The "What If" USMNT of 2012

Rather than sidetrack the Kerim Frei thread, I thought this was deserving of it's own. HD ( :clap: glad to see your posts and hope you're feeling well) mentioned Rossi, a name I had kind of forgotten about, even though he was in the ESPN studio for the Euros. It got me thinking about all WHAT IF pool of players that could be available, but for different circumstances:

What if he decided to play for us rather than Italy: Rossi
What if he decided not to break curfew: Charlie Davis
What if he wasn't run off by a total wanker: Subotic
What if multiple injuries hadn't gotten his career in limbo: Holden
What if multiple injuries hadn't kept them from reaching full potential: Frankie Simek, Bobby Convey, and Gooch
What if he were given an opportunity, but since the back line is soooooo formidable he can't get an invite: Whitbread
What if he hadn't decide to flip flop like a politician: Chandler

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few other names, but I know the US would be in a helluva lot better shape w/some of those guys.

 

There are so many what if's with the USMNT & US Soccer in general, I wouldn't know where to start. It is what it is.

I'd argue Gooch did reach his full potential, injuries just turned him into a shell of his former self.

 

What if Babe Ruth wasn't traded on the Yankees?

What if the Blazers picked Jordan?

What if the Blazers picked Durant?

Lots of what ifs. Basically we can't dwell on it forever because if we did, Blazers fans would have committed mass suicide by now.

 

#2 and #3 are a damn shame - and each could've been avoided with some clear-headed thinking.

 

:lol: Now that was funny, of course as a Blazer fan I'm crying on the inside. Jordan was understandable, Clyde Drexler was the rookie of the year the previous year and they played the same position. Nobody knew Jordan was going to be Jordan. Durant... :sad-roulette: Hated the Oden pick and thought it would come back to haunt. Of course What If Oden stayed healthy.. :mrgreen:

Keep in my mind this is a summer diversion thread, nothing more. Just illustrating that with a couple breaks we wouldn't be seemingly suffering from a down cycle in talent.

As far as Ruth, dude would of hit about 200 less homers w/out the short porch.

 

Okay Joe, you teed me up . . . What if the US hired Marcelo Beilsa instead of Klinsmann?

 

:text-lol: See, What If threads can make you have happy thoughts, right Mo?

Beilsa would probably be :angry-banghead: wondering what to do with the back 4.

 

That was the man I wanted in the USMNT organization, whether as a head coach, adviser, technical director, whatever... (Bradley notwithstanding) - too bad it didn't work out, plus he committed to Bilbao so quickly.

 

I'm not a big fan of the what if game, but I'll play along...

What if Robert Green stops Dempsey's shot in the first round in South Africa? (As he should have).
What if Nelson Cruz catches David Freese's 9th inning fly ball in Game 6 last October? (As most right fielders probably would have0>
What if Adam & Eve hadn't eaten that fruit?

 

This is the What If thread for the current USMNT player pool Jump and now it's somehow sequed into Babe Ruth, St. Louis baseball, and creation....yep it's summertime bscene-drinkingbuddies:

 

You left out Jordan and Durant! lol. It is summertime, and I love it!

 

And I'd rather have a what if list for this year's team instead of two years from now...

 

What if the author is right? All joking aside, I find myself agreeing with much of the post.

Dave Henderson? Kevin Durant? :violence-axechase: Add Diego Forlan and the officials that screwed the Seahawks in the Super Bowl and all the bases will be covered.

 

Stuff like this always cracks me up. I would like to know on what basis people say things like this. How are they such experts on what the US is doing differently from other countries. Are they journalists, US coaches, foreign coaches that have access to what is going on in programs around the world.

How is the US not focusing on domestic development? We started a pro league 16 yrs ago which is actually surviving and growing. The Bradenton academy was started. It was a success in developing players like Landon Donovan, Demarcus Beasley, Michael Bradley, etc. This academy has now been modeled and expanded to include 78 US Development academies across the country. US soccer has control over much of what these academies can and cant do. US Soccer regularly observes these academies, rates them biannually, and pushes them to improve. US Soccer and MLS started Project 40 and Generation Addidas to encourage promising players to enter the pros at a younger age. US Soccer standardized and published guidelines for youth soccer across the country. This and more has all happened in the last 16 yrs and I'd say that qualifies as pretty damn intense. Show me one national soccer federation who has done more. Maybe Japan or China, but certainly not Brazil or Mexico. Does 16 yrs and all of that qualify as us still being in our infancy of our development overhaul?

This statement is a manifestation of how Klinsmann has successfully lowered so many's expectations. Look at our last three World Cups - 2002) reached the quarterfinals with the potential of the semis had the officiating been better 2006) Did not advance out of the group but drew with the eventual WC champion. Could have advanced had the officiating been better (Lorrionda is infamous in Uruguay for officiating irregularities, bogus penalty on Gooch) 2010) Won our group and perhaps wouldnt have lost to Ghana if the team was not so exhausted from overcoming bogus officiating and conceding early goals in the group stage. Can you look at these WC results, advanced out of group play 2 out of 3 times, and honestly say we were lucky to get those results? Because at the time, everyone thought we were unlucky to only get those results. I do agree that our talent level currently puts us around 25 - 30th in the world, but we were not lucky to get our last three WC results. We got them through good coaching and inspired play. Somehow, now that Klinsmann is our coach, who the coach is has suddenly become irrelevant, nothing can be done to overcome our lack of talent. Well, the rest of the world and all the best club teams across the globe dont think coaching is irrelevant, they think it is necessary to get the most out of what you've got.

This makes no sense. "Youth teams" by their very nature "re-load" regularly so we are at least doing that. And everyone seemed to agree the amount and quality of our talent was improving until the U23s failed to qualify for the olympics.

The real problem with our soccer is the 18 - 23 age. The best domestic option for most is still college. MLS has never had an adequate reserve league and frankly the Adu's, Agudelo's, Shea's and Salgado's have not shown the maturity that their college counterparts have developed. And NASL and USL are not in the business of developing youth talent; plus who is going to give up college to play for a second or third tier team that draws 500 fans. We also dont have a mega club like Barcelona, Ajax, or ManU that is going to attract children from around the world so your domestic players are training and competing reguarly with the best. Face it, the big clubs of the world are developing the world class players not the national football federations. These clubs put children in a professional environment often to the detriment of the 98% that never make it in the pros. The day the US starts doing this is the day I will no longer care.

If the US has done anything wrong recently it is moving away from Bradenton. You get the best results by concentrating all your talent. What we need is a Bradenton in every region of the country and academics has to come before soccer.

 

I'll add some more what ifs, what if Adu had made an impact at Benefica.
What if Chandler hadnt injured Omar Gonzales.

And what if so many hadnt drunk the Klinsmann kool aide

Which reminds me of one of my favorite college bands from my Houston days
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K74GSl3T7tQ[/youtube]

 

Good counter arguments Mo. There's a lot of info there to think about. I admit, I don't keep up with it enough to know what the problem is or how to address it. I just know that it's becoming clear that as we lose players from the most recent wave of USMNT regulars, we don't seem to have much in the way of replacements. That tells me we're dropping the ball somewhere in finding and/or developing talent. Or maybe we just got lucky on that last wave and are settling back to normal.

Or maybe we just need more futsal.