Klinsmann gone

[kitzbuel]

http://americansoccernow.com/articles/klexit-klinsmann-ousted-as-u-s-national-team-coach

I for one appreciated the style of soccer he introduced and the system needed to play it. I think he overall improved the talent on the USMNT. I did find some of his player decisions and in game tactical decisions to be perplexing.

Not sure what I think about Bruce Areana coming back. A very safe pick. I am interested to see what he does.

[webspinnre]

I like that he said he was working on improving things like pace and technique. However, his implementation of these things seemed to be all over the place, and he chose some awfully random formations at times (why would you play a 3-4-3 for the first time in ages?). I agree that Arena seems like an awfully "safe" pick. Maybe he gets them through 2018 and they can look for a new plan going forward?

[LongIslandZagFan]

I think he was great for development, but things like leaving Donovan off the team along with a few other personnel decisions left me scratching my head. I think he was on shaky ground before going into Mexico/Costa Rica debacle... getting schlacked by Costa Rica was just the exclamation point. I agree that one game isn't the be all end all... but that was a horrible showing.

[asoc]

The USMNT regressed under Klinsman.

He didn't advance anything.

There were very clear warning signs before US Soccer ever hired him.

Read what Phillip Lahm has to say about Klinsmann.

http://www.dw.com/en/lahms-outspoken-autobiography-causing-controversy-in-germany/a-15343091

"We practically only practiced fitness under Klinsmann, there was very little technical instruction and the players themselves discussed the way they would play a game before the match," Lahm writes. He re-uses an anecdote from former Bayern defender Zé Roberto to emphasis Klinsmann's tactical naivety. The Brazilian reveals that a half-time talk by Klinsmann toward the end of his reign consisted of only: "You have to score a goal."

Klinsman doesn't know tactics.

Toronto FC hired him as a consultant to help them structure their club from top to bottom etc. He failed there as well.

He is a snake oil salesman.

As head coach of the US he repeatedly tinkered. He routinely placed players in positions they rarely if ever played and then would throw them under the bus in the post game press conference. He always had an excuse and it was never himself.

The team he picked for the World Cup had big holes and some questionable decisions. Landon Donovan missing? Even if you used him off the bench you do not leave someone like him off the roster. No backup for Altidore? As soon as Altiodre got injured Klinsmann's whole plan was shot because he had no one to replace Altidore.

Speaking of injuries... There has been lots of talk about Klinsmann's obsession with fitness. He actually talked crap about his players fitness levels. Let me ask you a question, the USMNT has been known to be one of the fittest National Teams and hardest working National Teams... until Klinsmann. Something is not like the other.

Statistically, the USMNT has regressed under Klinsmann.

We played our most regressive style of Soccer in the modern era under Klinsmann.




Seriously, look at those stats from the world cup.
Lowest possession percentage and fewest shots per game in the modern era.

And look at that list of firsts under Klinsmann, and not the good kind of firsts.

And look at this.


I am basically ripping off Matt Doyle...

http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2016/11/21/armchair-analyst-jurgen-klinsmanns-usmnt-era-comes-close

Donovan, in his final 11 national team starts, registered eight goals and eight assists. That includes a spin as the Golden Ball winner at the 2013 Gold Cup -- to date Klinsmann's only trophy as a manager -- and a 1 goal/1 assist effort in a 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over Mexico to clinch a spot in Brazil. That game turned out to be the final Dos a Cero.

Donovan's exclusion was not justified, but it could have been mitigated by the inclusion of other attacking players like Benny Feilhaber, Sacha Kljestan or Lee Nguyen, or at least a willingness to move Johnson up into midfield as a way of generating more offense. Instead Klinsmann played Bradley, a natural d-mid or box-to-box midfielder, as a pseudo trequartista; he played Clint Dempsey, a natural second forward or inverted winger, as a lone No. 9; he slotted dogged yet unspectacular two-way players like Graham Zusi and Alejandro Bedoya on the wings, and thus the US generated little possession and even less open play danger.

He set up the team like minnows, and then coached them to be minnows.

And what is sad about Klinsmann, he constantly talked down to the US Soccer fan base acting like we knew nothing about the game.

How quickly we forget this article that showed exactly what Klinsmann was and how in trouble the team was behind the scenes.

http://www.sportingnews.com/soccer-news/4486437-jurgen-klinsmann-us-mens-soccer-coach-national-team-usa-american-world-cup-2013

“Have you read Philipp Lahm’s book?”

That was the response from a U.S. national team player when asked about the tactical issues the U.S. is experiencing under Klinsmann and Vasquez.

I don't understand how anyone can think Klinsmann progressed US Soccer.

[RenoZag]

So is the US lacking leadership, talent, coaching, or what ?

They aren't in the 2018 World Cup after losing to a nation whose name sounds like a cigar company, 2 - 1.

[webspinnre]

They're lacking vision and leadership certainly. The talent is good but not great. This was utterly embarrassing.

[kitzbuel]

1. Losing to T&T is unforgivable. Regardless of how talented we think this team is, T&T was at the bottom of a bad confederation. How did we give up two goals?

2. US Soccer Federation and MLS are not making the players needed for sustained success. The whole system needs to change. Klinsmann was right in recognizing that US based players don't get the training, development or experience needed for sustained excellence. US soccer development is following the AAU basketball model. That can't be right.

3. I don't buy the argument that the US just can't get its best athletes to commit to soccer. Iceland manages to qualify out of Europe, Iceland with the population of Wichita! I am pretty sure that we can dig up 23 kids out of those who do play in this country that could be developed into better than average players.

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[webspinnre]

I think one of the major problems is that soccer is essentially pay-to-play at the lower levels. If you really want to develop successful soccer, you need to have USA soccer and the MLS funding things all the way down as far as competitive soccer.

[Pallet]

1. Losing to T&T is unforgivable. Regardless of how talented we think this team is, T&T was at the bottom of a bad confederation. How did we give up two goals?

2. US Soccer Federation and MLS are not making the players needed for sustained success. The whole system needs to change. Klinsmann was right in recognizing that US based players don't get the training, development or experience needed for sustained excellence. US soccer development is following the AAU basketball model. That can't be right.

3. I don't buy the argument that the US just can't get its best athletes to commit to soccer. Iceland manages to qualify out of Europe, Iceland with the population of Wichita! I am pretty sure that we can dig up 23 kids out of those who do play in this country that could be developed into better than average players.

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The development system looks to be changing, The Ringer has some recent articles about it:

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2017/9/21/16341796/nba-aau-fc-dallas-player-development

https://www.theringer.com/2017/10/5/16425234/usmnt-u17-world-cup-josh-sargent-tim-weah-andrew-carleton

[a13coach]

I think one of the major problems is that soccer is essentially pay-to-play at the lower levels. If you really want to develop successful soccer, you need to have USA soccer and the MLS funding things all the way down as far as competitive soccer.

I agree and would like to add that it relies on decent soccer players (better than average but have not reached an elite level yet) to fund the development of the top players. Families spend thousands of dollars yearly just to play on select/premier club teams just to fill out a team so that 1 maybe 2 players on said team can develop. It doesn't take long before families call it quits. If the funding was there then there would be many more kids in the system and the time to develop. The local clubs are kind of forced to throw sub-par teams together as fodder yet needed to bring money for fund their top teams.
Sound like the AAU system a bit?

[kitzbuel]

It's not like soccer costs a lot, you just need a ball. Travel soccer is no doubt a racket. They lock fields up so that only kids who play a few times a week after they pull up in mini vans can use them. Local kids without the means to participate, but who live with a ball on their foot scrounge field time where they can.

I would love to see a travel soccer program try to be free.

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[webspinnre]

I agree and would like to add that it relies on decent soccer players (better than average but have not reached an elite level yet) to fund the development of the top players. Families spend thousands of dollars yearly just to play on select/premier club teams just to fill out a team so that 1 maybe 2 players on said team can develop. It doesn't take long before families call it quits. If the funding was there then there would be many more kids in the system and the time to develop. The local clubs are kind of forced to throw sub-par teams together as fodder yet needed to bring money for fund their top teams.
Sound like the AAU system a bit?

Yes, very similar to the AAU system. Probably not quite as corrupt, but it hasn't been around as long and been as popular as long, plus NCAA soccer scholarships aren't big business in the same way basketball is.

[webspinnre]

It's not like soccer costs a lot, you just need a ball. Travel soccer is no doubt a racket. They lock fields up so that only kids who play a few times a week after they pull up in mini vans can use them. Local kids without the means to participate, but who live with a ball on their foot scrounge field time where they can.

I would love to see a travel soccer program try to be free.

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The way for this to happen would require completely revamping the way MLS does business with regards to player development and the "rights" to players. The problem right now is that unlike Europe, where if you develop a player, that player is yours, in the US, until that player signs a contract, he can go anywhere. So, you could develop a player from the age of 5-16, and then if a larger club comes calling (or a European club), he can be gone and you get nothing. In Europe this is how lower level teams sometimes end up funding their player development - they develop one player who gets sold, and that player funds a portion of the rest of the development for the players who stay at the club.

[LongIslandZagFan]

It's not like soccer costs a lot, you just need a ball. Travel soccer is no doubt a racket. They lock fields up so that only kids who play a few times a week after they pull up in mini vans can use them. Local kids without the means to participate, but who live with a ball on their foot scrounge field time where they can.

I would love to see a travel soccer program try to be free.

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There is travel and then there is "Travel". I coached travel, but my son tried out for a couple of "Travel" teams. Costs for those were astronomical. $300+ a month plus costs of hotels at out of state games and tournaments. Oh that is just the fees to be on the team... It was also about $1500-$2000 per season for training which was 4-5 days a week. So unless the next Messi in the US comes from money... he ain't going to be discovered... and will wither on the vine. Truly sad... I had some great players... kids I KNOW could play at that level... they played for me because they couldn't remotely think about paying that kind of money. I loved those kids to death, but I knew they deserved better but couldn't afford it. I did my best to teach them the game better and make them better people.