Nah. He got a win. He got a win and a shutout. I value that and the players out there earned it. We’re talking about rebuilding a program. I know what you wanted. You wanted to see new players and you wanted to see new players reveal themselves as amazing. Don’t we all. Anyway Tyler Adams was good. Wil Trapp looks like a decent player now. Cameron Carter-Vickers and Matt Miazga were clean and strong. Marky Delgado is 22. Think about how good Beckerman was at 22. Not that good at all.
A win and a shutout in a game in which the result was utterly and absolutely meaningless. Why do people keep referring to that as if it has any value in this case? It does not. I simply don't get this repeated take. But whatever, I will move on. Neither of us will convince the other.
On 2nd viewing what I noticed was that Sarachan was moving midfield and wingers around in the 2nd half to try different combinations and, no doubt, to plumb the depth of each player's skills. So you had, instead of Yedlin, Delgado and Nagbe on one side, Adams while Delgado played with Saief and v/fana. Then he took Saief off and put Rubin in and moved Nagbe to the left side. The work is getting done.
I think Sarachan is auditioning himself to take over as a full time coach. Yes, we won. But at least use new players we haven't seen before and use them for more than 10 minutes. He had a chance to start at least with 3 or 4 new players at the beginning of the second half. He waited till the 70th minute on a game that has no significance at all. Hopefully in the game against Bolivia coming up he can rotate players to give them more minutes.
I find most fans don't understand what friendlies are, and most cannot emotionally fathom that the results of friendlies do not matter one bit. The purpose of a friendly is either experimentation, unless it is immediately preceding a major tournament. In the latter case, it's just an exercise in fine tuning.
There have been a few folks in this and other threads that have been saying things like "if he keeps getting results, why not keep him around?", which makes my head want to explode.
I mean, winning is always better than losing, but winning at the expense of the point of the exercise is its own kind of loss, in the grand scheme of things. It's like attaching importance to the result of a split-squad spring training baseball game. I would have thought the mistakes both managers made last cycle when it came to friendlies and evaluating the player pool would have made that pretty clear.
Clearly his sub pattern tells us HE THINKS he can win the job a la Bob Bradley who was also an "interim" while we "waited for our international catch" who never appeared through that cycle, and racking up "wins" so that Sunil just said, "OK then. You're it". Clearly Saccharin's game plan if this weeks game is any indication.
It is becoming clearer each day that, in reality, USSF and esp. the USS coaching fraternity do not want meaningful change. They agree with Bruce Arena and Dave and Richie and the whole Arena clique that things are fine. I am afraid this is the scenario we will be presented with: USSF is going to go through the motions, and in the end, there is a good chance we end up with another retread or MLS lifer if not Dave himself. Look at that "GM" position they supposedly have created. When analyzed by soccer pros, there is very little interest in that job given the constraints and lack of real power or influence for anyone taking that spot. They will string that out (which will allow them to delay hiring a real coach well into the summer if not later), and in the end put in a place holder (pick your favorite usual suspect) who will be content to have a job (even a powerless one), punch his ticket, and move up in the USS GOB loyalty hierarchy. In the meantime, Dave could very well win some games and by the end of the summer, when we have failed to nab the "game changer" coach we supposedly want, and voila, GOB Dave and his minions will still be in charge.
I just fundamentally disagree with the idea that any coach directly involved in the epic qualifying meltdown should have anything at all to do with the program until they go somewhere else for a while and rebuild their reputation. I just cannot fathom that this level of complete and utter failure is not only tolerated, it is rewarded coach Dave went from participating in the disaster at T&T to landing his dream job, that is ridiculous. It is not just the USSF machine participating in this madness, it is reporters writing these stories, pundits and former players, fans and posters on here, all just accepting this idea that keeping these people around is normal. It is not normal, it is amatuer hour and it would not be tolerated in any other professional setting.
I think it is more "if he keeps getting results and filtering thru the pool like he has been doing to get positive results, why not keep him around". People say he didn't filter thru the pool because he didn't play Weah for at least 35 minutes but he was doing other adjustments to the formation during that time. The fact that the youngest guy came on last - he played in the u17's finals in India just last year, ffs - makes perfect sense all things considered. If the game didn't matter - which is your argument - what's the point anyway? You just wanted to see somebody run around meaninglessly?
There's more value in seeing multiple guys for 30-45 minutes than there was in adjusting a formation for the starting XI on the fly.
Let's not forget that the guy who was responsible took responsibility and resigned. Let's not forget that our partners who set up friendlies with us - France, Bolivia, Ireland - were dealing on the basis of Sarachan as manager. I think the hysteria here has to do with the fear that Sarachan will be made permanent manager but why not just relax 'til the 3 friendlies are over in June then let him have it with both barrels if that's your feeling. It's about 2 months away. I was in favor of Tab taking the job after November fiasco to bring the youth players thru the system as a first step in rebuilding the team. I think Sarachan is doing that. After Bruce resigned I guess US Soccer had Klinsmann and the entire Arena staff on the payroll thru summer 2018, no President of the organization for all practical purposes, a youth coach who didn't want an interim tag (Ramos), a discussion of re-organizing the program so there's a general manager, among other changes, a general meeting coming up..........Sarachan became manager, life happens, we move on after June. Let me just say in Sarachan's favor that a lot of people are indulging in wishful thinking if they believe the next manager will not have his downside.
You can always get those 30-45 minutes for new players in next time in a new game but you cant get those formation adjustments because you will not be playing the same players. Unless you wanted to see the same players. But you said you didn't.
Bri Sciar over at ASN gave Sarachan a rating of 5.5 http://americansoccernow.com/articles/adams-motm-as-most-yanks-earn-positive-marks-vs-paraguay "It was a complete mixed bag for Sarachan. He waited entirely too long to bring on substitutes thereby squandering a rare opportunity to evaluate new players. There was no No. 10 on this roster which Sarachan probably could have done better on the roster selection (there are others who can play the position besides Pulisic – Kelyn Rowe comes to mind)." "Rare opportunity"? the subs he brought on late were Weah and Novakovich. Both play in Europe. We have friendlies against Bolivia, France and Ireland in 2 months. How is their first game in Cary NC a "rare opportunity"......c'mon. Weah has some chances at getting more minutes with PSG before season's end. Why spoil that with too many minutes risking an accident in what everybody says is a "meaningless" friendly. Somebody has to make up their mind here - was it a meaningless friendly or a rare opportunity.
It is very depressing and frustrating to see USSF act this way. It's as if they seem content in having the MNT remain irrelevant also-rans in American sporting culture. I honestly don't know if there is any way to fix this, since USSF simply denies access to anyone who criticizes them.
You know darn well that the people calling it a meaningless friendly are doing so in the context of caring about winning it or losing it. Not in the context of getting to evaluate players in game opportunities.
If ussf hires a world-renowned coach it will cost a lot of $$$ and a 4-year contract. Suppose things do not work out mainly because we do not have any world-class players aside from CP. Suppose we do not make it through WCQ. That coach still gets paid for 4 years. JK is still getting paid. BA is still getting paid. It's not like the ussf is rolling in it. They have legal expenses, they have lost potential WC income. Everyone wants a Cadillac, but sometimes you have to buy a Chevy because that is the car you can afford.
Do we know when the new GM will be hired? Figure we want to have the new head coach in place by the May/June friendlies.
I can't rep because of the content but sadly spot on. USSF's family tree is a straight line, no branches and we wonder why it is so dysfunctional. SMDH
The USSF has gone dark. No communication with fan base. No talk of GM, TD, Coach (the whole wait till after WC seems to be heresay), and the VP during the worst meltdown in USSF history is laughing his ass off that he is now El presidente. Can we start a new grassroots federation? it is obvious that we are looked at,the fans, as ticket buying morons that they do not have to placate let alone appease. “90 bucks please! Now shut the ******** up and Love Acosta you little bitch!!”