Thoughts on Team USA

I think I believe something controversial: the problem with USA's soccer team right now is Jurgen Klinsmann.  I think he had a poor tournament.  Here's what it comes down: do you believe Klinsmann made the best he could of sub-standard talent or do you think he had enough talent and could've done better?  I'm going with the latter.

I think I understand why Klinsmann left Donovan off the squad: he needed Donovan to be a nice supporting veteran to settle things down from time to time (a la Demarcus Beasley) but Donovan (a la Kobe) still thinks of himself as the star of the team and would thus be a divisive force within the locker room.  That's fine, I get it.  If Donovan is gonna act like your best player while actually being your 6th best player then that's a hassle for a coach (especially in soccer) because it takes time and effort away from the overall mission.  I get it, that's fine.  And when its all said and done it was Green and Brooks that scored the goals, so no guarantee at all that Donovan would've had that joy.  I get it, that's fine.  I'm not here to argue that USA failed to advance to the quarterfinals because they didn't have Donovan.

But, damn, I can't count all the times in 4 games when I thought, 'Sure would be nice to bring in Donovan right here.'  He's not the best player on the team any more, he's not the focus, but, dude, he's still plenty good enough to be out there and even with him being a pain in the ass, he still could've helped a lot.  How can you leave a guy off your roster that can help you even if he is a pain in the ass?  Klinsmann clearly had no faith in his squad, all we did was play defense!  There was no attack whatsoever, no consistency in possession, and in the last two games, it seemed to be the plan to just play forever until a draw happens.  Donovan would've at least given the Americans some hope of possessing the ball upfront or shifting into a counter-attack.  The Bradley-Jones-Dempsey combo was never in tune and not terribly effective.

I can understand going into a defensive shell against the onslaught of Belgium or even the timing of the German attack.  But that was our posture against Ghana and Portugal, too.  I mean, it wasn't merely a tactical move, it was the ONLY strategy that Klinsmann was ready to employ.  Now, you tell me: how you gonna beat Germany or Belgium without scoring any goals?  Not gonna happen.  You feel more comfortable taking penalty kicks against Belgium?  Why?  That roster is filled with scorers!  Every single Belgian player today took a shot!  Each Belgian DEFENDER took at least two shots.  Dude, it was target practice out there today for Belgium.  And we withstood that for 90 minutes with, what seemed to me, no help from the coach.

Tim Howard was absolutely brilliant today.  Beslor, Beasley and Gonzalez were all terrific too, top effort from all of those guys.  But 30 more minutes of no American attack doomed that back line to give up 2 tough goals.  Feel bad for Howard--that guy left it out there today and now he's hanging an L on his resume.  Too bad.  But Klinsmann did nothing to alleviate that.  Indeed, he did everything to keep piling it on.  I get that Howard is the best player and you want to feature your best player, but come on, man, you can't just beat a goalie like he's a Persian rug and expect that to hold up.

I have decided I don't like Jurgan Klinsmann and, more than that, I don't think he's a good fit going forward.  What improvements will he bring about before 2016?  What could he improve?  What he needs is better talent, but I don't think he has any magic elixir for that, I think the American talent has been developing nicely for 20 years now.  Go back and look at the 1994 team--we're light years ahead of that team!  And I think the bulk of that development was before Klinsmann got here and its got its own momentum going forward that I would suggest has little or nothing to do with Jurgen Klinsmann. (Every time you see a story about concussions in the NFL, soccer and lacrosse are the big winners)  If Klinsmann is trying to increase the talent pool, then how can he be so unforgiving to his top players?  He wants better players but at some point he's got to have some player's-coach in him.  And it appears he simply does not respect the American youngsters to score goals.  And what's up with all the injuries?  Altidore, Beslor and Johnson all pulled hammies?  I'm calling out the coach.

I think I'm ready for Team USA to go out there and find a coach that sees good things in America's future instead of coach trying play soccer by stuffing 11 men into our own goal.  I have no idea who that coach is.  Is anyone interested in bringing back Bob Bradley or Bruce Arena?  I dunno.  Are there Europeans or South Americans or NCAA coaches that look at coaching USA as an interesting opportunity?  I bet there are.  I bet there are a lot of dudes that want this job.  And I suggest we try one of 'em out.