His rant got me thinking, specifically about his insanity quotation. Something I heard recently was that the snake bite never kills you it's the venom that is left to course throughout your body. That snake bite was the GC loss to Jamaica, the exact same fundamental problems with that tournament team could be seen all throughout this cycle, from the CONCACAF CUP to losing to Guatemala to the entire Hex. This team was unable to adapt, constantly building around Michael Bradley, who failed to execute simple defending at times. This cycle, right when a problem with the team arises, there needs to be action taken right away. Accountability is what I'm seeing thrown around a lot. I'm tired of the US remaining idle when we are clearly playing awful just because of the region we're in and the lack of media coverage to really spark a change.
The media including Twellman have been a big part of the problem, it's a shame it took this kind of disaster to do it, but I am glad some of them are now being honest. Credit to Lalas for doing it earlier than most.
The one positive in this is that there appears to genuine caring and passion, following this epic failure. Twenty years ago, I am not sure you would have seen such a public, media reaction... we’ve come a long way. In any event, that is a required combination, among other characteristics needed to “right the ship” and sail it into uncharted waters (i.e., legitimately contending for a World Cup).
The rants are different, but Twellermans rants reminds me of this rant from the Mexico commentator during us v panama in 2013
Except... Mexico did us no favors on Tuesday night. Their account is still showing a negative balance.
I don't think Mexico owes the U.S. anything. This is about our team and our shortcomings. Compare what happened to USA Tuesday night in Trinidad to four years ago in Panama City. Four years ago, USA displayed an ability and a spirit to play to the final whistle. The guys on that team wanted to get a positive result from that game, even though they had already secured qualification. They did not care what the ramifications were for Mexico or Panama. They were focused on that particular game and what they could do to salvage something after they had fallen behind 2-1. Four years later, the ability and desire for many of our players was diminished, and we're left to ask, "why or how?". I harken back to what sportscasters say, particularly when it comes to soccer or more specifically, the World Cup, "It's a young man's game.". Our roster of players who were part of that stunning Panama turnaround are now four years older. I didn't watch the game Tuesday (beIn not available where I live), but I tracked the comments here on Big Soccer. You can chalk it up to being over-confident or scared to play (nervousness), but the quality in our play was never consistent during this Hex, and when it was bad, like Tuesday night, it was painful to watch. Spooky part about it was, had we gotten a draw, which would have been good enough for an automatic berth to Russia, what kind of lineup would we have seen at the World Cup next June? I'm guessing pretty much what we saw since Bruce came back to lead us to the shadow of the Kremlin. At least now, we have the chance to re-build with a younger and hopefully, hungrier bunch of guys to help us defend our Gold Cup title in 2019.