Should Bruce Stay Or Should Bruce Go?

He needs to go! I still cannot believe that he did not use the last substitute in the Italy game. Coaching 101. Today, he blamed the lose on a bad call. He sounds like a whiny baby. Be gone Bruce!!

As a manager you need to mentally prepare your team so that they play with the intensity, confidence and determination to win. Our boys have the fundamentals, strength and skills to play with anybody but the lack of leadership, team unity and passion was evident. We just flat out sucked in this World Cup and it is the fault of our manager and team leaders. It’s time for a reorganization…

Can the butt lips!

Heh… ESPN already lobbying for Bruce to be shot out of a cannon.

Send Bruce on his way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time for the US National Team to look for a new coach, he brought nothing new to this tournament and I don’t see him having any better success if he stays. Give him credit for turning around a program that was floundering after the ‘98 Cup though. We just need someone else, probably an internaional, to move us forward.

Bruce should go, he called Australia and Trinidad and Tobago easy beats, both have proved to be anything but. Unfortunately the US has proven to be easy beats. With their talent they should have done much better. The coache´s arrogance was their down fall.
Better luck next time

BBB-

In all fairness. Bruce can call TNT easy beats. His team beats TNT on a regular basis.

I’d like to see Jurgen Klinsman take over, if he’d be willing.

I don’t mind if Bruce stays or go. I just want whatever tactics we were using this world cup to go.

Bruce Arena has done a fantastic job.

However, 8 years is an eternity for a team manager. Some new blood would be a good idea.

Plus, I think Bruce has gotten too loyal to certain players. He was so good in 2002 because he cleaned house and wasn’t afraid to play young players.

We need a new coach who is not afraid to bench anyone (Reyna, Donovan, Beasley) or to call anyone up (Nguyen, Rolfe, Adu).

Bruce, thanks for 8 great years. Now go and have some success at a European club!

Karl-

in Bruce’s defense, he tried the 4-3-3 formation several times, but the US just does not have a Deco-esque centermid who can play both forward and defense. Or forwards who can hold the ball up well enough.

however, I think he did prematurely gave it up (it takes a long time to learn a new scheme). He also could have tried a 4-4-2.

In the end it is only the games in the world cup that count. Whatever happens before is just preperation. TNT performed well above expectations. The US didn´t perform to expectations.

It is the right time for a change. Here’s an interesting read from Nick Webster’s blog at Fox Soccer Channel:

Arena Out…Klinsmann in!
Jun 18, 2006 | 10:53AM |
Here’s one to get the rumor mill working overtime. I was at WDR, German state television early this morning talking to Boris Inanici, their ace reporter who has in the past has been embedded with the national team. He told me that Jurgen Klinsmann, the German national team coach will quit after the World Cup regardless of whether the ‘Mannschaft’ wins the whole thing or not.

He then told me that Klinsmann has already been seen with the top brass of the US Soccer Federation and that there is a very good chance that he will take over the national program when Bruce Arena steps down, which Arena has said he will do.

This is a brilliant move for both Klinsmann and the Federation. Jurgen has taken to Southern California like a duck to water. He has already done extensive consultation work with the LA Galaxy, he’s married to an American, has American kids and loves the way America approaches sport. It is his new ideas that caused outcry at the DFB and now has them singing his praises.

For USSF it’s a can’t lose situation. For the first time, America would have a high profile coach, one who is media savvy and most importantly a former player and top notch coach who knows the game inside and out. Klinsmann would command and demand attention to the national program and as we have seen from the German, he is not afraid to take chances.

I hope it happens.

Link:
http://blogs.foxsports.com/Nick_Webster/2006/06/18/Arena_OutKlinsmann_in

At least Klinsman wont have to fly so far to coach the team ,)

Bruce Arena has let too many people down including my son who “used to” love soccer and has played for a few years and watched every world cup match he could and just called me at work crying. Bruce Arena please leave and stop ruining America’s opportunity to grow in soccer!

This is going to sound ridiculous but I completely agree with everything Eric Wynalda said today, everything. Eric is on the money.

My only two cents is you got the feeling this whole World Cup preperation/operation was spent living in 2002. Well, football has progressed rapidly and it was naive of Bruce and US Soccer to think 2002’s offense was good enough, or the goal would magically appear against quality, quality competition with his ridiculous 4-5-1 counter attacking offense. Ancient football from an innovative nation.

Further, the only thing I will add is there are millions of talented players being shunned in the US System, particularly ethnically diverse talent, Latinos, and lower socio economic talent, talented people like Clint Dempsey are out there folks. That is a deep, deep problem. Clubs coaches, money, elitists, coaching licenses, ODP. To me, Arena really personifies that even if it is an unfair correlation.

The future is bright so long as they execute a brilliant strategy for the future.

Though I’m not willing to totally crucify him, I think it’s clear that Arena did a very average job at best and a terrible job at worst in this tournament. That being said, the fact that American fans started to care about the team this time around, and the fact the US looked good enough to have expectations in the first place, shows how far he’s taken the program.

Unfortunately he’s proved that he’s much better at developing a team than he is at leading one that has already been developed. So maybe it would be in the best interests of both parties to see him go. The US could get a proven winner who wants to take America to world class level (which I bet is actually a pretty desireable job), and Arena could find a job where he gets to use his strengths and can take a bad program and make it competeitive.

I respect Arena for all he’s done for US soccer, but I’m extremely disappointed at how he coached the World Cup. I wish him all the best, but I hope it’s somewhere else.

Arena did a lot for the MNT, but it’s time for him to move on. It doesn’t matter whether it was the draw, the refs, or bad luck — the team performed poorly and the manager has to take the fall. My main concern is the regression of players… Donovan and Beasley payed much worse than the last world cup. If all the young players (Donovan, Beasley, Gooch, Johnson, Dempsey, Convey, etc.) improve between now and 2010 the team will be stronger. We need a coach and a system that can help players take the next step. A good start would be sending Donovan back to Europe (maybe to the English first division or something)

I have a longish ramble at my blog now, but here’s the long and the short of it:

Arena was probably going to move on anyway, and now that will certainly happen. Thanks for eight great years, Bruce — but i’m looking forward to someone new.

When will the US get a European coach that can take their game up a step??

Bruce did a great job pulling this program out of the toilet, but unfortunately he almost succeeded in throwing it back in again. The World Cup is about competition and national pride – not rewarding veterans for their service to the program. You want to reward the old schoolers for a job well done? Do it at a friendly and prepare your best and brightest to play their asses off. Let’s salvage what we got bring in the youngsters and hire the best coach possible avoiding the retreads. Look at Ghana’s coach for goodness sake! You mean to tell me we can’t hire someone of similiar talent with all of our resources?

If you go back when he made his selection of the 23 there were many outcries wondering where was Twellman. He chose to bring along Ching and Wolfe and didn’t use them. He tried to play a system that he thought would work best with mcBride up top. perhaps it would years ago but his sytem was fouled and he never changed it. He made key line up mistakes. What is wrong with playing attacking soccer? We need someone that believes that in their heart and brings that to the USMNT.

In the wake of this very disappointing performance, its hard to be objective. Arena has done so much for the MNT and for soccer in the US, its difficult for me to say that he must go.

But 8 years is a long time and it may be necessary to get some new blood. On the field, the team looked as if it run out of ideas, and that could come from a tired coach.

The rumors about Klinsmann are interesting, but even if he, or another big name comes to the US, the coach isn’t the silver bullet. If the US team is going to take that next big step closer to the top levels of international soccer, we need better competition between now and 2010. We have to try to get invited to the Copa America again. We really need to win the Concacaf championship so that we can play in the Confederations Cup. Building up our FIFA ranking against Canada, Jamaica and Panama just isn’t going to cut it anymore.

Having more players in European leagues helps – and please forget Donovan, he is never going to leave the comfort of California again – but we will never be more than a team that may make a run to the quarters ever now and then if we don’t consistently face tougher opposition. Perhaps a big name international coach would help us do that.

Bruce Arena’s tenure should end. He has proven ineffective in selecting well motivated players. Donovan is over-rated.

I believe Arena will step down before he’s asked to leave. The old regime of McBride, Keller, Reyna, O’Brien, Pope, Lewis are over and its time for the new blood….namely the Freddy Adu era. The US will have to tactically change their attack from aerial-based to ground-based speed attacks and that does not suit Arena’s way. Looking forward to the speed of Eddie Johnson and Freddy Adu up top!!

I think its time for him to go. Entertaining talk about 4 points and go home is crazy, and he didn’t even get the 4 points.

Donovan was garbage in this game, and I think should have been taken out before the half. Everything about it just stunk the place up.

Personally, he cannot leave fast enough even if he was taking an earlier flight. Ghana just took us to school. They were hungrier, smarter, and just better than we were today. Don’t blame the refs, Reyna’s move in the back third was just insane, he is better and smarter than to be playing wiffle ball when we need to get the Win.

Very disappointed, I knew Ghana was going to be a challenge but I knew we could do it if we brought our game today. It seems we left it back in the states. Very disappointing.

Time to go Bruce. In sports often a coach loses his ability to motivate as he uses up all his tricks, and basically the players get sick of him (and his favorite players who have no place in the team, Ben Olson?, give me a break.) In my opinion, he should have been fired after the Czech game (Africa/3rd world dictatorship style) and replaced by the dictators son, as these boys were clearly not mentally and physically ready to go at the first whistle.

Also, one thing a coach can control and micromanage, set pieces (see Sweden’s corners vs. England.) Was the US dangerous on any set pieces? Sorry, Bruce, time to go, perhaps the KC Wizards need a new assistant coach and GM, there may be an opening for you!

Arena should go. Besides the Italy game, the team played timid and scared. Arena’s conservative play is, at least, partially to blame. He was always concerned about what might go wrong (e.g. not using the third sub against Italy) as opposed to taking risks to see what might happen. In such a tough group U.S. had to play aggressive to go through. We didn’t. We played scared (e.g. Landon Donavan). And Arena didn’t get us out of that. This is the most talented U.S. team ever assembled and look how they performed. You just can’t keep a manager around who gets those kind of results with such players…And on the players, world cup dissapointments: Brian McBride, Landon Donavan, Demarcus Beasely (save his two wondrous moments). All these players were dangerous and potent in 2002. 2006, scared or hardly visible. World cup commendations: Clint Dempsey, Eddie Johnson, Cherundalo, and O’brien (even though Arena hardly played him).

Yeah, let Bruce leave on his own. Despite the past two weeks, I think he’s earned that. He wanted to leave anyway I’d guess.

US is a team that could have benefitted from a do-over at this tournament, but the World Cup features nothing so forgiving as that.

Bruce’s time is over. But the whole blame does not land on his shoulders alone. The entire team was flat most of the tournamnet. This is the Wold Cup for God’s sake. The quality of players is just not here yet, not until we the US start professional club teams. I am a Celtic FC supported, and the boys are signed to the club and developted from 12 years of age on. As is most of the world. We need to wake up. This is a must if we are to step on to the world stage.
God Bless America!!!!

Here is what we need:

1) A more competitive youth system. Right now, the current system a) excludes players from lower socioeconomic levels, (pay to play) and b) takes a select few kids, tells them their geniuses, and makes them wimps when the going gets tough (Bradenton). Example: Landon Donovan (his new nickname is “Houdini Donovan”)

Both these systems need an overhaul. US has soccer has come a long way, but we need reform to make it to the next level.

2) A cut throat coach who will hold players accountable for poor performances and only shows loyalty to talented and in-form players. I want a coach who will put out a 4-3-3 and a 4-4-2 from the start and stick with it. I also want a coach who is not afraid to bench anyone, or call up anyone.

3) Better international friendlies. We need to play in the Copa America, and also to try and quality to play in the Confederations Cup. We also need a more rigorous friendly schedule (no more Norway C teams or Morocco B teams)

that being said, there were some harsh calls against the US. We have improved greatly and this loss is nothing to be ashamed of (its not like we got manhandled).

GO USA! SOUTH AFRICA 2010!

In general, I’ve been a fan of the Bruce Arena era of US Soccer. But I was disappointed at the lack of positive, attacking soccer in this cup. Arena has done good things for the team, but I think it’s time for someone who will help the young talent grow.

I’ll happily pack for him. There should be an opening in a tot’s league somewhere. PLZ. This guy is a classic example of the problem with our ego laden soccer program. He must be good from his knees.?

Go, Bruce, go away. Lack of use of Ching, Johnson and Wolff bespeaks incompetence. Please leave.

As usual the US Team entered with BIG Mouths, high hopes, and nothing to back it up!! Time for a new coach as I believe Arena is done, with a mediocare to poor World Cup career, he brings nothing new to the team and it shows poorly in their performance!!

Donovan completely choked on all the free kicks and having 2 men at the corner kicks was useless, we needed as many men inside the 18 as possible for the corner kicks, He must go!

The question is not should Arena be fired…. If he had any guts he would resign..
I doubt he will as the gutless play of the team reflected the gutless manager….
Get rid of the whole bunch and start over… there was not a true international level player in a USA shirt anywhere to be seen…
Pathetic…

All in favor of Klinsman as the next US manager raise your hand!

Is it a change?

:: Raises Hand ::

Arena is incompetent, and the US team is even more so. How does a team go out to play to what appears to a tied game when the only thing that helps them is a win by MANY goals. It doesn’t matter whether they lose 5-0 or 20-0….they are equally out. Arena should have put a team out there that was willing to take chances…kick on the goal 500 shots, etc.

As long as the US attempts to immitate others (read Argentina and Brazil) on their form of play, they will be a misserable failure. They have demonstrated so in the span of 5 world cups…the only time they had some mild success was in the US while being coached by someone who did have a clue.

RAISED HAND !!!!!!

Eddie -
How was the US attempting to emulate others? And even if they were, it sure as heck wasn’t Brazil and Argentina. If anything they were attempting to emulate Germany in ‘02.

He should go. His tactics are just like my old high school coaches, terrible!

A few things stand out and I am an ex soccer player.
1) Against the Czech team, nobody played with passion, nobody wanted the ball.
2)Against Italy the team had some fight, had they played like this in game 1 they would have been in the competition still.
3)To come out against Ghana with a negative defensive formation was an error by the manager. USA had to win, had to score and needed goals, they needed a formation that was aggresive.
4) In reality the European game is faster than the home USA MLS game and the USA team needed decent warm up games against decent opposition to get tuned to playing at speed.

How were they trying to emulate????….with skill….but they have none, and thus their misserable failure…..Dave is right, and Anthony on the “ball”….The Girls AYSO All Starts would have done better than this team…at least they would have played with passion and would have been better looking!!!

I’m not sure how anyone can answer this question yet. Are you all speaking from your emotions?

Before anyone can answer this question, they need to talk to Arena and the players about what went right with training and what went wrong.

Arena needs to defend his decisions and his strategies to see if others would have done things differently.

I think that the biggest reason that the US is out of the world cup is due to a decision that Arena made that most of you ARE HAPPY ABOUT.

The decision to start Bobby Convey on the left and play Damarcas Beasley on the right was critical to the ineffectiveness of the first game and the entire overall failure of the US’s world cup.

Like, many of you, however, Arena thought that Convey was impressive in the matches that led up to the world cup and “hoped” it would work to play Beasley and Lewis out of postion to accomadate Convey.

Maybe Arena was too conservative by being loyal to Reyna and McBride and too liberal by starting Convey, but no one can answer the question as to whether Arena should stay or go unless they are on the inside. We are not.

I was at the Italy game, so i need to come clean. Bruce had them tactically beaten. The 4-5-1 attacking press that he ran found us pounding the Italians early. Had we stayed 11 v 11 it was the CORRECT tactical call for that game. The Italians were unable to build from the back or find their forwards.

The problem is this: A counterattacking defensive press is very effective. Beating teams 1-0 or 2-0 is still BEATING THEM. The problem is that Bruce didn’t factor the trigger happy refs. The set assumes the 0 in the opponents column. The players cost him success by getting scored on early in all 3 games.

The set pieces is a good point…creativity was severely lacking in the set-pieces dept.

Should he go or stay should be based on all things, but cleaning house is not the answer. Learning from the mistakes and evolving our game from lessons learned is the answer.

In another cup, these tactics would have been effective. In this one with these officials and a very active ball, NO. It is an attackers cup, and we forgot to bring the goalscorers.

Finally, stop singing EJ’s praises. He is soft and unproven and the team doesn’t trust him. GAMEBREAKER? Please. You all got your look in the final bit against Ghana…the defenders were just as fast as his BLAZING speed never seemed to penetrate. He is not an international yet, so don’t rush him. That being said i don’t think i need to address the Freddy Adu comment on this post. Give them 4 years and let’s take another look, with or without Bruce. Those two topics are different problems, so let’s keep the players lack of production with the managers ineffective tactics separate…as they should be.

This World Cup showed that either Arena or the US team is a one trick pony.

The 4-5-1 formation is decent: we played well defensively this tournament. But unfortunately, it is not conducive to taking the initiative of a game.

Also: we gave up the first goal each game of the tournament. This hinders the counter attacking formation.

the US did not lead ONCE….

I do not know if I should blame Bruce of the players (I dont think we have the talent for a 4-3-3), but change is necessary from both.

Rob-

here is the prob: it is the manager’s job to motivate the players.

And if he can’t motivate a player, then why did he select him for the squad?

national team managers have total control over who they select and the formation…bruce needs to accept some responsibility.

but this World Cup was NOT an embarassment, and no house cleaning is in order. We just need a new manager becase Bruce’s approach is 8 years old and not reaching the players anymore.

E-Tuck,

I’ll honor that. It is his job to motivate the players and i got the feel he was in too deep with his 2002 bunch. They were shown blatent favoritism and it cost us.

At the end of the day i feel like we brought a bunch of knives to a gunfight. The ball and the refs were too much attack to run a Germany 2002 defensive style. In this tourney the team who controls the ball and gets the most shots from 60yds will win. Because its ALL GOIN IN.

Klinsman will be the best thing that ever happened to us. No knowledge of players = unbiased selection. His tactics and passion have brought the undermatched German team into the light as potential favorite. Our wonderfully accomodating Californian cities which have cost our star Donovan an opportunity to progress in Europe, may in the end be our salvation if they are the draw which lands us a travel-weary Jurgen Klinsman.

Your posts are well thought out and you show more than passionate support…educated support. I enjoy reading your posts.

JKlinsman would be a strong excellent move for US Soccer.

I also agree, that the youth system needs an overhaul.

but this is America, and the world of American marketing is god. Football in the US needs money to be a European Style. Our money is spreadout so far. Soccer takes brains, brawn, shape, speed, skills, dedication. There are too many choices, and americans are driven by victory. Most of my good kids in our club, are run by their parents, and those parents do not understand the game. So they move kids when the kids does not score enough goals, or flashy enough.

A Klinsma, with some honest upfront america wake up and get him into the youth set up would be huge.

I don’t disagree that it’s Bruce’s time to go necessarily, but the people on here aren’t too bright I must say. All Americans care about are results and therefore can’t think. Bruce’s tacticts worked very well. 5 midfielders was the smart way to go because we totally dominated Italy because we took over the midfield. Eddie Johnson sucks period. He may be fast, but did anyway else see how horrible he played against Ghana? He couldn’t pass to save his life or do anything else.

USA had poor results this world cup for 3 reasons. They played some of the best teams in the world, they got completely dicked over by the refs in their last two games (and I strongly believe they would have advanced if not) and finally LD sucked save the second half of the Italy game. He’s sort of a key component. Someone blamed Bruce for him and Beaz regressings, that’s almost more ludicrous than the officiating at their games. It’s at their clubs they are supposed to develop. And Bobby Convey was the most improved player and one of our best due to the challenges that Bruce gave him. I think he deserves some credit.

To finish, Bruce always employed tacticts based on what he had and what he was up against. The bottom line is he ONLY had 1 good forward, (EJ will probably be good in a few years), and his tacticts were good. In Italy having Pablo back there allowed Dolo and Reyna to push forward and we took over that game in the first half when it was even. I think he was on point, but the refs sucked and some of our players weren’t that good. The players play not Bruce.

Bruce, your arrogance and non performance of both you and your team are a blight for the American People. Time to eat humble pie and go away on your own. You and your team where just plain awful, and trying to blame the refs is, well, laughable.

Klinsmann is most likely going to be Arena’s replacement.

Arena should go – he doesn’t do the US team any favors with his mouthy attitude. It’s one thing to be confident, but another to be arrogant without being able to back it up. In fact add ignorant to that, his claims re T & T were way off. You can’t come into the world cup mouthing off like that until you’ve earned a bit of credibility, the US team will do that with time, but not if they use managers like him. They’d be better off bringing in someone from outside like the England team.

If Klinsmann is hired, it would be a very good move. NOt the only solution, but definitely a huge step in the right direction. Now, if he could bring Klose and Shwainsteiger with him..:)

Seriously, with a new coach, new kids (Dempsey, Twellman, Adu, Johnson) will get more playing time and more opportunity to develop their skills. Dempsey should try, if at all possible, to sign with a Euro team. I disagree with those harshest critics of the MLS, it is a good development tool, but Clint is past that level, I think. O/w he is in danger of being another Donovan.

When does the qualifying processs start for 2010? Also, what is the next major So. American tournament we could try to play into?

GO USA

I think the cries for EJ weren’t so much a belief that he was ready as a desperate cry for something, anything, to liven up the team. At the very least he brings energy into the team. Is it as focused as it should be? No. Is he as effective as he could be? Hopefully not. But he was different, and it’s not like our primary options were firing on all cylinders.

Name ONE player on the USA side that is at the ABOVE AVERAGE INTERNATIONAL player level. Forget Keller & Reyna they are past their prime and I am not sure they were ever truely talented Internationals.

PS Forget playing in MLS as a prep for the rest of the world… It is a waste of time…

our us team looked horrible all tourney long, we got bullied around like a bunch of pansies. dont blame the coach blame our heartless players

John Ellinger would be a good replacement. He’s worked with a number of players in the youth level, and has had success with them.

Is Sven-Goran Eriksson a possibility? Or maybe Carlos Quieroz?

just like every sport when we lose we try to blame someone else. it wasnt the ref fault or the coach. the players are on the field. all i heard was how good this team was, 2 goals thats it???

Klinsman?? But what will he do with all the frequent flyer miles he’s racked up?

Leo Beenhaaker(sp.?) from Trinidad and Tobago seemed to strike the right chord with his squad. Despite an identical record with the US, they played spirited football throughout. Perhaps time for some Dutch touch in America?

Oh, the bile is flowing.

Should Arena go? Yeah. Is he the reason we flopped? No. Well, other than not starting EJ and playing the doomed 4-5-1/4-4-1-1 formation.

But, in truth, this was a mismatched team stuck between “old” American soccer (get a goal and defend it) and “new” American soccer (offense is the best defense). It played in an extremely brutal group. It clearly wasn’t ready for the Czechs to come right at them. And, honestly, the expectations were way, way too high, partially due to FIFA’s crap ranking system (remember, the Czechs were #2, and they’re going home, too). And this is Europe. We’re terrible in Europe and have been for over 70 years.

Is Klinsmann the answer? No. The reason he’s not is that you all would jump from the moving bandwagon if Sweden were to shock Germany on Saturday.

I’m not sure who IS the answer, though. Maybe there’s some brilliant tactician hiding at some Div II school. Maybe Steve Coppell gets passed over for the England job. Maybe Tony DiCicco would consider coaching men. I really don’t know. But Klinsmanm strikes me as the sort of gimmick.

So, Arena is gone. It does nothing. Until this team plays more European sides, it will lose in Europe. Until the MLS is strong enough to move to the fall and winter, the team will remain disjointed in conditioning. Until the US develops some strikers, it will never score enough to succeed.

But we got one point in Europe. That’s more points than 1934, 1990, and 1998 combined. A small victory.

what era???????? Us soccer has NEVER EVER had an era….the US teams sucks and always will suck, the only reason they qualify is because they play countries with no stadiums. Cmon guys lets be realistic, if the game doesnt involve hands than u cant compete. There are soooooooooooooooooooooo many countries that could have competed 35 times better than USA but they didnt make it because they have to play real teams to qualify. sorry guys, USA sucks always has, and unless you keep importing some africans(adu) and some south americans than stick to baseball or football or some thing, just dont talk like USA has ever had a chance this cup. BTW I WON $2500 BETTING AGAINST DIFFERNT MORON USA FANS BECAUSE OF THE USA TEAM, SEE THEY ACTUALLY DID ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAAHHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHA

AND BY THE WAY, bruce arena is one of the best coaches in the world, he is the mvp for the us national side, that is your star player….this blog just proves once again that USA has no idea about futbol, oh i meant soccer…..morons

The answer is to allow American players to channel their natural inclination to go forward and attack. We have grown up in a culture that takes a no holds barred approach, whether in buisness, life, or sports. DW, while you make some good points, I assumed any of the two teams from the group could go through and would not be suprised at the two going home. Having said that, I expect the US to advance. This is no longer 1990 and I demand a spectacular effort from the coaching staff and players alike.

Arena’s tactics have become much more conservative since his tunure began in 1998. His formations and tactics did not maximize the US’s chances to win. They were designed to get the US through. The US is not Italy, who have done it as amatter of course and improve as the games become more meaningful. Better to play aggressive and take risks a la Australia, rather than huddle up and hope. To win big, one must risk big.

As for the players, If there was major disord in the runup to the Cup, they kept it close to the vest. But to play passionless soccer with the exception of the second half versus Italy – and even then were it not for Keller Italy scores two – is inexcusable. The 24 year old “stars” of DMB and Donovan were thoroughly extinguished. Arena called them out after the Czech game with good reason. If the American player’s psyche is that fragile, all hope is lost in the future for a nation fo 300 million people and not one world class striker.

Why only four shots on goal over three games – the lowest total of any nation at this World Cup? I don’t know the answer, but figuring this out must be the start, something went very wrong.

New coach – YES!

Malik,

You served nothing gainful with your posts, but I hope you at least save a ton of money on your car insurance!

It’ll be at least a week before the knee-jerk reactions and suggestions stop flying. Let the cooler heads prevail in the coming week(s) and take it from there.

This is a sad day for me, I realize that the coach who launched US Soccer to the highest of heights is through. He did his very best imitation of Steve Sampson and that clinched it for me. Instead of sticking with what worked which is just all out attacking, he shifted players, formations and strategies and failed to motivate this team at all, especially in the games 1 and 3. Well, still in all, Bruce was the greatest coach our game has ever seen, so hats off to you Bruce, you were the best, good luck on whatever adventure you pursue.

First, let’s give Bruce Arena all the credits he deserves. Thank you for everything that you have done for Team USA.
OK, now we need a new head coach for Team USA.
I think that the first game against Czech Republic was a complete lackluster performance by the entire team. The Americans looked beaten every minute after that early goal.
Against Italy, the team rebounded well, but I think this was a game that was dictated (no decided) by the ref. The American shoewd heart, but all they really did was to preserve the tie. I can’t really blame them, but why didn’t Bruce Arena used the third substitution? The team could have used a fresh pair of legs. Someone to run all over the field, make a couple of Italians chase after him (Demarcus Beasley should have taken care of that)
The third game. Its now or never, do or die, all or nothing, win or go home.
The Americans needed to win this game and with a wide margin of goals to cover the goal differencial in case Italy-Czech
tied. They scored one fantastic goal. and what a beautiful goal it was but it’s still one goal,
is not basketball, that was not a 3-pointer. We needed more goals. I tend to blame this on Bruce. He used the the 3-5-1 formation, big surprise. And why did went with just ONE forward? WE NEEDED GOALS! No disrespect to McBride, I think he’s a great player but he is no Ronaldinho. He needed help and the team needed goals. And now they are coming home with their tails behind their legs. Congrats to Ghana, they played motivated coming of an amazing win over the Czech as they should, but it was up to Arena to keep Team USA mentally prepared, motivated. Not cry foul over the officiating. Don’t pin this one on the refs. USA needed to come come out of the gates running and stomping all over Ghana and
coming away with a victory. Italy did exactly that. They took care of business and helping us in the process and still we couldn’t win. I think its time for him to step down.

Bruce Arena should go. He is conceited, overbearing,a very poor sport and another black eye for America on the world scene. Good for Ghana. And Viva Brasil!

I am simply amazed by this blog… I remember a few weeks ago there was a blog regarding who would take over if BA wasnt there and I’ll admit, my entry was “we’d be screwed if BA left”… I’ll also admit that now I think its time to go, whose next be damned.

That being said, some of these comments are ridiculous. Ok the team under-achieved in my book also. But saying its the coaches job to motivate the team???? At the pro level??? Has anyone here played pro? If so I can say from experience NO ITS NOT!!! I am not an international by ANY means but PLEASE get it right, it is not the job of BA to motivate his babies…. he employs a intelligent formation based on the players available to him and attempts to select the right guys for the 11– thats his job.

If our boys cant get motivated to play against the greatest teams in the world at the biggest stage, you cant toss them this year but next time, who ever is coach should take note of that. Also, BA WAS NOT too loyal in most cases. Donovan is our poster child and he is the best option (well if JOB is fit hes not but thats another issue) in that position we have as the US. Take a look at DMB, he didnt play well and guess what, peace, sit it out my man. Ok for Reyna, too loyal… Donovan, well as i just said… but who else? No one else and not only that but take a look at who backs those guys up, no better.

Also, fine you cant blame it ALL on the refing but please, look at his situation— his (usually) best defender gets two soft yellows… Mastroeni who was potentially the best player and most consistent- ousted. Also, as referenced, a 4-5-1 in this instance was not a mistake! We had better midfielders than forwards and hence, why sacrifice the likes of Donovan or Mastroeni for EJ up top when EJ hasnt scored in a few years and looked (before the WC) outclassed CONSTANTLY… Defence wins games because you dont have to win the game in the 20th minute but all the message is— is not to LOSE the game in the 5th min or the 11th min or the 21st min… BA cant control those things at all.

I wasnt there for the training in NC but I suspect it went well and actually the US looked in GREAT form— falling behind EVERY game just doesnt allow you to be the fast counter team that was SO successful in 02 because teams drop off and just sit and allow you to play in the back once they go up on you at this stage.

BA made mistakes but he was given NOTHING by the players or the refs to even begin working with… maybe his track record means nothing but i beg to differ that his success has some bearing here… he didnt win at every level by not knowing anything or worrying that his primadonna squad wasnt motivated…

Its time for a change and I like Klinnsman A LOT… but please dont hang the manager because Donovan cant show up or because FIFA has really taken a turn toward the shitter in terms of its refs and what it expects… some of it was his fault like not going to a more attacking style sooner but he is NOT a physcologist or a motivational speaker… the players sucked- period.

give them some credit though, anyone who REALLY expected and bet on them to advance, it was a dumb expectation and bad bet. I was dumb enough to buy into it.

Heres to hoping for Klinnsman and his success in 2010!!!

Heck, maybe he is a motivator if thats what being USA coach requires?

One other thing— he didnt use the 3rd sub against Italy because he was and is a much better coach than anyone I know and all of us… putting in EJ would have been a mistake because McBride is a wiley and intelligent player who understands the circumstances and doesnt get goal greedy— we NEEDED a tie and if EJ comes in and even once makes a forward run that puts us down ANOTHER man— its all more chance to be scored on… you cant rely on a boy to come in with raw emotion wanting to score in the WC in that situation and he knew that. We needed a forward to sit and defend and forget his wishes to score and thats what McBride did and did it well. Putting in fresh legs might have helped but the odds are just as good that it may have hurt because the person pressed because they “thought” they would score.

Everybody listen: Bruce not playing Eddie Johnson was the smartest thing he ever did. Better than any decision he made in ‘02. EJ is no good yet. His play during the Ghana game was horrendous. He is fast, but he has no technical abilities, so it is better to play a midfielder instead of him. At least then we can control the midfield, one of the biggest keys to success.

Not using EJ as a sub in Italy was brilliant. If him or DM starting running like crazy over the field WE would have lost the game. Did you see how exhausted our players were without that? NO ONE RUNS BY THEMSELVES! Many other players must make those runs also to support. That would have killed the US before the end of the game and they would have had ZERO points in the tournament. The fact is THE PLAYERS WERE NOT GOOD AT ATTACKING PERIOD. Don’t blame Bruce, he’s not on the field.

If the players don’t perform, it doesn’t matter who’s coaching them! Bruce did his job. He picked the best players the U.S. has to offer. I don’t care if Beasley or Landon or whoever were out of position…if they’re such quality players as everything says they are, there should have been no problem w/ where they played. If Bruce were to put Beasley on the outside defense, I’d expect him to play just as good! Its easy to point fingers when things dont go well…How about manning up and taking the blame! The Coach put the best 11 out there everytime! If he does go, which looks like will happen, i applaud his valor and committment to this team. If anyone were to take over, i’d say Klinnsman is the obvious choice!!! But if the players don’t show up w/ Klinnsman at the healm who do we blame next?

Should we do the top ten reasons why bruce should go.
not really, but his stubborn head cost the team. it starts from the selections of the 23 players. why pick players who are unfit or injured all season (like o brien). why pick players and dont even use them (ching, wolff). why leave a a decent goal scorer (twellman) at home when the team strugled to score. the starting line ups in retrospect could be proven wrong by many monday morning quarter backs. but it wasn’t just the lineup, but the formation and the tactics. even when the us team fell behind early in all three games, he was so stubborn he failed to change the formation. of course the players contributed to the unsuccessful results and so did the refs in a big way. but despite the heartless play vs the czech republic and the horrible ref vs italy the us team still had a huge opportunity: win vs ghana a world cup rookie and advance. but four shots on goal in 270 mins is hardly enough for any team to go thru. especially one that lets in goals from 40 yds, fails in the offside trap, cant properly clear the ball from the back etc etc. ok most of the key vets sunk us. keller was not keller. pope was not the usual in our face man to man marker. beasley made three plays the entire cup, the rest of the time whined. reyna looked more of a liability than an asset

If your going to run a 4-5-1 field then the 5 midfielder should be a hanging stricker. He would be just beyond midfield and drop back when needed and jump foward for offense when the ball moves forward. Its more like 4-4-1-1 set and works well 4-5-1 is for 8 years. Hell even then i was playing in 4-4-2 setting. I was wondering did Bruce ever play soccer? The best coaches are always ex-players.

First off, yes there’s a problem with the coaching at this World Cup. The stage for the World Cup is not one where you employ the most conservative approach. The teams that thrive here are for the most part the ones that open up their offense. That being said, the problem with our offense is that we’re relying on a decent mid-fielder to be our goal-scorer. Landon Donovan is not a world class finisher. For that matter, neither are any of our players. We hav decent players who thrive against mediocre competition. The best league in the world is not the over-hyped premiere league in England, it’s the leagues in Spain and Italy. The MLS is nothing more than the equivalent of a A or AA baseball league. Our guys need to consistently play against this top level of competition game in-game out. Look at the rosters of the top teams in the world and they’re littered with players in these leagues. There’s also under-rated club leagues in Argentina and Brazil with top-notch talent as well. Either the MLS needs to adjust by letting more foreigners and opening up the wallets to top talent, or our guys need to go abroad and play agains the best of the best on a consistent basis. Maybe that way we won’t have the deer in headlight look when we line up against guys that are.

Consider this: If Bruce Arena was the coach of Germany, Korea or the Netherlands with his past two World Cup performances, would he still have a job today or would he be asking, “Would you like fries with that?”

Halfway through the Ghana match, I started to literally laugh out loud at the US team. Then I started cheering for the Ghanaians. Ghana played better and had heart; they were a pleasure to watch.

It’s OK to lose; this is a part of the Game. But it is a wholly different story to lose by playing badly. The US team did not even qualify for playing badly; they were a joke and an embarrassment to the United States of America.

I waited four years to watch the US team give this kind of performance? I can see this level at a high school soccer match in Red Neck Hick country deep in the hills of Alabama.

Everyone shares the blame for the US performance, but addressing the problems with this team must start at the top and work its way down:

1) Replace Arena
2) Forget the superstars
3) Hire a new coach with European and South American experience
4) Hire someone who has the ability to change formation while play is underway
5) Hire someone who makes a point of putting 22 men on a squad and actually using them

The US Team performance has made us the laughingstock of the world….. again.

Is anyone actually looking forward to 2010 now?

The other problem I have with the US Teams is their total lack of ball-control and a knack for being impatient. How many times would we see 1-2 short passes, then they just loft up a 50/50 ball 30 yards downfield. Why not use more of a ball-control paced offense employed by more of the South AMerican squads? 9 Championships, 4 runner ups, 3 3rd place, and 3 4th place finishes in 17 World Cups for a continent that only has 13 countries. Maybe there’s something to be learned by focusing our energy watching the South American club leagues that focus on ball-control and finesse rather than the English and German leagues that focus on speed and power? How many 50/50 balls do we have to lose all-the-while watching the South American teams pass all over the rest of the world?

Jorge-

The US definitely could use more patience on the ball.

However, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Germany has won more World Cups that Argentina and plays a very direct approach.

The biggest problem with the US was that Bruce couldn’t make up his mind: how does a 4-5-1 with a sole striker fit with a direct approach? Answer: it doesn’t.

You need at least two forwards in the box if you want to play for crosses and have some modicum of success.

Sadly, Bruce and Sven Erikson are using the same 2002 formations, and Erikkson is only making it by becase a) he had an easy group, and b) his players are more talented.

The game has passed both these guys by. Teams need to play 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2 and go for goals. Offense and possession is the best defense: see Brazil

Wynalda for coach in 2010!

I think the problem is bigger than this team or its coach. The world cup results were just a symptom of a bigger disease. The US soccer philosophy and system is the problem. As someone else mentioned, many players with tons of skill get passed over because they cannot afford to play on a club team, and coaches don’t want skilled players, they want scorers who win games. Problem is as the level of play advances, these scorers are shown to have no skill and thereby can’t score anymore at a top level. I played with several players and watched several others that have the skill, but were simply overlooked for stupid reasons. We have the players, folks, we just don’t have the coaches or the system.

It is time to get over our arrogance, and let those with soccer experience and minds take over the system, instead of the american businessman who is only concerned with what brings him a good return on his investment, or the egocentric no-nothing who jumped through formal hoops and just wants to make a name for himself. We need people who love soccer first, and business second. Until then, American soccer will only be a marketing tool for profits and ratings when it is convenient to the success of a business.

Wynalda for coach in 2010!

Keep O’Brien, Cherundolo, Howard, Keller, Beasley, McBride, Dempsey, Bocanegra, Onyewu, Pope, Berhalter, Convey, Conrad, Friedel as the core.

Overrated: Hejduk, Donovan, Johnson, Reyna, Ching.

Bring in Armas, Adu, Twellman, Olsen, Albright, Wolff.

We were missing a midfield general, unlike in 2002. Common denominator = John O’Brien, our most underrated player.

edit: no-nothing should read “know-nothing”

The frustrating thing is not the lack of talent on the US team. We do have the talent. The frustrating thing is when certain players play timid and with no heart, like they do not appreciate being out there. My career was cut short due to injuries. I wish I had the opportunity these guys had. To be outplayed is one thing, it happens. To not show up is entirely different. If you can’t appreciate the priviledge you have of being on the US team, then you dont belong.

Many interesting post-mortems on here, some make valid points.

One observation no one has mentioned- the MLS system and the exportation of US players to the FA and other systems has brought our level of play up enormously. That’s all good, as far as I am concerned.

I absolutely agree with Rich about the inherant problems in the system here, which complicates the evolution of our player development and passes over incredible talent.

As a travel team select coach, I see extremely talented young players who will never see club play, mainly because they don’t have the money; but also because the opportunities are not well circulated in cities and towns. Soccer is very insular here, and those player families who happen to sign there child up at 6 or 7 are never fully apprised of the growing opportunities for their children’s game to progress as they get older.

Our cities and towns have 80-year old baseball diamonds and football stadiums. Soccer leagues fight for grass, space and time; and most of the available rec space is already gone to the other sports.

The system breaks down at the high school level as well, where small emphasis is placed on varsity soccer and talented players with size are scooped by by american football coaches.

US Soccer could do much much worse than strengthening the backbone of soccer in this country, by drastically changing the systems by which we develop young players. And I mean drastically.

And then the World Cups will come along naturally, folks.

The coach should go. The coach is not savvy. There is not an American coach who is savvy enough. US has to find a ‘true’ coach who has lived and breathed the sport from infancy. Klinsman is not truly ’savvy’ as a coach but would be an improvement. Sir Alex Fergusan would fix your egotistic players in a New York minute.

I agree with Lisa….America has to invest in the sport big time. It has to be shown on regular TV and folks have to truly understand its complexities. Then you will see development.

I have a lifetime of soccer experience and would love America to truly embrace the beautiful game. See my other comments on the matter at
http://www.jacksonville.com/community/cc/britpatjax/

ETucker – you’re right. A direct approach requires more help up front. One center won’t cut it. Problem still lies with ball control and patience. Too many crosses sailed high and behind the lone center throughout the world cup. Too many 50/50 balls for no reason coming from the midfielders. No, we’re not Brazil as far as talent. Not even close. But we have found success in patiently working the ball up. This approach has seemed to work better for us than the direct power / speed approach. I still think we either need to get some type of investment into top tier talent for the MLS, or worst case scenario find a way to get our guys into the top leagues. Even if it’s for one of the lesser teams in those leagues (Spain, Italy, Argentina, Brazil). Forgive me for my belief (and I may be the only one) that the Premier League in England is over-rated. Unfortunately it’s 70% of what is shown on soccer channels here. For those of us who only get Fox Soccer Channel, you might know what I mean. It’s mostly premier league, mixed in with an occasional game or highlight shows of the others.

I REPEAT….
Name ONE player on the USA side that is at the ABOVE AVERAGE (OK EVEN AVERAGE) INTERNATIONAL player level. Forget Keller & Reyna (I NOTE THEY HAVE RETIRED) they are past their prime and I am not sure they were ever truely talented Internationals.
As for MLS…. simply dressed up Sunday morning soccer…… played out of season

Bill- We don’t have a true goal-scorer. We need to develop one of the younger guys, and send them away to play in another league other than the MLS to develop against the top players in the world. Is Adu the answer? I don’t know, time will tell. He’ll be at a good age the next world cup to develop. The other thing we need is a strong midfielder to control the tempo. Ramos did a great job of it years ago, Reyna wasn’t bad. Who’s filling in those shoes with them gone? That’s an equally important question. Problem is, we’ve had a strong defensive team, but have never been able to develop a consistent offense.

Bruce needs to go!! USA needs an Internatinal Coach and we need players that play as a team.

I was embarrased by the lack of offense as well as defense for a team that was rated 5th.

The US team read that and thought they we invincable

1 goal in 3 games is pathetic, yes I said 1 goal, Italy gave us the other one!!!!

I haven’t read the preceding 96 comments, nor will I — it won’t change my opinion.

If Bruce wants to stay, I feel he has earned the right to do so.

This was the first time a USA team has earned a point in a European-hosted World Cup.

If not for an uncharacteristic defensive mistake by Reyna & Co., and a dubious foul called on Gooch in the box, we may have gone through.

I really liked how they played against Italy — that’s the USA Team I was expecting to see against the Czechs. We’ve got a lot of good young talent being developed, and I think The Bruce is the perfect guy to get the most out of each player.

If you think USA Soccer is in a hole (which I do not), I think Il Bruce is the right guy to get us out of that hole. By no means do I believe he has peaked.

Premier League football is played right through the winter months and can be a far cry from the Brazilian experience and possibly that is why the long ball prevails as grounds get very cut up. If there is ever a Winter World Cup played in Europe dont put your money on Brazil. The point is that it is still thrilling to watch pin point inch perfect sliding tackles man on man. The stamina required is colossal and a lot of the English League players are worn out when they come to the World Cup. I think they do well to even compete and they risk injury from tiredness. There is more to football than just scoring and as a fan you have to watch many a ‘damp squib’ before you see a ‘classic’ but most soccer supporters here are ‘couch’ supporters. Thousands and thousands of Brits get off their *sses to support their team in the UK twice a week. That entitles them to be a little more ’savvy’ of the game than many of the so called ‘experts’ here

Jorge-

I live in the states, I’m just in the DR for the summer, so I am aware of the plight of the US soccer watching community

I agree with your assessment entirely: the US needs midfielders and goalscorers. Plain and simple. For some reason we create decent defenders and wingers, but no one who can play in the center of the park or who can finish.

I really hope Bradley and Nguyen are the answers in teh center of teh park, and Johnson and Adu continue to improve.

Chuck-

you are right. Bruce has done a good job. We were in a very tough group, and played one good game (Ghana), one great game (Italy), and one okay game Czechs).

In none of those games was the US totally overmatched (the Czech game was just excellent finishing). We also did not play with 9 people behind the ball, like we used to.

I also refuse to blame Bruce too much for the offense: he has no midfield whatsoever. He ran the best race he could with the horses he had.

HOWEVER, as I’ve posted elsewhere, the defense made way too many amateur mistakes. The Koller goal and the first Ghana goal were in part becase Dolo and Lewis were caught up the field. The second Ghana goal and the second Czech goal were becase US defenders opted to clear into the center of the park, rather than out of bounds for a throw in.

These are simple things that were lacking.

The US also looked lethargic in teh first and last game.

I think its time for a change of scenery, because 8 years is a long time.

Bruce has got to go! If you watch any other game in this tournament, you can pause your TV and see that the man with the ball has a wealth of options. His team mates are making themselves available for him. Not so with the US. You see the midfielders with no options but to dribble around until they get the ball stolen, or send a long ball up with no result. That’s a coaching problem. We have athletes. Just not someone to teach them how to control a midfield, and build an attack from the back forward. Bruce must be discarded and replaced with a European coach.

Patrick-

I have nothing against the EPL, which has fine football (Arsenal at least), but do you really think Chelsea is the beacon for how football should be played? Have you seen how your national side has played?

I really don’t understand where this British arrogance comes from. You won one World Cup when you hosted it and that was because of poor refereeing.

The only reason Liverpool won the Champion’s League was because they had a Spanish coach and Spanish imports.

Tackling and hail mary’s are fun, but only in Northamerican Football.

all in all this world cup (even though it was a tough group) reminded me of how poorly the U.S. did in the 98 world cup and that the 2002 world cup was just a fluke…It`s time we get an international coach who`s been successful and not these American coaches who’ve only won MLS or College championships BYE BYE BRUCE!!!

Joedy— if you read this know that I am sickened by your comment about routing for Ghana… I’ve never seen a team full of such pansies as them… EVER! i’ve never seen th HORRIBLE acting to waste more time in a game in an attempt to look “professional”… they got a lucky call and a mistake-ridden goal and didnt do anything the rest of the game… anyone who would route for such a bunch of “beep”- it just astounds me… heart? heart is laying on the ground holding your face for 10 mins when someone hit your foot? or holding your side when there is nothing else to hold to pretend you are hurt??? thats heart all the sudden…

Americans have always been flaky but wow- that surprises me… if thats heart, I am ALL confused obviously. only one time in my entire career had i ever before seen 5 STOPPAGE MINS!!! please they dont have heart— a lot of luck though

Daniel – not sure I’d go quite that far. ‘98 was a tough group, but to say they’re the same as the ‘06 group is a far cry. Czech Republic, although they didn’t fare too well is still a heck of a squad. Italy, maybe under-rated coming into the World Cup still has all their players in what is arguably the toughest league around next to the Spanish League. Ghana was a suprise to most who haven’t followed the U-17 World Cup. 2 championships, 2 second place, and 1 3rd place finish between ‘91-’99. Only one other country can compete with those numbers, Brazil. Where do you think those kids are now? Between 23-32 years old and on this squad (which is currently ranked 48th in the world). Kind of makes you wonder where they get these rankings from. Point is, you can’t have a team that strong in the youth world cup, and not expect them to eventually become a half-way decent team in a few years. And let’s not forget, this is the team everyone expected to finish last in this grouping. ’06’s grouping is much tougher than ‘98 was…and this team looked much better than that one (regardless of how poorly we finished up in this cup, simply comparing the ‘98 results to this years).

- Somebody wrote this, but I think it’s pretty telling…

Further, the only thing I will add is there are millions of talented players being shunned in the US System, particularly ethnically diverse talent, Latinos, and lower socio economic talent, talented people like Clint Dempsey are out there folks. That is a deep, deep problem. Clubs coaches, money, elitists, coaching licenses, ODP. To me, Arena really personifies that even if it is an unfair correlation.

The future is bright so long as they execute a brilliant strategy for the future.

ETucker:
London hosts Chelsea a mostly foreign player club and Fulham and Millwall and Arsenal and Tottenham and West Ham and Wimbledon. So eat you heart out to see real football and to have such choices. Not appreciating clean well timed tackling is why US are so far behind the World. Instant resultitus is a big problem. I wonder why the rest of the world have not taken to ’sissy rugby’?…or world series ’rounders and netball’ The World plays the game my country invented. Over 150 nations competing in the best game in the world. USA are the ‘odd’ ones out in not recognizing that. Ghana declares a national holiday in respect of their big game with USA. USA does not even watch the game. Who deserves to go thru?

Bruce Arena, the players, the officials were all pathetic. add it all up and it gives more people reason to throw their arms in the air and say “who cares!”.

Bruce Arena is an idiot as far as strategy and planning to play an opponent. He doesn’t use the right personnel or strategy to beat anyone. We just show up and wing it.

The players especially Reyna, and Donovan should be ashamed of their effort. I’ve seen more energy and better conditioning on my friend’s girls freshman high school team. Just pathetic play, terrible passing and poor lethargic movement.

The officials miss more calls than they make. The world stage and you have better quality in a CYC kids league. Another missed handball by the Ukraine today on a pk costs their opponent a chance to advance.

the whole mess was pathetic and disappointing and a waste of time watching.

the beautiful game is very ugly when it comes down to it

How many Brits play on Chelsea? Or Arsenal? Interesting….glad to see the pounds (which are so sound) go towards financing the development of third world countries’ footballing talent.

I’m glad you invented soccer, the US invented basketball, which is also played throughout the world.

I do have to say my favorite footie club is Arsenal, but it is also the least British.

I actually like the physical play of the premiership, its just the long balls and lack of midfield passin that bores me. How many hatchetmen teams like Bolton have success in teh EPL only to flop at the European competition level?

“London hosts Chelsea a mostly foreign player club and Fulham and Millwall and Arsenal and Tottenham and West Ham and Wimbledon.”

Ummm… there’s something wrong with this list. Like, oh, Wimbeldon still existing.

“or world series ’rounders and netball’”

I think you need to find your way back to reality. Basketball’s popularity continues to grow. Too bad you missed Olympic basketball last time around, with some great teams. Baseball is slowly being taken up in Europe and is successful in Australia.

Oh, and in the UK? They’ve done this thing called decimalisation. And Harold Wilson’s been dead for over ten years.

Let,s try to get Guus Hiddink to coach for the U.S. A coach who can make winners. Netherlands, South Korea, and now Australia.

What can one say? The USA does not belong in the same league with the rest of the world in regards to soccer. It is as simple as that.

dw
Testing you on Wimbldon.
“Basketball’s popularity continues to grow” and so do the players. Eight footers will be cloned soon…..whats wrong with that he says?….perhaps you can beat the Japanese in the ‘Netball’ World Cup. Baseball ’slowly’?..you have been playing it for 80 years…..yes ’slowly’ might cover that?

Hiddink is becoming the coach of the Russians after this World Cup.
Scolari supposedly turned down the England job, before they went with McClaren. Not sure if this was the truth, but that was the story in Asia over the past few months.

I’d like to see some Dutch leadership infused into the US squad. I’d also like to see Donovan grow a pair.

Caroline | June 22nd, 2006 at 9:58 pm

Prior to World Cup ‘06, Bruce Arena commented that Australia was the weak link of the 32 teams, an ‘easy’ team to beat. Well, Australia is through to the next round and the US isn’t. Have a nice flight home, Bruce.

By his statements above, I guess you can see it in Bruce’s attitude were the team was head in this years world cup. Very arrogant PR**K!!! Its time to leave Bruce and his Lovely 4-5-1. Bruce you need to attack. Bruce actually thinks McBride will get by the likes of Italian and Czech defenders. BRUCE THE WORLD CUP IS NOT JUST ANOTHER CONCACAF MATCH!!!!

I fully blame Bruce tactics, selctions and lack of motivation on his part. USA needs new blood and ideas of the european mind.

Walynanda and Harkes were on absolutely right when criticizing Bruce. Both Eric and John have creditability to do knock Bruce. Bruce took it for granted and it was displayed by his team.

USA needs European flair, tactics and coach. Klinsmann come save USA national team.

It seems that many believe that if Klinsman takes over US will become a great team. Klinsman has won nothing yet as coach. As a player he was not that great. In 94 against Bulgaria he looked like Donovan against Ghana. A wet chicken. Zico has not done much in Japan…Too many rules and regulations in youth soccer…US plays in the World Cup and very few know… Look in Australia. All Australians was awake watching the game.It is like playing the most idiotic sport i.e. baseball in Europe. Who cares?

Bruce fell down on tactics as well as anything. Play strong but let the Italians get the reds. If a player is on a red in a defensive location switch him or substitute him. Players must have more than one positional strength. Fine players for two footed tackles that get red cards. And especially when they take place in the opponents half. Dont be seen blaming the ref. Aim high and stop Prima Donna mentalities. Even Beckham would be carpetted for bad and ill timed tackles. Bruce naively blamed the ref and was also very naive in celebrating the goal before waiting to the ref to ‘give it’. That should not happen to a top line coach.

Correction to above: “if a player is on a ‘yellow’ in a defensive location.

Bruce Arena made the mistake of trying to impress with his coaching rather than let the players play. Change to a 4-5-1 set a week before the World Cup starts? Never try it in actual game conditions before the cup? That is strictly a coach’s ego telling his players that this is about the coach, not your skill, and the players reacted by playing like the losers that he branded them. Yo Bruce, you win a fight by striking at your foe, not turtling. Moron. Give your players a chance.

GO!

Arena has been a great coach, not only in improving the quality of our play/development of talent, but as an outspoken advocate of the sport, giving what used to be only seen domestically as a pansy ‘European’ or ‘South American’ sport a US face. Not enough, but a growing minority of us, now give a …. about and have a better understanding of this beautiful game, and we owe some of that to him.

We lost because of our 1)Inexperience at playing top level tournaments, which – like many NBA teams in the playoffs for the first time in years – left our players intimidated and squeemish 2) we gave up early goals due to costly player mistakes, which never let Arena implement strategy. With the exception of our draw with Italy, the team which took the first goal in our group won the match. Opposing teams can ‘lock down’ once ahead in soccer more than in basketball, football, baseballl, etc. 3) shocking, game-changing reffing. I’m sick of people telling Arena not to ‘whine’. The calls were awful… the penalty kick to Ghana COMPLETELY changed the game. Sure, we mave lost anyway, but Ghana would have had to attack to get a win, leaving openings for our offense, and 20 minutes of the second half would have been spent playing ball instead of watching Ghanaian players writhe in B-horror film agony in order to waste time. FIFA should give each World Cup team one instant replay challenge per match. Sure, it could slow down the game, but not as much as players faking injuries to keep a point advantage because of a boneheaded call. 4) a lack of top international players, particularly strikers… not Arena’s fault, per se. As people have argued better here, we need better player development.

That said, a shake-up and fresh faces are needed. We don’t let our presidents serve for more than eight years because they begin to lose focus, run out of new ideas and get complacent. So, to, must Arenas go. But we should thank him for what he’s done. None of us would be calling for his head if his leadership and success didn’t get us interested in soccer in the first place

It’s time, after 8 years, for Bruce to go.
He had the chance.
The US Soccer Federation should
try the German model and hire a young coach like Eric Wynalda.
I understand that Juergen
Klinsman might be available after the Worldcup?
Not a bad choice either.

Bruce needs a change & so does the US Team; 8 years is long enuf! How about Klinsmann for that job? Lives in the US, American wife & kids…Knows how to coach & evaluate talent, been to the mountain as player & coach. Likes America!!!!

bruce needs to go man, i think he’s the blame for everything that went wrong with the U.S team. u.s soccer will never be a strong as other countries outthere yaddda mean man. the u.s heart is not into soccer, it’s into baseball,basketball and american football.

Who decided to hire Taylor Negron’s fat brother to coach the national team in the first place?

USSF president Sunil Gulati said it best, in that three unfavorable results don’t suddenly diminish all of the things Arena has done in his coaching career. That being said, I think the US has gone as far as Arena can lead them, and it is time for a higher profile manager to take us to the next level. I think that the USSF needs to put a big offer out to someone like Klinsman (who already lives in the USA) or perhaps someone like Sven Goren Eriksson, who is tired of living in the fishbowl that is the English tabloid media and would probably relish the chance to manage without his every single move (personally and professionally) being scrutinized to death.

We will see how well Arena is respected as a coach after his departure from US Soccer.
We have heard of his “opportunity” in Europe which is “no longer available”.
Let’s see what happens and who offers him a position…..

Arena should be offically repremanded for not showing good sportsmanship after the game. Millions of children that we stress sportmanship above everything else and even a man at the highest level can’t show it.
US Soccer will never be consistently at the top until it is viewed and becomes a passion for the children. Look at the other countries and you will see what I mean. Always playing soccer and the price is inexpensive for good coaching. GHANA made it a national holiday when they played the US. Will that ever happen here?

Just for playing Reyna, Arena should go. It was obvious all the way through qualifications that the US played better without Reyna. Reyna was the worst player in the tournament. He cost the US all 3 games. He should have never been on team.

All those calling for Klinsman as new U.S. trainer should first try to spell his name correctly: Klinsmann. Double ‘N’. That’s his name. He is German. He is not American.

Next point to learn. The US plays soccer. It is a Football World Cup.

To spell Klinsmann’s name correctly seems to me as a first, very much needed step for US-soccer boys if they REALLY want to entry in the world of football men (*smile*): overcoming soccer island selfcentrism in the US and discover the real thing in it’s own right. Try to give up FIFA-ranked-us-No.4-superpower-arrogance in order to learn from respected and successful football nations: that means first and foremost England, Spain and Italy, with their wonderful football culture, second the rising nations of 1980ies, e.g. Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast (that have now top players at top clubs, eg. Essien and Drogba at Chelsea), and last but not least from now the now much respected latecomers Japan and Korea. Sorry, but the U.S. is not among these so far, if you ask a European Continental football freak having had many discussions about the U.S. with international folks in the last days.

ETucker: Nobody needs to pay the Mexican sons and daughters to play football. Everything is needed is to stop their exclusion from clubs in the U.S., practiced by white middle-class suburban soccer mommies who fear their children could play with the childrens of their gardeners. Have a look at the French teams of the last year. At present only the goalie Barthez and the right defender Sagnol are “white”, and the French have learned to like it.

In my eyes (but maybe I am wrong) the discussion here remains constantly in a somewhat middle class-universe: “Let us pay these worker’s and minorities’ kids to play for our team, so we will reach the status in the world of football, as Microsoft and Apple products will have in the world of computing.” The wrong way to success. Learn to understand how football works, is my advice.

I am a bit emotional maybe, because recently I had a contact to a US Soccer-manager and really was shocked by his ignorance and arrogance. Okay, not everybody is like him, that shows the dicussion, but… it explains a lot.

Am I totally wrong? (I mean my arguments, not my English…)

We would love to see an U.S.-team, that combines the skills of South America with the fitness of NBA and NHL and the heart of American pioneers. Think about Zico as new trainer

Hope to see you in the Final 2014 Germany – US, Klinsmann vs Zico.

LOL JOE!! GOOD ONE…LOL

Jo jo: did you see the game where the US qualified against Mexico? Claudio Reyna was easily the best player on the pitch and has been for the past decade for the US.

It is easy to criticize and tougher to offer a solution: who do we put on the pitch instead of Claudio Reyna? Give me a name, anyone (from the roster or any US player currently alive) Tab Ramos?

I could envision a 4-4-2 with Dempsey and Convey on the wings and Donovan and Mastro in the middle, but I’m not sure Donovan would be an improvement.

See the passion of the Portugal V Holland game to understand where Gerd Mueller is coming from. That was hard and disputably fair but what a match. How can you get that passion from the US?

Bruce Arena should be removed. The United States has the ability to accumulate enough world class talent to compete on the only soccer stage that matters. No one cares about the friendlies record. No one cares how many times they qualify by going 5-0-0 at home, but going .500 at 2-2-1 on the road.

We care that the went winless in yet another World Cup. We care that they put up 1 shot on goal vs the Czechs and Italians COMBINED! That’s laughingstock material. The entire world threw us the shake of a head and a knowing nod that says “you Yanks have no business here.”. A subpar offensive effort against Ghana just seals Bruce Arena’s fate as much as it sealed the fate of US soccer until 2010. The world gets to laugh it up for four more years.

Think realistic. The US cant get any other than Bruce Arena. No European oder Brazilian would risk his name as the trainer of USA loosing in the CONCACAF-qualification group against Mururuoa atoll, Virgin Islands and Costa Rica.

ETucker, you want to hear a name. Here is it: Mia Hamm.

She is a respected player around the world. Can’t say that of the US boys and their whining supporters.

fuck you, administrator

can someone delete that, please? *hustle*

I agree that we need new coaching, preferably from a top European coach, but that only solves one problem. We need kids to be taught the fundamentals, discipline, dedication and creativity from a young age. The world has caught up to the US in baskeball and baseball not by hiring NBA coaches, but by taking a systematic approach to youth training and development. Arena was right, we nee coaching from the bottom up, not the top down. Getting some big name German coach may improve World Cup tactics and polish our most creative players (Twellman, why wasn’t he on the squad?), but it won’t create the game-changing Ninja strikers or Buddhic all-seeing midfielders we’ve never had.

dont feed the trolls.

Arena needs to go. He’s the epitome of everything that’s wrong with soccer in the US right now — like most of the people in charge of youth leagues and ODP in this country, he’s a man with very little soccer experience of his own pretending he knows what he’s doing. Telling his players they should play for a possible “make-up” call in the Ghana game? Maybe he should have been coming up with a tactic for actually scoring a goal, rather than hoping the ref could do the team’s job for it. And don’t even get me started on his lineup choices. Of course he played Donovan far too much; Donovan is just the kind of player who is rewarded in the US system. He’s also its most typical product — a player too small and weak to make any kind of impact on an international stage. It’s time the US learned how to recognize soccer talent and develop it properly — it takes more than flash and dash to play well. A player can have the best footwork and juggling skills in the world, but that player is useless if he’s constantly knocked off the ball, too weak to really challenge for possession on the ground, and too tiny to have any impact in the air. I still can’t believe how many ODP clinics I’ve seen where countless hours are spent on silly juggling drills, or going one-on-one against an orange cone. Wake up America! It’s a game, and you’ll never win it if you don’t play it.

Guys-

Donovan wasn’t too weak and small in Japan/Korea 2002. Neither was Beasley.

You don’t have to be a Jan Koller to be successful at the top level…Michael Owen and Leo Messi are not exactly bohemiths.

Bruce does need to go, but give him his due: he inherited a program in the dumps (France 98, Wynalda) and made it respectable.

If not for some silly PLAYER mistakes, like Mastro two foot tackling an Italian from behind for no reason, or Bocanegra clearing a ball into the box, we could’ve been in the knockout rounds.

Until US players take it to the next level (and play error free soccer), we could have a coaching team of Parreira, Scolari, and Klinsmann and we still wouldn’t get out of a group of death.

I don’t honestly think getting a new coach will help the US situation. Not in this life. First of all you need to breed a decent domestic league, with decent players (not export fubar material like Abu, it doesn’t work, usually a one time thing, but hey, so much to talk about). You have some decent players playing abroad, but that’s not enough. International teams do not appear out of nowhere. They must have a basis.

Another bad thing is that you usually have weak qualification groups. Blah it’s only Mexico that proves to be a challenge usually, isn’t it..

Fifa really needs to change the qualification system for the World Cup, instead of regional go global… this would certainly improve situation, and would certainly reduce chances of weak countries getting into the final stage.

The reason why I typed the last sentence was the following.

If you were say an average european country, which usually has to go through hell to get to the WC. You would just appreciate being there. And you should. US is not a spectacular team, but at least you have more or less free ticket every 4 years to the WC. Use that to your advantage. Popularize soccer. Invest in youth teams. It absolutely has nothing to do with coach.

If you ask me, I believe that the U. S. should clean house in their organization, and RIGHT NOW!

The rumors about Jurgen Klinsmann coming to coach Team USA, are not just that. Jurgen Klinsmann is the obvious choice to coach our team, and it is something that we, Americans, have been voicing our opinions about ever since that pathetic loss to Ghana. And why not, he lives in Southern California with his Wife and children. Someone of his magnitude living here in the United States, makes it totally essential for us to obtain. We have to get him, at any cost, and, we have to give him the complete reins of the Team. Bring in his own Assistant Coaches and Scouts, or it’s not going to work. Jurgen’s contract with Germany ends after the World Cup Tournament, meaning that his experience, along with his work ethic and motivation is just what USA Soccer needs right now. We can get him, but, will the U. S. Soccer Federation go that extra step to bring him? That’s another question left answering. For all we know, we could bring ourselves another loser like Steve Sampson(What a Jerk he was). But, I must tell you, if we DO NOT get Jurgen Klinsmann to coach U. S. Soccer, then it goes to show how committed our Federation is to our program. And we can just continue to be laughed at by the rest of the World by our constant Last place finishes in the World Cup, slapping the Faces of every Soccer Mom in America who does take their children to their practices, and later, their games. USSF, the ball is now in your half of the field, how are you going to handle this?

there are eery similarities between this bog and english blogs reviewing Sven’s performance…

I would say Arena has done US soccer a world of good, but probably you should find someone new just because 8 years is a long time to coach a single team and having a coach with man-boobs must unsettle the players.

as for US soccer, I think the main thing is to find a way to play more high standard games, probably getting an invite to the copa-americana is the best way to do it,

oh and imitate Italian and German soccer as much as you want, but do not under all circumstances imitate english or spanish soccer!!! (just look at their records to find out why!)