It does take familiarity and that can be hard on a national team. But yeah, after 6 years or whatever we should see something better than this crap.
He's saying it's not athleticism and bases it on their performance in leagues that are actually harder than international play is. They have the athleticism to be good, but they don't play as well as they need to together. That's on the coach. Beyond coming up with an effective game plan it's really his most important job. Get really good professionals to play well and consistently together.
Jurgen Klopp would get this team close to a World Cup quarterfinal, at the very least. Hell, maybe even the most realistic guy I wanted: Jesse Marsch. I bet there are at least five AMERICAN coaches home and abroad that could get better results out of the talent on this squad.
Jurgen's biggest mistake was not biting the bullet and swallowing his pride and keeping Donovan on the World Cup squad in 14. It salted the Earth with a lot of people, including players, and I think in a lot of ways kept people around the organization from buying in. Then again, 4-6 years is about all you get out of a World Cup coach so it was probably time for him to move on when he got fired anyway.
This is a good post. Also, I think the fact that teams with MLS heavy rosters did not get grouped is important too. Also, when the US National team had MLS heavy rosters they also did not get grouped. In fact, they were non-called handball away from the World Cup semi-finals. As it turns out, actually playing is far more important than where the playing is. Maybe we should stop being upset if McKinnie wants to come home to play. Donovan played in the MLS and routinely was the best player on the field against teams with heavy premier league rosters.
I fear I’m really going to miss Klopp at Liverpool. That guy is beloved at Anfield.
None of those players are missing time due to lack of athleticism: inexperience due to youth, injury, and technical skill are all much bigger issues with our roster.
AMEN! And Donovan walked on loan to both Bayern Munich and Everton seamlessly from MLS. Even won a player of the month award for two different spells.
YES! Grit is so underrated and attitude are so underrated. And yes, we haven’t had that player with all three since Dempsey and Donovan.
Drop a boat load of cash on Klopp please!
Get on a flight today and find out tomorrow. He’s charismatic and would be a star at the WC here with media and fans. He loves the game, but the basically year round grid of the EPL was wearing on him. The National team only plays a couple of games here and there and then a summer tournament over a couple weeks. This would get him on the sidelines again with only a fraction of time committed vs EPL requires.
