I disagree. Belgium looked fine. Ghana was still making strong runs and scored late. Portugal had just finished playing half a game with 10 men, one they lost 4-0, and they still had the mental and physical tools to tie it in the 95th minute.
But it was said at least once over the last 62 pages. I'd rather not directly call the poster out, but it was certainly hinted at on or around page 54. That said, I didn't answer the question on purpose. 1) It wasn't really a question. It's baiting. 2) I don't believe it is a strawman, and 3) It's not true. It was at least hinted at over the last 62 pages that Donovan would have given the US a better chance to win than who was on the field during the last 5 minutes of regulation and Extra Time. I only went back 8 pages so far, but it's there.
It's not a strawman because at the end of the day, Klinsmann has forgotten more about soccer than I will know in 1,000 lifetimes. To that end, I believe he had a vision and team conditioning as a whole was so important that all things being equal, he was going with the better conditioned athlete. I truly believe that Klinsmann was building a team that was greater than the sum of its parts, not a group of individuals. As Herb Brooks would have said, the US is not talented enough to win on talent alone. Personal differences aside (most likely didn't help, but it wasn't the determining factor to keep him out of Brazil), Donovan irrefutably stated that he was not fit to go 90 or to train for the requisite days on end, which indicates that his best days are behind him. This team certainly had an air of World Cup inexperience about it, but it also had four other non-goalkeepers who were 32 years or older and two others at age 31. Why were they fit enough to train?
Finally, initial conditioning and fitness level is separate from occurrences such as the Altidore injury. Maybe he didn't stretch properly that day. Maybe he tried to work through a tight muscle. Perhaps it was a reoccurrence of an already existing injury and he didn't tell anyone. A similar injury happened in the Germany-Portugal match just hours earlier. How many sprinters pull up lame in completion (See Michael Johnson in the 150 meter match race vs. Donovan Bailey)? It happens even to the most world class of world class athletes.
Klinsmann is not an all powerful being. He can make mistakes like every other human.
The goal is to go as far as you can in the tournament. Not brag about how hard you train. Half the team came up lame at one time or another, maybe that's just a coincidence or bad luck but let's not act like Klinsmann is some guru who has cracked a secret code.
Donovan also finished fourth in the beep test so let's not act like he was a broken down horse who needed to be shot.
It was a decision made on a personal level by a coach who just doesn't like a player. I mean his son frigging taunted him in public fashion - do we really need to keep pretending it is something else?
You want to believe Klinsmann is some sort of alchemist and that by choosing lesser players built a better team? Knock yourself out. In the end he was at the mercy of Portugal not conceeding a goal to Ghana. In the end they went 200+ minutes without even have a decent scoring opportunity. In the end he actually stood up and DOWNPLAYED what Howard did against Belgium. In the end some guys he chose over Donovan didn't get it done when they had opportunities.
Tim Howard kept them from getting completely embarrased and the guy downplayed it, now think about why he might do that?
Yeah, I definitely wasn't happy with the way that Klinsmann handled the Tim Howard questions. He could have done so much better by saying how awesome a performance Timmy put out there (because it was). Instead, it really made JK look bad. But I won't harp on it too much, because I'm sure I'll get crucified by the 2 or 3 people that believe the guy can't make a mistake. I like JK, but that moment was definitely not a keeper... (pun intended)
Klinsmann is not an all powerful being. He can make mistakes like every other human.
The goal is to go as far as you can in the tournament. Not brag about how hard you train. Half the team came up lame at one time or another, maybe that's just a coincidence or bad luck but let's not act like Klinsmann is some guru who has cracked a secret code.
Donovan also finished fourth in the beep test so let's not act like he was a broken down horse who needed to be shot.
It was a decision made on a personal level by a coach who just doesn't like a player. I mean his son frigging taunted him in public fashion - do we really need to keep pretending it is something else?
You want to believe Klinsmann is some sort of alchemist and that by choosing lesser players built a better team? Knock yourself out. In the end he was at the mercy of Portugal not conceeding a goal to Ghana. In the end they went 200+ minutes without even have a decent scoring opportunity. In the end he actually stood up and DOWNPLAYED what Howard did against Belgium. In the end some guys he chose over Donovan didn't get it done when they had opportunities.
Tim Howard kept them from getting completely embarrased and the guy downplayed it, now think about why he might do that?
Everybody pooh poohed the Yedlin and Green selections among others. Greens goal was great. Yedlin added speed and spark. He will demand more from the next team. He got about as much as he could with the guys that he had. Missing Altidore was a killer, but Altidore had hammy problems before this so maybe the fitness thing is a little overblown.
Everybody pooh poohed the Yedlin and Green selections among others. Greens goal was great. Yedlin added speed and spark. He will demand more from the next team. He got about as much as he could with the guys that he had. Missing Altidore was a killer, but Altidore had hammy problems before this so maybe the fitness thing is a little overblown.
Neither was HCRE, but you thought he was back in the day.
Howard "just doing his job"= "players just need to execute".
I mean his son frigging taunted him in public fashion - do we really need to keep pretending it is something else?
As an aside, I find it irritating how we, as a society, somehow find parents permanently responsible for what their adult children do. People are responsible for themselves. And most parents don't raise perfect children. At least I haven't met any perfect human beings yet. And the existence of Twitter isn't exactly helping.
I know that if everything I said from the ages of 16 to 20 was recorded, I'd have gotten into a lot more trouble, too.
Klinsmann is certainly not infallible. I never said he was. I don't watch much soccer other than on the International level (yet) and I only know what I see and what is said. I know that Donovan is the highest scoring player in US soccer history, but that is exactly that. When it comes to building a team, Klinsmann has a plan in mind and his players were apparently to have certain attributes. I defer to his expertise over my own (and frankly most other posters on this board) in fitting those pieces together.Klinsmann is not an all powerful being. He can make mistakes like every other human.
The goal is to go as far as you can in the tournament. Not brag about how hard you train. Half the team came up lame at one time or another, maybe that's just a coincidence or bad luck but let's not act like Klinsmann is some guru who has cracked a secret code.
Donovan also finished fourth in the beep test so let's not act like he was a broken down horse who needed to be shot.
It was a decision made on a personal level by a coach who just doesn't like a player. I mean his son frigging taunted him in public fashion - do we really need to keep pretending it is something else?
You want to believe Klinsmann is some sort of alchemist and that by choosing lesser players built a better team? Knock yourself out. In the end he was at the mercy of Portugal not conceeding a goal to Ghana. In the end they went 200+ minutes without even have a decent scoring opportunity. In the end he actually stood up and DOWNPLAYED what Howard did against Belgium. In the end some guys he chose over Donovan didn't get it done when they had opportunities.
Tim Howard kept them from getting completely embarrased and the guy downplayed it, now think about why he might do that?
As an aside, I find it irritating how we, as a society, somehow find parents permanently responsible for what their adult children do. People are responsible for themselves. And most parents don't raise perfect children. At least I haven't met any perfect human beings yet. And the existence of Twitter isn't exactly helping.
I know that if everything I said from the ages of 16 to 20 was recorded, I'd have gotten into a lot more trouble, too.
Anyway, Germany or Brazil today? I won’t be able to watch the game live myself as I will be on a train during most of the game heading to play a game myself unless Mother Nature lights up the sky again like she did last week.
Germany.Anyway, Germany or Brazil today? I won’t be able to watch the game live myself as I will be on a train during most of the game heading to play a game myself unless Mother Nature lights up the sky again like she did last week.
Klinsmann has remarkably been able to establish a clear attitude that winning and performance matters above all else. Never in a million years would I have thought that soccer could be the sport to make that kind of step in American culture...
...it appears to me that in the few years he's been in charge, his record speaks for itself in that USA soccer doesn't appear to ever have been better.
Your first point, I disagree with. Bradley, Arena,...even Milutinovic, they all believed that performance mattered above all else. This isn't something that is unique to Klinsmann as the USA coach.
Your second point, I agree with. USA soccer is, in my opinion, at the highest level that it has ever been. JK is definitely the right coach for us...
It was a decision made on a personal level by a coach who just doesn't like a player.