The Jurgen Klinsman Experience

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 3:54 pm

Isn't that called matriculating the ball down the field?

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 6:49 pm

A_B wrote:Undefeated since bringing FIFA to its knees. We're probably bribing officials.

And the U-20 knockout round win, the U-23 win over England, the Women winning their first WC game. Great week for US soccer.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 10:51 am

Nonlinear FC wrote:http://www.mlssoccer.com/goldcup/2015/n ... ign=Unpaid

Very detailed breakdown of the Diskerud goal. It's very good in terms of breaking down all of the off the ball stuff that made this play so incredible. Share this with people you know that want to try and understand the sophistication and complexity involved with the game at this level.

thanks for the link.

I was traveling Wednesday, was at the hotel, which miraculously had Fox Sports 1 and the game, so I got to watch the whole game live. I know it was just a friendly, and against Germany's B/C team (kinda, but they had some A players in the line-up), but the way the US moved the ball and built attacks was...kinda stunning. Very, very well played soccer both tactics and skill. Hard not to take a whole lot of hope from that performance as you project forward.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 11:17 am

Nonlinear FC wrote:http://www.mlssoccer.com/goldcup/2015/n ... ign=Unpaid

Very detailed breakdown of the Diskerud goal. It's very good in terms of breaking down all of the off the ball stuff that made this play so incredible. Share this with people you know that want to try and understand the sophistication and complexity involved with the game at this level.

Good lord that was a great write-up.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 1:01 pm

tennbengal wrote:
I was traveling Wednesday, was at the hotel, which miraculously had Fox Sports 1 and the game, so I got to watch the whole game live. I know it was just a friendly, and against Germany's B/C team (kinda, but they had some A players in the line-up), but the way the US moved the ball and built attacks was...kinda stunning. Very, very well played soccer both tactics and skill. Hard not to take a whole lot of hope from that performance as you project forward.

I think it's harsh to call that a B team. A lot of the players Germany fielded were World Cup starters and others will be playing in Euro Qualifiers. Germany wasn't all out A team, but the US wasn't either. I think both teams had an even mix of A team players and young guys getting a look. Either way, the play has been tremendous. Probably the best I have ever seen out of a USMNT against halfway decent teams.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Sat Jun 13, 2015 7:18 pm

The Sybian wrote:
A_B wrote:Undefeated since bringing FIFA to its knees. We're probably bribing officials.
And the U-20 knockout round win, the U-23 win over England, the Women winning their first WC game. Great week for US soccer.

Is it a stretch to say it's the best week ever for US Soccer?

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:35 am

US of A v. Peru friendly @ RFK September 4th...that could be a fun evening (if nobody is crushed by falling concrete or bitten by a rabid raccoon)

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 5:58 pm

wlu_lax6 wrote:US of A v. Peru friendly @ RFK September 4th...that could be a fun evening (if nobody is crushed by falling concrete or bitten by a rabid raccoon)

Just picked up my tickets for this one. Picked the exact same seats I had for the 1993 US Cup Brazil v. England game. Presale through Sunday.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 12:48 pm

how and why did you remember what seats you had?

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 5:41 pm

Brontoburglar wrote:how and why did you remember what seats you had?

That game was very memorable. My dad, my buddy and I were surrounded by Brazilians with drums. We would not allowed to bring in peaches we had brought because they were deemed "a deadly weapon" but 50 lb steel drums were okay. We were in the top of RFK right on the 50 with our backs to the top of the stadium. Easy to remember where we sat.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 7:33 pm

wlu_lax6 wrote:
Brontoburglar wrote:how and why did you remember what seats you had?
That game was very memorable. My dad, my buddy and I were surrounded by Brazilians with drums. We would not allowed to bring in peaches we had brought because they were deemed "a deadly weapon" but 50 lb steel drums were okay. We were in the top of RFK right on the 50 with our backs to the top of the stadium. Easy to remember where we sat.

Ah, a man never forgets the first time he has his peach taken.

(I don't mean to be a dick, not putting down your comment)

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 7:34 am

Looks like I may get to see another German-American take the field for the US this September. German media is reporting that Andrew Wooten (SV Sandhausen, 2nd division) is getting a call up. Wooten is on an American in the dutch league type goal scoring hot streak (5 goals in the last 3 games). Wooten has been in the U-23 camp but never seen the field.

Wooten started his career with Wormatia Worms. They play in Worms, Germany. Only bummer is their crest has a dragon on it.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 8:40 am

Timmy Howard and Run DMB will be with the squad for the September Friendlies. Howard will be the #2 behind Guzan and Nick R will be the #3 (age 36). Just pushes the future farther down the road Yarbourgh (age 26), Hamid (age 24), and Johnson (and little Klinsman).

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 12:40 pm

A bit of club v. country issue
http://www.sbisoccer.com/2015/08/toront ... ore-125730" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 12:58 pm

I mean, further complicated by what Klinsmann did with Jozy at the Gold Cup. I'm sure he's tempted to tell him to take the call-up and shove it.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 6:10 am

U.S. Soccer changing age groups to go Jan 1 to Dec 31st instead of 8/1-7/31. This goes against school age grouping that everyone used to match international model for age groups. Seems like optimizing for the 0.05% instead of the majority of kids playing sports.

Also changes to small sided games and field sizes to encourage development.

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 6:27 am

Why would this be a problem for anyone other than boys born in August? /Gladwell'd

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 8:49 am

Other way around isnt it? Kids in December would get the short end.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 8:51 am

HaulCitgo wrote:Other way around isnt it? Kids in December would get the short end.

Both, as kids born in August/September no longer get the long end of the stick.

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 9:10 am

Gotcha. I dont like that many sports seem to be changing to a calendar year. They need to have the dates coincide with the sport calendar, otherwise kids get the short/long end in all sports. Could give a crap what the rest of the world does in soccer.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 9:26 am

It's pretty crappy for pretty much everyone who doesn't plan on making the US National team.

Means when my son is a senior, his Club work will pretty much be done, as he will be part of the Aug - Dec kids still finishing up HS while the Jan - July '01s will be starting college.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 2:01 pm

That is really my only issue. Kids want to play with their friends. For the small percentage that have a shot at college, pro, ODP, etc, this makes sense...for everyone else sports should be fun and played with/against your buddies. Splitting school classes is just not great.

Plus my son who was born 8/2 no longer has prime birth date.

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 2:13 pm

But cutoff dates for schools are different all around the country--you're never going to please everybody.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 2:28 pm

Rex wrote:But cutoff dates for schools are different all around the country--you're never going to please everybody.

true, but most schools start in the late summer.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:35 pm

Rex wrote:But cutoff dates for schools are different all around the country--you're never going to please everybody.

Generally, this change splits up classes. That kinda blows.

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:54 pm

But not everywhere. If it is calendar year where I grew up, then it would be 100% in line with school classes. If it were any other date cutoff, it would split up classes. Granted, I'm not really sure why this decision has to be made on a national basis in the first place.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 6:48 pm

Rex wrote:But not everywhere. If it is calendar year where I grew up, then it would be 100% in line with school classes. If it were any other date cutoff, it would split up classes. Granted, I'm not really sure why this decision has to be made on a national basis in the first place.

Where you grew up the school year starts January 1?

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 12:29 pm

Was going to continue the discussion that started with the poll question thread and realized I missed this discussion on the two new mandates. I've since attended my club season meeting and will add what I heard there to the discussion:

1) The age bracket stuff is nonsense and truly only positively affects 1 or 2 percent of the youth soccer players around the country. Aligning with the rest of the world is bunk. It just doesn't matter unless you get invited to play for one of the national development teams. It's not some huge tragedy, but the youngest age brackets almost always revolve around kids from the same school/neighborhood being coached by a volunteer dad or mom.

Here's the thing, though... A huge amount of attrition starts to hit at the U12 and especially U13 stage. That is, typically, when your kid needs to decide to go travel or not. At that point, you pretty late to the game on that choice, and, frankly, the "I want to play with my friends" is a lot less of a thing.

2) I'm fully on board with the bulk of the stuff around smaller field and goal sizes. Anyone that has watched a U8-U12 game has seen what's wrong with the current set-up. You get a goalie that can punt and you put your forwards in the starter blocks and it's kick and go. One of the biggest changes they are making is that goalies can't punt and the defense had to back up behind a new "blue line."

Now, coaches that played with this rule at a recent tournament said that a huge problem is that defending teams are just boxing the other team in for long stretches. It's essentially artificially forcing teams to play small ball. I say, fine, at the U8-U11 age, it's really not supposed to be about W-Ls... Force the kids to learn how to get out of tight spaces. BTW, there's no rule against rolling the ball out wide to a kid that can hoof it up over half field, which is what I'm sure is going to happen in a lot of cases.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 12:48 pm

I will say this about last night, and just in general... And it's likely something I've griped about in the past:

Klinsmann seems to want to prove to everyone that he is somehow smarter than all the manager's who have dealt with our player pool before him. And I don't just mean Bradley or Arena, I mean all of the club coaches who see these guys on a daily basis for 10.5 months out of the year (if not more.)

Playing a few players out of position in a meaningless friendly against Peru gets you a fairly random 2-1 win. Playing at least 3 players out of position (Ream, Cameron, Bradley, Bedoya off the top of my head) gets you the fucking tirefire we saw last night.

And here's my issue with all of that: What's the point, Juergen? What are you building strategically, formation-wise... player cohesion and combination-wise?

One of my biggest beefs is constantly square peg-round holing with Bradley. HE'S NOT GOOD AS A FALSE 10. He was completely out of sorts last night, because he was pressed too high and doesn't see the field well in that spot. That's Dempsey's spot, or Diskerud, or Johansson. Behind him, you've got Jones, which... Ok,fine, but he's notorious for being all over the damn place with his runs, leaving gaps behind him, and Bedoya, who is not used to that holding spot, and how had to cover for Xardes (I think, Yedlin was over with Cameron.. right) and fucking Tim Ream.

Tim Ream played left back against Brazil. I know we were missing folks over there, but holy shit. Tim Ream should not be on the field against Brazil, let alone partnered with defensive liability in Xardes.

That, alone, is enough for me to throw my hands up. Bedoya being pulled was an admission to this folly, but then instead of just saying he fucked up the formation, he threw Bedoya under the bus.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 1:11 pm

What nonlinear said.

Post by **Shirley** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 4:32 pm

I don't know the players enough to say who was placed in the wrong spot, but holy shit was that effort awful. That's the most inept I've seen a USA team look in years. Maybe decades. We are (or I thought we were) past the point as a national team where any team, Brazil or anyone, should make us look like a JV team. That was just awful.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Fri Sep 11, 2015 7:57 am

So Darlington Nagbe finally got his okay to suit up for USA. Nagbe's dad was a Liberian international. P.D.X. ---does he get a sniff by Jurgen?

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Fri Sep 11, 2015 9:34 am

wlu_lax6 wrote:So Darlington Nagbe finally got his okay to suit up for USA. Nagbe's dad was a Liberian international. P.D.X. ---does he get a sniff by Jurgen?

He's routinely dominated other USMNT (current & former) players in MLS games, so I think he gets a look. However, his skill set and positioning is so peculiar that unless Jurgen can find the perfect role for him, he may flop. Matt Doyle's take.

howard · Post by **howard** » Tue Oct 06, 2015 4:44 pm

Surely an unbiased opinion.

Landon Donovan: Jurgen Klinsmann should be fired if USA loses to Mexico

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Wed Oct 07, 2015 6:34 am

howard wrote:Surely an unbiased opinion.

Landon Donovan: Jurgen Klinsmann should be fired if USA loses to Mexico

Valid opinion but looks bad for it to come from Landon.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Wed Oct 07, 2015 10:36 am

As someone who will likely never get over Landon's omission from the Brazil squad, I have no problem with this. Juergen has put a lot of shit out in the media about how our soccer culture needs to evolve, specifically that players need to test themselves in countries/environments that don't put up with shitty soccer.

I won't restate the obvious. More people need to be talking about the troubling direction of this team. I am on record praising JK for what he's trying to do with US soccer. But, he has been "experimenting*" with this squad for a number of Friendly cycles, knowing we had this huge game looming. If that dicking around costs us this weekend, he absolutely needs to shoulder a large part of the blame.

* - I'm not even sure what you call what he's been doing with the roster. Any dude in Europe or Mexico with a loose connection gets called in, as do random old guys that won't be around in 2018 like Wando and Evans. If I see Tim Reem in a US jersey again, I'm going to vomit.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Wed Oct 07, 2015 12:34 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote:As someone who will likely never get over Landon's omission from the Brazil squad, I have no problem with this. Juergen has put a lot of shit out in the media about how our soccer culture needs to evolve, specifically that players need to test themselves in countries/environments that don't put up with shitty soccer.

I won't restate the obvious. More people need to be talking about the troubling direction of this team. I am on record praising JK for what he's trying to do with US soccer. But, he has been "experimenting*" with this squad for a number of Friendly cycles, knowing we had this huge game looming. If that dicking around costs us this weekend, he absolutely needs to shoulder a large part of the blame.

* - I'm not even sure what you call what he's been doing with the roster. Any dude in Europe or Mexico with a loose connection gets called in, as do random old guys that won't be around in 2018 like Wando and Evans. If I see Tim Reem in a US jersey again, I'm going to vomit.

Some really questionable decisions. Jurgen just doesn't seem to like Mix. I think he brings so much energy and creativity to the game, especially coming on as a sub when the offense is out of ideas. His defense has improved tremendously, IMO, which had been Jurgen's kncok on Mix.

Spector, Ream, and Alvarado scare the shit out of me. Orozco used to, but he has improved. I still don't have faith in him. Maybe he is bringing Wondo for experience, but I would much rather have Bobby Wood in camp. Get a younger guy some big game camp experience, especially since there are a lot of older guys with a ton of experience.

Is Howard considered the #1, or is Jurgen sticking with Guzan? I'm happy either way. I haven't seen much of either of them in the EPL this season, but Guzan played better than Howard last year.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Wed Oct 07, 2015 1:38 pm

Statistically, Howard and Guzan appear to be having roughly equivalent seasons... But that's tough to rely on. I think we're in a "can't go wrong" situation. That said, I don't really think Guzan is capable of a Howard against Belgium type performance. Not that I expect we'll need that, but in terms of comfort, I'd put Howard in.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Wed Oct 07, 2015 1:54 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote:Statistically, Howard and Guzan appear to be having roughly equivalent seasons... But that's tough to rely on. I think we're in a "can't go wrong" situation. That said, I don't really think Guzan is capable of a Howard against Belgium type performance. Not that I expect we'll need that, but in terms of comfort, I'd put Howard in.

Agree 100%. I just have more faith in Howard, but that's because he has owned the position for so long. Guzan has absolutely no defense at Villa. At least he didn't last year. He played some incredible games where he gave up 3 goals.

Post by **brian** » Thu Oct 08, 2015 3:19 pm

Between the U23 game in the morning (win over Honduras and in the Olympics) and the national team in the evening, it's probably the biggest day for international soccer in US history without the World Cup being involved.