Paul Gardner: National Team stuck in a rut of "not too bad"

Good Read indeed.


Here is another interesting view. Cannot say I disagree with his either. Especially with the reference to hard working players vs skilled players. A good coach should be able to infuse that type of player into any lineup. It is definitely time to change the style of play we put on the field.

http://www.90soccer.com/south-african-experience/a-month-of-mayhem-bradley%E2%80%99s-choices-doom-united-states-in-2-1-loss-to-ghana/

 

Right topic (style), wrong conclusion (Bob stay a couple more years).

We have played the bucket now for 12+ years. The counter punch has it's place in futbol and IMO too big a place now in US futbol. The USMNT style is set at the top and by the coaching staff. Continuously since Arena the US style has been defend, absorb, counter long with a pass and out work the other side.

With the superior talent the US has, which gets better every day and yet in spite of this style, it will always be good enough for CONCACAF. Whoever is the coach is, the US will post great numbers vs these teams.

We must begin to play more on the ground and through the middle to sustain possession which will over time raise our results vs quality sides.

IMO, Bob needs to resign but offer to stay on until a replacement is in place (Christmas 2010?). I hope he can latch on to a top Euro club in some sort of capacity so he take his skills to the next level. Bob brought in many different players but plugged them all into the same format. As it is said, a zebra cannot change its stripes. Bob cannot become someone else. It is not reasonable to expect him to as Graham writes.

In the meantime, I would like to hear Gulati's succession plan. He better have one that he can execute unlike the 2006 fiasco. Else Gulati needs to move on.

 

USA: Great story, just a good team. This is a great read, imo.

http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/wo...ry-just-a-good-team--fbintl_dw-usa062610.html

 

Paul Gardner: writer stuck in a rut of "we're not Latin enough."


Does anyone take him seriously anymore?

 

We can't have diversity for the sake of diversity. We have to VALUE it first. To do that we have to move Bob and Thomas. A couple of more years is weak.
US Soccer has to let it's coaches and players know that making it out of the group is not good enough. Qualifying for U-17/U-20 tournaments are ok, but not great if you can't make the semi-finals.

We have to push the standard higher.

It is my own simple-minded opinion that some of the best soccer (stylisitcally) being played by American youth is being played under the radar. These players don't always speak English or play AYSO in the suburbs. They play in pick up games in the "Mexican" side of town. The attitude that they won't play for the US goes out the window when they get proper attention and development. Loyalty is big my community. These kids need to be nurtured and valued. That's not happening enough.

It hurts to hear about Marsch (cuz I'm a Chivas USA fan), but it's the truth. No more ole boys network. Kill it.

Excellent article. I agree with most of it.

 

He himself, apparently.

 

To fully understand the magnitude of this issue,
consider what BBC South American pundit Tim Vickery said in a Q and A last month

Q. What do you reckon about the United States? I think they have what it takes to progress from the group. What do you guys think and what do you think the future for football in America is?
Andreas, Sweden A. I have never been to the place, so again it is not a very informed opinion, but they have clearly reached the level of competence that is good enough to think in terms of getting out of the group. Have they got enough real quality to take it further? It is here that I have my doubts.
Long term, with the size, resourcefulness and mentality of its population, it is not hard to imagine the US becoming a serious power. If they play their cards right they should be able to blend European and South American styles.

Link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/timvickery/2010/05/world_cup_qa.html

 

Yeah, he is sort of a wind bag, but which Latin country has been eliminated from SA 2010? That's what I thought. None of them at this point. Gardner may have a point after all.

 

Just because someone is foreign it doesn't mean they know what they're talking about concerning the US. He even admitted "it is not a very informed opinion".

 

Look I have always been a person who wanted to see the US play a more latin style and if one takes a look at our 2010 WC we did play some pretty ball to the ground stuff.

I think US soccer makes a mistake at looking at the Italian, English, and euro style of doing things. These BIG nations are suffering from being saturated with foreign talent in their leagues. Come on ENG starting goalies are playing for West Ham for god sakes. Italy´s number 10 is a bench player at Juventus and their starters are playing in Bari and Palermo, not the crem of Italian soccer.

I think if we look at what Marcelo Bielsa has done for chile we will find the style the US can play and play much better than Chile since the US player is MUCH more discipline.

Guss Hidink, Marcelo Bielsa, Manuel Pellegrini are the big time coaches that play they style US soccer needs.

 

I have to wonder what the Yahoo writer was looking at calling the PK questionable because the Ghana player touched the ball first. No he didn't.

 

We've plateaued with American coaches, plain and simple.

 

I've only read one article of his (that I know of) and I don't take him seriously.

His point should be that our youth development system is not good enough. The whole bit about Bradley swallowing his pride and being forced to diversify the team to be more representative of America is stupid. Bradley is working with what's available to him. We're not going to suddenly see skillful attacking soccer because Bradley adds another hispanic just for the sake of adding a hispanic.

 

We need a new approach and I have always liked what I have heard out of Klinsmann, STILL to this day, he is a top candidate for the national team coaching job... if he will take it.

That said, I would seriously consider fundamental changes in our youth ranks. Thomas Rongen is still a coach in our system? I like the guy, nice guy, but COME ONE he has been singled out by a couple of players that would not play for the US as being a major contributor as to WHY they would not play for the USA. I think we need changes, just about from TOP (Sunil Gulatti) to BOTTOM (Rongen). Sunil is someone who does not have the balls enough to do what is RIGHT and what is NEEDED instead of what is SAFE and what is EASY.

 

I hate to say it, but he's right. A little harsh here and there in regards to comments about specific players, but he's right nonetheless.

The proof that US Soccer is stuck in a comfort rut cannot be better evidenced than by the team inexplicably seeking to justify a loss against Ghana as NOT being a failure.. Before they had even played the game.

For those of you that feel the need to classify this World Cup as a success in any category other than the P.R. department, the only people you are mercifully fooling are yourselves. It may not be a total failure, but we were capable of far better than this and wasted a glorious opportunity to have our deepest run ever.

The press should have been starved to find one American that thought they were a success after a last minute goal to best Algeria. Everyone should have said, "What success? All of the work is still ahead of us. We've been to the 16 before, and we've been to the quarters before. If we're not going all the way then we plan on being the toughest out of any American Team in the history of this tournament."

..But the proof that there were comments from the camp seeking to declare the tournament already a success before the knockout stages had even begun is living proof for me that US Soccer is mired in a rut of comfort.

 

I'm curious to see how the top level of the next generation of coaches (like Kreis or Stewart or Vermes*) who actually played the game in a top league their whole career will eventually pan out re : tactics.

* - Not saying these are or aren't the top level just giving a frame of reference

 

In all honesty, we've really only had a program at all since 1990, and it wasn't until after 1998 that anyone even really started taking it seriously. We're competing against countries that have generations of development in all areas.

It's a given that we're going to have weaknesses at the youth level, and weaknesses at the coaching level. Given the above, we've probably progressed more quickly than many nations could (because we have money) - especially for a country that, at large, hasn't really cared for or understood the sport.

2006 was a real disappointment, as far as 2010 - I think we're waking up that winning these games is a tad harder than you'd expect. But look at the list of teams we did better than: Mexico, England, Ivory Coast, Italy France. Heck, at this point we could still finish 9th. While we may have kept getting ourselves in bad positions, we never really gave up.

(That said, it probably is time to move on to a coach that has real European football experience. But I think now is probably not that time, we probably weren't ready after 2006.)

 

Well, not everybody. There are still a ton of people that think we could've willed ourselves into the semis, if only we "wanted it more" or some such crap.

We need to get rid of Rongen before we do anything else, from what I can tell. Other than that, we're developing about as well as can be expected.

 

Ahhhh....so it's all Rongen's fault. Rich

It was at this same point where I decided that Mr. Gardener was just as full of it and ill-informed as the vast majority of B.S. posters.

 

This.

Losing to Germany in the Round of 16 = success. Losing to Ghana in the Round of 16 with Uruguay standing between us and the semis = disappointment.

This World Cup was by no means a failure, especially on the PR front. However, given our bracket, and the manner by which we conceded goals to Ghana, we should have done better.

 

I didn't blame our exit on Rongen. But he's not very good at what he does, and we will be more likely to have senior players who are better on the ball in '14 and '18 if we pay more attention to development at this level than we have been.

I'm glad I could help you come to such a major, life-altering decision.

 

What kind of country is Honduras?