USMNT coach.
- Thread starter SEPATOPTEN
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Admittedly I don't follow our national team that closely and have no clue who a good coach would be. My question is what are our objectives with the USMNT? Do we actually strive to win the World Cup? That feels like Wisconsin saying we are going to win the national college football championship or Iowa or Minnesota. Basically there is no shot. So is it to just qualify for the WC and get out the knockout round?
It is ridiculous that we are not more competitive but it is reality and I don't see it changing. The sport is not that popular here in terms of attracting elite athletes and the whole U.S. development system is not comparable to Europe or Latin America. I would love to think or dream that in 20 or 30 years we would be an elite soccer power on the level of Germany, France. Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil, etc but we have been waiting for this for the past 40 years and I don't see this ever happening.
We should strive to make at least the quarters of the WC but making the Semi should be the ultimate goal, which we have never made.
I always hear this argument about how not enough elite athletes play soccer in the USA compared to other top countries. How do we know this? It's not like Argentina or Spain have a bunch of world class, Olympic athletes playing on their national teams. I mean, have you ever seen Messi; he's very small and had to take growth hormones when he was young to get as tall as he is now, which still isn't very tall.? Yet, he's considered to be maybe the greatest player in history. Also, Spain, which is in the Euro Final, is made up largely of a bunch of small players.
I really believe that the difference is something other than athletic. The players on the US National Team are athletic enough, and most of these players are as athletic as any NFL or NBA player in their own way. I mean, in order to play this sport, you really can't be built like an NFL linebacker because the skills require something different.
Yes, it probably does. This program with its current group of players has underachieved greatly since December 2022.
Yes, I agree, and that was my point. I believe that it has much more to do with skill and tactics than athleticism.
A better athlete pool helps, but, yeah, the game changers like Messi, Ronaldinho, Modric, etc almost literally have the ball at their feet every waking hour when young - making ball control almost natural. Modric was a war refugee living in a crumbling hotel - he would play often alone in the hotel courtyard for 5-6 hours day after day. All the fancy traveling teams you join can’t make up for those hours of toil.
It’s pretty much the same story of basketball here. A poor kid gets home from school (or even skips it) and is playing until dusk - day after day.
Aside from Pulisic and a few other guys, our typical player has nowhere near the ball control necessary to play at higher levels - it’s why you see so much more loose passes and quick changes of possession in a Us-Panama game than say in a Croatia-Spain game
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Yeah, Modric is another example that I can use to defeat the "athleticism" argument. I mean, he looks anything like a world class athlete, yet he has been one of the main catalysts for all of the trophies that Real Madrid has won in the last decade and also the success of the Croation National Team.
lol. When “looks” define “athleticism”. Pretty hard to imagine that short and needing hormone shots means Messi isn’t a world class athlete, nor is Modric. They absolutely are.
agree. soccer isn't anywhere near as reliant on athleticism as USA sports like football or basketball.
If you travel abroad, especially south America, you'll see kids playing soccer every day on every street corner. They'll form a ball from discarded masking tape and play in the streets. While its popularity has increased in the USA, it isn't in the same universe as Europe or South America.
I do have to wonder what it might be like to put a LeBron James, a 27 year old LBJ, in front of the net for a corner kick though. Just let him rise up and header that thang into the back of the net. He'd probably be a liability in all other facets but unstoppable in set pieces.
Okay, but would LeBron James' physical mass be able to make the quick stops and starts that soccer players need to make, and also would he be able to match the speed to be able to blow past a defender or keep up with a striker?
I'm not denying that they're great athletes. My point is that the type of athleticism required of a soccer player is different from that required of a NFL or NBA player, and I believe that the USA soccer players are just as athletic as the Argentinian, Spanish, English, etc., players. Therefore, ther's something else missing that prevents the USA from competing with the really top nations on a consistent basis.
well, that was my point at the end of my post. he'd probably be a liability other than set pieces. I am not sure he can lug around that big body for that long either. I saw Renaldo, at 6'2" soar above others to get a header the other day. I have to believe someone like Halliburton (6'5") would be able to play if he developed the soccer skills instead of basketball.
What is missing is skill. A new coach won't change anything.
If you want to compete with Europe and south America then you will need a few THOUSAND youth coaches.
Several, now, if you google it including the NY Times. Here is yahoo sports
Jürgen Klopp reportedly turns down negotiations for USMNT coaching job after Gregg Berhalter firing
Klopp's name has emerged as a potential replacement for Berhalter, but the former Liverpool coach is uninterested in an offer, per The Athletic.
sports.yahoo.com
Jesse Marsch will probably be next to say thanks, but No thanks. We will probably end up with Steve Cherundulo or Tab Ramos. I will hold out hope for Jesse.
Whatever it is we certainly don't have the culture, soccer infrastructure, type of players whatever to be a dominant soccer power. Making the quarters or sems in the WC once every 40-50 years seems to be our ceiling.
And he probably praised the officiating
