Sigi Schmid Born in Germany 58 years ago, Schmid moved to California with his family when he was 4 years old. After leading U.C.L.A. to several N.C.A.A. titles, Schmid took the job as an assistant to Bora Milutinovic for the 1994 World Cup. He had success as coach of the Galaxy and later Columbus, taking the Crew to the 2008 title before jumping to expansion Seattle. His teams may not play the most attractive brand of soccer, but you have to have the horses first.
New York Times speculates on USMNT after Bob Bradley
Sigi makes the top 5, total list has 11. Only three MLS coaches listed; the other two are Kinnear and Kreis.
11 months ago
Dave Clark
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Big Name
All due respect to Sigi but I don’t see them dumping Bob unless they can bring in a big name.
I have to agree
I don’t think Kinnear, Kries, Sigi, or any other US coach are going to be the answer if they fire Bradley. If Bradley is going to go they need to bring in someone from outside, IMO, otherwise Bradley is as good as any of them for now.
I guess I see Kinnear, Kreis, or Sigi as being "outside" relative to Bradley
Have any of them ever coached with Bradley? Do they feature similar taste in players? I’m not really for or against Bradley, but if we’re just looking for a fresh take, I think we could get that from a domestic coach.
The foreign coach route seems overrated to me. It’s not that a foreign coach couldn’t do it, I’m just not convinced they’d be better than a domestic coach, at least at this point in the cycle. Maybe in the last year or two of the cycle, after you’ve identified the players in the pool and you’re just looking for an in-game coach, then a foreign coach might make sense, but at this point we need someone to find the best American talent and help develop them and integrate them into the pool.
The US gig has to be a lot different than many Euro gigs. Take US vs. Germany, for instance. Consider recent German call-ups. Of the 18 players called up against Uruguay, 17 of them play in the Bundesliga. Of the 45 players listed as recent call-ups on their wikipedia page, 41 play in the Bundesliga, 2 in La Liga, and 2 in the EPL.
Now consider the USMNT. Of the 23 players who made the final Gold Cup roster, 6 are from MLS, 6 were playing in England, 1 plays in France, 1 was playing in the Netherlands, 2 were playing in Germany, 1 was playing in Scotland, 1 was playing in Mexico, 1 was playing in Sweden, 1 was playing in the Turkish 1st division (and got some time for a La Liga side), 1 was playing in the Turkish 2nd division, 1 was playing in Belgium, and 1 was playing in Denmark. That’s 23 players who got playing time in at least 13 different leagues.
The USMNT talent diaspora isn’t going away any time soon. Whoever coaches this team doesn’t have the luxury of hopping on a bus or a train to see a potential pool player in person next weekend. They have to be scouring video footage (some of it probably crappy video footage) of players from all over the place to figure out how players are playing. This wouldn’t be a totally strange challenge for a South American coach, but for someone like Klinsmann, it’s not something he’s really ever been forced to do. I guess I’m arguing more against Euro coaches than South American coaches, but I don’t especially see the appeal of a foreign coach is all.
by ubelmann on Jun 28, 2011 2:49 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
I'm not sure what exactly it is about Bob Bradley
but the USMNT has never played close to their potential under him. Really we were lucky to make it out of the group stage of the World Cup. I can’t exactly place my finger on what is wrong with this team but part of it seems to be how he is coaching. Bradley is servicable but I don’t think he is going to bring this team up to their potential. Klinnsmann (or some other non american coach) may not either but I think he at least has a better chance of helping that along, and inprove our youth development.
I really don’t think Bob Bradley is the root of the problem though. Gulati has been making some detrimental decisions for the last few years… i really think he needs to go. He maintains the status quo while the USMNT needs to be reaching to try something different for at least a cycle.
by majora999 on Jun 28, 2011 2:16 PM PDT reply actions 2 recs
The relentless slow starts have been Bradley's problem
He can’t control the player pool, but if a team consistently plays worse in the first half than the second half (and worse in the beginning of a half than the end) that’s on the coach, and it arguably cost us at least one more round in the World Cup last year.
Nos Audietis
by sidereal on Jun 28, 2011 2:25 PM PDT reply actions 3 recs
halftime adjustments
You could also say that they played better in the second half because of good adjustments made by the coach. ZonalMarking pointed out that Bradley’s been spot on with his changes at half time but has had trouble getting the correct lineup and tactics to start games.
Thats as useful as a chess player who can't play openings to save his life
but can drag the game out forever.
Systemic consistency would go a long way in helping. He’s barely ever started the same lineup, even in big-time situations. Its one thing to experiment in friendlies, its another to experiment in the World Cup.
Nos audietis in somniis
Nos audietis in altum
by Seattle Coug on Jun 28, 2011 2:37 PM PDT up reply actions
your analogy implies that slow starts mean we lose
We did more than drag games on forever. We drew against a superior english team, should have beaten Slovenia but were robbed by having a goal called back, and beat Algeria. Then we played Ghana in what was ostensibly a home game for them and came within a hair of going farther than any US team in history. That Ghana team arguably had players playing for better club teams so it’s hard to argue that it’s a match we should have won.
wishful thinking
I went to wikipedia to check out the clubs for the ghanaian internationals and it looks like someone jumped the gun a bit. Look at the Current Sqaud section.
interesting thing... on that Wiki page
under Prince Tagoe… it already has him listed as on the Sounders FC team
same IP address made both edits
Also, I want to make it clear I understand this is wikipedia and it could be anyone doing this as a joke. It in no way implies it’s true. I just enjoy stoking the flames :)
We would have matched the 2002 teams run
But not exceeded it.
by B-Lot tailgater on Jun 28, 2011 3:00 PM PDT up reply actions
you're right my mistake
Although we would have done so while winning our group.
No it doesn't
It says that you’re putting yourself behind from the very beginning. There’s much to be applauded when you can adjust to your opponent’s strategy sufficiently to overcome it, but relying on adjustments as a tactic is a flawed plan.
Nos audietis in somniis
Nos audietis in altum
by Seattle Coug on Jun 28, 2011 3:03 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
It is great that he can fix things
but he needs to learn to fix it sooner or prevent the problem from occuring. Otherwise it is just too little too late.
Scoreboards, not billboards.
Regular season, not pre-season.
How do you figure that
We played worse in the second half against Brazil in 2009 and we definitly let down in the second half on Sunday. We look good down the stretch because of conditioning, but that only goes so far. Against the best teams that match our conditioning, we look terrible down the stretch.
I'm thinking more about games against teams closer to our talent level
Against the best teams I think it’s a miracle that we don’t look horrible the entire time. Remember we’re a team where our stars are predominantly of players on middle of the table EPL teams and our supporting cast plays for an array of teams in second and third tier leagues. Expecting us to be competitive against top tier teams is unrealistic. We should be ecstatic when we manage to draw every once in a while.
its a bit of a cop-out
but we’ve consistently been down one or two top starting talents (Davies, Onyewu @ World Cup, Stu Holden and Timothy Chandler @ Gold Cup) which significantly affect the talent level on the field. I’m actually not a fan of his work as USMNT coach, but I think its a bit hard to call for his head based on the Gold Cup final. Now if you throw the Panama game in there…
Nos audietis in somniis
Nos audietis in altum
I do think our player pool tends to get overrated at times
We’ve got some top players, but the depth is lacking. And we don’t really have enough top players either.
I know getting our butts handed to us by, say, Spain is disappointing, but they simply have an overwhelming talent advantage. I happen to think that Jozy Altidore is a productive striker for the USMNT and will continue to develop into an increasingly productive player. So in my mind, he’s a no-doubt first stringer for the US national team. At the same time, he can’t get first playing time at Villareal, and the Spanish national team brought in five players from Villareal, not to mention six players from Barcelona and five players from Real Madrid. How many USMNT players do we think could earn a spot on those teams? Spain didn’t destroy us because Bradley sucks, Spain destroyed us because they really have that much more talent than we do. And that’s not a Bradley thing, that’s just where we’re at right now. When we’ve been competitive against Spain and Brazil, in say the Confederations Cup, that’s more a sign that Bradley is working wonders than it’s a sign of anything. On paper, those teams should beat us 4-0 every time, if not worse. And when it comes to US vs. Mexico, FMF is still much better than MLS and as long as that’s the case, the USMNT coach is going to start from a disadvantage relative to the Mexican NT coach.
I think it’s a huge challenge to get the best USMNT on the field as opposed to some other countries. Other countries have leagues with many professional and semi-professional divisions, with small geographic footprints and much smaller populations. Whatever they are spending on scouting and development, we ought to be spending 10 times that. That’s why MLS academies could turn out to be the best thing for the USMNT, because even if they put money into it, they can’t run out 20 U16 teams or 20 U18 teams and get everyone game time and see how the diamonds-in-the-rough progress as time goes on.
Here's a mental excercise
I personally don’t think Sigi is on the short list if Bob Bradley goes. But for the sake of chat in the comments on a slow Tuesday…let’s say he is. Who does Seattle bring in to replace him? You’d have to think Bob Bradley would be at the top of the list. He has MLS experience and his bucket 4-4-2 would work with Seattle’s players.
I don’t see many assistants at the MLS level who are ready to make the jump up now that Robin Fraiser and John Spencer have head coaching gigs. I really don’t want them to go to the MLS coaching re-treads like Curt Onalfo. Brian Schmetzer might be the best option if they go with someone with MLS experience.
Going abroad for a coach is always a big risk. It takes a lot to adjust to the funky roster rules and playing style of MLS.
That would certainly be exciting
I wouldn’t know what to expect from him, but that’s the point with an innovative guy right?
Ezra Hendrickson is really tearing up the D League
Nos audietis in somniis
Nos audietis in altum
by Seattle Coug on Jun 28, 2011 3:05 PM PDT up reply actions
I've always thought the idea was to bring in Sigi until he's done and have Schmetzer learn MLS from the best.
Schmetzer will probably be on the short list for the head coach position once Sigi is gone. Not sure if he’s the best choice but he will definitely be considered.
"The fans are excited. And the stadium, well, it ignites with explosion."
I don't know if that's the plan
But it certainly is a good idea. I think Schmetzer might have what it takes to lead the Sounders in MLS.
Now that's funny
Is Rafa the new Sven?
by James Bray on Jun 28, 2011 4:45 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Scary.
In my current career in Football Manager 11 bradley got fired after the US failed to qualify for the 2014 WC. He was replaced by Kinnear.
I really hope it does not come to that.
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