The non- Jürgen Long-list

As far as I know, Martin O’Neil is interested in returning to coaching; and, as far as I know, he is not yet (permanently) attached to a club or national team. (However, Aston Villa seems to be interested, and they are probably on his short list.)

O’Neil, IMHO, would be great. He obviously understands tactical football, having great success where he’s been before. Plus, players like him, and he knows how to get the best out of the available talent.

Also, I think that he could fit right into the “American mindset” that USSF seems to rate so highly.

But, I think Queiroz would be great, too.

BTW, I’ve come to the realization that my idealization of having national teams consisting of players AND coaches from that particular nation is not likely to happen.

Therefore, I’m jumping on the foreign-national-coach bandwagon.

How about Dave O Brien? lol

Eric Wynalda should coach.

Then, when things go bad, he can throw champagne bottles at his own hotel room late at night.

Please let it be JK. I like his enthusiasm and play on the side lines.. a coach that’s truly and emotionally in the game.

I think Zidane should coach the Italian national team… keep em clean.

Anyone think we have a shot at Mourinho? ;-P

Jesse,

I don’t know about Mourinho. We’d have a better shot at Queiroz (though I don’t know how good it really is).

Queiroz has proven to be able to identify and cultivate talent (though, of course, he was blessed with exceptional talent in Portugal). Also, in addition to his own abilities, he has been able to learn from Sir Alex. All good attributes.

And, about Queiroz, I forgot to mention that his experience already working with USSF (the Q-Report) and in the MLS.

The only drawback is that I don’t know if he is a “player’s” coach; but he is an excellent techical mind.

Please not Glenn Myernick.

FWIW, I was hoping Arena would remain as coach. I think he’s intelligent enough to identify and correct the deficiencies.

Now that the decision has been made to get a different coach, however, there is no way I would support someone like Glenn Myernick.

IMHO, the most compelling argument for a managerial change was that Team USA needed some new blood. Indeed, if you read the quote sheet from Sunil Gulati’s conference call (at http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_281154.html), you can see how prevalent this line of thinking was in his reasoning. He uses terms like “fresh approach”, “fresh look”, and talks about how “we needed a new-ness, a freshness.”

So, therefore, I don’t see how Myernick can be considered a candidate.

QUOTE:
“Arena’s undoubtedly the best coach in America. Therefore, hiring another domestic coach such as a Sigi Schmid or Arena’s assistant Glenn Myernick makes no sense whatsoever. If that ends up being the case, the USSF should simply have retained Arena.”

The above quote is from Jen Chang’s article on ESPN (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=374034&root=us&cc=5901) concerning “Plan B” if Jurgen declines. I thoroughly agree with this statement.

So, (and this is directed at no one in particular — I’ve been away from this board for ahile…) you think Arena’s approach is stale? Fine.
Please don’t advocate replacing him with someone such as Glenn Myernick.

I think the US will go hard after hiring JK and rightfully so.

He would be perfect for the american team. Great player in his day’s and now proving to be great coach, look what he did with a young German team.

Martin O’Neill would be a terrific coach. He turned around a Celtic squad that I thought didn’t have much potential, and restored his half of the Old Firm to its former glory at home and in Europe. I believe him to be a great man manager, which is what the American player needs as much as anything (and one of the reasons for Arena’s success until this most recent washout). The only problem is his wife’s health, which is why he retired in the first place. I doubt if he’ll want to work so far from home.

With that said, I’d take Klinsmann in a heartbeat if MO’N is not available.

Although I have admired Bruce Arena for years, I did think that it was time for him to go. He seemed to have lost the plot with his remarks about his players to the press after the Czech game – a game for which the US seemed totally unprepared. It was like a deja vu of the Morocco friendly. Let’s hope he does well with the Red Bulls – his first game is against Barcelona!

Mourinho has unlimited resources at the moment. Would you leave if you were in his position? Maybe:
http://soccernista.com/offside01.html

Klisnsman is a good motivator maybe, but certainly not the greatest coach there is. There are far better coaches than him around, mor experienced and technically inclined. As we all know his assistant was the tactician. Klinssman might’ve had some success with the German national team, but that does not guarantee him having the same success with our national team. What we need is a good experienced coach, one who can identify the strenghts and weaknesses of the players that are at his disposal and can work his magic with what he has. I am not saying Klinssy is not a good coach though, but he is certainly not the man for the job at this moment, and don’t forget during his spell with the German national team he had all the favourable conditions and situations to work with. 1. Good players from one of the best leagues in the world. 2. the time to mould the group of players he had as a team. 3. The backing of the whole nation. 4. The advantage of playing on home ground with all the previlages that comes with it. ie. enthusiasm, good playing spirit, fanatical supporters and mainly the will to succeed in front of the home crowd. Having said that, who knows he might succedd here too, but I honestly doubt he will. Because this team needs a very experienced coach and a long time to develop, just because we are a super power does not mean we will win the WC anytime soon, but we can dream about winning the cup like anyone else that participates. All we need is a decent team “which I think our team is” that leaves good impressions and if we go further that’s a bonus, lets keep it realistic and not get carried away with the recent hype.

Well, it looks like O’Neil is going to go to Villa.

Good for them. Bad for US.

what about Dave Sarachan from the Chicago Fire?

Aston Villa have confirmed Martin O’Neill as their new manager.

Sob, sob.

I guess I’m a Villan now.

is it just me or should we consider a coach NOT from the MLS . . . it seems like the coaches on the top of everyone’s lists are the ones that have been successful in the MLS . . . who cares about the MLS?? don’t get me wrong, i want the MLS to be successful, but right now, they are not one of the elite leagues in the world. so why try to hire someone from a b-league????? we need a complete overhaul of the US side. I don’t mean that we drop every player, but we need to bring in a unbiased coach with little or no history with any of the US players or clubs. then evaluate whether or not the players we have are really the best side this country can field. The showing in Germany this year was discraceful and we need to stop sugar coating it by saying it wasn’t anyone’s fault . . . thank god we got rid of Arena. let’s not pick up another coach just like him. i’ll say the one person i gained the most respect for during this world cup, Eric Wynalda; the only person that had the guts to speak up on how terrible the club performed in Germany . . . and how Arena should carry much of that blame . . . i sincerely hope his world cup commentary was appreciated by our US fans.

this rant is long overdue, but hopefully i few people will still get a chance to read this . . . .