Oops--meant to include Dest on the left. Although with an 8-man midfield, somebody's got to be a DM, even if usually a CB. Dest in, Zimmerman for Yueill?
Though, oddly, you’re not replacing Altidore with one of our others top notch stud strikers. Not that I wanna misread your post or anything
Sampson got railroaded from all sides. I won't call him a good coach but he doesn't deserve all the crap he receives.
Sampson was awful. The only thing I give him credit for was kicking Harkes off the squad for cheating with Wynalda’s wife, and then keeping it a secret for so many years in spite of all the criticism he took at the time for axing the Captain for Life with no explanation. Nevertheless, he was way out of his depth and it showed. On the world’s biggest soccer stage. If anyone hasn’t listened to it, American Fiasco is a great podcast about the utter failure of our ‘98 WC team. (In it, Gingerclown actually admits to being an @sshole during that time, and Frankie comes across as a wide-eyed kid excited to be there.)
It was a disaster all around and Sampson was the scapegoat. He didn't have control of the roster, players were openly undermining him, everyone questioning him about Harkes and there was no chance of succeeding. A bad coach will fail, a castrated one will be embarrassed. Sampson was both.
I've never been one for giving things up for lent, not being Catholic and all. Last year, one of my friends mentioned giving up alcohol, and I thought that seemed like a good one to try so I did. I then followed that up this year. Point being, I am not drunk (raises hand) and I could not have picked a worse time to give up alcohol. Luckily I didn't give up sniffing glue
Three years running I've had a "soft resolution" of ditching alcohol around New Year's day and not having any until the start of Crew season. It's kind of a nice post holidays system reset, lowering of tolerance and some nice anticipation building towards the new season. It felt a little different this year, but I'm glad I've got some beer in the fridge now for sure.
While not Catholic (but Lutheran), we did give things up for Lent. And I still do, along with my Catholic wife and kids. I usually joke that I'm giving up hookers for Lent. The last few years, I've given up sweets. It does help with my otherwise failing attempt to diet. I do often wonder what JC must think of us mere humans giving up a simple vice for a measly 40 days. "Wow, the suffering and agony of no chocolate for 40 days. What's that like?" He probably thinks, rubbing at His stigmata.
I know a great story about Harkes/Wynalda which I was sworn to secrecy about many years ago. Sadly, the guy who told me the story is dead. From time to time I have wrestled with whether that releases me from the promise. Said story makes Harkes look even worse.
While I agree that Sampson wasn’t a good coach, guys like Burns, Dooley, Balboa, Lalas, Agoos, and Wynalda all needed to go. It would be hard for any coach to deal with the egos of those guys. He was in a tough spot. We had success with the 1994 squad and a lot of those players were household names (in soccer circles of course) and the success went to these guy’s heads. Hell, Lalas was planning a tour with Hootie and the Blowfish in the middle of the World Cup or something stupid like that. Nobody on earth would have been successful with that group of guys.
I have at least 3-19 stories about the front office, Anthony Precourt, and our 3rd leading goal scorer that would blow the curls out of your perm. Too bad I can't tell yall.
Religion - what man thinks about God , worthless Relationship- vertical communication in the spirit ( lots of discernment & listening more than talking ) that affects your horizontal relationships .... priceless
Theres probably a better thread for this but ******** it A Garber crony has been named as CEO of USSF Because of course http://www.insideworldfootball.com/2020/03/25/former-wasserman-exec-wilson-takes-ceo-us-soccer/
USSF sounds like they want to settle the suit with the USWNT. I think they should go to court and settle this thing.
They want the bad publicity to stop. But the women's position is unreasonable. They want USSF to pay them what FIFA pays other federations for men's performance in WC.