It's like they are running in sand.

No communication, no organization, and no real threat to score goals up top.

God we suck.

[Edited on February 6, 2013 at 5:59 PM. Reason : also, Chandler is the worst player I've ever seen in my entire life. He is AWFUL.]

2/6/2013 5:58:46 PM

First time the U.S. has not won their opening game of the Hex since '97 (Steve Sampson's team, 0-0 draw with Jamaica). The Hex came into being that edition of qualifiers, so the U.S. has never lost their opening game of the Hex.

The last time they lost their first game of the final round of qualifiers was 1989 in a pentagonal (Mexico was banned by FIFA that year), where they lost to Costa Rica 1-0.

To be a little fair to Chandler, he's probably never played in humid 90-degree weather if he's only played soccer in Europe. However, Carlos Costly made him look stupid. If he was so unclimitized to the weather conditions and that explains his play (if it's not that, I don't get the long argument on using him, was Germany really going to use that guy we saw today?), why didn't Klinsmann plan to make him a 2nd-half substitute?

[Edited on February 6, 2013 at 6:01 PM. Reason : /]

2/6/2013 5:59:50 PM

ok with the knee-jerk reactions

Chandler had a very bad game but he is going to be good for us. Or would you rather have Bornstein back?



^ you love the history lessons. Are you saying this is the worst US team since 1997? or 89? It was a very poor performance but what's your point?

[Edited on February 6, 2013 at 6:06 PM. Reason : .]

2/6/2013 6:04:05 PM

this is the worst team since the late '90s, the best U.S. team I ever saw was the team in 2005 up to when they qualified for the World Cup, that team had a solid back four that defended the goal and the penalty box like it was Fort Knox, our midfield would break all the time but that back four and Keller would never let the ball into the net; all those players have declined or got old, and we've never replaced them, that's why we play games against Honduras and they dribble the ball into the box with no pressure

[Edited on February 6, 2013 at 6:12 PM. Reason : /]

2/6/2013 6:09:43 PM

and that team didn't make it past the first round of the WC. okay.

2/6/2013 6:10:22 PM

Rough day for Germany B

2/6/2013 6:14:37 PM

do you want to have a rational argument or just be an asshole? you've not offered anything of worth

I said 2005 up to when they made the World Cup. They beat Mexico in Columbus 2-0 and once that happened Arena called off the dogs and put in a B-side. We had a spiritless scoreless draw with Guatemala, Costa Rica beat us 3-0 in Costa Rica, and when we came back in the new year for our warmups with our A-side players, we never regained our form we had in the runup to clinching qualification and it showed in the World Cup.

[Edited on February 6, 2013 at 6:18 PM. Reason : .]

2/6/2013 6:15:05 PM

Your ranting and raving about the USMNT is mostly because you've been against Klinsmann from day one. But this bullshit -

Quote :

"all those players have declined or got old, and we've never replaced them"

is not the fucking responsibility of a national team coach. Is it his fault his only options are untested MLS defenders and/or young players with no CONCACAF experience? If he plays Bocanegra instead of Gonzalez and Honduras scores, you'd be crushing him for playing old guys.

This game was terrible. The subs were all bullshit, except for Zusi who just didn't have any impact. Almost everybody was pleased with the starting lineup. People wanted Altidore? They got him. People wanted two forwards? They got it.

Bitching and comparing this team to a team fucking 15 years ago is being an asshole because there's absolutely nothing relevant about it. I'm all for having a rational argument. I just don't see what argument you're trying to make.

[Edited on February 6, 2013 at 6:22 PM. Reason : .]

2/6/2013 6:20:44 PM

The only real point to be made is we are not good. At all. And some magical infusion of talent isn't happening within the foreseeable future. Whoever the coach is at this point really doesn't matter. It's a frustrating stance to take, but it is what it is.

2/6/2013 6:29:06 PM

I'm sorry, I just disagree with that. We are not playing well right now. I'm not arguing that at all. I'm arguing the point of "this is the worst team since the late 90s" because it's just not true. Look at that roster and tell me the current one is the same level. Something isn't clicking for us right now but I don't think it's impossible to turn things around with this group of players.

The defense looked awful today but I still think it's a good young core that can be very good in the future. You've got to mature and get experience at some point. Dempsey is playing at a really high level. Bradley could be the best midfielder in our history. Last year was the most successful win/loss in USMNT history. We've gone to Russia, Mexico, and Italy and gotten results. It's not meaningful, yes, but it's something we've never done before.

Nitpick his lineups and subs or whatever but my main problem with Klinsmann and why I was glad to see him hired was I was hoping to see a change in mentality and it's just not happening. Sitting back and giving a Honduras team (full of MLS players, by the way) time and space while we hope for the best is a joke.

2/6/2013 6:41:56 PM

Thank you Jamaica!!!

2/6/2013 11:26:56 PM

just got back from Tegucigalpa, did anyone catch the score? my flight left around the 40th minute

2/6/2013 11:27:51 PM

This is the worst Mexico team since 1997.

2/6/2013 11:32:28 PM

WOW! Jamaica really blew it. They should have won.

2/7/2013 12:02:55 AM

The two draws in the other match's bodes well for the US.

2/7/2013 2:13:27 AM

Robbie Rogers

Retires and comes out at the same time

http://robbierogers8.moonfruit.com/

2/15/2013 12:04:45 PM

nice. not all that surprising, to be honest, but props to him. I wonder why he's retiring though.

2/15/2013 12:35:53 PM

lol nice work aimorris

Quote :

"U.S. Soccer ?@ussoccer Sometimes AC DC to start the day with. Cold Play throughout. RT @aimorris What music do you get pumped to? #AskJK"

3/11/2013 3:25:48 PM

haha, they cut off "Kraftwerk?" from the end. lol at Cold Play

3/11/2013 4:42:42 PM

Roster for Costa Rica & Mexico. Bradley, Dempsey, Zusi, and Edu all on a yellow too.

Quote :

"U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION (World Cup qualifying Caps/Goals) – Detailed Roster GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa - 5/3 SO), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire – 0/0), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake – 0/0) DEFENDERS (6): Tony Beltran (Real Salt Lake – 0/0), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City – 0/0), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City – 6/0), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy – 1/0), Clarence Goodson (Brondby – 5/0), Justin Morrow (San Jose Earthquakes – 0/0) MIDFIELDERS (9): DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla – 26/6), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake – 2/0), Michael Bradley (Roma – 20/5), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana – 1/0), Maurice Edu (Bursaspor – 10/0), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04 – 6/0), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht – 13/0), Brek Shea (Stoke City – 2/0), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City – 4/0) FORWARDS (5): Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar – 18/6), Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna – 2/0), Clint Dempsey (Tottenham Hotspur – 27/11), Herculez Gomez (Santos – 6/2), Eddie Johnson (Seattle Sounders FC – 12/10) The U.S. team has been hit with a rash of injuries as eight players are unavailable for the matches. Edgar Castillo (facial fractures), Timmy Chandler (hamstring), Steve Cherundolo (knee), Tim Howard (back), Fabian Johnson (hip), Jonathan Spector (ankle), Jose Torres (hamstring) and Danny Williams (illness)."

[Edited on March 18, 2013 at 1:27 PM. Reason : .]

3/18/2013 1:26:18 PM

Klinsmann credibility watch

really could have used Bocanegra's experience and leadership in the back

3/18/2013 1:31:25 PM

true but those defensive injuries are a killer. Think Klinsi made the decision to go without Boca a while ago.

3/18/2013 1:32:12 PM

That has to be one of the worst back lines we've ever fielded on top of not having Howard available.

WE

ARE

GOING

TO

DIE

3/18/2013 2:16:34 PM

Guzan was awesome against QPR, hopefully he continues his form. He's going to need to with that back line.

3/18/2013 3:17:36 PM

No Howard, and twelve caps amongst six defenders.

Seriously,

Quote :

"WE ARE GOING TO DIE"

3/18/2013 3:43:05 PM

I think Cameron and Gonzalez can be a good partnership. But, as for who plays on their flanks uhhhh... yeah...

3/18/2013 3:51:38 PM

^ yep. I think the pairing is fine for the future. I'd imagine Cameron slides out to the right and somebody like Edu plays CB. No clue about LB and I've seen Beasley's name tossed around on Twitter. We've seen that experiment before and it didn't turn out well. No thanks.


different situation and the opponent's roster won't be the same but we were all saying this exact stuff last year before the Azteca friendly and look how that turned out. Bocanegra is fucking 33 years old. We have to play new guys at some point

[Edited on March 18, 2013 at 4:10 PM. Reason : .]

3/18/2013 4:09:19 PM

http://aol.sportingnews.com/soccer/story/2013-03-19/jurgen-klinsmann-us-mens-soccer-coach-national-team-usa-american-world-cup-2013

Players go off the record and trash Klinsmann. I think Klinsmann has obvious tactical problems but a lot of stuff in here is on the players, in my opinion. Sounds like most are just upset Bob isn't around and a lot of the "regulars" aren't either.

Quote :

""They want us to play the beautiful game, but we’re not a technical team like the Germans. We’re not Spain or Brazil,” the player said. “What we’re good at is we work hard, we fight and we compete. We have great athletes and we’re a good counterattacking team. Maybe we need to go back to what we’re good at.”"

And this kind of quote just pisses me off. You don't need to be Spain/Brazil to compete against CONCACAF teams.

3/19/2013 1:42:02 PM

sounds like they're still enamored with the "American Ideal" of always being the hardest working team on the field

that was cute a decade ago, but come on......

3/19/2013 1:50:02 PM

agreed.

3/19/2013 1:54:26 PM

Well, that is certainly alarming.

3/19/2013 2:00:46 PM

That's one hell of an article to be honest

3/19/2013 3:19:43 PM

Honestly, it sounds like klinnsman is in way over his head. I'm not a big fan of jermaine jones either and I don't think he should be the automatic starter that it seems like he is at the moment.

3/19/2013 3:43:21 PM

I think Jones is a good player. I just don't think Klinsmann plays him the right way. He's not the type of player like an old school Gerrard sitting behind the forwards and he's definitely not a RM.

I honestly haven't had very many issues with Klinsmann's roster and lineup selections in WCQs. I think with a healthy Shea, Donovan, and Cherundolo - players that I'm sure Klinsmann would start - this team looks a lot different than the narrow lackluster team we've seen lately. Now, I can't speak to his specific tactical instruction and/or halftime adjustments but it's definitely clear there's something lost in translation and that's all on the coach.

Anybody throwing Klinsmann under the bus over Carlos Bocanegra needs to get a clue. That dude was done a long time ago. Blame him for not developing chemistry with new a CB pairing earlier, definitely. But leaving out Bocanegra is not a mistake.


[Edited on March 19, 2013 at 4:09 PM. Reason : clarify dat]

3/19/2013 4:03:30 PM

Didn't read the article but from the quote, players are refusing to play a balanced game based on short passing? This is the CONCACAF. The only team the US should worry about is Mexico. For god's sake, Swansea can play a brilliant short passing game and the US can't? This is on the players. Get with the program, do what Klinsmann wants. Going back to the old ways clearly hasn't worked.

3/19/2013 8:45:14 PM

You should read the article.

3/19/2013 9:13:54 PM

Quote :

"Sounds like most are just upset Bob isn't around and a lot of the "regulars" aren't either."

Sigh...I love eurosnobs.

It's more this group of players just aren't as good as the last generation. That or CONCACAF has greatly improved...which they have, if you don't realize that you're just ignorant on soccer in the region. MLS has given Caribbeans and Central Americans an intermediate level of play week in, week out higher than what they could do and get paid at home, and in turn Timmy Chandler of the German league gets made to look like a fool by a Honduran that plays in MLS for a living. Ironically, people on BigSoccer had spent 2100 posts over 2 years on one thread on this guy wondering if he would be capped by the U.S.

The assholes that make up most of the American soccer fanbase on the internet all blamed Bradley for this current players' generation being not as good, put in their messiah Klinsmann they skewered Sunil Gulati for not hiring Klinsmann after Arena got axed and instead doing the unsexy pick in Bradley in 2006, and then those assholes that clamored for Klinsmann learned what everyone that watched Bayern Munich or the 2006 World Cup could've told you, which is Klinsmann has little tactical acumen. Klinsmann to use a Mexican soccer reference is Hugo Sanchez and Bradley would be Ricardo Lavolpe.

Quote :

"He's a frightening mixture of Hugo Sanchez, Ruud Gullit, Isiah Thomas, and Rex Ryan. Would throw Sven-Goran Eriksson in there, but that would be giving JK too much credit."

Quote :

"Isiah is an unfair comparison. If we had lost to Antigua last fall, then I'd say he could be compared to Isiah. Sanchez is actually a good analogy. Sanchez was a former soccer star talked a lot of hot air about what an idiot the current national coach was and how he'd do better running Mexico. Once in place, did about the same as Lavolpe. Klinsmann's massive backers on BigSoccer talked a lot of hot air about what idiots Arena and Bradley were as national coaches, Bradley's hiring demonstrated everything that was wrong with American soccer and Klinsmann represented everything on how it could be better, Bradley being hired instead of Klinsmann shows why Sunil should be fired (funny how people have forgotten that narrative after Klinsmann's hiring and it's now become BigSoccer fan wisdom that Klinsmann is Sunil's Best Friend Forever), give the team a more Latin style, and put in place a top-down change in the structure of U.S. Soccer starting with the youth soccer system. "

Instead of a Latin style, he's brought in 5 Germans with American ties, Germans maybe being the least Latin players in the world. (Going Latin I have no issue with. Look at the changing demographics of the country and what ethnic groups play soccer most, our national team in the future will be some kind of English-style/Mexican-style hybrid.) And I've yet to find any sign of him tackling the youth soccer system. But hey, like a guy running for president, it sounded good when he said it and it fooled people.

You wanna know why our results struggle? Our back four is shit (that and straight up the middle in the midfield is suffocating the ball flow...and we don't have wings). That back four was the backbone of our team forever. When they fell off, so did the team's performance. Run the goals against from Arena to Bradley to Klinsmann, you can tell when the back four got old and no good replacements stood up. Bocanegra's done or close to done, but none of the guys that've replaced him have performed any better than him even in his advanced age state. That's not a good thing. This is what happened to the 1998 team.

And if you are going to put in new backs, which is a very good thing to do with the state of our team, the first game of the Hex isn't the fucking place to do it! If he wants to put Bocanegra out to pasture and try Cameron and Gonzalez as a pair, fair enough, but why did he wait til Honduras to start those two together? We had a ton of friendlies last year, we had Canada earlier this year, try them together then. Gonzalez lost us the draw in Honduras with the mistake he made on the 2nd goal.

[Edited on March 19, 2013 at 11:03 PM. Reason : /]

3/19/2013 10:49:17 PM

So you are blaming 5 talented Germans with American ties for the recent drop in form? I agree the back 4 is the reason the US has struggled but Bocanegra isn't an upgrade and there are no replacements besides the ones Klinsmann has picked. (how is that his fault?) Its not surprising that you don't believe the German players to be talented, given you argument for Latin flair. Chandler is probably the most talented defender the US has at its disposal. Give the team a more latin flair? The team isn't built on a players ethnicity but talent. Klinsmann couldn't have picked a better team. The only one you could argue should be in the 23 man squad is Bocanegra, and I completely agree with him being left out. At 33 he should be no where near the team.

The US will qualify for the World Cup and you will be thanking Klinsmann when his back 4 gets consistent match time, especially those German players you love to deride. Germany is the 4th best league in the world, don't even bother comparing MLS players with Bundesliga talent.

[Edited on March 20, 2013 at 2:21 AM. Reason : .]

3/20/2013 2:17:17 AM

IMStoned

Skimmed through the article. Opinion doesn't necessarily change. There are conflicting reports and Bocanegra himself has said Klinsmann is a straight talker and provides feedback. The changing tactics bit, if true is a bit confusing but I would give him more than 1 game against a tough Honduras side before laying the blame squarely on him. The player who derides him has basically said they aren't good enough to play technical football. He has given up before even trying.

And then you have players like Donovan. Who decides to have a "break." This is just ridiculous. Biggest American footballer has pretty much quit on his team. A player like that would be crucified in Europe. I hope Donovan is left out of the World Cup Squad altogether. He has proven he doesn't have leadership qualities. Klinsmann needs to play a settled backline and if Bradley can regain his form, then that would be enough for the US. Stuart Holden may be on the road to recovery as well. Could be a huge boost for the national team. Klinsmann will have the team ready by the time they land in Brazil.

3/20/2013 2:34:15 AM

Quote :

"When Klinsmann reached out to his old friend for help with the national team, Vasquez was working with kids as the director of Real Salt Lake’s academy in Arizona."

ouch.

3/20/2013 2:35:35 AM

Quote :

"On that level that we operate," Klinsmann told Sporting News on Sunday, "and maybe I’m a bit different from whoever was there before, you expect players to adjust right away to different tasks on the training field, to different formations, to different ways of solving problems. That goes back basically to leaving their comfort zone. We do that in training sessions, too. And, yeah, it makes them kind of worried."

This pretty much sums it up. This is how European leagues work and if you want to play with the big boys you have to play like the big boys. About time someone stopped spoon feeding them.

3/20/2013 2:41:00 AM

^ yeah that's how i felt. the players sound like giant babies here.

3/20/2013 2:48:04 AM

Quote :

"Sigh...I love eurosnobs."

This isn't the first time you've called me that and it still doesn't make sense. I watch plenty of MLS, CONCACAF CL, been to tons of RailHawks games, etc. Just because somebody knows more than you about soccer doesn't make them a eurosnob.

What I said wasn't a knock on Bob. It was a knock on players unable or unwilling to adapt to a new coach and his new coaching style. They can disagree with what he does all they want but he's the coach and it's on them if they're still talking about a coach and that coach's tactics from two years ago.

I skimmed through most of your bullshit because it's the same stuff you always say and crying about Arena and Bradley and why Klinsmann was hired and why he shouldn't have been is a waste of time at this point.

Quote :

"If he wants to put Bocanegra out to pasture and try Cameron and Gonzalez as a pair, fair enough, but why did he wait til Honduras to start those two together? "

I agree. And I've said as much. But blaming this all on ze Germans is just lazy.

yo, my man wazza31 is doing work up in here. I agree with every single thing he has said, especially the Donovan stuff. I hope Landy is done for good if he's going to abandon his team in this spot.

[Edited on March 20, 2013 at 8:10 AM. Reason : .]

3/20/2013 8:09:09 AM

Quote :

"Germany is the 4th best league in the world..."

I hate statements like this. It's straight gibberish.

also

3/20/2013 9:48:00 PM

^ you are going to argue that the MLS comes close to the Bundesliga?

3/21/2013 12:40:40 AM

Top to bottom, Germany is either 2nd or 3rd best in the world. Italy has fallen off hard and outside of the top 5 teams in Spain that league is terrible. Unless you meant the Russian league or something.

3/21/2013 2:12:29 AM

^ I agree. I just said 4th but I def. think its the 2nd or 3rd. So Costa Rica tonight, 2-0 USA.

3/22/2013 10:25:56 AM

Hope I'm wrong but I just can't see us keeping a clean sheet. I'll go with 2-1

3/22/2013 10:46:26 AM

Is there a good reason this game doesn't start until 10:11 pm? Seriously, it's a home game...didn't someone think a start before 8 pm local time might be better?

3/22/2013 10:53:16 AM

Cause it's in Denver, which means local start will be 8:10?

3/22/2013 11:27:38 AM