As I thought, you haven’t played team sports. You can’t just throw together players and expect them to perform at peak from minute one. There are tendedencies to learn, spoken and unspoken communication, common movement, and other intangibles that need to be developed. That’s an organic process and happens through playing together. No amount of coaching develops that, which is why it’s called chemistry. Some players just flat out don’t work well together. That’s bad chemistry. Some play better together over time. That’s typical. Some play fairly well together immediately and become amazing together over time. That’s rare and usually championship worthy.

None of this is related to coaching and it’s exactly what the OP was referring to and I happen to agree with. It’s not blaming anyone, just acknowledging a fact of life. I get that it doesn’t fit your little narrative, but it’s very clear at this point that your purpose here is simply to trash US Soccer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s obvious that no one is going over the synchronized movements and proper positioning to maintain a compact, organized defense. As a poster above me said, they’re clearly just being told what essentially amounts to “you’re gonna line up at xyz, go play” when it comes to roles and assignments

Yeah, I'm sure the coaches don't bother with, you know, coaching.
It has nothing to do with having a back like that has barely played together getting used to each other.

I can the the staff of the US team reading these comments right now and taking notes.

You are just parroting what US "soccer" media says when you blame the back line. As for the coaching, the guy who currently runs the team was an assistant coach on the coaching staff that mangled the qualifying campaign and even managed to lose to T&T's B team. In other words, we have the same incompetent coaching crew (minus Bruce Almighty) that sunk this ship in 2017.

I’m not the OP of the back line comment, but he has a good point, whether it’s a media copy or not. It takes a while playing together for players to get on the same page. That has nothing to do with coaching and everything to do with chemistry. It sounds like you’ve never played a team sport let anyone soccer.

At the team national level, if a team is disorganized, the primary fault is with the coaches, because they select players and provide them with tactical instructions. To say otherwise, deflects the responsibility. This coaching staff had the team for over a year so I am not buying the excuse that the players were not together long enough and need to gel. This is recreational soccer mentality. Also, it is stupid to blame the back line for a loss in a game, where we were under siege for most of the game, had no midfield play and struggled to maintain possession and create chances (only 2 shots on goal in the entire game). The narrative that the loss was the fault of four defenders. because they did not play long together, simply deflects the responsibility away from coaching staff and the federation.

^^^ let alone, not anyone

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s obvious that no one is going over the synchronized movements and proper positioning to maintain a compact, organized defense. As a poster above me said, they’re clearly just being told what essentially amounts to “you’re gonna line up at xyz, go play” when it comes to roles and assignments

Yeah, I'm sure the coaches don't bother with, you know, coaching.
It has nothing to do with having a back like that has barely played together getting used to each other.

I can the the staff of the US team reading these comments right now and taking notes.

You are just parroting what US "soccer" media says when you blame the back line. As for the coaching, the guy who currently runs the team was an assistant coach on the coaching staff that mangled the qualifying campaign and even managed to lose to T&T's B team. In other words, we have the same incompetent coaching crew (minus Bruce Almighty) that sunk this ship in 2017.

I’m not the OP of the back line comment, but he has a good point, whether it’s a media copy or not. It takes a while playing together for players to get on the same page. That has nothing to do with coaching and everything to do with chemistry. It sounds like you’ve never played a team sport let anyone soccer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s obvious that no one is going over the synchronized movements and proper positioning to maintain a compact, organized defense. As a poster above me said, they’re clearly just being told what essentially amounts to “you’re gonna line up at xyz, go play” when it comes to roles and assignments

Yeah, I'm sure the coaches don't bother with, you know, coaching.
It has nothing to do with having a back like that has barely played together getting used to each other.

I can the the staff of the US team reading these comments right now and taking notes.

You are just parroting what US "soccer" media says when you blame the back line. As for the coaching, the guy who currently runs the team was an assistant coach on the coaching staff that mangled the qualifying campaign and even managed to lose to T&T's B team. In other words, we have the same incompetent coaching crew (minus Bruce Almighty) that sunk this ship in 2017.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s obvious that no one is going over the synchronized movements and proper positioning to maintain a compact, organized defense. As a poster above me said, they’re clearly just being told what essentially amounts to “you’re gonna line up at xyz, go play” when it comes to roles and assignments

Yeah, I'm sure the coaches don't bother with, you know, coaching.
It has nothing to do with having a back like that has barely played together getting used to each other.

I can the the staff of the US team reading these comments right now and taking notes.

Oh we can’t critique things now? Make as many excuses as you want, all it will breed is more mediocrity. Your comment about the staff going through the comments is cute, but neither here nor there.

Mr. S. himself said the players won't be overcoached and he is true to his word, lol.

Anonymous wrote:It’s obvious that no one is going over the synchronized movements and proper positioning to maintain a compact, organized defense. As a poster above me said, they’re clearly just being told what essentially amounts to “you’re gonna line up at xyz, go play” when it comes to roles and assignments

Yeah, I'm sure the coaches don't bother with, you know, coaching.
It has nothing to do with having a back like that has barely played together getting used to each other.

I can the the staff of the US team reading these comments right now and taking notes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:James is a world class player, if you allow him to shoot in the box, he will place it 9 times out of 10 where he wants it. We don't have anyone even close to his level, Pulisic included. Scissor kick was indeed low probability, but Colombia already had a lead after scoring 3 goals and fully controlled the game.

James is fantastic, but he hits that shot about 10% of the time if he's lucky.
Granted, that's compared to about 1% for anyone else, but still.

I have to disagree, I think he hits that shot at a higher rate maybe 50% of the time. I know it is pretty unbelievable but this is how it is in other countries. The way a pitcher in the majors has control and can hit the corners is how these professionals control the ball with their feet.

Anonymous wrote:James is a world class player, if you allow him to shoot in the box, he will place it 9 times out of 10 where he wants it. We don't have anyone even close to his level, Pulisic included. Scissor kick was indeed low probability, but Colombia already had a lead after scoring 3 goals and fully controlled the game.

James is fantastic, but he hits that shot about 10% of the time if he's lucky.
Granted, that's compared to about 1% for anyone else, but still.

It’s obvious that no one is going over the synchronized movements and proper positioning to maintain a compact, organized defense. As a poster above me said, they’re clearly just being told what essentially amounts to “you’re gonna line up at xyz, go play” when it comes to roles and assignments

Your observations are not player personnel related, but rather a result of zero tactical work that the current coaching staff does. The coaches just give the players the formation and tell them to play hard and direct and try to make something happen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's been over a year since USMNT had a head coach. We just got crushed by Colombia. Michael Bradley was called up to provide leadership after his club failed to qualify for MLS play offs. Are we making progress? Who is going to be hired as the head coach? Are we wasting valuable time?

They said the new coach would be announced around Nov. 1.
They didn't get crushed. They were missing their three best midfielders and did pretty well against one of the better teams in the world.
The core of the team is both younger and better than the US has ever had, with far better team pedigrees.
Heading in the right direction.

And yes, Bradley should never be on the field again.

I hope the midfielders make a substantial difference. The defending was awful, and has been consistently awful for the USMNT for some time. The back line lacked peripheral awareness, speed, appropriate, appropriate distance/positioning from ball, spacing, and energy. They were a disaster, and it was not just the starting left back. It is frankly difficult to understand how and why the US cannot identify players with more energy and athleticism in the back, and perhaps a touch of game savvy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not just the score line, it's the quality of play. We had no cohesion and only had 38% possession (ESPN number) and only 2 shots on goal. Our two opportunistic goals make the result look more respectable, but we did not look like we belonged on the same field.

Our two goals weren't opportunistic...they both came from very nice build up play.

You are mistaken. The first goal came from a long cross with our midfielder having to sprint extra hard just to get to it. The second one came from a direct two-pass counter (Green to Weah to Wood) with a through ball to Wood who was sandwiched between two defenders. Both goals came from "low probability of success" plays.

I don't see anyone complaining about Colombia's "low probability of success" plays...James' crazy shot on the first goal, the scissor kick, and the gift from Robinson's misplays.
I'm sure if the teams were reversed, you'd be complaining that the US didn't have anyone that could make a pinpoint pass like Weah, or someone with the filed vision to make the long cross to start off the other goal.

I don’t see how your diatribe makes our 2 goals be considered “very nice buildup play”

James is a world class player, if you allow him to shoot in the box, he will place it 9 times out of 10 where he wants it. We don't have anyone even close to his level, Pulisic included. Scissor kick was indeed low probability, but Colombia already had a lead after scoring 3 goals and fully controlled the game.