well I was aghast at his hire...and frustrated that so many thought it was the best option or even the only logical choice.....I couldnt believe he was the one everyone wanted.... but what do I know ? i'm just an "internet soccer psuedo-blogger"...or whatever you call someone who posts on bigsoccer.
It's not just about hiring the best manager, but it's also about who wants to come. That will be the case again this summer. I doubt any quality manager is dying to coach the USMNT. Arena got the job because, who else was going to carry that moribund campaign?
Come on, be realistic. We aren't someone like Sierra Leone. We qualified for 7 consecutive WCs until this one, we have one of the easiest routes to qualification in the world and if any coach that would be interested would research, we have some promising youth in the pipeline with most of the failures aging out by the time the next cup comes around. The same coaches that would be interested in the job had we made the WC are going to be the coaches that would be interested in the job even though we didn't make it. Arena got the job because he was the only one that knew some of the player, knew how the international game worked and was familiar with the program. There was only one other person that fit that bill and he was busy treading water at Swansea.
If you're expecting some top Euro coach like Capello, Lippi, or Mou to take over this summer, you're going to suffer a broken heart. What we could get is a decent South American coach (not going to happen), a snake-oil Euro type (someone like Beckham, with no experience but the right words, Klinsmann 2.0), a third-rate Euro guy like Big Sam or Marcel Koller, or the most likely a local guy like Porter or Vermes. We're not Sierra Leone but right now we're not exactly a sexy job to have.
No I am not expecting a big name euro however of those you named we could possibly get Capello. He is coaching a team in China and not one of the good ones either. Lippi just took the China NT job about a year ago so I don't see him as interested and I'm guessing Mou is Mourinho? I'll pass, not a fan. I would prefer a South American personally. Why don't you think we would go after one of them?
Someone said that Bob Bradley called Cameron one of the worst soccer players he ever seen before eventually Cameron took off to success. Arena was looking for any excuse to prove his buddy right, even if, Cameron was starting for Real Madrid. Meanwhile Omar Gonzalez had the worst own goal in US history and his almost son MB90 jogged around the pitch!
I wish this was true. I wish it did lead to wholesale changes, but it didnt. If anything it lead to wholesale more of the sameness.
Been a heavy critic of Bruce the last few years, but he deserves a lot of credit for taking the bold stance of not wanting to have nat'l anthems anymore at pro sporting events. Though he could have been more effective selling it because he gets his history significantly wrong, claiming it started as military salute to ww2 heroes not in actuality selling ww1 which laid the groundwork for the former. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/18997/why-do-we-sing-national-anthem-sporting-events
Dang, was coming on this old thread excited to see someone else ripping on this arrogant dufus. Then I see he apparently is making logical, sensible points, something I've asked myself for years. Agreeing with this guy makes me feel dirty, I'm going to go take a shower.
I read that it didn't become commonplace outside of major sports until the late 50s. Coming from England, as a child of the 60s and 70s, I find the obsession with continually demonstrating your patriotism really odd. But England has changed too. We used to talk over the national anthem, or occasionally boo it (the fascist regime!), and anyone flying a British or English flag was considered an oddball or racist. Now people fly the flag of St George everywhere and complain if an England player isn't singing the anthem enthusiastically enough.
The general history of overt American displays of patriotism go even farther back into the 19th century. The reason being that we were such a new country where people were not necessarily bound by ethnic or even language ties. The overt acts of patriotism were intended to help bind the national identity.
I know forced patriotism in general goes back further, like The Pledge to the 1800's. But the reason there was also profit motive, which was to sell flags. And it got beefed up along the way by intertwining God to imply the US' (as defined by gov't/status quo) actions were inherently justifiable. It's usually some direct or indirect profit motive. In the case of the nat'l anthem at sporting & other cultural events, war propaganda was indeed the history. Whether there are other reasons, i.e.: relative cultural diversity (many in Americas have more) or breaking away from colonialism centuries ago (like most countries); isn't particularly material to the topic nor justifying of the practice.
Get on with the match: the teams should take the field - no silly banners, no rosy slogans - comply further with the minimal protocol, take their spots, listen for the whistle, then get stuck in.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020...player-pool-gregg-berhalters-managerial-style "The team I had in 2017 — that I inherited — as a coaching staff we talked about 'If we can get through this year and qualify for the World Cup we have to make a dozen changes to this team.' We just didn't have the right characters and a lot of guys weren't in it for the right reasons," said Arena --i think we already knew the talent part -- though he arguably was still too conservative about it -- but his precise choice of words hints at a character issue as well. “It’s going to take Gregg a little time. He’s got a lot of young players now, which makes it even more difficult,” Arena said. “It’s going to be challenging, but having said that, I think they do have a good group of talent.” Arena clearly has a different coaching philosophy than Berhalter, who he calls “a young coach and he’s really into the sports science and the conditioning and all the metrics are important and analytics and all of those things.” --"young coach" and will "take Gregg a little time" could be taken as somewhat dismissive but diplomatically so. i noticed i didn't hear him say "good" or "tactical genius." i hear him say he's into metrics and conditioning and is being handed some young talent. i question the value of conditioning orientation outside of long camp tournament situations. it's a "got em for a week for games and then back to pro ball" situation. they either show up fit or not. to me for most of the cycle "fitness" is a scouting or selection concern, ie, are they healthy and fit on arrival, or do you take risks on unfit stars. this is not pro ball or college where you can control a fitness and diet plan in an offseason. most of those efforts will be dictated by the pro teams except january camp, gold cups, and the world cup if we make it.
in terms of internationals and stuff like the olympics, the competitions and anthems are a sublimation of war. here is a safe way you can conflict and compete and there is a winner. but in reality, peace. as a result there is a tension between people who enjoy international competitions as a gathering of elite talent vs those who view them patriotically. some people want __________ to win. some people want to see the best compete. i personally tend to get grief every olympics because having watched my set of sports intensely, and developed affections for not just americans but the best or more interesting world competitors, i want to root for them as well, or at least enjoy their performances. re the anthem issues themselves, the USWNT just won a world title regardless what you think of rapinoe. that should be the model. the model should not be whatever the heck happened 2014-18 with the men in terms of intramural squabbles. i want the culture war "has to be one way or another" bs as far from the team as possible. last thing we need is a motivated new batch of talent being fractured or driven off because we over-politicize off-field aspects of the team.
to me Arena was struggling with a down ebb talent period where key players were fading or retired, as well as some specific attitude issues. but we ran out a suboptimal unit at key stages of his term because he used a hacksaw instead of a scalpel -- no germans on the final call sheet. i am sure chandler and FJ were a problem. but he left out a whole list beyond that, which we could not afford. this is not pro-Klinsmann, JK ran out many of the players Arena-critics wanted in the team, and finished 4th at Copa, 4th at Gold Cup, barely escaped semis with a loss to Guate, and then tripped on his face out of the hex gate. he tried your solution and failed. the answer, if any,, was something other than these two men thought up. Klinsi lost his grip second cycle. the failure was not firing him. it was who we hired to fill the job. to me Arena's failure followed by the wheel-spin of Sarachan and Berhalter, speaks to international management being sufficiently serious a position that we are systematically under-estimating the quality (and likely salary) coaching level necessary to make the team more than the sum of its parts. in plain english, we need to hire a high level, great coach, if we want great things.
Almost 3 years later and he is almost to the point of accepting some blame. Almost. This is crazy. If he had taken the team over in Sept. 2017, the above would make sense. He literally is saying, "I got the team, had 10 months, 8 qualifiers, 4 Friendlies, and an entire tournament to change what I saw needed to be changed on Day 1, and I didn't."
Almost to the point of accepting blame?!! That quote says nothing except putting all the blame on the players! Whatever this guy's merits, he is just such an arrogant dude. Yes, the team was terrible, but not "5th in the Hex" terrible. And I love the "oh yeah, if we had made the WC, I would have made loads of changes". Hey Bruce, many here were calling for Miazga, Morales, McKennie, Jon Gonzalez at the time. Hell, I even wanted Dax McCarty! You had plenty of time, and 9 months between Couva and the WC likely wouldn't have done anything. You would have rolled with the same MLS-focused, old-ass team of Lions. What a boob.
i don't think he had an ideal hand but i also think his selections became conservative in their own way and he suboptimally cleared out all (not just some of) the germans. i found it interesting that there were some future 2022 cycle players "identified" during 2017 gold cup who didn't play in the subsequent qualifiers. and he was so committed to a particular ensemble we were the only team that didn't squad rotate for the second game of the TnT pair. yeah, don't get me wrong, i wasn't accepting his excuses, but sometimes as in the delayed sampson admission about harkes/wynalda, added wrinkles come out later on. i find the character comment interesting. we were so close. if that phantom panama goal doesn't count. if we only give up one goal and not two. if. if. if. i also found the faint berhalter praise telling. i think GB is "one of his" dating back to 2002 and 2006 -- so he likely wouldn't dog him out -- but for one of his guys he also didn't seem enthusiastic about his coaching value. i mean, if someone asked one of your key soccer coaches along the way, what kind of a coach would you be.....wouldn't they be more enthusiastic than this? this is why all letters of recommendation are grain of salt documents (or internet reviews). your referee is likely to say "he was great." to not fall into enthusiastic cliche to me says something. he kind of says, his coaching ideas are not my cup of tea, he's young, but he's got talent, we'll see. a year in i thought that was tepid.