@AndrewDasNYT: So Klinsmann had Wondolowski next to fourth official for most of first OT, didn't pull trigger, but now it's Fabian Johnson's fault? C'mon. @AndrewKingMLS: Better question: if a Bundesliga-caliber player coming off injury is THAT tired, why does he have to ask?
I'm trying to not overreact and pile on Klinsmann, but scapegoating Johnson like this is fucking ridiculous. to say he was saving the sub for the keeper is the most bizarre part. just insane.
Faking an injury when you're one of the best players on the team and it's tied is bullshit. Maybe Jurgen should've subbed him off due to being tired, but he quit.
if the team has a sub left and you don't feel like you can go anymore, asking for a sub is perfectly reasonable. he wasn't faking an injury either he just came back from one I don't think he was 100% going into the game.
he's managed to swing me from "keep him, even though he's not a great game manager, he brings in Germerican talent to bridge the gap." closer to "this guy is insane and needs to go ASAP"
He loves throwing players under the bus publicly: Landon, Jozy, Bradley, Bedoya on national tv no less, and now Fabian all OTOH.
Maybe I'm off the mark, but I think this is one of the reasons that really great great players dont often make good coaches. A player like JK was so good, he expects that level of play out of others. The US players are better than 99.99% of the population at this game, but a guy like JK was much better than that. And while he worked extremely hard as a player, a lot of it was natural ability. So when players dont play up to the level that he did, he doesnt understand it, and it has always come naturally to him, so he feels it is the other persons fault. A lot of the things he has wanted out of this team are "square peg in a round hole" type things. They dont match up with the skillset and he just cant assume that the guys can do what he is asking. He does not adjust well to his players talents. I hope there is some way they can keep him in the USSF because I think he has value to the organization, but I believe his firing (whenever it happens) is going to be an ugly breakup.
This is definitely true. A person I work with son is 11 or 12. He has earned expenses paid trips to Barcelona to train over the week of Thanksgiving the last 2 years. This is part of a Barcelona Camp circuit in the US where they pick the best 20ish players at the camp and they win the trip to train for a week in Spain. All this kid does is play soccer. He went over to Columbia (his parents are Columbia, he was born in USA) to train with a professional club over the summer. He is obviously very good. The person I work with typically has 2 complaints. 1) He is big for his age and he can't convince the youth league to let him play up an age bracket, so he dominates smaller weaker players. 2) He plays for a number of teams, but one of the coaches plays him at defense because he is one of the few players that level than can stay calm under pressure. He probably plays too many games because he plays for his Middle School, his Travel Team and plays a lot of pick-up with adults. He still has a coach on the side and works on the foot drills. Dribbling tennis ball around the house, ect. so at least all he is doing isn't playing games. The coworkers goal is to get him into a academy in Europe. He isn't in great area for youth soccer. Not terrible, but their is no MLS Club and no powerhouse youth program, so that will hurt him. Best bet locally is to get him with the CASL in Raleigh, but that is about an hour drive. It will be interesting to follow.
Ian Darke @IanDarke 10m10 minutes ago USA in crisis. We will analyse problems as part of tonight's USA v Costa Rica clash. 6.55 ET on ESPN.
just got an espn notification that boruissa monchengladbach say fabian is injured contrary to jk's statement
I'm not normally one to be outraged about accountability the way the media likes to get all up in arms, but he really needs to be called to the carpet on this.
I was defending him like 4 days ago but this is just insane. Why does he need to call out arguably his best player like that.
There's a guy in Brooklyn who can't go and is trying to give his tickets away. AO retweeted him. His last tweet was 36 minutes ago and said they're still available if anyone is in the area Rootgers
U.S. Soccer @ussoccer 5m5 minutes ago #USMNT Starting XI vs. Costa Rica: Howard; Evans, Cameron, Orozco, Ream; Yedlin, Williams, Jones, Shea; Zardes, Altidore (C) #USAvCRC
Interested in seeing Zardes up top. Most times we have seen him was on the wing Those fullbacks though
Yes it does. I don't recall seeing Klinsmann come out, did they show t and I miss it? I know Darke said he got some boos
@RyanRosenblatt: Klinsmann Saturday: "We have to give opportunities to younger players." Today: Starting XI with average age of 28, two players under 25.
This is the most meaningless possession I've seen in a long time. We get into the CR half and piss ourselves
@SoccerByIves: Klinsmann-"Jermaine, I need you to start tonight." Jones- "I just played 300 minutes" Klinsmann- "You can be our playmaker." Jones- "Okay" @SoccerByIves: Have to like the energy Zardes brings to forward line. Far cry from what we saw in Pasadena. Not sure we'll see Dempey-Altidore combo again