re: United States of Pseudo-Adults vs Under Duress | Olympic Qualifying | 5:00pm CT (FS1)

Man, it’s been fascinating and sad to watch Jason Kreis’ career just plummet over the past 6 years. I’ve been pulling for him, but it’s been disappointing to see how it’s gone.

Ten years ago, he was basically universally considered to be the best young coach in MLS with a great chance at coaching the national team one day. He coached some great RSL teams on a shoestring budget. City Football Group chose him to lead NYCFC in their first season, which was considered a great move at the time.

His career still hasn’t recovered from those stints in New York and Orlando. He’s probably not even a Top 10 American coach at this point, and doesn’t seem like he’ll get an MLS manager position again anytime soon. He’s just too conservative in his tactics and hasn’t adjusted in years. Others have figured him out, and he’s long been surpassed by many of his peers.

I think you’re over estimating the Olympics rosters from a talent standpoint.

Germany and Brazil were great last time, especially with Brazil basically bringing out their A squad with them playing in their home country.

Everyone else... is not very good. Honduras got 4th in the Olympics last go round in case you want to talk about the talent at that level. And we know their U-23 team is not better than their national team.

Obviously, it would have been much better to make it, especially because I think we would have sent a really good lineup and it would have been really good for US Soccer development in the states IMO. But... the Olympics has also never historically been a huge soccer accomplishment.

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Social media is a cesspool about this right now

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It's no worse than it usually is with people bitching about certain players, coaches, etc.

What is great is none of those people realize it’s the U-23 team, while women play everyone.

Which the women should, because it is one of very few opportunities for them to get attention.


But the equal pay thing is so weird because they just look at the US Men vs. the US Women’s success instead of men’s soccer vs. women’s soccer as a whole.

It would definitely be big for us, and I think it would help us from the standpoint of youth development.

I just mean, that historically, especially in Europe, it has not been a huge deal. I wanted to go, and I wanted to win. I remember being upset when we didn’t qualify for the last couple. But I think the frustration of people is a little absurd when talking about the quality of the actual tournament.

ETA: I don’t want people to think I’m dismissing it. I just think some of the reaction is overblown. I would love the Olympics to become big on the men’s side as well. I just think it’s hard when the Euros and Olympics tend to be in the same year.

The USSF said the tournament was a big deal but their actions say otherwise.

I’m not that angry because the USSF clearly showed the tournament didn’t matter.

You have your top u-23s playing in a friendly overseas and Atlanta United players not being released by MLS. USSF could have worked out a deal if they wanted to.

They simply don't care. I think Kreis is a good coach but a bit handcuffed. However, still a tough pill to swallow. I feel for Ochoa big time.

I’m not going to pretend to know his history, it’s just what I’ve gathered listening to him. I could certainly be wrong.

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That being said, the roster he had to work with here was not good and they had no chemistry.

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If only there was someone who could have picked a different roster, one with guys like Eryk Williamson, Keaton Parks, James Sands, Anthony Fontana, or Jeremy Ebobisse. Wait, the person who could have done that was Jason Kreis

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I’m not going to pretend to know his history, it’s just what I’ve gathered listening to him. I could certainly be wrong.

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He had a very talented RSL team, made a good reputation for himself, and then has failed at multiple stops along the way, including Orlando, NYCFC, and now the U-23s.