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US Men's National Team (9 Viewers)

NewlyRetired said:
@Charlie Steiner great post.

You may have noticed that your question/thesis presents a bit of a conundrum.

The US has more than enough players to play a hard, gritty, style like the old days.

When JK was hired, he was asked to elevate the program since hard/gritty only goes so far.

The conundrum is that when you try and improve that hard gritty style, you some times have to ignore the "donkey's" like Lalas, Hejduk, Zardes etc etc that define the low skill/I will do anything to win style.  But when those players get marginalized, you lose a bit of an identity.

We are in a VERY bad spot right now in this long term transition as we are kind of stuck in between having the hard nose, lower skilled players and having enough higher skilled, less gritty players to make a difference.

A coach who could some how blend the two facets would be ideal, but that might be more fantasy than reality.

As shown in these friendlies we are still eons away from the top sides in terms of speed of thought.  It is so clear to see how long it takes a US player to see a passing angle compared to a top 10 countries players.
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I haven't gotten up to speed on the details of the JK era, but was 'elevate the program' really ever detailed, or was that just a nebulous term that got thrown around?  This is why I keep coming back to Zlatan; before he came to the US, he probably paid zero attention to what was going on here, but shortly after arriving, paying attention to it, he perfectly nailed what's missing.  If JK couldn't do anything about that, what went wrong?  To me, I think it was because he took it for granted that if they 'worked' hard, they would figure out the rest. If that's the case, that was his fatal miscalculation, and why I believe a guy like Zlatan, who's not afraid to call things the way he sees them, is what we need.  To me, when it comes to 'skill', the gulf between us and the rest of the world is smaller than it ever has been, and should be something that can be imported to the US.  Pulisic has said great things about the Footbonaught machine that Dortmund has; a machine like that should be reasonably recreated in the US.  I'm reminded of the old coaching cliché: coaches put in what God left out.  With the increasing presence the US has in international soccer, we have access to more and more of the same means of training that the world's best have, so to me, closing the technical divide is the easy part, which brings us back to the 'speed of thought' part.

If young players like Sargent and Amon can work so well off each other, I don't think it takes Pele to create an attack.  I think it's more of a mindset of understanding your position and the situation.  That's probably what made Total Football work for the Netherlands; everyone understood what they were trying to do and their individual role within that.  To me, those are things that kids should be learning from about 8 years old or so.  Situational awareness is a big unspoken component of baseball (I only know this because of how much my son has played); every player is told from a young age to anticipate what they're going to do if the ball is hit to them, as well as what their job is wherever the ball is hit.  Soccer shouldn't be any different.  For those of you who played soccer, was situational awareness part of your thinking?  Soccer should be an even simpler game that baseball.  In baseball, you throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball.  In soccer, you kick the ball, you head the ball, you chest the ball.  The rest is situational awareness.  Again, back to Nagbe.  If he has the ball and a defender is coming to close him down, his first thought seems to be 'how am I going to get around him?', whereas Adams' (again, I love his motor and believe he can become a fixture, but is still a ways away from that) first thought in that same situation against England seemed to be "OH ####! I NEED TO GET RID OF THIS BALL!". 

Maybe 'speed of thought' isn't the real problem as much as what you and Floppo are saying about clarity of tactics.  In the last round of friendlies, I noticed a trend: opponents consistently successfully attacking our LB.  I'm sure we were hit from every angle, but the most dramatic ones seemed to come from that side, via a long pass that no one seemed able to react to in time. It just seems like there should be some sort of counter to that ploy, or is defending long crosses harder than it seems?

 
Charlie Steiner said:
I haven't gotten up to speed on the details of the JK era, but was 'elevate the program' really ever detailed, or was that just a nebulous term that got thrown around? 
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Here is my opinion

* US Soccer was hoping that a new coaching style could elevate the US from a "punch above weight" top 25ish team to a legit technical ball playing top 10-15 team

* Sunil fell in love with JK and chased him harder than you, I or Floppo ever chased any skirt

* Sunil believed JK was the person who could help the US change into a build from the back, ball possession type team.   Remember that when Sunil first fell in love with JK, Tiki Taka was all the rage.

* The problem, IMO, was that Sunil did not understand and JK realized WAY too late was that the US was simply not ready to make that transition with the player base we had.    Lets ignore for now whether JK was the right coach even if we did have the talent for that style.

* A combination of slowly losing the teams identity, and the fact that a generation of players never reach their promise, left the team on a consistent down wards slope.

* if you go back in time in this thread you can read many of US waving a red flag during and shortly after Gold Cup 2015, when the coaching change should have been made.

* Sunil waited too long to make the change and ultimately the players were not able to rise above consecutive poor coaching between JK and Arena which culminated in the horrendous end result some of us mentioned as a worry back in 2015.

==============

so where do we go from here?  While I believe our current young generation of players is better than any that came before them (as a group, not specific individuals), I still don't think we have any where enough talent to transform our team.

In a way, Berhalter remains an interesting choice for me because of what the Crew are.  The Crew are no where near as talented as many teams in MLS.  They have one class player in Higuain (which should translate similar to one class player in Pulisic).   Everything else Berhlater does is that he gets the most out of players like Zardes who have limited skill sets because he creates game plans that puts players in spot and with assignments that gives them the chance to succeed.

Now his teams rarely win trophies because in the end, talent wins out, but his teams stay competitive and they punch above their weight.  I think this is the phase US Soccer still belongs in.   We keep wanting to dress up our "pig" to look like something else instead of trying to figure out the best way to employ our pig even if it goes against the grain of moving up the soccer ladder.

I think we need to stop worrying about improving as a country and get back to a point where we are at least settled into a style and team.  None of this can happen with out a coach which all circles back to "12 months wasted".

 
Charlie Steiner said:
I haven't gotten up to speed on the details of the JK era, but was 'elevate the program' really ever detailed, or was that just a nebulous term that got thrown around?  This is why I keep coming back to Zlatan; before he came to the US, he probably paid zero attention to what was going on here, but shortly after arriving, paying attention to it, he perfectly nailed what's missing.  If JK couldn't do anything about that, what went wrong?  To me, I think it was because he took it for granted that if they 'worked' hard, they would figure out the rest. If that's the case, that was his fatal miscalculation, and why I believe a guy like Zlatan, who's not afraid to call things the way he sees them, is what we need.  To me, when it comes to 'skill', the gulf between us and the rest of the world is smaller than it ever has been, and should be something that can be imported to the US.  Pulisic has said great things about the Footbonaught machine that Dortmund has; a machine like that should be reasonably recreated in the US.  I'm reminded of the old coaching cliché: coaches put in what God left out.  With the increasing presence the US has in international soccer, we have access to more and more of the same means of training that the world's best have, so to me, closing the technical divide is the easy part, which brings us back to the 'speed of thought' part.

If young players like Sargent and Amon can work so well off each other, I don't think it takes Pele to create an attack.  I think it's more of a mindset of understanding your position and the situation.  That's probably what made Total Football work for the Netherlands; everyone understood what they were trying to do and their individual role within that.  To me, those are things that kids should be learning from about 8 years old or so.  Situational awareness is a big unspoken component of baseball (I only know this because of how much my son has played); every player is told from a young age to anticipate what they're going to do if the ball is hit to them, as well as what their job is wherever the ball is hit.  Soccer shouldn't be any different.  For those of you who played soccer, was situational awareness part of your thinking?  Soccer should be an even simpler game that baseball.  In baseball, you throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball.  In soccer, you kick the ball, you head the ball, you chest the ball.  The rest is situational awareness.  Again, back to Nagbe.  If he has the ball and a defender is coming to close him down, his first thought seems to be 'how am I going to get around him?', whereas Adams' (again, I love his motor and believe he can become a fixture, but is still a ways away from that) first thought in that same situation against England seemed to be "OH ####! I NEED TO GET RID OF THIS BALL!". 

Maybe 'speed of thought' isn't the real problem as much as what you and Floppo are saying about clarity of tactics.  In the last round of friendlies, I noticed a trend: opponents consistently successfully attacking our LB.  I'm sure we were hit from every angle, but the most dramatic ones seemed to come from that side, via a long pass that no one seemed able to react to in time. It just seems like there should be some sort of counter to that ploy, or is defending long crosses harder than it seems?
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situational awareness is EXACTLY what I was talking about.

but baseball is static , especially in terms of positions, and without a defense opposing what you're trying to do- so very easy to learn exactly where to be when just about every situation happens. while there are some situational things that can get covered specifically- the fluidity of the 22 players on the field means you have to work more generally... I think. Pep seems to have his teams set up to handle any and every situation as a unit- and has everybody buy into it.... so maybe there's more specifics to learn than I think. I think I reached my peak around 18, right before college (where I had a completely useless coach). I remember playing with my u19 state team in germany against one of their state teams, and I'll never forget seeing one of our outside backs bringing the ball up- and as I'm making my checking run, I look across the field and see the rest of my teammates making runs in anticipation of my getting the ball... it stuck with me to this day as "the pinacle" moment of total soccer in my career. but I don't reeally remember how we worked on that, if we even did. my last year of college we used a drill to link the MF and forwards, but stupidly didn't have any drills to link the D with the MFs.

but on top of being tactically sound, it takes that speed of thought you were talking about to elevate to the next level. if your guys on and around the ball are all thinking three plays down the road and can react instantly to make that happen... then we're cooking with lasagna. I agree sargent shows signs of that. tbh, jozy did too.  caillou absolutely. dempsey definitely. good lord- freddy adu. tab ramos was the best at it, IMO. cp too- before this endless dribble phase. weah has moments in very specific modes of attack (with space in front of him and ball at feet). I feel like the u17s and u20s have begun to achieve a higher level of this- which I'm guessing is having kids getting put into professinoal situations much earlier through the academies. 

but again- without a collectively understood approach, at best you're messi playing for argentina. 

fwiw- I think the ballmachine was either invented here in the states or at least developed... was talking with my college's current coach, and he's gotten involved with it in some way. it's definitely here. even had it in my day, except I called it "dad". 

 
I don't want to change the subject which has been cool to discuss- but want to throw this out there from an article about Richards in the U20s.. I bolded a couple things that were interesting to me.

In 2019, the U-20 team is likely to be without top age-eligible players like Tyler Adams, Josh Sargent, and Tim Weah. But even without these players, Richards is extremely bullish on the team’s chances to go further than any other recent U.S. youth team and he favorably compares the team’s talent with what he sees on a daily basis in Germany. 

“Next year you'll see us past the quarters, no question,” Richards said with a laugh. “The sky is the limit. I haven't played with a team like this. We are attacking, we are finishing, we are defending, we have amazing keepers. Everyone here can really handle their own and do it at a high level conistently. It's really exciting to see. I think everybody on this team has European potential - whether they're there or not right now. I see it, for sure.”

“We have a very deep team,” he added. “I know people think of Americans as slouches coming from CONCACAF who don't beat anybody in qualifying. But we can hold our own against any team and we're going to give them a run for their money no matter who it is.”

As 2018 has laid the foundation for the start of his career, 2019 will be an important transition. In addition to the U-20 World Cup, he will aim to continue his progress at Bayern Munich as the loan has so far gone according to plan. 

After playing with the club’s first team in high-profile preseason games, he has also been somewhat of a regular at the club’s first-team training sessions. That kind of elite environment tests Richards who takes to heart that he is not just representing himself, but Americans as well. 

“It's kind of nerve-wracking at first because it's a big responsibility,” Richards said of playing friendlies with Bayern’s first team. “I've never played a first-team game before - at Dallas I've never done that. I also had the responsibility of being an American and having to show the world that Americans can play. I feel like I put that responsibility on myself to showcase myself and get my name out there for our country. Also being a younger player and the tradition that Bayern has, they don't like to lose. They're a historic team. I wanted to bring all of that onto the field.” 

As for what comes next, Richards is uncertain. He is only at Bayern on loan but ASN understands there is an option to buy for the German club. Still, he prefers to not get involved with the discussions between Dallas and Bayern and instead focus on soccer and reaching his potential. 

“It weighs on my mind a little bit,” said of his loan status. “There is some stuff happening behind the scenes. I am not sure what it is yet. I let my agents handle it and let Dallas speak with my agents and Bayern.” 

“This all is what I only dreamed of just a few months ago,” he continued. “It's been amazing for me and I am embracing a new culture, learning a new language, and learning a new style of play. The Germans are way more technical. It's really helped develop me on the field and off the field."
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El Floppo said:
fwiw- I think the ballmachine was either invented here in the states or at least developed... was talking with my college's current coach, and he's gotten involved with it in some way. it's definitely here. even had it in my day, except I called it "dad". 
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are you talking about the brilliant Footbonaut or another similar machine? 

The Footbonauts were invented in Germany.  

If I had unlimited resources, I would build 50 of those, one for each of the top academies in the country.  It is the single best tool I have ever seen for developing speed of thought, vision and touch.

 
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NewlyRetired said:
are you talking about the brilliant Footbonaut or another similar machine? 

The Footbonauts were invented in Germany.  

If I had unlimited resources, I would build 50 of those, one for each of the top academies in the country.  It is the single best tool I have ever seen for developing speed of thought, vision and touch.
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footbonaught... or similar machine. current coach said he was talking with the guy developing it here in the states. I very easily could be misinformed about its origins. but this guy was definitely talking about it and trying to drum up funds to get it at columbia.

 
Nice game to watch after that abysmal Honduras game.

I thought Mendez, Dest and Pomykal were all very very good on the night.

This team needs help at number 9 and maybe one wing player.   Adding Sargent and Amon to this team could be really fun to watch.  Sargent is really the key though IMO.

I am going to be really bummed if Pomykal can not break into the FC Dallas lineup on a regular basis next year.

=====================

Now for some impressive stats:

* US only team to go perfect, 8-0-0

* US only team to never trail in a game

* The only time the US was level in any game was at 0-0

* After not winning any of the first 4 U20 Championships, the US has won 2 straight now

* US finished with a +44 GD.  46 goals for and only 2 against.

 
NewlyRetired said:
I think he is saying DiCicco was warning that the rest of the world was catching up to our women, and that the beating our U17's just took in the WC was another indication of what is happening.
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Ohhhh. I got caught up in his quoting your post about LA.

Yeah, the rest of the world is catching up to the ladies. At least parts. More a product of the rest of the world having been nonexistent for women's soccer than the US slipping, imo. 

 
NewlyRetired said:
Nice game to watch after that abysmal Honduras game.

I thought Mendez, Dest and Pomykal were all very very good on the night.

This team needs help at number 9 and maybe one wing player.   Adding Sargent and Amon to this team could be really fun to watch.  Sargent is really the key though IMO.

I am going to be really bummed if Pomykal can not break into the FC Dallas lineup on a regular basis next year.

=====================

Now for some impressive stats:

* US only team to go perfect, 8-0-0

* US only team to never trail in a game

* The only time the US was level in any game was at 0-0

* After not winning any of the first 4 U20 Championships, the US has won 2 straight now

* US finished with a +44 GD.  46 goals for and only 2 against.
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I took my boys to the game last night at IMG. 

Not sure why, but I was not expecting a 95/5 split of Tri/US fans.   I guess I was expecting the split to be like the WCQ in Columbus, but whatever.  I guess without beer sales, the fans were good around us.  

I came into the game really wanting to see Mendez play (and he didn't disappoint) but other than him, I didn't know all the players that well.  I had the rosters in front of me and found myself constantly looking down to see Paxton Pomkal's name.  I thought he played really well.  I also liked the CB pairing.  As someone else said, they ate up every ball thrown at them. 

It was also good to see that the U20 Mexican side goes to ground as easily as the Sr. Team.  There was a run in the 2nd half of about 7-8 minutes where they went down with every challenge.  

I thought our GK played excellent.  He had 2-3 fingertip saves to push the ball just wide in addition to the great save early on where Mexico had a player alone at the 6.

I wasn't too impressed with our #9.  The guy from Indiana (Remmicks??) 

I really liked watching Dest take people on with quite a bit of flair.  There was one time toward the end of the game where McKenzie was hollering at him. I'd imagine it was to recognize the situation of the game - Dest tried to take on 2 defenders and got caught out of position. 

I also was impressed with Llanez when he came on.  I thought he and Mendez played well off one another and had a couple of good chances.

All in all a fun game to go see.  

 
blend said:
I took my boys to the game last night at IMG. 

Not sure why, but I was not expecting a 95/5 split of Tri/US fans.   I guess I was expecting the split to be like the WCQ in Columbus, but whatever.  I guess without beer sales, the fans were good around us.  

I came into the game really wanting to see Mendez play (and he didn't disappoint) but other than him, I didn't know all the players that well.  I had the rosters in front of me and found myself constantly looking down to see Paxton Pomkal's name.  I thought he played really well.  I also liked the CB pairing.  As someone else said, they ate up every ball thrown at them. 

It was also good to see that the U20 Mexican side goes to ground as easily as the Sr. Team.  There was a run in the 2nd half of about 7-8 minutes where they went down with every challenge.  

I thought our GK played excellent.  He had 2-3 fingertip saves to push the ball just wide in addition to the great save early on where Mexico had a player alone at the 6.

I wasn't too impressed with our #9.  The guy from Indiana (Remmicks??) 

I really liked watching Dest take people on with quite a bit of flair.  There was one time toward the end of the game where McKenzie was hollering at him. I'd imagine it was to recognize the situation of the game - Dest tried to take on 2 defenders and got caught out of position. 

I also was impressed with Llanez when he came on.  I thought he and Mendez played well off one another and had a couple of good chances.

All in all a fun game to go see.  
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very cool you got to see the game.

I've watched a few of the games- and agree about pomykol... the kid has shined in my eyes. and mendez.  also agree the remmicks whatever kid is a plodder- old school college type player. I don't see it with him. wish I had remembered to watch the game last night... how did mex's fancy little long haired kid do?

 
Pomykal is definitely the guy who’s stock went up most in my eyes. I guess Zi has kind of held his inability to break through in Dallas against him. 

But hecwas quick, technical and a good decision maker. And he covered well when Dest would go into “tries ####” mode. 

 
ffldrew said:
Dos a Cero
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what was really nice was that this was not two counter attack goals and then sit back and absorb pressure the rest of the game.

The US had more shots, more ck's and more quality scoring chances all night long.

 
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El Floppo said:
... how did mex's fancy little long haired kid do?
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he was dynamic but the US kept him from creating too much of a mess.  He was fouled nearly every time he had the ball.  He went down so quickly though, so he was not able to draw enough cards to make a difference.

I think it was Scuffed on twitter who mentioned that he carved up our senior team MUCH worse than he did the U20's.

 
oh no not again :lmao:

=====================

Ives Galarcep‏Verified account @SoccerByIves

Time to head back to Jersey. It was a great week in Florida, getting to meet & cover the next generation of #USMNT talent. The U.S. U-20s are a talented group, and a group with personality, something American soccer is in serious need of. Skills + Swagger = a bright future

 
Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
Pomykal is definitely the guy who’s stock went up most in my eyes. I guess Zi has kind of held his inability to break through in Dallas against him. 

But hecwas quick, technical and a good decision maker. And he covered well when Dest would go into “tries ####” mode. 
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While watching I was trying to determine his upside.   

Could Weah have done as well in this tournament?  I don't think Weah has the same type of skill set as Pomykal so it might not be a fair comparison.   While not a man v man dribbler per say, I loved that Pomykal saw open ground in front of him and drove the ball forward with purpose and speed.

And the other big question is will Mendez's obvious talent translate to the next level.   We keep trying to find some one who can play the middle of the 4-2-3-1.  Mendez is not a traditional 10 though.   If you notice he does not command the ball at his feet like say Leanez did all night for Mexico.  Mendez seems to be some weird combination of an 8 with the skills of a 10.

If we want to dream that what Pomykal and Mendez did will translate, we could be looking at something like this:

......................................Steffan

..Yedlin...........Miazga.............Brooks............Robinson

.............................Swag............Adams

Pulisic........................Mendez........................Pomykal

...............................Sargent

The interesting part is that the back line of the U20's looked very good across the board.   I think we could see some changes from the back 4 above in this cycle if again, these guys continue to progress.    Dest in place of Yedlin is the most interesting upgrade since Dest provides some offensive flair but clearly is not yet any where close to holding down an EPL spot every week like Yedlin has.

It the VERY worst, it appears we have more youth to follow which continues the general narrative of the US youth being better than ever before as a group.

 
Qualifying for the big tournament is the most important step. Weah, Amon, Llanez, and  Pomykal could all be in the mix there. From there, we need to qualify for the Olympics. 

Some of these guys will be in the mix for 2022, but I think it’s just as important to have a deep group of developed players for the home tournament in 2026. 

 
This shows how dominant the US was in these games

====================================

8 U.S. players were chosen for Concaf's Best XI at the U-20 Championship with Mendez being chosen the player of the tournament.

GK - Brady Scott RB - Sergino Dest LB - Chris Gloster CB - Mark McKenzie CM - Brandon Servania CM- Alex Méndez RM - Ayo Akinola LM - Ulysses Llanez

 
If these backs are who we need its time to use them in every game now and find some tough frontlines to go against in friendlies. Like Belgium. Tell them to work it out and don’t overcoach them. Let them find their communication naturally. If there are some mistakes so what. I’m tired of watching backlines play like Keystone Kops 

 
Joga Bonito USA‏ @Jasoninho10

Óscar Pareja will reportedly have a release clause in his #Xolos contract, in case that he is offered the #USMNT job at some point during his time with Tijuana.

 
ffldrew said:
If these backs are who we need its time to use them in every game now and find some tough frontlines to go against in friendlies. Like Belgium. Tell them to work it out and don’t overcoach them. Let them find their communication naturally. If there are some mistakes so what. I’m tired of watching backlines play like Keystone Kops 
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I tend to think differently on this.  Only McKenzie is a pro right now, the rest are all spread among-st various club youth teams and academies.    I would rather see these kids earn their way into the first teams at a pro level before being placed on the senior national team.

Sargent is a bit of an outlier since we are woefully short of a strikers and he appears to be a special player at his age.

 
NewlyRetired said:
I tend to think differently on this.  Only McKenzie is a pro right now, the rest are all spread among-st various club youth teams and academies.    I would rather see these kids earn their way into the first teams at a pro level before being placed on the senior national team.

Sargent is a bit of an outlier since we are woefully short of a strikers and he appears to be a special player at his age.
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To me it’s cohesion. We change up an individual player or bring back some veteran and they are always a hot mess. Maybe wait a bit but I think getting these young guys together now will pay off in 3 years. I agree on the Olympic qualifying. Missing those has wrecked the progress. More big games are needed. 

 
Interesting twitter chatter today that I had forgotten about.

Tab was offered the interim head coach position before Dave and turned it down figuring it was just a waste of time.  I wonder if he had known he would have over a year to spend with the team if he would have changed his mind.

 
Trading of players between leagues is really really really rare.

Ironically Jozy looks like he is about to be involved again in this rare situation.   As part of his move to Toronto years ago, Toronto sent back Jermain Defoe as part of the deal.

Now today it looks like Tigres from Liga MX will be swapping 2 players for Jozy.

 
NewlyRetired said:
Grant Wahl responds to the denial here.  Just wait until the semi casual US fans realize who Jay Berhalter is 😂

======

Grant Wahl‏Verified account @GrantWahl

Understand the desire to not lose face, but I literally spoke to the intermediary who contacted US Soccer on Lopetegui's behalf (a well-connected person who was not his agent). Intermediary contacted USSF's Jay Berhalter, who passed it to Earnie Stewart
Click to expand...
“Well-connected person who is not an agent and whose name rhymes with Gnarly Dillifano.”

 
Charlie Steiner said:
I haven't gotten up to speed on the details of the JK era, but was 'elevate the program' really ever detailed, or was that just a nebulous term that got thrown around?  This is why I keep coming back to Zlatan; before he came to the US, he probably paid zero attention to what was going on here, but shortly after arriving, paying attention to it, he perfectly nailed what's missing.  If JK couldn't do anything about that, what went wrong?  To me, I think it was because he took it for granted that if they 'worked' hard, they would figure out the rest. If that's the case, that was his fatal miscalculation, and why I believe a guy like Zlatan, who's not afraid to call things the way he sees them, is what we need.  To me, when it comes to 'skill', the gulf between us and the rest of the world is smaller than it ever has been, and should be something that can be imported to the US.  Pulisic has said great things about the Footbonaught machine that Dortmund has; a machine like that should be reasonably recreated in the US.  I'm reminded of the old coaching cliché: coaches put in what God left out.  With the increasing presence the US has in international soccer, we have access to more and more of the same means of training that the world's best have, so to me, closing the technical divide is the easy part, which brings us back to the 'speed of thought' part.

If young players like Sargent and Amon can work so well off each other, I don't think it takes Pele to create an attack.  I think it's more of a mindset of understanding your position and the situation.  That's probably what made Total Football work for the Netherlands; everyone understood what they were trying to do and their individual role within that.  To me, those are things that kids should be learning from about 8 years old or so.  Situational awareness is a big unspoken component of baseball (I only know this because of how much my son has played); every player is told from a young age to anticipate what they're going to do if the ball is hit to them, as well as what their job is wherever the ball is hit.  Soccer shouldn't be any different.  For those of you who played soccer, was situational awareness part of your thinking?  Soccer should be an even simpler game that baseball.  In baseball, you throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball.  In soccer, you kick the ball, you head the ball, you chest the ball.  The rest is situational awareness.  Again, back to Nagbe.  If he has the ball and a defender is coming to close him down, his first thought seems to be 'how am I going to get around him?', whereas Adams' (again, I love his motor and believe he can become a fixture, but is still a ways away from that) first thought in that same situation against England seemed to be "OH ####! I NEED TO GET RID OF THIS BALL!". 

Maybe 'speed of thought' isn't the real problem as much as what you and Floppo are saying about clarity of tactics.  In the last round of friendlies, I noticed a trend: opponents consistently successfully attacking our LB.  I'm sure we were hit from every angle, but the most dramatic ones seemed to come from that side, via a long pass that no one seemed able to react to in time. It just seems like there should be some sort of counter to that ploy, or is defending long crosses harder than it seems?
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I've been thinking about your comments about Adams- he does play the ball off really quickly, even when other options might present themselves. It finally occurred to me that this is the Redbulls way. Everything is done to move ball- ideally forward- as quickly as possible.

 
El Floppo said:
I've been thinking about your comments about Adams- he does play the ball off really quickly, even when other options might present themselves. It finally occurred to me that this is the Redbulls way. Everything is done to move ball- ideally forward- as quickly as possible.
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I'll take your word for it, as I haven't seen that much of him.  To my untrained eyes, it doesn't look any different than what I've seen the USMNT do over the last 8 years or so.  Given the rest of his game, maybe he is thinking faster than his teammates and it just looks like fear because he can't play off the guy he passes to. Still, I'd like to see what he can to 1v1 when a defender comes at him.

 
Charlie Steiner said:
I'll take your word for it, as I haven't seen that much of him.  To my untrained eyes, it doesn't look any different than what I've seen the USMNT do over the last 8 years or so.  Given the rest of his game, maybe he is thinking faster than his teammates and it just looks like fear because he can't play off the guy he passes to. Still, I'd like to see what he can to 1v1 when a defender comes at him.
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I don't recall seeing him take guys on either. With RBs and their approach, it's get the ball and press it forward immediately with a pass or dribble. The 1v1 dribble may just not be part of his game at this point. Mckennie seems more likely to do that...but with Adams moving to Germany, perhaps that part of his game will pick up too.

 
NewlyRetired said:
If Tab does not get hired for the senior Nats and wants to continue advancing in his coaching career, I think he needs to get a club head coaching job.   

Seeing if FC Dallas is the right fit might be an interesting opportunity.
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oh yes!   This could potentially be very good for Pomykal

3rd Degree‏ @3rdDegreeNet

Also since the U20s ended I've been hearing rumblings Tab Ramos could be interviewed as early as this week for the #FCDallas gig.

 
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