US World Cup Qualifying

[ZooCougar]

Out of curiosity, how do you blow up college soccer? You think the USSF has the power to tell the NCAA what it can and can't do?

If you are saying the infrastructure isn't there to get us to challenge for a world cup, well, duh. If you are saying we have to accept last night's level of play, that's crazy. We have made one World Cup QF and have never in the modern era failed to get out of a first round not played in Europe.

Players quit on a coach. Doesn't matter why. Makes it time for a new coach.

The problem is our top Academy players are still being routed to college soccer, where the training is horrible and the season is still too short. College Soccer is where the players who have little to no chance at a pro career should go. By the time a player graduates college he's at an age where he should be an established professional.

We made a QF playing about the same as we did in Brazil. We lucked out getting Mexico in the first knockout game. I was there at every game in 2002. Portugal was a great win, but we got ran off the field by a Poland team that had been eliminated.

Had Korea not scored a goal against Portugal, we would have gone home. So let's look at 2002 in the proper light.

 

[ZooCougar]

I agree. I have no idea how they run Guzan out there ever again.

Who was the joker on the football board claiming the US was one of the 8 best teams in the world. LOL.

Which thread?

 

[ZooCougar]

You guys do realize that Bruce Arena will be brought in as a stop gap right? Long term, we're looking at someone like Peter Vermes or Dom Kinnear. Both play high press, coach to foul and basically play thugball.

This is so depressing.

 

[whaler11]

When we get some Don Garber suckboy who wants to start Ethan Finley or Graham Zusi over Johnson and Pulisic you won't be singing the same tune.

Firing Jurgen won't make Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore not suck.

With an MLS suckboy in charge we'd never get players like Jordan Morris and Bobby Wood on the big team this early. The idiots who run MLS wouldn't even have the sense to play Christian Pulisic this early since they have no incentive to develop younger players earlier. They probably would have done something dumb like send him to play at Wake Forest or something.

So yeah, it's time to replace him. But it won't fix any of the root issues that have kept the nation from progressing. Nobody wants to blow up ODP and College Soccer because those are sacred cows, one financially lucrative and another emotional.

Hate to sound Waylonesque, but in 2018 I'll be saying "I TOLD YOU SO".

The next guy may very well be worse but what else can they do?

 

[whaler11]

Which thread?

The thread where everyone jumped all over me for saying that college soccer sucks to watch.

One of the thread where someone was blabbing about not being a fan anymore because they suck.

 

[ZooCougar]

The next guy may very well be worse but what else can they do?

Hopefully we see a stopgap type coach and bring in another international guy in the winter. I can't think of one American I have confidence in. They are all so beholden to MLS which is the only place they can realistically go when their USMNT days are over. You either sing the party line or ownership blackballs you.

 

[ZooCougar]

The thread where everyone jumped all over me for saying that college soccer sucks to watch.

One of the thread where someone was blabbing about not being a fan anymore because they suck.

Title? College soccer sucks out loud. Watching USL is almost as bad, but at least they are pros and play year round.

 

[businesslawyer]

The problem is our top Academy players are still being routed to college soccer, where the training is horrible and the season is still too short. College Soccer is where the players who have little to no chance at a pro career should go. By the time a player graduates college he's at an age where he should be an established professional.

We made a QF playing about the same as we did in Brazil. We lucked out getting Mexico in the first knockout game. I was there at every game in 2002. Portugal was a great win, but we got ran off the field by a Poland team that had been eliminated.

Had Korea not scored a goal against Portugal, we would have gone home. So let's look at 2002 in the proper light.

I fully agree with you that college soccer is not the best way to develop talent. Neither is college basketball. But it's for players to make that choice balancing a lot of different factors.

 

[ZooCougar]

I fully agree with you that college soccer is not the best way to develop talent. Neither is college basketball. But it's for players to make that choice balancing a lot of different factors.

I think we have to give them better choices. If we're going to continue to prop up college soccer then reform it so that it actually is a decent development platform. But, schools won't do that because then they have to build another field for the Lacrosse team.

MLS depresses the incentive to sign younger players even to home grown deals, because the wages for a young signing are artificially limited.

The United States Soccer Federation is probably the only country that still doesn't make solidarity payments to developmental clubs when players are sold. So these developmental clubs have little incentive to put more elite players on scholarship. When an MLS player is sold, the league takes 30% of the fee and the club gets the rest, if they want to use that money to sign a designated player, they still get "taxed" around 500k towards the salary cap.

Financially and strategically, you couldn't design a dumber system. You can begin to understand why Jurgen encouraged young players to explore European opportunities.

 

[ZooCougar]

So I think if Jurgen doesn't resign by Friday then he will be canned. Otherwise Sunil Gulati might lose his job as well.

 

[whaler11]

Title? College soccer sucks out loud. Watching USL is almost as bad, but at least they are pros and play year round.

As I have said before and Pal and othes with remind you

It's in there

 

[ZooCougar]

This is what concerns me about Arena.

Bruce Arena unhappy foreign-born players picked for U.S.

 

[JSM1970]

Agreed, college soccer is awful for developing elite players.

Identify the top 25+ players in the U14-U19 age groups via the ODP program and either send to European academies or this super academy in KC the USA Soccer group has established.

These would be elite players who could eventually go to college or the pro circuit if they excel. This way we'd always have an elite funnel of players and can more closely monitor and control their development. I get the awful MLS teams are creating or have academies but they are the awful MLS teams, and not the academies like Bayern, Man U, Barca, PSG, etc. The European clubs would also have promising young talent in their control to develop for the professional level.

Lastly, Michael Bradley sucks, 2nd most important position on pitch after goalie and he is terrible.

The problem is our top Academy players are still being routed to college soccer, where the training is horrible and the season is still too short. College Soccer is where the players who have little to no chance at a pro career should go. By the time a player graduates college he's at an age where he should be an established professional.

We made a QF playing about the same as we did in Brazil. We lucked out getting Mexico in the first knockout game. I was there at every game in 2002. Portugal was a great win, but we got ran off the field by a Poland team that had been eliminated.

Had Korea not scored a goal against Portugal, we would have gone home. So let's look at 2002 in the proper light.

 

[ZooCougar]

Agreed, college soccer is awful for developing elite players.

Identify the top 25+ players in the U14-U19 age groups via the ODP program and either send to European academies or this super academy in KC the USA Soccer group has established.

These would be elite players who could eventually go to college or the pro circuit if they excel. This way we'd always have an elite funnel of players and can more closely monitor and control their development. I get the awful MLS teams are creating or have academies but they are the awful MLS teams, and not the academies like Bayern, Man U, Barca, PSG, etc. The European clubs would also have promising young talent in their control to develop for the professional level.

Lastly, Michael Bradley sucks, 2nd most important position on pitch after goalie and he is terrible.

Soccer is different than many of the other sports we play in the US. In not many other team sports can you have a teenager turn pro and have the tools to succeed from day one.

Because of this the best players need to be identified and put into a professional environment as soon as possible. Think of them as elite Ballet or musicians. The problem is that USL is a less desirable outcome than going to college, but in Europe you have Academy kids making 10 grand a week to play for U-19 Premier League team.

In MLS they would rather pay Lampard and Gerrard millions than truly invest in development.

 

[JSM1970]

You can't blame the MLS. The way to fix the MLS would be for Champions League to let the MLS winner and runner-up in as part of the 32. They would have to play all the matches across the pound, but how much more interesting would that be and help the MLS become relevant internationally and really place a premium on developing elite talent.

Soccer is different than many of the other sports we play in the US. In not many other team sports can you have a teenager turn pro and have the tools to succeed from day one.

Because of this the best players need to be identified and put into a professional environment as soon as possible. Think of them as elite Ballet or musicians. The problem is that USL is a less desirable outcome than going to college, but in Europe you have Academy kids making 10 grand a week to play for U-19 Premier League team.

In MLS they would rather pay Lampard and Gerrard millions than truly invest in development.

 

[SubbaBub]

Based on last night alone, none of them should suit up again incliding Klinsmann. Not a single bright spot to be found.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Out of curiosity, how do you blow up college soccer? You think the USSF has the power to tell the NCAA what it can and can't do?

Title? College soccer sucks out loud. Watching USL is almost as bad, but at least they are pros and play year round.

I read somewhere that there was a movement to change college soccer and double the length of the season. Basically fall and spring, with a winter break in between. Many of the coaches evidently support this.

That said, I certainly enjoyed going to UConn soccer games when I was in Storrs. That doesn't mean that the quality of play was elite or anything (Donegan was good) but it was certainly entertaining.

I was interested to hear the announcer last night ripping MLS and the American soccer pipeline repeatedly.

 

[ZooCougar]

If USMNT fires Jurgen Klinsmann, here are the top candidates to replace him

 

[ZooCougar]

I read somewhere that there was a movement to change college soccer and double the length of the season. Basically fall and spring, with a winter break in between. Many of the coaches evidently support this.

That said, I certainly enjoyed going to UConn soccer games when I was in Storrs. That doesn't mean that the quality of play was elite or anything (Donegan was good) but it was certainly entertaining.

I was interested to hear the announcer last night ripping MLS and the American soccer pipeline repeatedly.

That was Thomas Rongen. He pretty much was part of the problem as a fired MLS Manager, fired NASL manager and former U-20 head coach. I think he also worked for Arena in 2002. He's dutch.

That college soccer reform has been talked about for a few years now. Not sure if it will be adopted but it would be better than what we have now.

I would love to see college teams participate in the US Open Cup or at least qualifying.

 

[HuskyHawk]

If USMNT fires Jurgen Klinsmann, here are the top candidates to replace him

That's not much of a list. Any other suggestions? What's your view on Porter?

 

[ZooCougar]

That's not much of a list. Any other suggestions? What's your view on Porter?

Better than Vermes and Kinnear. He's kind of got an edginess about him that I like. Kind of like KC, Portland has built some good teams without MLS bending the rules (like LA) or without gobs of cash. Definitely knows talent when he sees it, he developed Yedlin, Nagbe and Villafana.

I don't like Vermes because his game is all high press, lots of fouling and it's basically thugball. Kinnear is similar.

 

[Excalibur]

So I think if Jurgen doesn't resign by Friday then he will be canned. Otherwise Sunil Gulati might lose his job as well.

That would be worth it just so that I'd never have to hear from the people running my son's club that he's playing in the same club that the head of the USSF played for.

 

[Excalibur]

Better than Vermes and Kinnear. He's kind of got an edginess about him that I like. Kind of like KC, Portland has built some good teams without MLS bending the rules (like LA) or without gobs of cash. Definitely knows talent when he sees it, he developed Yedlin, Nagbe and Villafana.

I don't like Vermes because his game is all high press, lots of fouling and it's basically thugball. Kinnear is similar.

What about Oscar Pareja?

 

[Mots010]

If they want to can Klinsmann, I'm cool with it. But let's not pretend that some magical solution is out there that's going to make us much better than we are right now. Bruce Arena? We already fired him once.

International ball is funny. World Cup qualifying performances seem to carry almost no bearing on how you actually perform in the World Cup. The 2014 Hex was the best I've ever seen this team play for an extended period. We were clearly the class of CONCACAF. Meanwhile, Mexico needs a miracle to even qualify, and performs solidly in their group, and the Ticos make the quarters. Both probably looked better in that world cup based on the eye test.

 

[UConnDan97]

I agree. I have no idea how they run Guzan out there ever again.

Who was the joker on the football board claiming the US was one of the 8 best teams in the world. LOL.

King conn. I can't wait to see if he responds to my post tonight. Although, what were the chances that I knew what I was talking about when I told him he was crazy?

Oh yeah....100% chance...that's right...