Nykamp: U20 Review Plannned

[Gian-Luca]

quote:Originally posted by Canuck Oranje

College Coaches do it all the time without having to resign. However, if the honest assessment of the Coach is that he, himself, screwed up, he should offer his resignation. It would be up to the CSA then if they would rather not accept it.

I think there's a difference between believing that you could have done some things better & believing that you screwed things up so badly to the point that you need to resign. I get the impression from Mitchell's comments that he believes the former, rather than the latter. I think some comments in the former regard might be nice, but I'm not sure I blame him for the lack of the latter in this situation.

I agree though that the promotion ahead of time to coach the MNT complicates things. It gets back to the flawed hiring process of the CSA for the head coach. I will reiterate my view from when they hired Mitchell that if they were going to hire Mitchell they should have done so a lot earlier & given him the reigns of the national team right away, particularly so we could see how the team would do under him in meaningful games (ie the Gold Cup). Instead we won't be able to see that until qualifying begins (when it could be too late), and there was always the risk that the interim coach was going to look better against Concacaf opposition than the U20 coach would look against World Cup opposition.

[Gian-Luca]

quote:Originally posted by loyola

I started a threead about this issue. I really think that this year team had much more experience than the 2003 team player by player wise.

I think they did have more, though that has to be tempered somewhat by the fact that many of the better European-based players on the 2003 team were in mid-season form & the European based players here were not, and I think it showed. Also, it is sometimes a matter of where we have the key players - Hume got 75% of the goals in 2003, it's apparent that this team didn't have anyone that could finish like Hume, even if their experience overall was greater. And of course if you can't score.....

[loyola]

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

I think they did have more, though that has to be tempered somewhat by the fact that many of the better European-based players on the 2003 team were in mid-season form & the European based players here were not, and I think it showed. Also, it is sometimes a matter of where we have the key players - Hume got 75% of the goals in 2003, it's apparent that this team didn't have anyone that could finish like Hume, even if their experience overall was greater. And of course if you can't score.....

Well, Simeon Jackson was scoring at a pretty good rate in the Conference and also proved to be able to do the same in League 2 last year. League 2 was the level of play of Hume in 2003 (and wasn't scoring that, so I think we had a guy capable of scoring (plus Ricketts to a lesser extent).

[CoachRich]

Mitchell is pointing the finger at the CSA & the system they have created in Canada that for the WNT is not doing the job.

The WNT team goes further due to very few pros in the world but more so the WNT team do their own thing as they have know what it takes to get to the top & it's not w/ the help of the CSA system. Their success is why they get more money from Sports Canada as they qualify for the extra $ as contenders.

[Bertuzzi44]

I do not like Mitchell's comments at all. He puts the blame squarely on the players, and their "lack of skill". So then Dale what exactly can a coach do?? Especially after spending so much time with this group (2 years!).

This group did not have the same talent level Chile did but I believe Canada was just as 'skilled' as austria or congo.

Sounds to me like he is trying to save his MNT job.

[Gordon]

quote:Originally posted by loyola

Well, Simeon Jackson was scoring at a pretty good rate in the Conference and also proved to be able to do the same in League 2 last year. League 2 was the level of play of Hume in 2003 (and wasn't scoring that, so I think we had a guy capable of scoring (plus Ricketts to a lesser extent).

Hume and Tranmere were in League 1 (third division) in 2003. I think our overall talent has been better in 2005 and 2007 than the 2003 team, but 2003 had a couple of difference makers.

[Gordon]

quote:Originally posted by loyola

Well, Simeon Jackson was scoring at a pretty good rate in the Conference and also proved to be able to do the same in League 2 last year. League 2 was the level of play of Hume in 2003 (and wasn't scoring that, so I think we had a guy capable of scoring (plus Ricketts to a lesser extent).

Hume and Tranmere were in League 1 (third division) in 2003. I think our overall talent has been better in 2005 and 2007 than the 2003 team, but 2003 had a couple of difference makers.

[Guest Dave]

Nykamp's statements are nice to hear. If he actually follows up on this, then I for one will be reassured that the Pipe era is really over. Having said this, I think it might be more worthwhile to make an inquiry into why Canada crashed and burned at WCQ in 2004. If Nykamp looked at the 04 debacle, he could draw a few lessons which could be immediately implemented for WCQ next year, such as:

1. No midweek games on the west coast.

2. Schedule games in locations which are convenient for our players, and which create problems for the opposition.

3. Schedule games at times which minimize jet lag for our guys, but make it tough for our wretched opponents.

4. Fight tooth and nail at the CONCACAF meetings, to ensure that the scheduling does not put us at a disadvantage.

5. Insist on our right to fly in UEFA referees and linesmen for our home games.

6. Refuse to accept Mr. Archundio or Mr. Batres at any of our games, home or away.

7. Insist on a CSA representative being present onstage to observe the drawing of teams into semifinal groups closeup.

8. As CEO, Mykamp should insist on Mitchell explaining (in private, of course) any prominent omissions from the team he calls up... ie no repeat of the Aguiar fiasco.

9. Make a staff member personally responsible to expedite travel for our players... no more flying for 12 hours to save the CSA a few hundred bucks.

10. Make every effort to ensure a pro-Canada atmosphere at home games. No more "multicultural" entertainment at half time. No allowing opposing fans to bring their steel drums or similar noisemakers into our stadium, while denying such privelages to Canadians. Promote the games properly, and allow several months for Canadians to buy up seats, before offering a small section to visitting fans.

11. IN SUMMARY: No more Canadian wimpiness. We are in this to win. Nice guys finish last. Stand up for our rights.

[Gian-Luca]

quote:Originally posted by Bertuzzi44

This group did not have the same talent level Chile did but I believe Canada was just as 'skilled' as austria or congo.

I largely agree, except for one key difference - they were more skilled in putting their chances away than we were. I think we had, literally, about 30 chances to score against Congo & didn't put one away. I think we have to own up to that much.

[gkhs]

As nice as it is to wallow in our current failure...the 11 starters from 2003 have tallied a total of 64 caps for MNT...2 of the 5 who have made it to the senior team, Harmse and Matondo, have barely contributed at all.

The 2007 lineup has already amassed 16 caps...4 years out it is a virtual certainty they will be well past 64.

In all likelihood, next year, there will be as many players from the 07 lineup (for the Congo game) in the WCQ player pool as from the 03 lineup.

2003: Harmse, Hume, Hutchinson & Simpson

2007: Begovic, Edgar, Johnson & Peters

As far as I can see, this edition of the u-20s is no more worthy of an inquiry than any of the others.

HARMSE Kevin 1

HUME Iain 18

HUTCHINSON Atiba 28

MATONDO Sita-Taty 1

SIMPSON Josh 16

JOHNSON Will 3

PETERS Jaime 13

[jonovision]

quote:Originally posted by gkhs

As nice as it is to wallow in our current failure...the 11 starters from 2003 have tallied a total of 64 caps for MNT...2 of the 5 who have made it to the senior team, Harmse and Matondo, have barely contributed at all.

The 2007 lineup has already amassed 16 caps...4 years out it is a virtual certainty they will be well past 64.

In all likelihood, next year, there will be as many players from the 07 lineup (for the Congo game) in the WCQ player pool as from the 03 lineup.

2003: Harmse, Hume, Hutchinson & Simpson

2007: Begovic, Edgar, Johnson & Peters

As far as I can see, this edition of the u-20s is no more worthy of an inquiry than any of the others.

HARMSE Kevin 1

HUME Iain 18

HUTCHINSON Atiba 28

MATONDO Sita-Taty 1

SIMPSON Josh 16

JOHNSON Will 3

PETERS Jaime 13

Maybe there should be an inquiry into Jaime Peters getting 13 senior caps so soon including several when he was 16 years old.

(The data you are looking at is also out of date. Harmse, Hume, Hutchinson have 5, 19, and 29 caps, bringing the total to 70.)

[gkhs]

I had a feeling...since I've seen Harmse play for Canada several times...I checked CSA website, which is likely the worst place to find this info...and wikipedia.

[jonovision]

quote:Originally posted by gkhs

I had a feeling...since I've seen Harmse play for Canada several times...I checked CSA website, which is likely the worst place to find this info...and wikipedia.

I've been maintaining a couple of spreadsheets/documents with up-to-date cap and goal totals for the MNT. The caps PDF on the website is almost a year behind, and the goals file even worse.

[RealGooner]

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

The other problem is that the more we as fans & the general public focus on Mitchell, the more we make his the scape-goat for the poor showing in this tourney, the more it obscures things from the real issue of insufficient talent...... If we focus instead on the fact that the overall talent level needs to improve at the youth level & actually take the steps needed to improve, some good might come out of this mess.

I agree with you here. I don't think much of Mitchell as a coach but the players embarrassed themselves too with the poor football they played. The real blame lies with the CSA for not producing players talented and skilled enough to compete at this level.

[ag futbol]

As much as I was not a fan of Mitchell’s performance in this tournament and my opinion of him is low at best, I don’t think firing him necessarily puts us on the road to solve all our problems.

As long as we have a politically motivated, regionally divided, BOD, we’ll continue to struggle with incompetence and favoritism. Until the structure becomes more transparent, accountable, and democratic (or dare I even say competitive) we’ll always be 2nd guessing our decisions.

[Richard]

quote:Originally posted by ag futbol

As much as I was not a fan of Mitchell’s performance in this tournament and my opinion of him is low at best, I don’t think firing him necessarily puts us on the road to solve all our problems.

As long as we have a politically motivated, regionally divided, BOD, we’ll continue to struggle with incompetence and favoritism. Until the structure becomes more transparent, accountable, and democratic (or dare I even say competitive) we’ll always be 2nd guessing our decisions.

A breath of fresh air, well said.