He is already mostly playing the grinders. The non-grinders we have are the guys like Pulisic and Yedlin.
While I have some bones to pick with Klinsmann's roster selections, that's not even the core issue. The core issue is that
almost everybody on the US team plays worse for the US than they do for their clubs. John Brooks was the definition of clown shoes last night. The Bradley+Jones combo looks like the days when the USMNT was on strike and we called up USL players. The list goes on.
Part of this is because Klinsmann does not understand what it means to put players in a position to succeed (endless examples). Part of it, now, seems to be that he has lost the locker room.
I disagree with his decision to switch to 3-5-2 without adequate training or preparation. But I also disagree with the results-based knee-jerk reactions of fans. If we beat Costa Rica using the same tactics as in the 0-4 loss the people crucifying him now would have called him a genius.
But....we didn't win. We lost 0-4. This makes no sense. There are no genius tactics, the proof is in the pudding.
The truth is that people are really just angry at the losses, not the tactics. If we fire Klinsmann people will soon want the head of his successor. We are a mediocre team, and Mexico and Costa Rica have player pools at least as good as ours.
"I am angry so I will fire a bunch of people" is not a good way to run a soccer federation.
Costa Rica's starting forward and goalscorer last night, Johan Venegas, is a bench player on the Montreal Impact.
Costa Rica's outside midfielder Christian Bolaños, who had a goal and an assist, is a decent player on the Vancouver Whitecaps who started 23 out of 34 games last year.
Costa Rica's starting CB, Michael Umaña, was a total mediocrity at Chivas USA a number of years ago.
Costa Rica's starting LB, Ronald Matarrita, is a starter for NYCFC where is a good attacker and a huge defensive liability in MLS
We have talent. But it's plain to see in the way the US has played in general and in the 4-0 beatdown last night that there is no plan, and no coherency. It's a rudderless ship and the players are mentally checking out.
I'm sympathetic to the idea that fans can be too critical to US managers when the team struggles against top squads. But it goes a lot deeper than the last two games. The 2015 Gold Cup
really should have been the end. We totally sucked against teams that have far weaker talent pools. We were on home soil and watching the US get outplayed by squads filled with average MLS players. If that didn't convince you that the USMNT's problems go far beyond the quality of the player pool, I don't know what will. We're not talking about Mexico. We're talking about Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama. On home soil.
Klinsmann is a bad coach and I'm fairly convinced he does very little of anything in his capacity as TD. Wahl
reported last year that USSF COO Jay Berhalter has been running the show behind the scenes for a couple of years.
The emperor has no clothes. He's living off of his ability to say the right buzzwords and his ability to assume credit for the accomplishments of others. (No, he did not rebuild Germany's youth program. Yes, he depended on Löw when he was manager of Germany.)
Klinsmann has made many criticisms of US soccer. Some of them have been petty, some of them have been on the mark. One of the criticisms he's frequently made that I think is on the mark is his claim that American soccer culture is immature. He's right. If we were a mature soccer culture, we would have seen through this fraudster and fired his ass long ago.
