My point is, that people forget how close some of those were, particularly in '02, where we had serious trouble in both the SF and the Hex. Many on here were shocked we'd never won the Hex before last time. And I bet even fewer realize we gave up the first goal in 6/10, or trailed in 7/10. When trailing in 7/10 of your WCQ games is looked back on as 'easy' qualification, I disagree with the characterization. People forget that in 2002 we avoided crashing out of the SF's by all of one point (USA 11, CR 10, Guatemala 10) with a win on the last day. Stern John bailing us (and Mexico) out of what could have been a very nasty situation in the Hex, beating Honduras @Honduras in the next to last game. If Honduras would have won, the standings going into the last game would have been: CR 20, Hon 17, USA 16; Mex 14. Again, we needed help to avoid being down to the last game to qualify in the last two rounds in 2002. '90 was famously the last day, of course. '06 and '98 were fairly seamless. I must say, which made the collapse all the more brutal (way to go, Harkes). Still, bumpy has been just as likely as smooth. And I foresee the three points we used to get vs. Mexico at home being totally gone, which will make things tighter. And, for the record, I view the 2002 team (and some of the others) as superior to what we have now. Maybe not as deep, but better in the first XI. Friedel, Pope, Sanneh, Reyna, Pablo, JOB, LD, DMB, McBride, Mathis, Wolf. I'd take that right now. Hejduk.
Even top teams struggle at times in qualifying. Look at England or Brazil in 2002 or Mexico in 2010. The best tend to rise to the occasion when qualifying is on the line. I have no doubt that the Hex will be close again but, unlike the Gold Cup games, we tend to schedule our home qualifying matches against Mexico in venues that ensure a true home crowd like DC or even Columbus. Put that match in Seattle's Centurylink and see if 60'000 screaming AMERICAN fans changes the result. However, I will agree that the 2002 team had probably the best quality in terms of their WC run, and they were much younger than the best players on our current side.
I have to disagree. He neither played here nor coached here until now. I consider Nowak a US coach, as he took up the coaching role here.
He's American, and actually he only earned start in coaching under Bruce Arena. Yes. Through marriage. His wife is American, and so are his children.
You don't get citizenship through marriage. You get an easier path to it, but you still have to make the final steps. My question is if he has taken those steps.
Well, Paul Gardner has weighed in on the Klinsi hiring and, let's just say, he's not as impressed. http://www.socceramerica.com/article/43109/klinsmanns-real-test-is-the-matter-of-style.html
Yeah, I had that thought too. Guys seem to love him, and our fitness at the end of matches (while wildly overblown by some people) has been a strength. And I love him for his crazy celebration after the Algeria goal.
Lovely. We have widely varying views of Klinsman within the US Soccer Community. There are some, me included, who see him as nothing special, a manager with less than a season of club management to his name, who as gardner points out took the #2 soccer nation to third place when hosting a WC (it is a bit of a crap shoot in the last couple games but Klinsman had no "magic", and if thats what we are supposed to be getting we will be let down). Some of us are happy we now have a foriegn coach. And can move foriegn, errr, forward. Whatever, I support the team and the players. But I have high expectations of the coach. This was a move badly managed by US Soccer, over 5 years. If they woirked on it for that much time, it had better pay dividends. As I said before, match the previous results: Win the Hex, Win the WC Group.
well, the german senior nt has ever beaten italy in an official game, so klinsmann's team going out in the semis and taking third place only means he didn't pull off a miracle. i also don't think the german talent pool is that great these days (or in '06). when i watch bundesliga i see teams that apparently have never heard of a change of rhythm, play like a car that has only one gear, and end up making the english tactics look subtle... that said, i think klinsmann's personality actually is a lot looser than that, so i don't expect a germanic 'never retreat' vertical-ball approach to soccer tactics. klinsmann played in italy and i think his soccer insight got a boost from that.
If Mexico is going to beat us at home, they're likely to win or at least tie all their road games including CR and Honduras so that wouldn't likely hurt us too much in terms of qualifying, just in terms of winning the hex.
With all due respect, I'd take Honigstein's opinion over Gardner's any day... http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/raphael_honigstein/07/30/klinsmann/index.html
Yes, yes, and yes. So should everyone on the team. There have been games where LD just was not into the game and should have been benched. No one should be an automatic starter (or go for 90) unless they are having a good game. I think that JK will definitely start out this way, and all the guys will play as good as they are able in order to win a starting spot. Sure there will be some guys, like Donovan, who play well enough, even on off days, to justify playing him. Dempsey should be played where he will be the most effective, and I am hoping JK has the foresight to pick the spot. One of my reasons for wanting BB gone was to open up the midfield to different combinations, which I just don't believe would have happened under him. If MB fits into this, then fine, but if not, he should be and probably will be benched. I am hopeful for the first time in a long time that this team will come out fighting and fight until the last minute. I think we can take Mexico.
Donovan and Bradley both have to figure out a way to hold onto the ball better and not give away possession so easily which often leaves them open on the counter.
Reason? I'm guessing you don't really know much about Vasquez. Yeah, he got fired from Chivas. So maybe he's not a great number one, as a club man, mind you. No one knew anything about Sorber or Marsch either. Everyone expecting Jogi Loew or Hans Flick is a bit naive.
I responded to the original post about the USMNT would be "lucky" to qualify which I find absurd. I personally don't know why anyone wouldn't have confidence in qualifying at this point. I'll agree to disagree with you. I don't agree with this. We were the best team in the region last cycle and should have won the group. Sure that should be the goal again but we are not the best team in the region this time around. Worst case scenario do you think Uruguay care that they had to win a playoff to get into the WC last time but once there got to the Semi's? As far as winning the WC Group, that is a complete crap shoot. If by the luck of the draw we are grouped with host Brazil at the next WC, would you really think it's a failure to not win the group? IMO, the primary goals for the rest of the cycle are to first qualify for the WC and then advance from the group to the round of 16.
Sort of. Getting out of the group stage is always the main goal. But everybody who's followed this team seriously for more than a year or two knows that we are and have been at a stage where the draw matters. So yes, it would be a Klinsi failure as that's what he's being hired for, but it's not like his job would be a "gimme" that he screwed up.
Gardner's opinion doesn't really mean much to me. His opinion is directly proportional to how "Latin" he perceives something. If Klinsi had a Spanish or Portuguese surname, Gardner would be having a mental orgasm right now.
Until we vastly improve the player pool, no coach or magician should be *expected* to come first in the group no matter the opponents.
No doubt. Guys, IF we even qualify, we could walk into: a) Brazil/France/Ivory Coast/USA, or b) Spain/Argentina/Ghana. That is nasty. Bob would likely not have gotten us out of that group, heck, he barely got us out of England/Slovenia/Algeria.