USMNT: To Rüssia With Love

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
Oh, Wondo. Those sorts of finishes are why you are here. Gotta put that away to justify your NT existence.
 

Jed Zeppelin

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 23, 2008
51,333
I know it was just a pair of friendlys but it was nice to see these matches reaffirm who should (and shouldn't) be out there.

If Wondo has any say in a Copa match JK should be sacked on the spot.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

Found no thrill on Blueberry Hill
SoSH Member
Sep 9, 2008
42,297
AZ
I know the narrative is that Jones is ending his usefulness, but I thought he was really good today and a sgnificant midfield presence both ways.
 
Dec 21, 2015
1,410
I know the narrative is that Jones is ending his usefulness, but I thought he was really good today and a sgnificant midfield presence both ways.
He looked Beckerman-slow to me out there. Decent passing. But he also took a few ill-advised shots that never had a chance. He thinks he's still playing Portugal.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
Logging this one for the record....

It must be noted that there are no quotes from Rossi himself in the article -- just his agent.

Rossi's problems are rooted in injury issues, though. Italy is weak in the attacking department; I don't think he'd have problems making their team if his career weren't constantly interrupted by long-term injuries.

 
Last edited:

Jed Zeppelin

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 23, 2008
51,333
I am a bad person. I want to punch him in his fucking face.
What makes you a bad person? I'm curious why you opened with that, because wanting to punch Bergen County Jersey boy in the face doesn't make you a bad person. That's just nature, whether or not he spurned the Homeland for the Old Country.
 
Last edited:

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
I hardly ever think about Rossi (or Subotic) any more, but there's a part of me who would love to see Rossi get healthy enough so that he could play for Italy and get shut down by Matt Miazga, another player who grew up in Clifton, NJ but who turned down the chance to play for a European country (Poland).
 

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
SoSH Member
Dec 16, 2010
53,850
Anyone think this tourney makes or breaks JK? A Gold Cup-like flameout and he's gone?
 

Infield Infidel

teaching korea american
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
11,463
Meeting Place, Canada
This is almost as brutal as Leander Shaerlaeckens's review of a Klinsmann biography last month https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/jurgen-klinsmanns-new-biography-is-everything-thats-wrong-with-jurgen-klinsmann

Just a few paragraphs into Erik Kirschbaum's Soccer Without Borders: Jürgen Klinsmann, Coaching the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team and the Quest for the World Cup, the author gives his first, but hardly last, misrepresentation of Klinsmann's managerial career. He refers to the "remarkably strong showing by the U.S. Men's National Team at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil" and its "stylish performances" there, which made it "arguably the most successful U.S. soccer team ever."

Wait. What?
 

teddykgb

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
11,025
Chelmsford, MA
If this tournament makes or breaks JK then he shouldn't be allowed to coach it. Given the group draw and likely date with Brazil if we got out of the group it seems to me that the chances of anything that would classify as a success are pretty low.

The Guardian article seems so spiteful for no particular reason. I actually agree with its central premise that we were promised an identity and none seems to exist but you don't just get to gloss over talent problems as a minor footnote.
 

Cellar-Door

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2006
34,464
I'm not a Klinsmann fan, but that guardian article is hot garbage from someone who it seems knows nothing about the sport and is bizarrely obsessed with how soccer coaches dress.

As for Copa, no chance it matters, Jurgen has until Russia, and if we do well there he'll probably get extended. Copa is a rough draw, just getting out of the group should probably be considered a success
 

Jed Zeppelin

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 23, 2008
51,333
How hard did he fist pump when he wrote this abomination of a sentence?
Neither properly suited nor truly tracksuited, Klinsmann inhabits an uncomfortable sartorial middle ground, unconsciously mirroring the interstitial mediocrity of his charges on the field of play.
I have no particular affinity for Klinsmann. There's plenty to criticize him for, but ffs why the rhetorical hysterics?

He might as well have just written "Thanks Obama."
 

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
SoSH Member
Dec 16, 2010
53,850
So, quick aside, what's the latest on Julian Green? Is he moving on from Bayern this summer?
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
So, quick aside, what's the latest on Julian Green? Is he moving on from Bayern this summer?
Hopefully, but I don't think there has been any concrete news on that front. He is under contract for one more year.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
I'm not a Klinsmann fan, but that guardian article is hot garbage from someone who it seems knows nothing about the sport and is bizarrely obsessed with how soccer coaches dress.

As for Copa, no chance it matters, Jurgen has until Russia, and if we do well there he'll probably get extended. Copa is a rough draw, just getting out of the group should probably be considered a success
Agree, the article is full emotionally-driven statements, contains many petty insults, and has little substance. (Which ironically, is just like Klinsmann. All that's missing is the author forcing us to jump and down while reading it until we all blow out our hamstrings.)

I think it's exceedingly unlikely that Klinsmann will be fired before the WC, but I also think it's pretty unlikely he'll be extended.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
Doyle looks at US chances in a Copa preview and makes the case for the US talent pool. I think he overplays his hand a tiny bit, but I do agree with him in the general sense that our overall talent issues are somewhat overblown.

This is because we have no talent, right?

No! Wrong, wrong, wrong! The US are as deep and talented as they've ever been.

  • The goalkeeper starts in the English Premier League.
  • Two of the probable starting defenders also start in the EPL, while the other two are Bundesliga starters.
  • The midfield comprises guys who've played for top-four clubs in the greatest leagues in Europe, a starter for a good Ligue 1 club, a World Cup veteran, and one of the hottest young prospects in the world.
  • Jozy Altidore will miss this tournament via injury, but his replacement--Bobby Wood--just secured a multi-million-dollar move to a Bundesliga club. Clint Dempsey led all scorers at least year's Gold Cup, and Gyasi Zardes a) keeps racking up goals and assists, and b) is attracting interest from European clubs for a reason.
This US team is so deep that a Bundesliga starter (Alfredo Morales) couldn't make the roster. Omar Gonzalez, who was dominant in leading Pachuca to the Liga MX title, couldn't make the roster. Jordan Morris, the best young striker in the pool and a regular for Klinsmann prior to this summer, couldn't make the roster.

Even if there's no single player as good as Landon Donovan in his prime, no US team has ever had top-to-bottom talent like this. The US should absolutely get out of the group, and a tournament championship wouldn't be a Leicester City-sized upset. It wouldn't even be a Greece 2004-sized upset.

A Klinsmann Q&A in the WSJ:

WSJ: Younger players say you give little in the way of instruction, that you say things like “let your personality show,” or “make a statement.” Why do you speak in such generalities?

Klinsmann: When you go very specific, where do you start? Do you start with five bullet points? Or with 20? For every position, every system you want to play, every style you’re going to play? We do that here and there specifically before the games, but at the end of the day, they need to drive their own bullet points. They need to understand what makes me stronger, what makes me better.
o_O
 
Dec 21, 2015
1,410
Yeah, contrast that with Belichick, who is able to take his lifetime of experience giving him instincts on where the greatest leverage points lie in a match to create tactical advantage, and distills that down to 3 things his players each need to remember out there.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
Jurgen Klinsmann, the Genuine Ideologue

I'm going to put this here since it's not really about the Copa America. The title makes it sound like it's going to be a hitpiece, but it's actually more of a neutral bit of armchair psychology. Maybe some of it is nonsense, but I thought it was an interesting take regarding the proper lens through which to view Klinsmann, the decisions he makes, and the things he says.
 

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
SoSH Member
Dec 16, 2010
53,850
I find this interesting:

This is from the JK article:

My school was done at 1 p.m.and I got lunch and then quick homework and then I was out until it got dark. That gave me my skill set for later on. By 11 or 12, I had the full skill set, bicycle kicks and all that. You don’t find that here.”
This is from the Pulisic article posted earlier this week:

The players were amused by Pulisic and gave him showy tricks to try, like juggling the ball with one foot tucked behind the other, Matt Johnson, a former Ignition player, said. A day or two later, Johnson said, Pulisic would come back to the team with the latest move all but mastered.

Mark would later tell the players his son had put in three hours in the backyard getting it down.
 

lars10

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2007
11,619
Doyle looks at US chances in a Copa preview and makes the case for the US talent pool. I think he overplays his hand a tiny bit, but I do agree with him in the general sense that our overall talent issues are somewhat overblown.

A Klinsmann Q&A in the WSJ:

o_O
TB... I had a thought today. JK has been given more or less a pass in the years he's been here because of a lack of talent in the player pool... but a few questions:
1. What players have progressed under JK? What players have gotten better under his tutelage? I feel like I can name any number of players that were getting better before him, but have regressed under him. Case in point is MB. Maybe he played way above his head at the end of his dad's run, but I kind of feel like as soon as JK got here he changed where and how he played and for the worse. I feel as though he played farther up the pitch as an offensive-defensive mid before and now plays more (farther back) defensive mid...and it's not working. But is my memory wrong? MB seemed to flourish when he played much more forward where his passes didn't have to be as long and he could poach for rebounds or the like at the top of the box or make the occasional run into the box. MB may never have been all that great, but he's definitely gotten worse under JK (again this is my opinion and based on observation).
2. is he developing any kind of a formation and regular team? Is he playing to the strengths of the team that he has? Will we be playing a lot more youth before the next world cup? Is he going to start playing a younger lineup any time soon? Or when should we see the team that he envisions playing in Russia?
3. what coach ever has been given the number of years he has with the results he's had? is there another coach who would be ideally suited to this team? It's one thing to say the player pool is shallow, but what has JK done to improve the pool? When can the excuse turn into more of a question of why the pool hasn't improved?

Friday's game threw me..because I saw a team that wasn't aggressive at all, especially after being down 2-0... (but possibly because Columbia is so good and they just wanted to maintain vs. make it worse?). But this has been also true of most of the games I've seen... I feel like JK has been doing a lot of molding and forming and playing as many players as possible, but I don't see a lot of results in terms of more regular lineups or players flourishing in the system.

edit: that Doyle article answers some/most of the questions I asked up there...but I think the progression question still remains.
 
Last edited:

JimBoSox9

will you be my friend?
SoSH Member
Nov 1, 2005
16,667
Mid-surburbia
Columbia's base talent level is sooooo far above the US that making any conclusion along that axis is exhibiting a total lack of core unserstanding of the problem here.
 

lars10

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2007
11,619
Columbia's base talent level is sooooo far above the US that making any conclusion along that axis is exhibiting a total lack of core unserstanding of the problem here.
Ok..so I'm just going off there last game...and I understand that Columbia is better...but I think some of the same things can be said about other games the US has played recently (in the past two to three years).

I'm interested in trying to figure out where this team is going...I don't want to see another performance like that leading up to and into the last world cup. Also interested in what I should be looking at (in your opinion) as positives and negatives.
 

Schnerres

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 28, 2009
1,554
Germany
US fans (or basically people in general) are so up and down or black and white. I´m not 100% into Klinsmann and don´t know about the US system or what he changed. But when you win a friendly against Germany, everybody says "wow, they are playing and beating the Worlds´top teams!" and when Michael Bradley gets worse through the years, Klinsi is at fault. I mean, friendlies don´t count and I think that Klinsmann has no responsibility (really, zero) for guys not improving long-term. Guys train in their own clubs for about 9 months a year, are at the national team for a month (without a big tournament) and have a two month break I would say. Almost all the training happens with their clubs, when they´re with the national teams there´s 2 trainings, a game, then the same again and goodbye. You look to find stability or a groove in your team but nothing to improve anything in a player.
You can maybe look for players who get regular playing time in national teams and improve their form (think Mario Götze who gets regular starting minutes from Germany, while sitting many times on Bayerns bench) or get players to click with their teammates. But you can´t fault a coach if he can´t find minutes or a starting spot for several players in his national team, as there´s only so eleven spots.

I think (from looking far outside) Klinsi brought in a lot of young players to the USMNT (Wood, Zardes, Pulisic,..) and is trying to find minutes for them, or even making them part of the regular formation (Brooks, Yedlin). I have no idea, who are the leaders of this team (probably Bradley, Jones, Johnson, Dempsey) and if that´s a good combination. But that´s something you have to consider with younger players coming into the squad and many international players coming from Europe, you need a stable core to lead the team and to speak up for the team.

Klinsi has to find a decent formation and rotation for Russia. He has shown a good result in Brazil (getting out of a tough group when nobody believed they would), so there´s no need to be mad about trying different things or new players right now (with sometimes bad results and bad performances). He should be free to pick the players and system he wants for Russia and everybody let him do his thing.
3. what coach ever has been given the number of years he has with the results he's had? is there another coach who would be ideally suited to this team? It's one thing to say the player pool is shallow, but what has JK done to improve the pool? When can the excuse turn into more of a question of why the pool hasn't improved?
After 2000-2004, Germany had bad results (2002 WC final was a flaw based on a superb defense behind Olli Kahn´s insane goalkeeping and Klose´s and Ballack´s timely goals) and changed everyhing in their youth systems. After 2006 and Klinsi, Jogi Löw became coach (was assistant already with him). He got 8 years until winning it all in Brazil 2014, although he got great results before. But you can´t improve the bad players from before (only players remaining from 2006´s 3rd place finish until 2014 winner were Klose, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Mertesacker, Podolski), you have to improve the system of youth stables. I don´t know if there´s much going on in the US. But as Klinsmann saw firsthanded, what happened in Germany, he should know that there´s the root of the problem and he needs to change things in the US.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
After 2000-2004, Germany had bad results (2002 WC final was a flaw based on a superb defense behind Olli Kahn´s insane goalkeeping and Klose´s and Ballack´s timely goals) and changed everyhing in their youth systems.
Germany benefited from the quick goalkeeping reflexes of Torsten Frings, as well!

 

soxfan121

JAG
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 22, 2002
23,043
But is my memory wrong? MB seemed to flourish when he played much more forward where his passes didn't have to be as long and he could poach for rebounds or the like at the top of the box or make the occasional run into the box. MB may never have been all that great, but he's definitely gotten worse under JK (again this is my opinion and based on observation).
Yes. You are wrong. Michael Bradley's stagnation/regression has very, very, very little to do with his irregular stints as a NT player, where he spends like 12.5% of his professional career. (estimate - probably lower, but whatever)

Michael Bradley's lack of professional development is mostly about Michael Bradley's work ethic, partially about Michael Bradley's career decisions, and somewhat small-ly about his club coaching. His struggles with the NT have been a result of Michael Bradley's choices, Michael Bradley's effort, and Michael Bradley's desire - and maybe some infinitesimally small percentage is somewhat related to the national team coach.

Michael Bradley has definitely gotten worse during Klinsmann's tenure as NT coach - but the former has very, very, very little to do with the latter.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
Well, Bradley got better during Klinsmann's tenure before he got worse. He signed for Chievo a month after Klinsmann was hired in 2011. He had a good year in Serie A, then he moved to Roma. All this just goes to reinforce the point that @soxfan121 and @Schnerres have made -- the NT manager of any country has minimal bearing on individual player development.
 

Infield Infidel

teaching korea american
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
11,463
Meeting Place, Canada
US fans (or basically people in general) are so up and down or black and white. I´m not 100% into Klinsmann and don´t know about the US system or what he changed. But when you win a friendly against Germany, everybody says "wow, they are playing and beating the Worlds´top teams!" and when Michael Bradley gets worse through the years, Klinsi is at fault. I mean, friendlies don´t count and I think that Klinsmann has no responsibility (really, zero) for guys not improving long-term. Guys train in their own clubs for about 9 months a year, are at the national team for a month (without a big tournament) and have a two month break I would say.
USMNT fans have historically put too much stock on wins in friendlies. I remember a 1-0 win in Feb. 1998 over Brazil, I and many people were super excited about how good the team looked, how well they would do in the upcoming World Cup (USA finished dead-last). Friendlies are just for players to get familiar with each other and stay sharp, for coaches to get closer look at the roster, and for FAs to sell tickets. Many top players aren't available, teams play fringe players, and get 5 or 6 subs. A successful friendly is when no key player gets injured, other than that, result does matter much.
 

speedracer

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
3,832
Yeah if we're blaming anything for Bradley's decline it should be his decision to move to MLS
I'm curious as to what folks think Bradley should have done in early 2014 instead of moving to Toronto. My relatively uneducated guess is that if he doesn't move to Toronto, he remains stuck on Roma's bench and gets a handful of Serie A substitute appearances and maybe a cup game or two. Not sure what other offers he had on the table.
 

Cellar-Door

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2006
34,464
I'm curious as to what folks think Bradley should have done in early 2014 instead of moving to Toronto. My relatively uneducated guess is that if he doesn't move to Toronto, he remains stuck on Roma's bench and gets a handful of Serie A substitute appearances and maybe a cup game or two. Not sure what other offers he had on the table.
If I remember correctly Fulham wanted him on a season long loan with an option to buy. The problem is partly his fault (though can't totally blame a guy for taking a ridiculous longterm contract with a lot of guaranteed money) and that Toronto paid a huge fee for him which dis-incentivized Roma loaning him out or moving him to one of the better leagues. Basically he took the easy money and playing time over a fight for playing time or forcing a less lucrative move to another league. Now that may have been the best move for him personally, but it hurt the USMNT. He wasn't a Jozy who flopped in good leagues, he was a starter at Roma before they bought an upgrade.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
Even if Bradley completely fell out of favor at Roma, there's no question he would have had plenty of suitors in the Big Five leagues.

Bradley wasn't getting as much time in his second season at Roma because they had bought Kevin Strootman from PSV, who joined de Rossi and Pjanic in a preferred trio. By midseason, Bradley was sold to Toronto and they brought in Radja Nainggolan on loan from Cagliari. I'm not sure if they brought in Nainggolan because they knew Bradley was leaving or whether they just wanted to stockpile a very good player.

Bradley has been used in strange ways at the NT level - he's never going to be a successful attacking midfielder - but he's never found his Serie A form for Toronto, either. Fellow Serie A import Sebastian Giovinco certainly hasn't had any problems there, however, and has arguably been in better form than when he left Juventus.

I'm starting to come around to the point of view that Bradley isn't nearly as versatile a midfielder as his managers seem to want to believe. With the US, he's often been asked to be a #10 (no longer, it seems -- thankfully). Toronto has never really employed a proper #6 during his tenure there and he's not a natural when asked to play that position, which Vanney has done with some regularity. Play him as a box-to-box mid with a real DM behind him and without a Jermaine Jones type who occupies the same space and who wants to do many of the same things. Give him some real wide midfielders whose runs he can pick out with long passes. Let his defensive motor/work rate run free as a box-to-box mid without having to worry about the positional discipline required of a #6. That's his game.

Bradley as a #10 was always a bad idea, but I've clung to the idea that he could at least be pretty effective as a #6. I'm not so sure any more. It might be box-to-box or bust.

The problem right now is that with Beckerman fading fast, we have shit for defensive midfielders, and we have so many damn box-to-box midfielders that there's a temptation to cram too many of them on the field somehow. We also don't have a ton of great wide midfielders right now. It's a puzzle. I think there's a way to build a team that really gets the most out of Bradley, but the contours of our current talent pool make that a real challenge.

The rise of Pulisic as a potential winger should help, as should Kekuta Manneh's impending citizenship later this year. Finding a LB solution that frees up Fabian would be even bigger. Then there's the DM problem. I am loath to break up what could be a very good CB partnership, but it may be unavoidable to try Geoff Cameron at DM at some point.

Or we find a way to build a team that doesn't have Bradley as the focal point. The DM problem will be there with or without him, though.

Just daydreaming here....a roster for Russia?

Wood --- Morris
Johnson ---------------------------Pulisic
Cameron -- Bradley
Villafaña -- Brooks -- Miazga -- Yedlin
Hamid
Bench: Guzan, Horvath, Castillo, Chandler, Besler, Birnbaum, Kitchen, Nagbe, Bedoya, Manneh, Altidore, Johannsson

I know I'm wishcasting with Villafaña there, but hopefully someone turns out to be acceptable at LB.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
Has Green gone the way of Adu for you?
No, I still have hope for Julian (happy 21st birthday to him today, btw) and if he takes a step forward he will definitely be in contention for the WC roster given our lack of attacking width. He needs to make some smart career choices soon, though. Another year in the Regionalliga Bayern league will not help him.

Sometimes Green gives off the impression of having a big head -- esp. his issues at Hamburg in 2014-15. I don't know if that's actually true, but if it is you'd think going nowhere at Bayern would help temper that.
 

McBride11

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
22,114
Durham, NC
D Williams also falling out of favor?
Don't think Lletget ever makes the leap?
And I'd rather have Zardes > Jozy at this point.

Maybe a waste of his wing abilities but what about FJ as the DM?
 

Zososoxfan

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 30, 2009
9,209
South of North
I'm OK with trying some more of the same in game 2 because the Colombia game showed all of the US' weaknesses all at once and I honestly believe the players are better than that (although I think playing Wood and Zardes both very wide is not a good idea for the attack).

However, if the goal is to build the squad around Bradley (which I think is defensible), then trying Cameron at DMF and putting Besler in at CB (who I remember playing well, but that was awhile back) is not a terrible idea because it gets Bradley into his best position as a true box-to-box CM. If this is paired with getting Wood in front of Dempsey, so that Dempsey is playing a #10 or false #9 role, I think that would be ideal for the offense.
 

McBride11

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
22,114
Durham, NC
Also, why no Zelalem or Carter-Vickers in the squad?
My assumption was that GZ (19), CCV (18), and Hyndman (20) were on the young end of the spectrum (current ages) and thus not included. Would it be great if CCV makes a leap and makes it over Birnbaum? or whoever, you betcha. But Yes I know Pulisic is up now and Green was 19 at Brazil.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
D Williams also falling out of favor?
Don't think Lletget ever makes the leap?
And I'd rather have Zardes > Jozy at this point.
Williams had a solid year for Reading in the Championship. His problem is that he's caught up in a numbers game. As he's grown as a player, it's become increasingly clear that he's yet another box-to-box mid, which is where he plays for his club. Klinsmann has tried him at DM a few times, but he was pretty awful there in last October's friendly against Costa Rica. For him to get a shot in his natural position, he has to beat out Bradley, Jones, Nagbe, Morales, Bedoya, Diskerud, et al. I think if given a chance he could beat out some of those guys, but not enough to make it to the starting lineup.

Lletget could make it. He needs to bring his A game on a more consistent basis. He was in awesome form when he first joined MLS, but since has cooled off a bit. Seven goals in June-July-August last year and only one since then.

I think the competition that Zardes and especially Wood will bring to Jozy will be productive for everyone. I'll still take Jozy over Zardes right now, but it's an issue where reasonable people can disagree. Maybe one of them will make the choice easier for us in two years' time.

Maybe a waste of his wing abilities but what about FJ as the DM?
No way. He's an important contributor and starting winger on a top 4 Bundesliga club. Play him at fullback if we absolutely must, but his talent would be wasted inside and there's no evidence that he'd even be good at it.

Also, why no Zelalem or Carter-Vickers in the squad?
They're not ready. CCV hasn't played a single minute of professional soccer and his season with Spurs U21 ended in March because of an injury. Zelalem racked up 21 appearances at Rangers this season, but his performances were up-and-down and he finished the year largely out of the starting lineup. The rough-and-tumble nature of the Scottish second tier isn't the ideal platform for a player of his skillset, but it's a low enough level that any USMNT caliber player should be able to exert more of an influence than GZ did.

I hope that his time at Ibrox provided him some useful lessons and forced him to work on his weaknesses, but it did show that he's not ready for prime time. One criticism that Rangers fans seemed to frequently articulate was what I'll call "Jose Torres-itis". Zelalem is super smooth on the ball, but doesn't yet deliver the passes that crack open a defense. Torres wound up as a #8/#10 tweener, where he didn't have the vision to be a #10 and he didn't have the defense+work rate to be a top box-to-box mid. Zelalem isn't as small as Torres (he's taller) though he's very slender (he may fill out a little over the next few years), and hopefully he's able to develop a little more bite. Or that he's able to add a killer instinct to his passing game instead of just circulating the ball without "doing" anything. I do worry that he'll have largely the same fate as Torres, but it's too soon to tell.

It's worth noting that although they were on our last U20 team, both are young enough to be eligible for the next U20 team, too. CCV is nearly 2.5 years younger than Miazga, for example.
 

Cellar-Door

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2006
34,464
Steven Goff has some interesting Gulati stuff right now: https://twitter.com/SoccerInsider
Among them... that everything will be re-evaluated after Copa, that performances in official competitions last 18 months not what hoped for, and this gem:

I'm surprised, that makes it sound like JK could legitimately not make it to RUS18.

Edit- and apparently none of the reporters asked him about Scala and Infantino, because......
 
Last edited:

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
Steven Goff has some interesting Gulati stuff right now: https://twitter.com/SoccerInsider
Among them... that everything will be re-evaluated after Copa, that performances in official competitions last 18 months not what hoped for, and this gem:

I'm surprised, that makes it sound like JK could legitimately not make it to RUS18.

Edit- and apparently none of the reporters asked him about Scala and Infantino, because......
Goff posted his full transcript:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/soccer-insider/wp/2016/06/07/sunil-gulati-addresses-klinsmann-trump-clinton-world-cup-bid-copa-america/