Personally, I'm convinced we have the talent and ability in our top selection of players. They aren't being chosen, either due to injury (Adams and some others) or for who knows what reason. Its so frustrating

Agreed, look at where we have players playing and you can see that the talent pool isn't the issue.

The issue is a) questionable player selection with b) a coach trying to shoehorn players into his "system" that obviously isn't working.

PatAg said:

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Personally, I'm convinced we have the talent and ability in our top selection of players. They aren't being chosen, either due to injury (Adams and some others) or for who knows what reason. Its so frustrating

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I agree with this. Berhalter would rather choose mediocre MLS players than the best players we have (who are playing in Europe).

National team needs to have a system that works with the best players.

I can't believe we are where we are at now as a National Team.

Our players are all better than Canada. It can only be coaching.

Because we ****ed that 4-6 year gap up of identifying players and getting them into the national team pool, we just HAVE to start playing these youngsters earlier than you would with a healthy age-range of quality players. Who gives a **** if a player isnt getting first team minutes at an elite european club. They are still getting actual game minutes with the 2nd team, which is better than a mediocre player walking into an MLS starting spot. Personally, I dont care what the ratio of MLS to Europe players is, there are plenty of quality players in the MLS that could play in Europe. A lot of them are still young, and its really difficult to go to Europe without some sort of dual citizenship or access to a european passport. We know who isnt good enough, and its the majority of the people Berrhalter has been choosing

mrmill3218 said:

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PatAg said:

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Personally, I'm convinced we have the talent and ability in our top selection of players. They aren't being chosen, either due to injury (Adams and some others) or for who knows what reason. Its so frustrating

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I agree with this. Berhalter would rather choose mediocre MLS players than the best players we have (who are playing in Europe).

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Exactly, its that the players themselves are mediocre. Maybe he is a genius, and he chose all these players to prove to the public that they arent good enough, so he has free reign to choose all the youth from now until the World Cup.

Berhalter is certainly not a genius. I'm actually not sure he really knows what he's going. The guy has never won anything. He seems (more and more) to be in way over his head.

mrmill3218 said:

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Berhalter is certainly not a genius. I'm actually not sure he really knows what he's going. The guy has never won anything. He seems (more and more) to be in way over his head.

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He definitely has not proven the ability to adapt at all, and some would say he is running out of time. I would say time is up, but if you want to be realistic he isnt getting fired soon(or possibly at all).

That's what's really sad - there's just no way the cat is getting fired.

We really have to hope he resigns.

OlSarge92 said:

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I Am Mine said:

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jeffk said:

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We really have to hope he resigns.

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He's like Trump. Only a few people want him and we're stuck with him.

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What a completely inaccurate analogy

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We're not stuck with both?

Speaking of systemic issues, what the heck is Earnie Stewart doing?

Maybe I'm just seeing what's familiar because my brain is lazy, but man, it seems like the USMNT and Aggie football are so similar.

It doesn't matter what kind/caliber of coach we trot out there in either case... when there's a micromanaging, overbearing, paternalistic, and unaccountable bureaucracy involved, no coach will succeed.

My USMNT "meh" period started before League of Nations.

I've picked up a couple of things about it here and there, but not much at all.

Does this affect WCQualifying? When is LoN over? Is it group stages, then elimination?

If I had to guess, he will choose the same players that arent good enough in the November matches. Our only real hope is, when we start having friendlies and games next spring, he will finally be choosing the young/talented players. If he doesn't then, its still not too late to fire the guy and bring someone in who knows how to evaluate talent and coach at the international level.

Mr. White said:

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My USMNT "meh" period started before League of Nations.

I've picked up a couple of things about it here and there, but not much at all.

Does this affect WCQualifying? When is LoN over? Is it group stages, then elimination?

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WHAT ELSE IS AT STAKE?
In short, plenty.
First, the competition represents the last competitive matches which Concacaf nations will play prior to the publishing the June 2020 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings. This is important because in July, Concacaf announced a new World Cup Qualifying format which will see the top six ranked nations in June's FIFA Ranking go straight into the Final Round, also known as the Hex. With competitive matches weighted higher than friendlies, these games will prove crucial for some teams to make it to the Hex.

Teams not ranked inside the top six aren't completely shutout of qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but will instead have to go through a second, more rigorous playoff track involving 29 teams and between 14-16 additional qualifying matches for each, just for the opportunity to claim the final spot. Suffice to say, there's a lot of benefit to being in the top six come June 2020.
Here is the current Concacaf Top 10 in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking:

basically the games themselves wont directly affect WCQ, in that you dont win this and automatically qualify or anything. However, they count as competitive matches instead of friendlies, which count more for your WCQ ranking. The Hex is now just the top 6 countries according to world ranking, and instead the long qualifying format is for a final spot in a playoff against asia i think. So in a way the Nations League and Gold Cup are part of the way you qualify for the Hex.

Quote:

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Here is the current Concacaf Top 10 in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking:

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A little help for clarity sake:

12 -Mexico
21 -USA
43 - Costa Rica
47 - Jamaica
67- Honduras
72 - El Salvador
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75 - Canada

tysker said:

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Quote:

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Here is the current Concacaf Top 10 in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking:

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A little help for clarity sake:

12 -Mexico 1603
21 -USA 1545
43 - Costa Rica 1442
47 - Jamaica 1435
67- Honduras 1359
72 - El Salvador 1342
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75 - Canada 1322
76 - Curacao 1320
77 - Panama 1331

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A talking point going into the game indicated that Canada, with a result against us, would move into the top 6, so there are some real ramifications for qualifying from this. Theoretically not for Mexico or the US.

Quote:

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For as righteous as all the fury aimed at Berhalter may be, though, the real culprits behind this and every other American men's soccer failure over the years are the leaders of the federation. Berhalter's management has let the team down, but the people most responsible for that are those who gave him the gig in the first place. That U.S. Soccer took an entire year pretending to do a deep and thorough search for a new managerwhile in reality completely ignoring interested and qualified coaches like Gerardo Martino and Jesse Marschbefore ultimately settling on a man who just so happened to be the COO of U.S. Soccer's brother is shambolic. It looked bad in the moment and looks even worse now that everyone's well-founded concerns about Berhalter have borne out.

Not only was the process that gave us Berhalter bad, but the architects of that process are only becoming more empowered. Gregg's brother Jay is reportedly primed to take yet another step up by going from U.S. Soccer COO to CEO. Earnie Stewart, the USMNT's GM who oversaw the hiring of the current manager, has already been promoted to the program's sporting director, where he will answer directly to Jay Berhalter should that CEO promotion come through. U.S. Soccer recently pivoted its approach in an effort to run itself more like a business. That was the reason behind the downgrading of the federation president role, and the creation of middle-manager jobs like the men's and women's GMs. With the higher-ups making ruinous decisions and getting rewarded for it with promotions, U.S. Soccer is doing a great job of mimicking the business world.

In sane times, Gregg Berhalter would be on the thinnest of ice today. But the times we actually find ourselves in are far from sane. More likely than Berhalter getting fired anytime soon is him sticking it out at least until 2022 World Cup qualifiers begin next September. Only then could he face realistic pressures to start to perform, or else. That's a long time for a national team to flounder, but that appears to be in the cards.

Following that loss to Trinidad and Tobago and the subsequent absence from the 2018 World Cup, U.S. Soccer had an opportunity and a responsibility to make some drastic changes in order to right the ship. The election of Carlos Cordeiro as federation president, the year-long managerial "search," the hiring of Gregg Berhalter, the continued ascent of Jay Berhalter, and the piss-poor play on the pitch all go to show that those in charge had no urgency and no vision for what needed to happen to prevent something like 2017 from happening again.

Two years ago, the USMNT failed to qualify for the World Cup, and the response was "Never again." Two years later, the USMNT is even worse than before, with no guarantee that it won't suffer the same fate as the last qualification cycle. Until people realize that Berhalter is a symptom rather than the disease, soccer in America will never get truly healthy.

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https://deadspin.com/the-usmnt-is-an-absolute-joke-and-its-all-u-s-soccers-1839098747

(Sorry in advance for the formatting If some one wants to rework, I'll edit )
Not to be more of a debbie downer but look at the lineups for last night and the 3 of the 4 last WC qualifying matches in 2017 (separated by a 4-0 win at Panama on 10/6/17)

10/10/17 2-1 loss to T&T:
Howard
Yedlin
Gonzalez
Besler
Villifana
Arriola
Bradley
Nagbe
Pulisic
Altidore
Wood

9/5/17 1-1 tie to Honduras:
Guzan
Zusi
Gonzalez
Besler
Beasley
Bradley
Acosta
Pulisic
Dempsey
Nagbe
Morris

9/1/17 2-0 loss in Costa Rica:
Howard
Zusi
Cameron
Ream
Villafana
Pulisic
Nagbe
Bradley
Johnson
Wood
Altidore

10/15/19 2-0 loss to Canada:
Steffen
Yedlin
Long
Ream
Lovitz
Roldan
Bradley
Morris
McKennie
Pulisic
Sargent

Thats not much of an upgrade in talent from Sept 2017 to Oct 2019, imo. Berhalter needs to find better players and maybe take a risk on guys that Klinnsman and Arena would not. I'm not certain he can "system" his way out of this

This is a good read and sums it all up well.

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/10/usmnt-canada-gregg-berhalter

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That orchestrated attack theory has now been taken even further in world soccer, with coaches not only drilling teams in creating passing angles, but actually orchestrating the exact passes and runs. It's more like an American football offense, with players having options to make pre-determined runs and passes depending on where the ball is on the field.

Berhalter is a big proponent of this school of thought. His teams have set passing patterns and off-ball runs that are dictated by where the ball is on the field and what options the defense is giving them. If the defense presses high up the field, Berhalter's teams are meant to execute a series of orchestrated passes to beat that press. They have options, but the options are set before the match even begins.

In the attacking third of the field, they have set routines where USMNT players will overload one side of the field, in order to create 2-on-1s or 3-on-2s. When the defender commits, the USMNT player is then meant to pass to the open option. It's the RPO of American football, brought to the soccer field.

Berhalter loves this. He's built an entire tactical philosophy around it. There's just one problem: It's not going to work.

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And not that this will help how we're all feeling, but...

fig96 said:

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This is a good read and sums it all up well.

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/10/usmnt-canada-gregg-berhalter

Quote:

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That orchestrated attack theory has now been taken even further in world soccer, with coaches not only drilling teams in creating passing angles, but actually orchestrating the exact passes and runs. It's more like an American football offense, with players having options to make pre-determined runs and passes depending on where the ball is on the field.

Berhalter is a big proponent of this school of thought. His teams have set passing patterns and off-ball runs that are dictated by where the ball is on the field and what options the defense is giving them. If the defense presses high up the field, Berhalter's teams are meant to execute a series of orchestrated passes to beat that press. They have options, but the options are set before the match even begins.

In the attacking third of the field, they have set routines where USMNT players will overload one side of the field, in order to create 2-on-1s or 3-on-2s. When the defender commits, the USMNT player is then meant to pass to the open option. It's the RPO of American football, brought to the soccer field.

Berhalter loves this. He's built an entire tactical philosophy around it. There's just one problem: It's not going to work.

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This may work in a club where you have them all the time, but you can't expect guys to learn this in a few weeks a year.

It's not rocket surgery. Get the best 11 and play soccer.

This team doesn't even seem to do set pieces well. Seems foolish to think that philosophy can work.

Pulisic seems to be getting frustrated. Him getting pissed off and speaking his mind could move the needle. Not sure if there's another way.

Um, that was the exact point of the article

I Am Mine said:

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OlSarge92 said:

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I Am Mine said:

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jeffk said:

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We really have to hope he resigns.

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He's like Trump. Only a few people want him and we're stuck with him.

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What a completely inaccurate analogy

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We're not stuck with both?

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I think your "only a few people want him" comment is what's inaccurate. Extremely inaccurate.

OregonAggie said:

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I Am Mine said:

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OlSarge92 said:

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I Am Mine said:

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jeffk said:

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We really have to hope he resigns.

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He's like Trump. Only a few people want him and we're stuck with him.

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What a completely inaccurate analogy

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We're not stuck with both?

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I think your "only a few people want him" comment is what's inaccurate. Extremely inaccurate.

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I know.

And y'alls of sense of humor is turrible.

This is exactly what I was thinking to myself today while out on the road and listening to SiriusXM FC radio all day (why did I do that?). I was thinking it seems like he's trying to have the guys run set plays all the time like football. Glad I wasn't alone.