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The USMNT Thread


HailtotheYo

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

So Friday was pretty awesome. Dempsey came back and scored a great hat trick, Pulisic played a hand in four goals, Howard is back, our GD is now back in the positives, and we're only a point off third now.

Tonight is a completely different beast. Panama will remember San Zusi from 2013, they're going to be pissed after the loss to T&T, and it's an away game in CONCACAF.

I'm hoping that Besler comes in for Brooks. I expect Beasley, Bedoya, and Jones to come in for Villafana, Lletget, and Nagbe. I'm okay with a point tonight, but getting a win will be phenomenal.

Game is on BEIN for those who have it.

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We got the point ... we're good. 

Pulisic is fucking amazing.  Fuck off Jermaine Jones, you now are just in the damned way.  Bradley is GREAT as a 6 .... but doesn't work with you.  I thank you, but it's time for you to POOF and be fucking gone (or help our Gold Cup squad out). 

VERY encouraged by the play and this was without Cameron or Johnson available across the back (Johnson on left side of mid even).

I'm pretty sure Chandler will get another call (though Lichaj was said to be getting a call had he not been injured) but I guess his league form/minutes warrant at least ONE MORE look (though I'm done with it at this point).

 

All in all we got exactly what we needed but the Honduras match gave quite a bit more to the squad. 

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  • 6 months later...

Well, hopefully it's house cleaning time. From the top with Gulati, to Bruce Arena, to many of the players. Why we wanted to play the attacking diamond formation, on the road, on a bad pitch, when you only need a point... So fucking stupid.

All three keepers need to be done. I'd only be fine with Guzan serving a back up role to mentor. Yedlin is arguably the only defender I keep. Villafana is certainly not the answer at left back; he is awful. Cameron is most likely done considering his age. Besler is the only one worth potentially keeping around.

Up top, the attack should stay what it is, I think. For all the stick he gets, Altidore is decent, and he had good chemistry with Wood and Pulisic.

I'm all about Pulisic being the #10 of this team, and playing behind those two strikers. But if that's the plan, we need to have an energetic midfield, capable of providing defensive cover. We haven't done that, and it bit us in the ass.

With that being said, it's time for Michael Bradley to be done too. As a captain, he failed this team. No leadership. Ponderous. Not enough energy. It's time for new blood.

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Gulati has been amazing for the USMNT from a business and commercial standpoint, truthfully. He is a major part of why we have so much money in our federation right now. I'm not sure if replacing him is honestly going to do much for what is wrong with our country.

Our youth programs continue to be awful. Pay to play for profit, uneducated coaching, no next level training for that 15-18 age group. Those are the real issues for me. We need to use all this excess money to help get lower income kids better access to club soccer, not being turned down because their families can't afford several thousand a year for club fees. We need to properly educate coaches, and when it comes to obtaining coaching licenses, it shouldn't be the several thousand dollars it costs. MLS needs to do more with their sides setting up academies as well. Until that happens, we will continue to have major issues. 

As for the next manager, I want someone who will restore heart to this side. I don't think a foreign manager does that. I know a lot of people have talked about trying to get Tata considering his success with Atlanta, but I'm all for Vermes. He's done consistently excellent work with SKC, built a project, and deserves a chance.

As for Arena, he is still hands down the best manager in MLS history. I would take him at the Union in a heart beat.

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On 10/13/2017 at 11:13, It's Pronounced Zoom-E said:

Gulati has been amazing for the USMNT from a business and commercial standpoint, truthfully. He is a major part of why we have so much money in our federation right now.

...

Our youth programs continue to be awful. Pay to play for profit, uneducated coaching, no next level training for that 15-18 age group. Those are the real issues for me.

These two things are linked, though. Gulati basically defended pay-to-play today. He's very good at making the federation money and at navigating politics at the international level, but he's absolutely a part of the problem. He's not the whole problem, but it's not going to be solved with him there.

as for Arena, the moment he shows interest in coming back to MLS he'll get a job again, as he should, but I do think some of the reasons the US failed in the Hex were reflected in his final season with the Galaxy. I'd like to see how he does with a team like New England or DC United.

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Pay-for-play is such an enormous problem. Even beyond that American youth sports culture as a whole is so much about who you know, and it bleeds into soccer. Since our coaching at many levels is lackluster it compounds these problems even more. With the amount of kids who play soccer here there's no excuse to not have developed multiple world class players by now. If only German clubs can properly nurture our talent that's a huge red flag.

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26 minutes ago, MadJack said:

Does any MLS team have a good youth system? I seem to recall reading something about Houston's a while back...

A few. FC Dallas comes to mind immediately, they've signed an astonishing amount of academy players to their first team. RSL's is well-regarded, LA Galaxy's as well. Seattle's produced two national team-level talents in DeAndre Yedlin and Jordan Morris (though the latter's had a bad sophomore year as a pro) and our youth teams have done really well in national and international competitions in the last couple years.

I'm sure there are more too, but even then and factoring in that a lot of the MLS teams have affiliate clubs in other parts of the country, there's still an incredible amount of work to be done.

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