The following was submitted to 3four3. It does well at hitting the mark. Landon Donovan is painfully shallow and naïve calling for Jurgen Klinsmann’s firing if USMNT loses to Mexico in upcoming CONCACAF matchup. Firing Jurgen is akin to cutting off your nose to spite your face. Despite a player pool and youth pipeline chock-full […]
USMNT
World Cup Thoughts relevant to American Soccer – My Straight Talk
The bottom line 1. We won 1 out of 4 games. 2. We were inferior in 3 out of 4. Yes, you heard right … IN·FE·RI·OR. Ghana, Germany, Belgium. Yes, we won the game vs Ghana, but we were inferior – that’s football. Don’t understand that? Sorry. The Portugal game? We were on par. Jurgen […]
Caleb Porter Took A Dump All Over US Soccer
Here’s the number one lesson to take away from the U23 performance against Mexico: People have a lot to learn about this sport. I mean A LOT! Stop making excuses for not being able to play dominant possession-centered soccer. You can’t play that way because this is college soccer. You can’t play that way because […]
3 Scenarios on Klinsmann and the National Team Player Pool
I have no verdict on Klinsmann yet, but I have splashed some thoughts in the comments area. In short, I’m not exactly thrilled and the reasons have nothing to do with score-lines. What seems to surface time and again, is the notion that the national team player pool “is what it is“. The implication being […]
U-23 Camp Impressions
I attended 4 of the sessions and both games versus Klinsmann’s senior team. Caleb Porter First and foremost, if our praise for Caleb Porter hasn’t been evident, let me repeat, Caleb Porter is legit. Previously, we’ve been judging him solely from watching his Akron team (on TV and in person). Meaning we’ve never seen him […]
Klinsmann’s Roster Decisions Leading up to World Cup Qualifying
In his last post, Jacques posed an interesting question: Is it acceptable/effective to select experienced players with incomplete skill sets and little tactical malleability? Or, is the system Klinsmann seeks to implement better served by selecting players with less pedigree but with skill sets better suited to succeed in a possession based system? Experience or […]
USA vs Belgium: Dempseyfication
This is a guest post by Jacques Pelham. You can find more of his soccer writing at the Football Garden. Predictably, there are still many outstanding questions regarding Juergen Klinsmann and the US national team after Klinsmann’s second and third games as US coach. On Tuesday, the US demonstrated sustained effort for 90 minutes and […]
USA vs CRC: Turbulence
This is a guest post by Jacques Pelham. You can find more of his soccer writing at the Football Garden. On Friday, the US showed signs of progress and promise through its possession play and aggressive tactics without the ball. The revamped central midfield looked far superior as compared to the game against Mexico and […]
The Klinsmann Era , Game 1 (USA-Mex): Seeking consistency
This is a guest post by Jacques Pelham. You can find more of his soccer writing at the Football Garden. The Klinsmann era of U.S. Soccer began in earnest Wednesday with the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team facing Mexico in a friendly match just weeks after a deserved 4-2 defeat against the Mexicans in the […]
Klinsmann: Will He Go German on Us?
My Worry is German Soccer Everyone knows Germany is a consistent international power. They’re always a contender. Gary Lineker* once said: “Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win.” I think that would suit most people just fine. But you know what, German […]