The State of the USMNT, Revisited
It’s now been a week and a half since the universe coordinated with the United States’ shock loss to Trinidad and Tobago to keep the Yanks out of next year’s World Cup. I figured it was time to finally stir out from my shock and grief to process some thoughts about the Men’s National team moving forward
But let’s start by revisiting our last take on the state of the US team, from August. It’s somewhat eerie to notice the difference in tone and circumstances from that piece to the sentiment now. The tone of that piece was a somewhat cautionary tale, to be sure, but it was framed in the midst of a very positive time for American fans. We had just won the Gold Cup, were sitting pretty in World Cup qualifying, and Bruce Arena had not lost a match as manager.
I wish I could even take some egotistical joy in pointing to some of my forewarning from a few months ago, and saying “See? Y’all laughed at me! Y’ALLLLL LAUGHED AT ME!” But the truth is, my skepticism was Couched (hey-o!) in the future of American soccer. As in, post-2018. I had no foresight that the wheels were about to come off.
Since that article was published: the USMNT lost at home to Costa Rica, needed a late goal to salvage an ugly draw at Honduras, and of course, in the final match of qualifying and with a 97% of JUST, YOU KNOW, NOT MISSING THE WORLD CUP, laid an enormous 2-1 egg in Trinidad, and watched haplessly as Panama and Honduras won their respective matches to eliminate the US from World Cup contention.
So the question is once more, now more than ever, where do we go from here?
There’s been countless hot takes from pundits across American sports media, none more viral (nor cathartic) than that of ESPN’s Taylor Twellman:
I’m not sure I have anything groundbreaking to add to the talking points of the punditry, but in case you were wondering, here’s my suggestion for the road ahead, and it fits in an almost-perfect acronym: BED BUGJ.
Burn Everything Down. (But, Use Good Judgement.)
In sports, there are often shock outcomes or extended disappointments that result in mass overreaction from fanbases. Take, for example, my beloved, miserable Tar Heels, whose football team is 1-7 this year and fresh off a 52-point loss. UNC fans are calling for the Athletic Director to be fired, for the Head Coach to be fired, for current starters to never play again— ignoring the fact that the team returned almost no key players from last year, and has an injury report that looks more like a list of wartime casualties.
In the US Soccer Team’s case, it is not exaggeration to state that a complete overhaul is needed. And the reason it isn’t exaggeration is because this isn’t needed now, it was needed before now. The warning signs were there: the decisions of many of the team’s stalwarts to play in the MLS instead of European leagues, and the dependence by Klinsmann and then Arena on many of the same players who clearly weren’t performing up to the level required was resulting in inconsistent, shoddy and at worst, downright ugly play. There was little to no attempt in recent years to integrate the younger American talent pool with the Senior players, save for the obvious example in Christian Pulisic, and in Arena’s case, there were notably fewer call-ups for European-based and dual-national players. In other words, the US team just wasn’t going to the two most impressive wells of talent we have.
The fault lies, too, with US Soccer President Sunil Gulati. Some good things on the Men’s National Team have happened under his administration, and many good things on the Women’s side have. But the bad, and frankly, the status quo, outweigh the good. Both Men and Women have failed to adequately replace their senior stars with younger ones. The Men’s Olympic teams have missed the last two World Cups. More significantly, Gulati caved to media/fan pressure and booted Klinsmann as both coach AND technical director before his contract was up, and handed the reigns over to a coach who offered absolutely nothing in the way of long-term progress. His quotes after the T&T match epitomize the problem: “You don’t make wholesale changes based on the ball being two inches wide or two inches in.” The problem wasn’t just that we didn’t draw in that match, Sunil. Everyone knows it and our president should know it.
So? Burn everything down. Vote in a new President (the Federation gets a chance to do so in February), one that recognizes the massive issues at hand and offers clear ways to lessen the ‘pay-to-play’ culture of soccer in America, invests more heavily in youth development programs, and isn’t afraid to take risks. Get rid of this entire coaching staff (this process has started, with Arena resigning his post) and bring in a coach and technical director that are keen on developing younger talent, are more focused on growth than instant results, and support a strong MLS but aren’t afraid to push players out to European leagues when necessary.
Finally, the product on the field: tell Tim Howard, Brad Guzan, Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley, Omar Gonzalez and the like “Thank you for your service. Your days with us are done.” Retain Pulisic, Bobby Wood, Darlington Nagbe, DeAndre Yedlin, John Brooks and perhaps Geoff Cameron, and otherwise, it’s all new faces from here on out. Perhaps if the Julian Greens and Aron Johanssons of the World can get back to full health and high level, they can be brought back into the fold.
This may sound scary, but hey, what have we got to lose? We won’t be in a World Cup for at least 5 years. Give these guys 3 or 4 years to start working with each other. It’s not as if the talent isn’t there. The U-20 team has made the last 2 World Cup quarterfinals, and this year, the U-17 team progressed that far as well.
Listen to who these American youngsters have been signed to:
Matt Miazaga (defender) - Chelsea
Cameron Carter-Vickers (defender) - Tottenham
Sergino Dest (defender) - Ajax
Jonathan Klinsmann (goalie) - Hertha Berlin
Ethan Horvath (goalie) - Club Brugge
Gedion Zelalem (mid) - Arsenal
Emerson Hyndman (mid) - Bournemouth
Josh Sargent (striker) - Werder Bremen
Tim Weah (striker) - Paris Saint-Germain
These are just some of the guys we should be seeing as much as possible, up to and through the next round of World Cup Qualifying.
Now, I close by addressing the BUGJ part of the acronym: simply blowing it up and getting new people involved won’t solve the problem. (See: America’s political state.) Don’t mistake change for progress, and don’t settle for just new names in the administration or on the field, if those changes come. We need to hear concrete ideas and see concrete evidence of the necessary changes being made across the board. This game deserves it, the American fans deserve it, and sweet, sweet Christian Pulisic deserves it.