Jurgy: USMNT would've made the final 4 in Russia with me as coach

and he was doing just fine with the HB gig and all.

Maybe if we were on England's side of the bracket.

Says the guy who didn’t take the best USMNT player ever to the WC. Julian Green TYFYS that one time.

I liked him a lot am still shocked it didnt work out better

quote:

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I mean we got through the group of death in Brazil, which nobody ever expected," Klinsmann said. "We went into a final four of the Copa America in 2016. I helped, I don't know, how many players to move over to Europe to prove themselves. Some made it, some came back in MLS, which is no shame."

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It does seem nuts that the team was better then, given the generally held belief then that we were on our way, with the increased focus on youth soccer in the US, to being a world power to some extent.

I backed Klinsmann and think he had some strengths that made up for his documented weaknesses, but clearly we had some players then that we haven't been able to replace.

I remember reading about a "lost generation" that came after Donovan, Dempsey, etc. Have we had another lost generation?

So he would've been able to make the final four of the world cup if he was coaching the team that he couldn't qualify for the world cup with?

quote:

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I liked him a lot am still shocked it didnt work out better

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What did you like about him?

Hired 27/11


30/11 - (L) Dortmund
6/12 - (D) Frankfurt
14/12 - (W) Freiburg
18/12 - (W) Leverkusen
21/12 - (D) M’gladbach

Id call that pretty good from a team that had gotten 11 points through 12 games prior to that

Looking back at the article I think you’re referring to, I don’t really agree with the way they approached the issue. Well, I didn’t agree with how they defined contributor. There were a lot of bit-part players listed to support the strength of previous teams. I think it’s more useful to look at integral players, and there truthfully aren’t ever going to be a lot of players who fit into that category. Look at Brazil for example. They have consistently produced a crazy volume of players even as they’ve been surpassed at the NT level, but you can’t put 600 players on the field, so it doesn’t really matter. It just allows Dunga to pull a completely new team out of his arse whenever he gets to the helm.

There are going to be gaps between truly integral players (e.g., Donovan/Beasley/Dempsey to Bradley/Altidore), and if you get too many barren years or some excellent players have their careers derailed by injury or the skill mix doesn’t mesh, you can end up in our current situation.

We also greatly benefitted during the past decade from some players who were developed entirely outside of the US Soccer system. It’s obvious that can’t always rely upon a random Jermaine Jones or Fabian Johnson.

Probably not

Usually the over age players are types who don’t get regular call ups

Of course once in a while there are outliers like Giggs are Neymar