Does anyone care about U.S. Soccer? AN IMOTGP commentary

So 2016 is upon us and another January camp has begun for the United States and controversial boss Jurgen Klinsmann. Anyone following along may know that former Real Salt Lake and NYCFC man Jason Kreis is reportedly there to serve as an assistant during this critical period as the United States builds up to Copa America Centenario 2016 - the biggest tournament on U.S. soil since the 1994 World Cup.

The obvious question is whether Kreis - a man who has designs on eventually coaching the team - was there because Klinsmann wanted him or whether he was forced upon the coach? It's not clear at all and our outstanding U.S. soccer media hasn't bothered to find out whether Kreis is there to possibly take over if Klinsmann goes down in flames. Heck the U.S. soccer site hasn't even mentioned Kreis and only this picture with Kreis on the outskirts confirms that he is actually there.

Is there any footballing nation worth a damn where the national team bringing in one of the most qualified people in the country as a temporary assistant is not a story?  Where is the soccer media? Oh that's right, they are too busy listening to this Brazilian guy complain about the man in charge.

Well no one has asked Klinsmann about Kreis but the comments in the previous link got his attention and he fired back - with venom.  And there is certainly enough to be disturbed about in his response.

Start with this one: “Aside from the Gold Cup, I feel we’ve been pretty successful." Where is the soccer media to call him out on this? What has he achieved as manager? The 2013 Gold Cup was won because Landon Donovan was the best player in the tournament. The 2014 World Cup was acceptable but hardly successful. The 2015 Gold Cup was horrendous. This looks like a downward trend, rumblings are there is pressure on the man in charge and if you read the tea leaves, that's why Kreis is there.

Then there are the comments about Jermaine Jones and Mix Diskerud which can only make me assume these guys are still integral players to the U.S?  Why is that the case?

But again, this is just random speculation from the top football blog based in the ultra-rich northern suburbs of Cook County and I am just your humble blogger. I can't go to the U.S. camp and ask the tough questions and besides I don't understand the game based on where I was born anyway. 

Yet there are other questions to ask about the camp besides Kreis' presence. Are there reports on what is going on there? Would such a daily report be an issue for U.S. soccer to dole out? Why can the U.S. fan not get this information?

NFL teams have training camps open to the public and so you don't think this is just an American thing, in Klinsmann's native Germany, fans are allowed to attend training before important matches like the Ruhr derby. Surely seeing these U.S. players train in January before meaningless matches against Iceland and Canada wouldn't reveal anything - except the possibility that the people running the program are too insecure about what they are doing or even worse, don't know what they are doing. Instead, the U.S. Soccer official Twitter account posts meaningless Tweets like this one.

Football fans, all I am asking for is a little transparency for this team. It was over 20 years that your humble blogger watched the U.S. train in our nation's capital just days before a rousing 4-0 win over Mexico. I remember it like it was yesterday, Claudio Reyna kicked the ball near some cars and I went to retrieve it. There were about 200 spectators there at Georgetown University. After the session, coach Steve Sampson did interviews - some in Spanish - and then talked to this low-level, no-name U.S. fan on the field. That was always what the U.S. team was about - the connection to the people, the connection to the working class, the connection to those of us kicking it around in a over-35 Sunday league.

Well that's been lost to the point that we have no idea what is going on anymore over there. Where's the outrage? Where's the concern right now? Is it going to be seen only when the big Copa America matches get here? But most importantly, where is the soul of the United States national team?

Thanks for listening, blog followers. This has been an exclusive IMOTGP commentary.