How boring would it have been if Juergen Klinsmann simply walked into the U.S. job and dished out three offensively explosive beatings on Mexico, Costa Rica and Belgium?
No, that would have been far too easy. What we have instead are two losses and a draw – and an entire nation divided between those who feel that results matter at all times, and those who believe that performance and experimentation supersedes the final score.
Hey, at the very least people are talking about the U.S. men’s national team in the mainstream media, and the World Cup is still about as far away as an insightful on-air comment from John Harkes. Without a doubt, the German has got people talking.
But talking leads to questions, and invariably those will have to be answered if Herr Klinsmann expects to see the fruits of his multi-tiered labor in about ten years time. His expectations are elaborate and far-reaching – and most importantly, vital to the future of U.S. Soccer.
Sunil Gulati and the U.S. Soccer Federation have taken the plunge. They’re all-in and there is no re-buy. American soccer fans have known for years what they were going to get out of Bob Bradley, and while it was most often boringly ‘effective,’ it lacked vision and something thrilling to look forward to. Enter Juergen Klinsmann.
Let’s skip the conversation about what Klinsmann wants to do with U.S. Soccer from the grassroots level and beyond – let’s face it – the average American soccer fan (not those wonderful WFD subscribers) is only interested in what he sees from the U.S. men at the senior level. This is the head of the snake … it dies, so then does the rest. While the entire program is certainly worthy of discussion, it can wait for a rainy day.
This is about the here and now. Three games into the reign of a World Cup winner at the helm of the United States program. What have we learned? And perhaps more importantly, what do we need to unlearn?
The first glaring difference between regimes is the USA’s newfound desire to control possession and attack – a far cry from the early sit back and counter that Bradley improved upon from the end of Bruce Arena’s dictatorship. This is not to say that Bradley didn’t do a solid job since 2006, but his style certainly wasn’t going to thrill American fans who were comparing it to their steady dose of EPL and Champions League action each week. So how’s that working out?
Well, we’ve learned a few things so far. We’ve learned that trying to play like Barcelona requires an incredible amount of fitness and commitment that our current collection of players just isn’t ready to deliver. We’ve learned that a lot of pretty passing in the middle third of the pitch does very little in terms of putting the ball on frame (at the very least) in the final third. We’ve learned that Jozy Altidore and Juan Agudelo, while both very talented and still capable of dramatically improving, are not up to the task of being played as lone strikers.
While I admire Klinsmann’s desire to turn the USA into an offensive juggernaut, he must also not put the cart in front of the horse. Back in Germany, when he took over for Rudi Voeller in 2004, he could count on any number of Bundesliga-cultured players with a built-in first touch and the often underappreciated ability to simply feel comfortable on the ball. Here in the U.S.? Not so much.
And while it is essential that Klinsmann identifies players who are on the cusp of providing these skills on a more regular basis, he must also maintain the grit, physicality and never-say-die attitude that propelled the USA from a laughingstock pre-1990 World Cup to the team that ended current world champion Spain’s record unbeaten run in the FIFA Confederations Cup semifinal just two summers ago. The U.S. has come too far in only twenty years to neglect the philosophies that got it there.
Okay, so am I criticizing the early days of the Klinsmann era? Not at all. While it is always difficult to see my country lose any match (at any level), I always respect the twenty years of growth and understand where these three matches fit in our football history. Let’s call it what it is – the preseason.
World Cup qualifying begins next year. With a number of international friendly dates between now and Klinsmann’s first breath of smog-filled air at the Azteca or change of shirt in a sweltering San Pedro Sula, he has every opportunity to pull a Ranieri and tinker away (like someone is going to gripe about Bill Belichick pulling Tom Brady in the second quarter of a preseason game). Let’s be thankful in this instance that we even have the opportunity to experiment – in Europe teams generally go straight from major tournaments into proper qualifying for the next major one – not much breathing room there.
Face it, change is hard. U2 put out ‘Zooropa’ in 1993, representing a strong break from their original sound. It was a mistake, it was corrected and they (more or less) went back to doing what worked for them in the first place. Contrast that with Underworld, a group that started out as a wild-wigged synth-pop rock travesty in the 80s, failed miserably and ultimately found its place as one of the most successful electronica bands in the world by completely reinventing itself in the early 90s.
Two different paths to success. And perhaps, there is a third as well – a potential fusion of the things that made the U.S. a formidable side that no team ever takes lightly, only now with a new attacking flair that answers all the prayers we’ve been shouting at our television screens since Caligiuri’s ‘Shot heard round the world.’
Argentina lost 6-1 to Bolivia, and that was in a World Cup qualifier just two years ago. We recently had the 10-year anniversary of England’s 5-1 World Cup qualifying win over Germany in Munich. And remember how well the French and Italians defended their World Cup titles in 2002 and 2010, respectively?
The U.S. lost to Costa Rica and Belgium. These were friendly matches (see: preseason). If the German finds a way to get a point at the Azteca in qualifying, top the hex and reach the quarterfinals or better in Brazil, very few American fans will remember these ‘dark’ days. And in all honesty, if Bob Bradley was still in charge and had won these three friendlies, would U.S. fans really be any more optimistic about the team’s chances in 2014?
Look, we all want to see victories, but I know that I would rather the U.S. suffer a few setbacks now if it means getting those all-important wins when the brightest lights are shining. That’s usually where Klinsmann does his best work.
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