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SuperJon wrote:Win or lose, I hate Bob Bradley.And this is something I can't quite understand. While he may not be the best coach ever, 1) We don't really have a legitimate replacement (The US job isn't a lucrative deal by any means) and 2) We aren't as good as we think. The US is good, but not THAT good. Heck, I'd venture to say we were better 10 years ago. We may have some great players in Dempsey, Donovan and Howard, but when we have to fill our rosters with Bornsteins, Klejstans and Wondolowskis. We need depth before we can expect consistently good performances. Once Bob leaves, I have a sneaking suspicion that whomever replaces Bob will get similar results no matter what their tactics are.
BJWilliams wrote:No we arent talking about keeping it on the "down low", we are moving now to the boys who simply are tasked with stopping the OTHER team from scoring,
SuperJon wrote:If you don't think Jürgen Klinsmann could do a better job than Bob Bradley then you're crazy.Haha Jurgen Klinsmann is not that great of a coach. Yes he led Germany to a 3rd place finish, but it's Germany. His predecessor managed 2nd place and his successor managed 3rd as well. He was also Fired from his 2nd and only other job he had. Now I'm not saying he's the worst manager ever, but he is hardly amazing.
If Bob Bradley is the best that we can get then we should just dissolve the entire USSF.
In the past two years he's:
1) Given up a 2-0 lead to Spain in the Confederations Cup Final.
2) Got down in the first 15 minutes in three separate World Cup games.
3) Lost a terrible Gold Cup group stage match.
4) Given up a 2-0 lead to Mexico in the Gold Cup Final.
Yes, it's the players that play the game, but those players play by the tactics of their manager. Bob Bradley deserves to be fired.
BJWilliams wrote:No we arent talking about keeping it on the "down low", we are moving now to the boys who simply are tasked with stopping the OTHER team from scoring,
BJWilliams wrote:No we arent talking about keeping it on the "down low", we are moving now to the boys who simply are tasked with stopping the OTHER team from scoring,
What Ajax put on display that day could foreshadow a common sight in North American soccer -- homegrown players raised according to Ajax's strict methods in its world-famous academy. But then it would be the American sides putting the famed 4-3-3 system on display, rather than a visiting club from abroad. Call it a pipe dream if you will, but there are several forces combining independently that could see American youth soccer implement the Ajax way.
A natural interest in the Ajax model has awakened in the U.S. "In the youth systems the Ajax influence is quite significant," said youth coach Dave van den Bergh, who played two games for the Dutch national team and 3½ seasons in Major League Soccer after graduating from the Ajax academy. More and more youth coaches and leagues lean on the Ajax methods for raising their players, to teach them that all-important technique a lot of American players have traditionally lacked. "With the practices I've seen, you see that a lot of people try to emulate the Ajax methods," van den Bergh said. "They've read the book, seen the DVDs and try to do the same thing."
The book van den Bergh spoke of is the new U.S. Soccer Coaching Curriculum. Developed by U.S. Youth Soccer technical director Claudio Reyna, who traveled to Amsterdam to observe the Ajax academy several times while researching it, this 123-page document is intended as a roadmap for developing the American player of the future. In it, you'll find recommendations of playing offensive-minded 4-3-3 soccer with wide attacking wingers, advancing wing backs and a playmaker behind the lone striker, as well as a focus on technique, routine and repetition to help students learn the importance of spatial awareness and pressing.
In the near future, the club will seek out an MLS team to open a joint youth academy. This would fold into a larger strategy Ajax plans to implement in the coming years, which will see the club try to monetize its good name in youth development. For all its fame, Ajax trails clubs from much richer European leagues in earning potential. While English, Spanish and Italian clubs can trade on their names worldwide to clean up in broadcasting and merchandising, Ajax has only its reputation. The club was the seventh-most successful European club of the 20th century, winning four European championships and producing generation after generation of superstars such as Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert and, more recently, Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart. But although the Ajax academy has consistently supplied the world's best clubs and the Dutch national team with some of their best talent, these days the senior team's games and jerseys aren't interesting to anybody outside of the Netherlands. Thus Ajax can't afford to hold onto the wealth of talent it produces anymore.
So Ajax has had to come up with a different approach to competing for the public's mind share, one that involves U.S. soccer.
This is Ajax's way of establishing a foothold in the American market, which it sees as valuable now that MLS has steadily grown. But Keane said Ajax can't afford to buy an MLS franchise, like Barcelona has considered. Instead, "we want to do it through our academy system, that's our ace in the hole, that's what Ajax is good at," Keane said. "That's what could help a big club in the U.S. with something there's a lack of in the U.S. -- structure and quality of youth development."
The idea is that Ajax will seek out clubs around the world that are willing to outsource their youth player development through a series of joint academies. The hook: These academies would be run according to Ajax's ideals. They would be "authentic and permanent," Keane said.
Frank de Boer celebrates winning the Dutch league after Ajax defeated FC Twente in May.
"In Amsterdam, we take players in under the age of 10, and if they're very good they make it to the first team when they're 17 or 18," Keane said. "If you can do that in Amsterdam, you could do it elsewhere, too."
But the idea behind the academy-on-every-continent concept isn't to feed players from around the world into the Ajax squad. For its trouble, Keane said the club would ask for recognition -- for starters, in the form of sticking the Ajax name on the club's academy and its teams.
Tammer Sportmanagement is owned by Erik Tammer who is a former professional player for premier league clubs such as AFC Ajax Amsterdam, SC Heerenveen en Sparta Rotterdam.I'm pretty sure the club is associated with FC Twente as a feeder/developmental club.
ALUmnus wrote:This is what we've needed for a couple decades, so I really hope it finally happens.Agreed. It's not necessarily the lack of quality players that deter the US from being a soccer power, but it's the lack of COACHING quality that has stymied growth. I really think once US players grow up in a system with quality coaching then they can actually talk about vying for World Cups.
BJWilliams wrote:No we arent talking about keeping it on the "down low", we are moving now to the boys who simply are tasked with stopping the OTHER team from scoring,
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