US/England

[Anonymous]

Good god, that was awful.
I guess having an almost totally European based team isn't a panacea after all.
I thought this team might be able to play a possession game. Guess not.
A new coach can't come fast enough.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, the men’s team is not good. That was closer to the A team for the US, and they just got manhandled by England’s B team.

[Anonymous]

What did you expect? The team has not had a coach for over a year, there is no identity, and the soccer federation is run by accountants. And once the coach is announced, we expect that it will most likely be one of the MLS guys. If it is Tata, I am OK with waiting a year, but otherwise.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: If it is Tata, I am OK with waiting a year, but otherwise.....

It's NOT Tata, he signed to coach Mexico.

[Anonymous]

Jesse Marsch wouldn’t be a bad choice. Alas, it’s going to be an MLS mook (they wouldn’t hire Tata anyways, because he doesn’t speak English and the USMNT concerns itself with optics way too much)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jesse Marsch wouldn’t be a bad choice. Alas, it’s going to be an MLS mook (they wouldn’t hire Tata anyways, because he doesn’t speak English and the USMNT concerns itself with optics way too much)

Yes, it looks like it will be an MLS hack. So much for waiting for over a year. Our top young players should just start declining the call ups and focus on their club career until the federation finds a world class coach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What did you expect? The team has not had a coach for over a year, there is no identity, and the soccer federation is run by accountants. And once the coach is announced, we expect that it will most likely be one of the MLS guys. If it is Tata, I am OK with waiting a year, but otherwise.....

I did not expect them to get bossed around the field by England's B team. I am not a former player and thus am happy to be told that I am an idiot, but, to me, the US looked completely helpless in the first half and seemed lucky to be only down 2-0 at the half. You make good points about the lack of coaching and general s***show that is US Soccer on the men's side, but I am getting a little nervous about the talent level on the team. I watch a lot of Dortmund games, and Pulisic has not been good for Dortmund this Fall and large chunks of last year. Weah needs to play, but I'm not sure where he is going to get the minutes for PSG unless he goes out on loan. Speaking of, neither Miazga nor Carter-Vickers are doing well or getting a lot of minutes on their current loan spells, and they may no longer be the "next big thing" at the centerback position for the US. There are a number of other promising young guys in Germany or heading there (e.g., Sargent, Taitague, Richards, Adams, Reyna, etc.), but until they get regular first team minutes, who the hell knows whether they will ever advance past the "promising" stages. I know all of these guys are very young and still have a lot of room to develop, but the US men's team needs more than half of these guys to live up to their potential if the US team is ever going to be anything more than second best in CONCACAF over the next 3-4 years. It seems a little depressing to be a fan of the men's team.

At least the women are still dominant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What did you expect? The team has not had a coach for over a year, there is no identity, and the soccer federation is run by accountants. And once the coach is announced, we expect that it will most likely be one of the MLS guys. If it is Tata, I am OK with waiting a year, but otherwise.....

I did not expect them to get bossed around the field by England's B team. I am not a former player and thus am happy to be told that I am an idiot, but, to me, the US looked completely helpless in the first half and seemed lucky to be only down 2-0 at the half. You make good points about the lack of coaching and general s***show that is US Soccer on the men's side, but I am getting a little nervous about the talent level on the team. I watch a lot of Dortmund games, and Pulisic has not been good for Dortmund this Fall and large chunks of last year. Weah needs to play, but I'm not sure where he is going to get the minutes for PSG unless he goes out on loan. Speaking of, neither Miazga nor Carter-Vickers are doing well or getting a lot of minutes on their current loan spells, and they may no longer be the "next big thing" at the centerback position for the US. There are a number of other promising young guys in Germany or heading there (e.g., Sargent, Taitague, Richards, Adams, Reyna, etc.), but until they get regular first team minutes, who the hell knows whether they will ever advance past the "promising" stages. I know all of these guys are very young and still have a lot of room to develop, but the US men's team needs more than half of these guys to live up to their potential if the US team is ever going to be anything more than second best in CONCACAF over the next 3-4 years. It seems a little depressing to be a fan of the men's team.

At least the women are still dominant.

Good points regarding the talent pool and the lack of playing time for young players is a big concern. Here's an interesting discussion of the fundamental reasons for our national team failures from about a year ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmGILrBPGjQ

[Anonymous]

What people don’t seem to realize is that none of our players are world-beaters at the top club level, not even Pulisic, who’s still developing. We need a coach on Bielsa’s level who can make the players better when they’re with the national team, because you’re not getting finished articles from the respective clubs quite yet. The players have either been overvalued, are not getting enough opportunities with their clubs, or have not been complemented with younger players breaking through. Our scouting and hierarchy have been essentially the same for a decade and it’s more about how much money you have and who you know. I don’t mind being patient for something worthwhile, but it seems we’re just being spoon-fed more of the same old mediocrity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What people don’t seem to realize is that none of our players are world-beaters at the top club level, not even Pulisic, who’s still developing. We need a coach on Bielsa’s level who can make the players better when they’re with the national team, because you’re not getting finished articles from the respective clubs quite yet. The players have either been overvalued, are not getting enough opportunities with their clubs, or have not been complemented with younger players breaking through. Our scouting and hierarchy have been essentially the same for a decade and it’s more about how much money you have and who you know. I don’t mind being patient for something worthwhile, but it seems we’re just being spoon-fed more of the same old mediocrity.

Completely agree. And your Pulisic example is a good one. He had a stretch at Dortmund (kind of like what Sancho is having right now for them) where Pulisic looked like he might become one of the top players on that team, which was one of the top 4 teams in Germany and a Champions League team at that time. However, he has not been that player for over a year now, and he is arguably the best US player.

It is always depressing to look at the rosters of the top teams and see where the 23 guys on the roster play soccer. I know England had a surprising run to last year's semis in the World Cup, but, let's be honest, they are not one of the top teams in the world. Yet, all of the guys on their 23 person roster are meaningful contributors for Premier League teams. And it only gets worse when you look at the rosters of top teams like Germany, where a player like Sane does not even make the roster. Let's be honest, if Pulisic had the year for Man City that Sane had last year before the World Cup, then Pulisic would be compared to Pele by the US soccer press. Sane, on the other hand, cannot even make the team. From a talent perspective, the US is so far away from the other top teams in the world that you cannot even compare the two, and no coach is going to solve that talent disparity.

With that said, a good coach could get more out of this team, and maybe they can be competitive with Mexico during the WC qualifiers in a couple of years, even though Mexico has much more talent right now than the US team (and a good national team coach to boot).

[Anonymous]

Not to mention the FMF has also done much more than USSF to get the domestic clubs to give opportunities to young players.

[Anonymous]

The GK situation is just one of my our ailments, and the position has actually been a forte for the past couple decades, but why is Brad Guzan starting in Sarachan’s penultimate game?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: If it is Tata, I am OK with waiting a year, but otherwise.....

It's NOT Tata, he signed to coach Mexico.

Don Garber said today that but for MLS Tata would not have been on the radar screen for El Tri. Never mind, Tata's 40 years of professional experience, which included coaching Argentina national team and Barcelona, MLS got him the gig. And these knuckleheads are leading US soccer.

[Anonymous]

Tata also led Paraguay to within a hair of knocking out champions Spain and making the semifinals in 2010.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s rather delicious that the few, effete guys here who love to loudly point out every men’s team setback while ignoring any good news from the younger teams has to endure this. I guarantee that the majority of parents don’t care for this discussion and will not make any changes in their plans or views based on it. Culture is not something that can be made overnight by a few complainers, it’s so much bigger than that and can only change over generations, and slowly at that. No coach or set of coaches can change the culture or the products of that culture.

Guess you and the wife will have to move to Spain or Germany to keep your sanity. Don’t let the door hit you in the backside on the way out.