Now that the international break is over, we can focus on some of the biggest matches in world football - the MLS playoffs. There are other important matches but we figure the MLS matches will be closer.
There are many candidates for the hopefully soon-to-be vacant United States coaching job and one of the hot names is FC Dallas coach Oscar Pareja. He knows the United States soccer system inside and out and has led FCD to the brink of playing for MLS Cup. You can watch their match with Portland tomorrow on FS1.
Pareja has drawn raves from local reporters for how he has built a championship contender. Well it turns out there is no mystery. It turns out that hard work, dedication and a commitment to a youth program, as reported by the Guardian are the secrets. Pareja is a huge believer in U.S. Soccer.
“Americans need to believe in Americans,” Dallas coach Oscar Pareja says as he stands in a hallway outside the team’s locker room one day this week. “And it has to be real. We have talent here, we have players who can do it and there are many on the staff who say we are better than many other countries. Is it the future? For sure, but we have to believe that.”
Pareja is right, though he is wrong since we should believe in a certain Colombian. We need to believe in people that understand how the sport is played in this country. We here at IMOTGP endorse him as the next U.S. national team coach. Get rid of the pariah and bring in Pareja. Oh, and somebody alert this loser.
Pareja is the only coach in MLS not afraid to play youth players. I found it hilarious that Marsch gets credit for playing Miazga (see Empire of Soccer article headlined: Miazga the shining example of Marsch's commitment to development). Has everyone forgotten that were it not for Ronald Zubar getting injured in the very first game of the year he would still be riding the bench? Pareja is the one guy who commits to young talented players like literally every other country in the world does. The problem is this: MLS coaches are focused on winning in the now and present and that is their sole focus while other clubs throughout the world have a history of playing younger players because that is the lifeblood of their clubs! Without young guys that they can develop and sell at large profits many of the clubs that aren't elite would have gone under a long time ago. To be clear: I don't support Pareja as a national team coach in the here and now but he is definitely a great prospect in my eyes for the future. That being said, hopefully FC Dallas wins the MLS Cup (sorry Phantom) and more people will pay attention to the way they built it from the ground up and not with overpaid veterans.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thoughtful and articulate response. You are exactly the kind of intelligent football watcher this blog is suited for and I hope you don't intimidate others from commenting. The reason we don't get more comments is that we aspire to greater things here at IMOTGP.
ReplyDeleteBut what's the reservation with Pareja if he is the only coach to do what the rest of the world is doing? This model is the best method to team building and I would like to see it in the United States setup more. I hope you read the excellent Guardian article I linked to above.
I don't think Pareja has enough experience at this point. I would like him to continue coaching and coaching well for another 5-10 years before I even think about handing over the reigns of the USMNT. This is the guys 4th full season as a head coach! I would love to see examples of countries handing over the national team coaching job to a guy with even 5 or 6 years of domestic experience.
ReplyDeleteThe current guy doesn't have much experience either.
Delete