Guest Ed Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 From Greg Lalas' weekly column at the MLS site. "Following the US’s failure in January to qualify for the Olympics, many of you expressed your anger at the American tendency to excuse losses. “Right now, I couldn’t be more disappointed with the National Team program,” wrote Tom Lowry. “It's time to rip a US team for not showing up,” wrote an angry young man who goes by T. Paterno. I agree: It is time to rip a US team for not showing up, a la the 1998 World Cup fiasco. This Olympic team should’ve done better. It is a disgrace that the US will not be in the Olympics, an absolute disgrace, considering the weakness of the CONCACAF region and the strength of our squad. There really should be no more excuses for not qualifying for every major tournament at every age level. Our players are all full professionals who should know by now that the final result is all that matters. In this case, the final result was qualification, and we didn’t get the result. That’s all that anyone will remember. No one will remember or care about how hard it is to play in Mexico. Whenever we do fail, someone needs to be held responsible. In 1998, coach Steve Sampson was gone by the time the team plane had left Paris. So far, I haven’t seen anything happen regarding the Olympic squad. Part of the problem, I think, is that American soccer people have such an inferiority complex that they don’t even take themselves as seriously as they should. Another part of the reason is the clubby nature of the US coaching carousel. Everyone knows everyone else, and coaches have for too long now just been recycled. It’s like the drummer for Spinal Tap. It’s changing somewhat as more former MLS players get involved on the sidelines, but it’s a slow process. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachesl Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 Yeah, interesting. Well they should have hired a foreign coach like Franky Yallop when they had a chance. Is the writer related to Alex Lalas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free kick Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Ed From Greg Lalas' weekly column at the MLS site. "Following the US’s failure in January to qualify for the Olympics, many of you expressed your anger at the American tendency to excuse losses. “Right now, I couldn’t be more disappointed with the National Team program,” wrote Tom Lowry. “It's time to rip a US team for not showing up,” wrote an angry young man who goes by T. Paterno. I agree: It is time to rip a US team for not showing up, a la the 1998 World Cup fiasco. This Olympic team should’ve done better. It is a disgrace that the US will not be in the Olympics, an absolute disgrace, considering the weakness of the CONCACAF region and the strength of our squad. There really should be no more excuses for not qualifying for every major tournament at every age level. Our players are all full professionals who should know by now that the final result is all that matters. In this case, the final result was qualification, and we didn’t get the result. That’s all that anyone will remember. No one will remember or care about how hard it is to play in Mexico. Whenever we do fail, someone needs to be held responsible. In 1998, coach Steve Sampson was gone by the time the team plane had left Paris. So far, I haven’t seen anything happen regarding the Olympic squad. Part of the problem, I think, is that American soccer people have such an inferiority complex that they don’t even take themselves as seriously as they should. Another part of the reason is the clubby nature of the US coaching carousel. Everyone knows everyone else, and coaches have for too long now just been recycled. It’s like the drummer for Spinal Tap. It’s changing somewhat as more former MLS players get involved on the sidelines, but it’s a slow process. " Not really. I wouldn't say that there is anything familiar here. But there is a huge difference between where they are at and where our U23 team was at. 1) They had some player(s) on the U23 squad who figured prominantly in reaching WC ¼ finals in asia whereas we didn't. 2) The makeup of their U23 teams consisted of players who qualified out of the group stage at the U20 tournament in Argentina in 2001, where our squad got soundly outclassed at that event. 3) They were able to muster up pretty much all their key players for this tournament and didn't have to worry about overseas travel and club versus country. Whereas we did. 4) they had guys who can score goals ( ie.: Donovan) and didn't, whereas we didn't have any offensive fwd with a comparable reputation. So Based on the above points, they have every reason to be very disappointed and look for answers. We don't since we just didn't have the horses in the first place. In fact we finished pretty much where I had predicted ( about a year ago) that we would. The only team that I thought ( prior to the tournamament) we could edge out was Panama. I was quite certain that we would reach the group stage, but even there we squeeked by El Salvador. This situation is not comparable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachesl Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 Your analysis is right on Free kick. I think Ed's point was concerning the coaching aspects and the similiarities concerning both the recent coaching criticisms (Twamley and especially Pellerud), and also hearkening back to the issues concerning Lenarduzzi's clubiness and the idea about whether Yallop was what we needed versus a foreign coach. Even more broadly, there is an rough analogy about the problems with the CSA and the USSoccer. In terms of players and opportunities squandered, I think there is somewhat of a comparison to our Women's National Team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ed Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 quote:Originally posted by beachesl Yeah, interesting. Well they should have hired a foreign coach like Franky Yallop when they had a chance. Is the writer related to Alex Lalas? Younger brother to the goatee'd one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free kick Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 quote:Originally posted by beachesl Your analysis is right on Free kick. I think Ed's point was concerning the coaching aspects and the similiarities concerning both the recent coaching criticisms (Twamley and especially Pellerud), and also hearkening back to the issues concerning Lenarduzzi's clubiness and the idea about whether Yallop was what we needed versus a foreign coach. Even more broadly, there is an rough analogy about the problems with the CSA and the USSoccer. I interpreted the post as indictment of the coaching staff and the organization as whole. A rallying cry for accountability and higher standards rather acceptance as failure and mediocrity. I don't disagree with these principles, but if you don't have the horses (as we did). what do you want to do? Given what our U20 team did in the UAE and the fact that we placed players on the tournament all star team, If we achieve the same results OQ for Beijin in 2008, then would should ask ourselves the same question and demand the same accountability for the coaches and the CSA. Similarly, we have every right to demand the same questions with respect to our womens team failure to qualify for Athens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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