The first game ended today as a 3-1 loss to the world champions Italy, and it was a good game for the most part. Scrappy, stop and go football with the possession changing frequently as both teams went head on with tackles. However, it was a loss to the US. It was expected to be a loss, as the Italian squad had rebuilt since the debacle at Euro 2008, they brought back the world cup winning coach and got a few new faces that are pretty good, including an American.
But that’s not why I’m writing all this. I’m writing all this because I’m a bit upset with Bob Bradley as the coach for our team, and I’m a bit upset with one of the players on the squad as well. I don’t think we’ll do well at all in any major tournament without some real talent in coaching.
The US has been playing pretty well for quiet a while, and its gotten pretty solid at scraping out results, against good teams and bad team, home and away. It’s also gotten pretty good at wiping the floor with rubbish opposition. It’s been like this for a very long time, probably all the way since 1998 when Bruce Arena took over. He was able to stabilize the team after the 1998 debacle, and get some winning form to the nation’s team. However, there’s always been one thing lacking. That one thing is Style.
The US has no style of play. It’s all individuals that work their magic, and sometimes it works and we get a decent goal. But it’s never the same kind of goal over and over, or a well worked goal.
Sure, that might be because the strikers in the country are no good, but I’m not quiet certain that’s what the problem is. We have good strikers now, they can score from anywhere. But because we don’t have a style of play, it gets lost, and only found in the players individual flares.
What I’m really looking for is a stand out style of play. Lets take for example a team that we all know has a style. Arsenal. Arsene Wenger has stamped his authority on the team with a special kind of progressive attacking style that the team never sways away from, no matter what the score is, no matter what the condition is. When you turn the telly on, and you see Arsenal playing, you know you’re going to see high possession – high speed – high passing games, and generally, a lot of goals (for or against doesn’t matter). Barcelona plays in a similar style too. Germany plays a distinctive style as well with pin point passing as its signature.
So why cant the US have a style? Better yet, why not adopt on of these styles? Is it too difficult to do, is it so special that only Guardiola, Wenger, Loewe, Beckanbaur or Klinsmann know? If so, fine i accept that these coaches have special ingredients. But guess what, some of these coaches are available, including one that lives 15mins from the USMNT’s base camp.
No more excuses, i want a style for the team, and i want it now before the 2010 world cup.
This means that Bob has to go. He’s a good coach, for scraping out the wins. But for a country that’s do dominant in CONCACAF, i’m expecting the team to blow out rubbish opposition with lots of goals, not just 1-0’s and 2-0’s and 3-0’s. Some of the opposition we play in CONCACAF are comprised of part time players, that aren’t even considered professional. Surely we’re good enough to get 6 goals against them, right ? I think its because we have no technical direction. Arsenal would wipe the floor with some of the CONCACAF nations, with its reserve team.
As for the team itself, i think its more or less fine. The backline is decent, its good enough given the talent pool. The midfield is also alright given the talent pool. We’re weak up top, but almost every other country is weak up top (no, i don’t include Spain or Brazil in that list of “other countries”).
What i do think, is that Landon Donavon is done. He’s had more than a 100 games to be a leader, and he’s just not up to it. Sure’ he’s a great player when playing for games that don’t matter, or a game vs Mexico on home turf. But beyond that, he’s useless for the USMNT now and he needs to be dropped ASAP. It’s dragging the team down trying to find a spot for him. Just like how Aragones dropped Raul for Spain in 2008, USSF as a whole, has to drop Donovan to progress. I also think that FIFA should put a cap on international caps for a player. I think that number should be 100. Play for the country 100 times, and you’re done. No more. Do not pass go.
No more Landon please. Thank you
Thats it.
Done.