"Thank you, Jurgen. And good bye. Time to Move on from the Sterile Klinsmann Interlude"

The hate comes from a bunch of butt- hurt adolescents who have never tasted real disappointment in their lives and think the US should KICK-ASS at everything.

 

For some of us, it's that we feel that the National Team coach should not be above reproach. Certainly it can get a bit out of hand. But, it certainly goes in both directions. There are just as many people who are blindly saying that he's the coach, his decisions are final and we should assume they are perfect.

 

I don't think Jurgen should be fired. Like the last two coaches, he more or less shot par, and made some good decisions and some bad decisions.

To me, the right step is for Sunil to have a couple of consultants assess what worked and what didn't, then do a performance review for Jurgen like any of us who manage people at work would do.

To me, Jurgen's job is a bit on the line at that review. And that's because, to me, there were a handful of fairly glaring weaknesses, things that went wrong. Jurgen would have to convince me that he gets it, and that he's going to change some things in his approach to the job in order to improve as an employee. He's got room for growth and I think you've got to give him that chance. But for me, if he acts like he thinks everything was hunky dory, and he isn't going to change, then he should be fired. Because it's about progress.

 

It's the Euro pixie dust that clouds the field of vision.

 

Nah, there's just latent bitterness over the regime change.

 

That part's not even accurate either. He intentionally worded it as "foreign clubs" so that Costa Ricans playing in MLS would count towards it. Costa Rica has 11 players in Europe on their World Cup team (though Wikipedia says Bolanos is no longer with Copenhagen), we have 12. But I think we all consider some of the lower European leagues to be about on par with MLS. If you only consider top 6 leagues (so, including France and Dutch leagues), we have 9 players, Costa Rica have 3.

The article is pretty awful though. Costa Rica's done well, but them doing well doesn't affect how Klinsmann's done. Had we been in their group, we might have looked just as good as them if not better.

I'm personally fine with Klinsmann having another 4 years, and think he's done a good job. That doesn't mean he shouldn't be criticized for some of his decisions. It'd be nice if there were more articles that were written neutrally, pointing out the things he's done right and the things he's gotten wrong. But I guess that doesn't get you as many views.

 

Sarcasm Font - Yeah, I don't know why the US couldn't beat Belgium like Costa Rica barely scraped by Greece.

 

The US faced 4 VERY good teams and hung in with all of them. People look at the past with rose colored glasses. For example, most USMNT fans when thinking about 2002 removed the horrific 0-3 stomping against Poland from their memory. No way that happens to this team. This team from top to bottom is better than any before it and that includes Klinsi.

 

Well it's Paul Gardner. He would tell you the Dutch are boring because they are Northern European, and if they are not boring it's only because they have players from Surinam, which is kinda Latin sorta if you squint, plus black guys are cousins of brown people.

So while there may well be legit criticisms of our German coach, to be offered by neutrals, Paul Gardner won't be that source.

 

It would have been nice to play Greece (the worst team in the round of 16). If the script was flipped, USA 2 Greece 0, Belgium 3 Costa Rica 1.

 

I know! People angry that Klinsi wasn't able to accomplish something that no 2nd place group stage team this world cup. Win in the knockout round. Klinsi is not beyond criticism, but I don't know how anyone can feel that the USMNT isn't progressing with him. I have zero doubt that he will look to the future and blood new talent whereas a new coach or a less confident one would feel the need to rack up easy wins with A- team talent over the next year.

 

Nobody thinks that the U.S. should have beaten Belgium.

 

1. Welcome to bigsoccer.
2. Since you're new here, you probably want to hang out a bit more before you tell us what most of us think.

 

Then why is there so much outrage?

 

I've had 2 mods and a few other posters make remarks about me being a new poster. I'm starting to see that this is a forum where a few posters want to dominate the discussion and views about the team.

 

That's not true. But be real here...you joined a week ago, and now you want to tell us how we perceive our performance in 2002? Seriously?

Let me try another tack...your post was wrong about that.

 

Because the people with axes to grind come out of the woodwork after a loss.

Example--This thread. Paul Gardner has always pushed for Latin-American players. He's using Klinsi's exit from the cup as his excuse to advance his agenda. There really is nothing to see here. Most of the anti-JK sentiment comes from long time posters and fans who have always been, for better or worse, against the current coach.

As for Mr. Gardner, I have only one thing to say: Jose Francisco Torres. Because yes, you are right, we need more technically proficient players, and Latin-Americans are, for the most part, more technically gifted than most "American" players. That said, what's the point of having a guy like JFT (Who is one of the most technically skilled players in our pool) when he can't play with pace and is easily muscled off of the ball? Klinsi is looking to strike THAT balance, which is why I feel Martin Vasquez was canned from his position.

Basically, Paul Gardner is a "Latinsnob", and the way I see it, Mexico and the USA are in the same boat, trying to pass the iron wall of the round of 16. Mexico are far more technically gifted but need to work on finishing, play stronger on the ball, and above all else play faster. The US need to be technically better and work on finishing. What's interesting is how the US and Mexico seem to want to build the same thing, and have gotten there with completely different paths.

 

Wrong person bro.

 

Thanks, I have actually been posting here on and off and lurking since 2000 but I decided to create a new account since I couldn't remember username and password from long ago. Yeah, I've been kicking around here for a long time. Arguing about Landon Donovan with BLTLeo about his time at Beyer Leverkusen. So yeah, I know how you (this place) thinks.

 

Of course they are not perfect. But he's made more good than bad. A lot of good subs. When you go up against a lot of teams with superior talent...the fault lines show...jurgen made mistakes but so does every single coach...it's easier to make mistakes when you have great talent

 

Jurgen deserves credit for getting us through a tough group any way he could. But the truth is, his promised "more attractive soccer" never really materialized. That is the most disappointing thing about this World Cup for me.

 

Yeah, I hear you. That said, all of the goals we scored were class. Nothing given. All good class soccer.

Another positive from the Klinsman era including this World Cup has been our ability to stay out of card trouble, penalties and free kicks at the edge of the box. Those used to be huge issues for us. Progress is being made.

 

Axes? What axes? If my mama started a 4-5-1 with 4 D mids and Zusi, and we conceded 36 shots because the midfield got hammered, I'd be telling mama to buy long-term health insurance, because I'm not taking care of her when she gets old and weak.

 

My opinion: if a coach does not make to the round of 8, he should not be re-signed. I think Klinsi did a great job, however, Bradley reached the same spot, lost in extra time as well, and with a lesser squad. Sure we played a Belgian team that has a good shot in putting Argentina down, but, 2 cycles is a lot of trust in one point of view.