I'm pissed about the soccer loss, and this is a rant.

Ah, that would be an affirmative.
Like all others here who "don't like soccer," you're bringing that "we're better than the rest of the world because we hate that sport" crap into this thread.
Not the time or the place.

 

So if you're the folks at USA Soccer, what do you do if our boys get dog-drilled by Italy on Saturday and don't advance to the second round?

Obviously this is Arena's last go-round but do they have anybody in the wings to take over and upgrade the men's program? Is that even enough?

 

Klinsmann lives in Southern California, steal him from Germany. Sven-Goran Erickson is leaving England, hire him.

 

You're joking, right?

 

Don't want Sven. Plus, he made $5 mil this past year. Bruce gets less than $1 mil.
Would love Scolari, but can't see that happening.
Guus Hiddink would be great, but the U.S. needs a fulltime coach.
Why are we asking this? Arena is still the best coach for U.S. soccer, even though he screwed up this game. Remember, No. 1 in qualifying, ahead of Mexico. If we'd gotten the seed we deserved, we'd have been whipping up on Iran instead of dangling from Czech's windshield.

 

On a day like this?

 

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

 

I worked with a brit once at a summer camp. One day he lamented that the American kids he's seen are as fundamentally sound as anybody. They can kick, trap, head, tackle and mark as well as anybody. The problem is that once the ball is on their foot they don't know what to do with it, except look for an open man or try to run some sort of diagrammed play. We don't encourage improvising or passing into space and we criticize people for being ballhogs if they try to dribble past an opponent. Do you think anybody ever called Ronaldihno, Henry or Sevchenko a ballhog? This comes from the lack of a sandlot soccer culture, if you will. No creativity, no imagination, no intuition. Unfortunately our culture of over-coaching has breeded a kind of soccer that is too structured and too disciplined for our own good. The predictability gets exposed against the top-tier teams in international competition.

 

Spinning, you aren't as obtuse as your posts suggest, are you?

 

The Brazil soccer article in ESPN Magazine provided a pair of illuminating points, at least to me.

1. There are about 200,000 pro soccer players in Brazil. Most just play for food, but it's their job.

2. Youngsters in Brazil are taught the individual skills and encouraged to improvise from a young age. It isn't until much later that the concept of teamwork is introduced.

 

So the problem with our soccer program is that it's the exact opposite of our basketball program?

 

If the U.S. were marking as well as anybody, the Czechs wouldn't have turned about 5 treks into the offensive half of the field into 3 goals.