rate limiting factor on Reyna’s growth as a player. Pochettino will be the make-or-break moment for him.
The priority for Reyna right now should be playing time, not money, not fame. He needs to go down a level from the Premier League. I can see the Portuguese league, the Eredivisie, maybe Serie A. He has to be very careful.
If Pochettino just puts in the film and watches every game of this cycle, he'll view Reyna as one of our best players. Simple as that. Yes, he needs to get his club career sorted. But in terms of talent, there is no question. If there is, you're not watching the same team as me.
The basic problem is that someone has to actually want him. "Asking" about a player means nothing. Money talks.
I get the feeling that Reyna doesn't want to go. He wants to fight for his place, just like McKennie at Juve. So there's that. If you're a USMNT fan that's exactly what you want to see this season. You want to see Reyna win back that place.
Yup. I want him to stay and fight for his place for another reason too: Dortmund is one of the few "clean" big clubs in Europe, and seem to have refused to get dirty. I mean, by comparison.
Of course USMNT fans *want* to see Reyna win back a place. The difference between McKennie and Reyna is that McKennie played regularly for Juventus last year, while Reyna barely played for Dortmund. Therefore it makes sense for the former to stay, while it would make sense for the latter to leave so he can actually play regularly elsewhere.
What matters in the game is what you do, not what you might do, could do, should do, ought to do. He needs to get out of Dortmund and rebuild his career. This will be his last chance. If he does not rise this season, his opportunities will dry up. Time for him to grow up and get some fight. Leave the entitled mindset at home.
He's 21. Clint Dempsey was drafted by New England at Gio's age. He still has time and two years left on his contract. Career wise there's no need to panic! NT wise it's more concerning.