Hudson is more qualified than Tab was when Tab took over and more or less qualified than Rongen depending on how you see it. Rongen was more success full as a MLS coach (in the early MLS era) and Hudson did well enough as the New Zealand mens and u20 coach that clubs like Derby County and Norwich City both wanted him to be their manager which is quite a step up from MLS. Rongen seems a lot more qualified than Hudson if you look at the colossal shitnado that was Hudson's tenure as the Colorado Rapids coach. There is a chance that he comes in and does a great job as shown by the New Zealand experience and there is just as good of a chance that he will be an atomic bomb of a coach. There is no correlation between being a good club and national team coach (ask Rafa Wicky who was a good club coach) so there really is no way to predict how he will be until we see the team play in March friendlies. This is the first time that Hudson gets to coach a time that will more often then not be the most talented team on the field. The only teams that will have more talent at this level will be the major European powers, Uruguay, Brazil, and maybe Argentina. Let's just try to be hopeful, if it blows up then it just gives Ussoccer another reason to fire Jay and Ernie.
I don’t think it matters that he doesn’t have a great club resume. Wicky had a great club resume, and he was a worse U-17 coach than Hackworth. Youth international football is not the same as first division club football. Hudson will have to show that he can pick a good squad, get players released and then don’t get in the way of the players. He’s not going to be a tactical mastermind. You don’t hire a U-20 YNT coach to teach the players like Guardiola would. You expect the coach to let the talent play to their level. Youth football is very much still the most talented team with the best individuals wins.
BigSoccer needs a sarcasm font (my question was not meant entirely seriously) but I appreciate your taking the time to respond.
Yeah, I said a while back that Ramos was about as good as you can hope for as a U-20 coach. I figure you're either going to get guys without much of a resume, who are hopefully on their way up, or guys like Hudson, who have flamed out at better positions and need a resume boost. I'm not really sure which sort of option is better, and I can see the argument for rolling the dice on someone with less of a track record, but I don't think Hudson is a horrible pick given realistic expectations.
I totally get people underwhelmed by the hire. But the bigger problem is not Hudson. It's how much freedom he has - or whether or not he has the say to play the team how he sees fit. Is the team going to be forced to play Berhalter's style or is there flexibility?
Another Rapids fan chiming in here about Hudson. Some context over his firing at Colorado... Going into the 2019 MLS season, the expectation of the fans was it would be Hudson's "make or break" year, since 2018's failure was partially written off because of a really a poor roster. We made some reasonable moves during that off-season and objectively had a better group of players over the previous year. As you all can tell he failed the stress test spectacularly, and our front office actually waited about a month too long before pulling the trigger on firing him. It was pretty clear it was a lost cause long before he was actually let go. His now infamous comments after the Atlanta game were likely a calculated move by him to ensure he was actually fired, since KSE (our ownership group) pretty much never fires coaches based on performance. They only fire coaches if they somehow directly lose them money on the bottom line, or if they say something that implies a less than flattering picture of Stan Kroenke and his ownership. My personal impression of Hudson is that he actually has a fairly good tactical understanding of the game, but was extremely poor at implementing what he wanted and getting all the players to row in the same direction. Our back line was a really good example of this; it's clear he wanted a system where defenders would dynamically adapt to a play, and sometimes get involved in the attack. However, what we got was a back-line that was so sacred of shifting into the wrong place that they barely adjusted their positing all. The end result was an aimless, largely static, defense that could be completely undone by the most routine of through-balls. Hopefully he's learned a few things from his experience with the Rapids. Otherwise the U20's are going to be in for a really rough time.
I think it's pretty clear that Hudson is not going to have autonomy. How much input he gets is something we'll probably never know, but we're clearly moving to a model where we have vertical integration on player selection and at minimum, the higher level elements of style of play. I don't think that's a bad idea at all. Earnie and Berhalter may not be implementing the right systems -- I'm not sure I agree but that's the predominant opinion. But I absolutely think there's value in both vertical integration of style of play and less selection autonomy for individual youth team coaches. And it comes down to this: what is the primary point of National Youth Teams? 1. Is it to win as an end in itself? 2. Is it to help player development? 3. Is it a marketing tool to promote soccer overall, either in general or especially among high performing youth as a goal? 4. Is it a way to integrate players into the future national team program either in style of play or simply in terms of generating loyalty and interest (i.e. keeping players involved)? 5. Is it a way to identify players for the larger USMNT or get them exposure for more professional opportunitis? Of course, it's a little bit of all of these. But I think Earnie and company really are focused on #4 ... and I find it hard to disagree. The marketing value of a U20 or U17 tournament in practically nil in the grand scheme of things. The Olympics are a bit different, of course, but the U23s aren't really a youth team. Player development is minimal at this level. I think the scouting element has value ... but you can scout kids in professional and DA settings as well. And scouting a U17 roster isn't exactly predictive except for the very best. So we get down to ... how much is it winning as an end, how much is integration into the way the USMNT wants to play; attracting and rewarding players; keeping players involved with US Soccer. It's hard for me to argue against the idea that the best things you can do here is to establish a general style of play and requirements for selection. If the USYNT only takes CBs that can play out of the back ... our CBs are going to want to do that. If the USYNT plays the same as the USMNT, when a Pomykal or Llanez graduates, they can step in immediately. The loss here, of course, is in the experimentation that different styles of play can yield. But we'll see how rigid the direction actually is. And that can also come in the form of club play, etc. I also think you get a benefit from the player selection including more coaches, more scouts and less in the hands of one person. Do we have the exclusion of a Weston McKennie if the U17 coach doesn't get to decide on his own? I doubt it.
I see where you're coming from, but you could also argue that Ernie and Gregg and whoever is overseeing this stuff deserves to run the program however they want. We still don't have much to go on in terms of how successful this team will be over the next 2-3 years. If they want the U20s to be a training ground for the full team instead of its own independent team, there is sound reasoning for what they are doing. That does not mean that it's right or that they will be successful, but if they are able to pull off a truly cohesive program that develops a national style of play based on things like skill, intelligence, and versatility, it will be a great thing.
But clearly his players loved him: Hudson to coach U-20 USMNT team? Honestly couldn’t think of a more shocking hire. Called it after a week of being in preseason his Rapid tenure would be a disaster. How could you not target Jamie Franks, Pablo, Wilmer, or Beasley? pic.twitter.com/akA3czJskY— Jared Watts (@JaredWatts02) January 8, 2020
Kwabena Boateng was a part-timer (5 starts) for a middling UCI team this past fall. I don't know if he was healthy all season offhand. https://ucirvinesports.com/documents/2019/10/9/UCI_MSOC_season_conf.pdf?path=msoc
Now that the coach and latest camp roster announcements are official, here's my latest rundown of 2021 callups. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lfMvt087D65kHEJtitNuODh4dPgpKCQTi6Ae9VJ2c0g/edit?usp=sharing Do any of these guys have confirmed pro contracts? Bonilla Jose Kevin De la Fuente Konrad Harper Cameron Harriel Nathan Hawkins Jalen Hoffmann Ian Morris Aidan Pierre Kurowskybob "Bobby" Ritchie Stuart Vargas Marlon Vassilev Indiana Morris, I believe, has been reported but not announced.
KDLF has had one offered, Harper does, Vassilev does, the rest of the germany guys probably do but in my opinion are not super likely to break through over there any time soon. Morris was expected to be announced by the crew before the roster dropped but is actually listed as a crew player in the roster so it is all but confirmed. If they were the German guys were close to a breakthrough then would be with a first team right now, the only expected break through's in 2020 are Uly, Gio, Sousa, and Kobe depending on club in Germany and Vassilev, Otasowie, Ledezma outside of Germany. 2021 is less likely to have a Bundesliga break through but expected overall club break through's in that year should be Gloster, Mendez, Booth (not at Bayern), Konrad (not at FCB), and Kayo. In 2022 unless they are at Dortmund or Bayern look for Malik Sanogo, Evan Rotundo , Brandan Craig, and Kenan Hot who are all expected to be Germany bound besides Sanogo who is already there.
Thanks. Can you point to links confirming Indy and/or Harper? (Maybe Indy's FA Cup appearance means he must have one? I'm not sure...) I don't see Morris on the Crew roster. I'm sure it'll be cleared up one way or the other soon in any case. https://www.columbuscrewsc.com/players
The names "Anthony" and "Hudson" gives me vibes of a person who likes to play Stoke City ball pre-relegation.
He tries to model his teams after Marcelo Bielsa but hasn't had the personnel to do that yet. If Bielsa is truly his inspiration then with this group we're in good hands but there is so much risk in this hire.
Vargas has been on a USL contract for a while. https://www.tacdefiance.com/sounders-fc-2-signs-midfielder-marlon-vargas/ As for all the Euro guys....determining what constitutes a "pro" contract has always seemed like more of an art than a science.
I think the Chicago issue is overblown. Coaches move all the time, especially if they're former players. Do I believe there are some folks who wouldn't move to Chicago? Yes. But you can't tell me that they whole coaching community won't do it. I think there are bigger issues than the Chicago move. Of course we have a former U20WC winning coach that actually lives in Chicago (Paunovic).
For @ClassicASN this morning, I wrote about Anthony Hudson's hire as the new U-20 manager and the state of the U-20 team player pool at the start of the 2021 World Cup cycle. https://t.co/OBgUQ6FL1O— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) January 8, 2020