The End of an Era: The American Goalkeeper in Europe

Last week, your United States football team was back in action in San Diego as a group of MLS All-Stars played a scoreless draw with Serbia's B team. The IMOTGP didn't watch and we hope you didn't since we know our best players are in Europe, even though yes - at least four regular starters took part in that borefest.

Europe was once the home of our best goalkeepers. In every United States World Cup match since the 1998 tournament in France, the American starter at that position has been someone who plied his trade over there. That season, Leicester City's Kasey Keller started twice and Liverpool's Brad Friedel once. In 2002, Friedel was with Blackburn Rovers when he became the only U.S. keeper in history to start five World Cup matches in a single tournament, also saving two penalties in that event.

The unbroken line continued in 2006 when Keller was with Gladbach as the United States crashed out in the group stage.  The last two World Cups have seen Tim Howard start all eight games while he was an Everton man.

In fact, the last domestic-based goalkeeper to start a World Cup match was the infamous 1994 squad when Tony Meola served as captain. Meola wasn't even on a professional club at the time; at least now all of our players are.

Which brings us to the upcoming 2018 World Cup that is 18 months away since this streak of 19 straight matches with a European-based goalkeeper will end. That is almost a certainty with last week's news that Boro's Brad Guzan is on his way to Atlanta FC, the latest useless MLS expansion club. Guzan had fallen on hard times since he was part of a fiasco of a season at Aston Villa and then was beaten out for the starting job at Boro by former Barcelona man Victor Valdes.

The 37-year-old Howard will likely start in Russia and he's already back in MLS since reaching the minimum age requirement. Sadly, Nick Rimando wore the gloves last week to start Bruce Arena's second stint and he's also 37.

There is no hot young goalkeeping prospect in sight. William Yarbrough plays in Mexico but that's not in Europe and he won't be the starter in Russia next year while 23-year-old Cody Cropper already flamed out in England and turned tail to the MLS.  The 21-year-old Zack Steffen admitted he was homesick and left Germany for MLS.

The best hope is 21-year-old Ethan Horvath, who recently moved to Club Brugge, while Pulisic's teenage brother will be overseas. Another U.S. goalkeeper to play in Europe could eventually be Jurgen Klinsmann's son, and he's no good.

When Keller, Friedel, Howard and Marcus Hahnemann were all in their heyday, there was a growing sentiment that the United States could produce an endless supply of top goalkeeping talent. After all, Howard had a basketball background and most of our popular sports involve touching balls with hands; what could be a better fit?

Instead two factors have contributed to the dearth of goalkeeping talent.  Number one, nobody has stepped up and shown the talent and ability to play at a top level. And number two, the position has evolved to the sweeper-keeper - something that Howard struggled with throughout, particularly in his latter stages. Goalkeepers in top leagues are also required to play with their feet more from the back; we all know control of the ball is our biggest problem anyway.

The stark reality is that it's the end of an era of U.S. goalkeepers.

Bayern Munich boss bashes silly MLS

Sometimes being a blogger is so easy these blog posts write themselves. That's the case this time with Bayern Munich boss Carlo Ancelotti's obvious observation that MLS teams have no incentive with no promotion and relegation.

Said Ancelotti: "I think the fact that there is no relegation hurts, because it is demotivating. I'd watch Vancouver and they weren't doing well but, hey, what changes if they finish last? They don’t get relegated, they still get paid… But that’s the structure of U.S. sports and you have to respect it."

Actually that last point is where Ancelotti is dead wrong. You don't have to respect it. You shouldn't accept it. You shouldn't believe in the lies of the league commissioner.  This blogger went to three games in three different cities and barely lived to tell the tale. Thank goodness we also saw Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Chelsea and Real Madrid play vastly more entertaining matches in meaningless friendlies last summer.

One more quote from Ancelotti tells you all you need to know about the MLS.

"I spent a lot of time in Canada last year and watched a lot of MLS," he said. "It's different, it's a different approach, the way everything is structured is geared towards a spectacle, towards parity, rather than flat-out dog-eat-dog competition."

There you have it, folks. And that's why we don't tell you not to attend the matches. You go for the spectacle of it all. Just don't expect great competition in a league in which fans are too busy on Instagram or Tinder to notice how bad the product on the field is.

If there is one positive from this story, it's these pictures of Ancelotti's wedding in Vancouver in 2014. Enjoy!

MLS defeats the mighty Premier League!

Not many football blogs out there venture to make a comparison between the mighty Premier League and the MLS. But that's exactly what we will do because MLS has struck a major blow by beating out the Prem for a top European talent.

It's a move that has caused an uproar last Friday at Chicago's O'Hare Airport reminiscent of when the city's baseball Cubs won a rare championship.  Die-hard fans of Chicago Fire were on hand to greet Nemanja Nikolic, one of Hungary's best players.

Making this deal even sweeter is that Nikolic chose Chicago despite being the top transfer target of English Premier League powerhouse Hull City. That's right, the same club U.S. player of the year Jozy Altidore once plied his trade for. Apparently, Nikolic took a look at Altidore's Hull strike rate of one goal in 28 matches and decided to head to the MLS.

Nikolic played five Champions League group-stages matches for Legia Warsaw, starting twice. He was a substitute twice against Christian Pulisic's Borussia Dortmund and scored this amazing goal at the Signal Iduna Park.  Fast forward to 2:27 ...

Clearly MLS scouts did plenty of work watching Group F matches, with Legia Warsaw earning a Europa League place with a minus-15 goal differential that matched Dinamo Zagreb for the competition's worst.  Surely, Nikolic's move to the MLS will draw other notable players from Group F to take the league seriously; Cristiano Ronaldo, James Rodriguez, Gareth Bale, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, Ousmane Dembele and our Pulisic competed fiercely against Nikolic and have to be wondering how Chicago Fire beat out Hull City.

Maybe your humble blogger was wrong because maybe the MLS is on the rise. Enjoy this victory over the Premier League, American football fans!

The Real Awful Comment by Tim Howard is Not What You Think

A controversy has exploded over comments made by Tim Howard recently. The former legend seemingly criticized foreign nationals in an interview with USA Today, which you can get free at any reputable hotel. Howard provided his insight into why our team is underperforming.

Said Howard about Jurgen Klinsmann: "(Klinsmann) had a project to unearth talent around the world that had American roots. But having American roots doesn't mean you are passionate about playing for that country."

"I know there were players that came in that it didn't matter as much to. If you get enough of those players, one or two can get found out, but if you get enough of those players you lose sight of what you are all about. While it was a good idea in theory, it had its flaws."

Well Howard had to take back his comments a later interview with ESPN. It goes without saying that they were not only nonsensical but grasping at straws when it's obvious we don't have enough top-level footballing talent. Now Jermaine Jones has criticized the comments.

But it's another comment that Howard made that we at IMOTGP are most disturbed about. It's this:
"I think there has been this rhetoric that has been spewed out over the last couple of years – players have to go to Europe. If you want to go to Europe that’s fine, but I would guess that come 2018, 80 percent of our roster will be made up of MLS players. It is not about where you play, it is about what you bring to the team and how much you care."

This comment highlights the biggest problem with football in the United States; that MLS is considered a proper landing spot for influential team members. What Howard is saying is so wrong in claiming it is "rhetoric" that is "spewed" that players should "have to go to Europe."

He makes it sound as if going to Europe is like going to the dentist. No, as a footballer, you earn the right to play there. Not many of our guys have and if the national team down the road continues to comprise of 80 percent of MLS players, we will never make up ground on the world's best, no matter how many teams Don Garber puts in this damn league.

You don't need this blogger to tell you how well John Brooks, Bobby Wood and Alejandro Bedoya played in Copa Centenario and where they played their club football before that tournament. Many fans wonder why Michael Bradley's national team form has dipped; it isn't a stretch to say it has coincided with his return to North America.

The United States continues to set a low bar. After all, Jozy Altidore was named national player of the year in 2016.  Christian Pulisic finished second even though anyone being honest recognizes a player who started five Champions League games this past year including one in a pulsating 2-2 draw at Real Madrid is clearly the best we have to offer and truly more worthy of the honor. Altidore, meanwhile had a strike rate of 10 goals in 23 MLS matches. OK.

Let's get this straight one final time. The more U.S. players that play for top European teams, the better our national team will be. Now you don't "have to go to Europe" to play for the United States, but you do if you want to try to be the best in the world.  Howard's romantic notion about "how much you care" has nothing to do with any of this.

The MLS Combine May Be the Worst Football You Can Pay to Watch

It's the football offseason here in the United States and if you are like the IMOTGP blog, you are well connected to all going on in football in the U.S. That means that you follow all of the key Tweeters for your MLS gossip and you get Tweets like this:

The final match of the #MLSCombine is underway. Hofstra' Joe Holland among the players looking to cap a strong Combine: pic.twitter.com/ZID2TFDWHg

— Ives Galarcep (@SoccerByIves) January 12, 2017

This isn't to criticize the great Ives Galarcep, who does a fabulous job, but it is to be highly critical of a match between 'Chaos' and 'Tango' having any shred of importance in the U.S. football universe. What next?  U.S. Soccer will start scouting yours truly in the 35 and over league?

What is the MLS Combine?  According to Wikipedia, the "Major League Soccer Player Combine is a four-day annual showcase, occurring every January in Fort Lauderdale, Florida's Central Broward Regional Park, where future Major League Soccer players perform physical and mental tests in front of coaches, general managers, and scouts."

In case you didn't expect MLS to try to fleece every dollar out of you the football fan in the United States, here's another great nugget from Wikipedia: "Fans may purchase tickets to attend the six games that occur during the combine."

Granted players who are "stars" in MLS like Tesho Akindele and Joao Plata shined in the combine and made it to the league. Of course, this speaks to the fact that the United States has no idea how to develop top footballing talent.

Actually, that last part isn't true since many clubs are seeing success through their academies; the obvious way to producing top football talent since that's how the rest of the world does it. But leave it to MLS to not highlight that work and instead trumpet some ridiculous equivalent of the NFL combine to appeal to American fans.

Even dumber is to charge to watch these mediocre matches, especially when you can watch The Phantom play an equivalent brand of football for free in the summer. How silly is it to charge admission?  Yours truly attended a UEFA Youth League match with real prospects with no admission required. That's how football relates to the average person worldwide as opposed to here where they are money-hungry to the point of making you pay to watch players who aren't even good enough to reach this mediocre level.

This isn't to insult the players on trial except to say if you are dreaming of playing at the MLS level, you have already failed.  No one dreams of playing baseball for the Calgary Outlaws or basketball for the Liaoning Scale Industry Flying Leopards unless you are from Calgary or Liaoning. Bottom line: The MLS Combine, while having some value to the actual clubs, is crap. Don't give it any attention.

Thanks FIFA: An Idea Even Dumber Than MLS

If you thought the expansion plans of MLS to 28 teams was the worst idea in the football world, the brains over at FIFA have surpassed it with the new 48-team World Cup with full credit going to FIFA head man Gianni Infantino.  The turn of events had the Twitterverse thinking the unthinkable:

Tell me you don't miss Sepp Blatter

— Alex (@ajtickle) January 10, 2017

Wtf? Bring back Sepp Blatter #Fifa #WorldCup2026

FIFA to expand World Cup to 48 teams for 2026 tournament https://t.co/YY0ISwORXY

— Ben (@thecattery) January 10, 2017

I kinda miss Sepp Blatter now.

I kinda miss Sepp Blatter now.

— Chadd Maia (@ChaddMaia) January 10, 2017

Yes the corrupt Blatter is gone but did you really think the stooge that would replace him wouldn't be excited to cash in on a major payday as soon as possible? Infantino essentially treated the public as if we have the minds of infants by declaring that "sporting merit" was his purpose for the expanded field.

The 2026 World Cup may be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada but it is a broken event. Having sixteen groups feeding into a knockout round of 32 is too much of a lottery and you can expect about five or six teams to advance with one point or two, meaning not winning a match. We already saw what a diluted field does at Euro 2016, where a team that failed to win a group-stage match won the trophy; in fact, Portugal posted a victory within 90 minutes on just one occasion in an utter embarrassment to football. Though not as shameful as a club winning a Cup final and league title without a single shot on target.

Yes, that was your 2016 MLS season and now the Euros and World Cup will resemble the mediocrity and randomness of Don Garber's monstrosity. Sadly, maybe only Copa America and Asian Cup tournaments offer the best in national team football; we know the Gold Cup is always corrupt. 

In all honesty, 48 teams may not be enough since it won't get the record seven times South Asian Cup champion India into the World Cup.  That's why the IMOTGP blog suggests a 96-team tournament with each federation getting one wild card to help faltering nations who still can't qualify despite having obvious appeal.  The entrants should be the following:

Asia: India (Never played a World Cup match and current top-ranked test cricket team in the world)
South America: Venezuela (Never played a World Cup match; known for baseball and beauty queens)
North America: Canada (Dead last in only appearance in 1986; used to wearing skates)
Europe: Israel (Outscored 3-1 and finished with 1 point in only appearance in 1970)
Africa: Sudan (Never played a World Cup match, ranked in top 7 in GDP in Africa thanks to oil)
Oceania: American Samoa (Imagine a group with them and the United States!)

The IMOTGP 96-team World Cup will feature 32 byes for the top 32 teams in the world or the top 31 plus the United States if we are below that ranking. The remaining 64 teams will be drawn into one-game knockout matches and the 32 that survive that will face off for two-legged ties to determine the 16 who advance to the 48-team group stage - just like Infantino proposed.  Our proposal wouldn't affect the top European club teams since none of these crap countries have players good enough to play for Europe's elite! The extra 64 matches will add to the pageantry of the World Cup with the additional revenue going right to FIFA and IMOTGP. You can trust that FIFA will put that extra dough to good use. Here at IMOTGP we will enhance the blog with more content so you the football fan will get even more IMOTGP insight!

Of course, 96 teams would work only for 2026 because in 2030 in order to celebrate a century of the World Cup, we will add four teams to make it an even 100!  By then, the world footballing product will be even better since MLS will have about 42 teams. There is no doubt that expansion teams like the Boise Spudmuffins, Saginaw Shinguards, Fresno Freekicks and Honolulu Obamas will have full-fledged internationals as designated players as football soars to new heights!

The IMOTGP View: Defending Bradley at Swansea is Wrong and Unnecessary

Unless you have been under a rock, you know by now that the first American to manage in the famed Premier League is no longer after Swansea City sacked the embattled Bob Bradley on Tuesday. The dreadful Swans continue to swan dive down the table as they languish in 19th place; Bradley picked up eight points out of 33 in his 11 matches in charge with two victories and one point out of 18 in his "road games."

Swansea shipped 10 goals in their last three defeats with supporters calling for his ouster after a Boxing Day debacle in a 4-1 home thrashing at the hands of West Ham. Bradley insisted he would fight on but it was clear that he wasn't reaching this sad-sack group.

The inevitable comparison is being made to predecessor Francesco Guidolin, who picked up four points in seven matches in charge.  Swansea were outscored 12-6 in Guidolin's matches compared to 29-15 in Bradley's 11.  Obviously the Swans scored more and defended worse under the American.

That is, unless, you look at the blogosphere and see selected facts that say otherwise like this Tweet:

Swansea City expected goals per game by manager this season...

- Guidolin: 1.39 xG, 2.29 xGA
- Bradley:  1.40 xG, 2.07 xGA

— Paul Carr (@PCarrESPN) December 27, 2016

This prompted other U.S. football writers of the pro-Bradley bent to state unequivocally that Bradley wasn't worse than Guidolin.  Except that he was worse, and not based on simple metrics such as points per game and goals allowed per game.

You see, the reason coaches like U.S. boss Bruce Arena are critical of analytics is because they know raw data about expected goals and shot attempts can be largely rubbish, to use a British term. That's because when you score is very important in football since a trailing team obviously must press the action; this is something that expected goals doesn't take into account.

That's why we crunched the numbers here at IMOTGP and found out that Guidolin's Swansea conceded three first-half goals and nine in the second half in his seven matches. That means four times his side kept a clean sheet at half-time. Bradley's Swansea conceded 12 goals in the first half and 17 after, with only four clean sheets at the half. Why does this matter? It means that Guidolin's side was more competitive as far as giving Swansea a better chance at a positive result.

Need more proof?  Guidolin's Swansea led 11.6 percent of the time and trailed 28.7 percent of the time with the score tied over the balance. Bradley's numbers in that category were 10.4 percent and a whopping 44.6 percent of time trailing. We should note we calculated this over 90 minutes in each match so the wild 5-4 win over Crystal Palace with two stoppage-time goals earned the Swans a total of 0 minutes for those tallies since they came after 90 minutes. The point remains nonetheless that Bradley's Swansea trailed for 442 out of 990 minutes; almost half the time.

It's foolish to defend Bradley using cockamamie statistics and there's no need to compare him to Guidolin anyway since either way you look at it, Swansea are a hot mess of garbage. We didn't even mention that Guidolin had to face Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea (a 2-2 draw!) among his matches, and those are the top three sides in the table. Bradley faced the three teams below them and lost those three by a combined 11-3. Bradley lost the plot, and was rightly dismissed.

We here at the IMOTGP are fans of Bob Bradley; otherwise this reader would beat us up! No one should be surprised that he became the butt of many jokes in Britain. This situation wasn't dissimilar to how American basketball fans reacted when David Blatt, an American-Israeli with a vast amount of coaching experience in Europe, was hired to coach the great LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Blatt was ridiculed at every turn and was dismissed as Cleveland went on to win the NBA title without him. When Blatt resurfaced in Turkey, he was made fun of for accepting that job.

This will leave a stain on his c.v. but if you were being honest, you had to ask whether Bradley, while a good manager, was really experienced enough to manage at this level.  He coached middling national teams from the United States and Egypt as well as European clubs that were hardly prominent.  In comparison, Guidolin had a distinguished career at many Serie A stops and Monday's counterpart, Slaven Bilic, has guided Croatia as well as top teams in Russia and Turkey.

Should Bradley have found a way into the Championship and developed a team that won promotion into the world's most expensive league? Perhaps, although that would also have been a difficult task. Should he have finished the job in France and brought Le Havre to Ligue One? Perhaps, again. Bradley chose to strike while the iron was hot; the problem was the iron he picked up was too hot to handle.

There is no need to criticize Bradley; he's still one of the best American managers in history.  The sad truth is that the vast majority of football players and coaches from the United States simply do not have enough of a top-class pedigree to succeed in Europe's top leagues at this point. There are exceptions, of course, but to expect instant success from a U.S. player or coach is pure folly.  The United States has much to prove in the football world and Bradley's admirable tenure was more evidence of this.

A Difficult Night in Berlin

It goes without saying that football was secondary in Berlin on Wednesday night as Hertha BSC cruised past Darmstadt 2-0 to wrap up the 2016 part of the campaign. Just the day before in the pre-match press conference was a somber atmosphere as the details were presented about additional security at the Olympiastadion after the deadly attack at the Breitscheidplatz Christmas Market killed 12 and injured about 50 more and shook the nation.  Coach Pal Dardai said: "Berlin should remain strong and stand together."

The Hertha and Darmstadt players locked arm in arm before the match. There was football to be played but it is clear that things will no longer be the same in the nation's capital. The attack took place not too far from Zoo Berlin, and an eerie quiet settled in throughout the city.

A mid-week fixture in the cold against the bottom side in the league was never going to fill the cavernous stadium, and a crowd of slightly more than 31,000 came to see the match. The showdown for the Herbstmeisterschaft (winter champion) between Bayern and RB Leipzig  surely left some people home, although it is clear there was more to it than that.

The drab first half featured no goals as Hertha's goalless streak stretched into five halves of football in the tense night. Thankfully, Marvin Plattenhardt stepped up and delivered one of the best freekicks you will ever see at the :50 mark below:

The hosts added a Salomon Kalou header and saluted the crowd before the post-game reaction was as much about the mood in the city compared to what really was a dreadful match. Said Dardai: "It is difficult to talk about the attack. We need to stick together at this time."  Said Kalou: "We won for the city of Berlin. Our fans showed that love is more important than anything else."

Perhaps more notable was that among each team's substitutes used were Anis Ben-Hatira for Darmstadt and Sami Allagui for Hertha. The Berlin-born Ben-Hatira played for Hertha between 2011-16 while Allagui, also German-born, returned from a lengthy injury lay-off for a 12-minute cameo.

Certainly Ben-Hatira and Allagui faced the most difficult set of circumstances to play Wednesday night. Both are Tunisian internationals and the suspect at large is a Tunisian and former asylum seeker.  If Hertha ever had an advantage in the Bundesliga, it was supposedly the diversity of the city that allowed Ben-Hatira and Bayern Munich star Jerome Boateng among others to come through the youth system. That multiculturalism is under attack now by this woman, a politician on the rise who suggested that German border guards "use firearms if necessary" to prevent illegals from crossing into the nation.

The geographic location of Germany has always helped the Bundesliga link top international footballers from Western and Eastern Europe in a way that the other continental footballing countries could not. Players from North America, South America, Africa and Asia have also found the league to be a happy landing spot to establish their initial careers because of this, and also because of many clubs' willingness to give younger players opportunities.

This attack came on the heels of the one this summer in Munich. Sadly, the grim reality of these incidents was evident on the final day of the Bundesliga season in 2016.

It's getting ugly in Wales for Bob Bradley

If you look at the bottom of the Premier League table, you will see Swansea City in 19th place above only Hull City on goal difference.  The Swans were horrendous in shipping six goals away to West Bromwich Albion and fellow relegation contender Boro in two crucial defeats last week.

Even worse is that American manager Bob Bradley was ridiculed for using 'PK' and 'road matches' in his comments. That set off a torrent of criticism, although to be fair the criticism is really about what a defensive abomination the sole Welsh representative in the Premier League truly are.

Bradley said after losing at the Riverside to Boro that he knew what he signed up for. But maybe he didn't know that his presence in the Prem would spawn British tabloid TV to create a segment called 'Brad Bobley.'  It's become quite popular.

To be truthful, these aren't really that funny but it is en vogue to make fun of Americans worldwide these days thanks to this guy.  So expect more and more episodes unless Bradley can turn it around and not ship three goals a game.

Can India supplant the United States as a footballing destination?

Unless you have been under a rock or in a "safe space," you know that Virat Kohli is widely considered one of the world's greatest athletes. Kohli has put forth a series of astounding batting displays to lead India to an easy series victory over England, showcasing why Team India is the No. 1 Test cricket team in the world. Even people who hate Kohli love him.

A topic of debate in sports bars from Mumbai to Manipur is imagining how great India would be at football if top-level cricketers like Kohli played the sport instead. It is well known how India practices football in their training sessions, after all.

Seasoned United States fans have heard this before. American football superstar Odell Beckham has stated that he would have played for Real Madrid or Barcelona if he stuck with the sport he dominated as a child, choosing instead to stay in the States since he claims he didn't want to leave his family.

Both India and the United States have professional leagues in which the best players tend to be over 35 years old. MLS commissioner Don Garber claims that his league can produce the next Christian Pulisic yet still trumpets Frank Lampard's impact on the league. Supporters of MLS brag that the stadiums are first-rate and fans are enjoying the matches - even though the championship was won by a team without a shot on target for a 120-minute match.

There is little question that MLS-level caliber of football can also be produced in India's Super League. Players such as John Arne Riise, Florent Malouda, Lucio, Diego Forlan and Mohamed Sissoko all operate there, and the eight-team league is thriving.

That number eight should be noted since only major Indian cities have clubs for a three-month season. Unlike the expansion of MLS to almost 30 teams, soccer in India is getting light exposure in order not to water down the league. In that sense, an IPL team probably has the same amount of quality as MLS and attendance has averaged over 27,000.

It's not hard to imagine India's football league soon topping MLS since the goal is to eventually compete with the Japanese league as the best in Asia.  The J-League's credentials can't be questioned after Kashima Antlers took Real Madrid to extra time in a spirited display in the Club World Cup championship. 

That's the same competition in which CONCACAF champion Club America were hammered by a jet-lagged Real Madrid in the video below. Of course, no MLS team has had the quality to oust a Mexican team to gain entry to the event so it shows where the league truly ranks in the pecking order of football. This week was proof that MLS is no match for the J-League.

India has two teenage footballers as trialists in Spain so the real question is whether the next Virat Kohli will choose the sport rather than cricket. It's a tough call in India since cricketers get fame, fortune and the best Bollywood models, much like American football players in the States. It's worth watching how much football develops in India and the United States as they vie for the status of having the best 35-and-over league in the world.

Arena Bringing what the U.S. Need: The Truth

The United States has announced that tickets will go on sale Monday for the Jan. 29 matchup in San Diego versus Serbia.  Making that announcement was none other than Bruce Arena, back for a second go-around as boss and the no-nonsense manager showed what he was all about Friday with an unprecedented Facebook Q and A.

Arena took a number of fan questions and two things happened. One, the questions were quite good and two, Arena answered them honestly and thoroughly.  Gone were the days of the U.S. coach lambasting the fans after getting thrashed by four goals.

He was forthright about the January camp, mentioning that players who were out of favor in the past like Benny Feilhaber, Darlington Nagbe, Juan Agudelo and Gyasi Zardes would be there. He also intends to bring in uncapped players like Walker Zimmerman, Keegan Rosenberry and Gambian-born Kekuta Manneh, with Chris Pontius of the Union also earning the right to go to the camp. Arena detailed how Perry Kitchen won't be there since Hearts is in a Cup competition. is in the bloody Scottish Cup! - (note:IMOTGP reader Ryan Willox)

The coach said there is hope that Clint Dempsey will be available for the camp while explaining that Boro backup Brad Guzan is the No. 1 keeper for the qualifiers now given that Tim Howard will still be recovering from surgery come March.

Arena didn't shy away from the tantalizing possibility that Christian Pulisic and Sacha Kljestan could play together in the middle of the pitch, suggesting a 4-1-4-1 as a possible setup.  He said he was unaware of any new young talent in the pipeline, with the inference being that the player pool that the knowledgeable U.S. fan sees is the same one he does as well.

He provided details of his trip to Germany in which he visited with Fabian Johnson, John Brooks, Bobby Wood, Christian Pulisic and Timmy Chandler. Arena specifically mentioned Wood's stint off the bench in a match against Darmstadt and directly answered a question of where Johnson would play by saying that he asked Johnson the exact question: Johnson said he can play as a defender or midfielder but just wants consistency. Arena noted he would not be able to work with this group until the week before the Honduras match.

As for team performance, Arena indicated that he wants a minimum of four points from the home game against Honduras and match at Panama in March. Gone are the days when the U.S. coach says we are going to "take it to them" and loses by four on the road; this is Arena's pragmatism showing. He noted that Chandler and Jermaine Jones are suspended for Honduras, a match he termed  "must-win." Arena also said winning the Gold Cup is important in 2017.

Other highlights: As far as fixing the team, finding a No. 10 is a priority for Arena as well as shoring up the back line by organizing it better. And that back line will comprise of players such as Brooks, Johnson, Geoff Cameron and DeAndre Yedlin so it's unlikely anyone from MLS will fill those roles.

When asked whether he would encourage players to play abroad or in MLS, Arena was non-commital yet made this interesting remark: "For me it makes no sense if a player is playing on a reputable club abroad and doesn't get on the field (for the U.S.)." Can this be read into Yedlin somehow going off the radar for our team yet featuring regularly for Newcastle?

When asked about relying on veterans for qualifying as opposed to young players, he notably said that using younger players makes more sense at home than in an away environment like Panama. Pulisic having ups and downs was specifically mentioned. You may recall that in the first two hex games, Pulisic started both the Mexico and Costa Rica matches; this blog felt that Pulisic should have been kept in reserve in Costa Rica - a tactic the shrewd home side used in bringing in Joel Campbell off the bench to shred us to pieces.

Leaving no stone unturned, the ageless DaMarcus Beasley will get a look in January. Matt Miazga, who recently scored his first goal in Europe, is not part of Arena's plans for now since the defender is not getting regular playing time at Vitesse. Arena said Columbus attacker Ethan Finley is playing well but not well enough to earn a shot in January.

In conclusion, there could not have been a more thorough evaluation of the state of the program and all the moving pieces involved and it could not have been done in a more professional manner. We encourage all of you U.S. fans to watch the Q and A and judge for yourself. This in and of itself should give us hope that 2017 will be a step forward after this past year made us a world laughingstock.

No surprise: Don Garber lies about the state of MLS

As most football fans know, it's time to crown the champion of MLS on Saturday night. You didn't know? Well you should watch this below ...

Anyway the championship game will be held in Canada for the second time, with Toronto FC hosting Seattle Sounders, a team you will recall this blog went to see back in August when we scouted Nicolas Lodeiro and company. It's a great matchup that features Lodeiro for the Sounders and Italian star Sebastian Giovinco for TFC, marking a rare title game in which both teams' best players are not even 30 years old, let alone the minimum age requirement of 35 for most foreign stars. 

This fact has caused MLS Commissioner Don Garber to go into full-on bragging mode about the quality of MLS, Garber claims that we have "young stars" to look forward to as he continues to make MLS one of the "best leagues in the world."

Said Garber: "Without doubt the target is younger players who are coming at the prime of their career or even as they're beginning to establish their career.

"The strategy in the past might have been to sign players that were well known who have already established their legend playing someplace else. Now we're able to bring in a (Nicolas) Lodeiro who is an accomplished player at 28, but he's the MLS newcomer of the year and we're hoping he can create a legend for himself in Major League Soccer and in Seattle.

"Certainly Sebastian Giovinco has been able to prove that, and Giovani dos Santos who has seen his career really rise to an entirely new level by playing in (Los Angeles). It's part of the evolution of our league."

Let's examine this statement. Bragging about players 28 years old is great and Lodeiro and Giovinco are solid. But if we are talking about great players at that age, we are talking about this guy and this guy. Lodeiro only made 13 appearances for Seattle though he is a player on the rise while Giovinco has never been considered one of the top 50 players in the world.

Meanwhile, it's true that Dos Santos has been more productive in MLS than anywhere else in his career. But is that rising "to an entirely new level," as Garber says, or simply dominating an inferior league. Garber is ridiculous in thinking the U.S. fan somehow won't understand this. Obviously, Giovinco never dominated Serie A like this. To put things into perspective, when The Phantom is playing goalkeeper with little boys and girls in summer camp, he morphs into a fearsome combination of Gigi Buffon and Edwin van der Sar. Those 10-year-olds don't stand a chance!

You can read more nonsense from Garber here.  He wasn't asked about the embarrassing fact that MLS teams fly commercial, and if he was, he would probably tell you that flying Southwest is part of his master plan to "grow the game" and make MLS "one of the best leagues" in the world. Much like Sunil Gulati with the U.S. team, Garber exists to try to fool American fans into thinking MLS is a premium product. It's not and won't be anytime soon, given his plans to expand the league to such lengths that we could eventually have a top flight as big as a 48-team World Cup.

That's All Folks!

In the end, and there was always going to be a bitter end, it took the United States six years to figure out the truth about Jurgen Klinsmann when it took Bayern Munich about nine months to come to the same conclusion. Back in April of 2009, the situation was dire enough for the Bavarians with a Champions League berth not secure; action had to be taken.  The U.S. is in a similar boat; it's unthinkable that we cannot qualify for the World Cup in the remedial football class that is CONCACAF, yet we are at the bottom of the table through Klinsmann's final two matches in charge.

But there will be plenty of time to examine the United States, Bruce Arena and an apparent bumper crop in talent that was mismanaged so thoroughly. For now, there is only a postmortem to conduct and one that makes anyone with a shred of footballing knowledge wondering why Jurgen Klinsmann should be hired by anyone in the future. Oddly enough, attending a state dinner in Berlin - with two neutered world leaders in Angela Merkel and Barack Obama - was his final act as U.S. coach.

There were failed formations, players out of position, nonsensical interviews and a general arrogance and condescension to just about everyone in sight during his reign of terror. This included even former basketball great Kobe Bryant. Even his greatest accomplishment - the 2013 Gold Cup championship - was won with Landon Donovan as the player of the tournament in a watered-down event. We all know what would happen to Donovan one year later.

Not that Donovan was the only player to draw Klinsmann's ire with a laundry list of them thrown under the bus.  That group includes Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley, Alejandro Bedoya, Fabian Johnson, Tim Howard and John Brooks. If you notice, those are players that the United States generally counted on in his era.  It was Brooks who Klinsmann blamed for Mexico's winning goal last week, and the center back responded to such "motivation" with a calamitous performance in the ill-fated 4-0 loss to Costa Rica.

Somehow Klinsmann got extreme credit for a 2014 World Cup in which the U.S. did advance from a difficult group by beating Ghana and drawing Portugal. It was never the Group of Death - Costa Rica won that one by besting heavyweights Uruguay, Italy and England. Then the knockout loss to Belgium in extra time made Howard an American hero - although many astute observers wondered why the Red Devils were allowed so many shots at our goal.

The U.S. managed one shot on target in the loss to world champions Germany in that World Cup, then were consistently outshot and outplayed in the 2015 Gold Cup - losing to Jamaica in the semifinals. Klinsmann blamed the referees for that defeat. Improvement as far as results came in the 2016 Copa Centenario with wins over Ecuador, Paraguay and Costa Rica mostly due to the individual brilliance of Brooks and Clint Dempsey. Losses to Colombia twice and Argentina by 4-0 in the semifinals told another tale.

Sandwiched around that Copa were ridiculous results in World Cup qualifying. An unthinkable loss in Guatemala has somehow been glossed over but the results of the last week could not be.  And while losing by four at Costa Rica was embarrassing, it says here that for the U.S. to see the end of their Columbus home dominance over arch-rival Mexico was a far more telling blow. In fact, Klinsmann lost his last two competitive fixtures to El Tri on home soil, failing to qualify for next year's Confederations Cup as a result.

Those who followed Klinsmann's tenure in Germany closely couldn't have been surprised. His pep talks in the 2006 World Cup bordered on the ridiculous and his host nation side actually weren't that impressive in that tournament and lacked a signature 90-minute win. His lack of tactical acumen was evident the year before when Germany's disastrous defending in the Confederations Cup resulted in 4-3 wins over Australia and Mexico and a third-place finish in that event - on home soil.

Ironically, Klinsmann's place as Germany coach was under pressure in 2006 before Arena brought a reserve-laden U.S. squad to Dortmund and was hammered 4-1 in front of a jubilant crowd. Even that match was scoreless at the half. Said Arena: "The game served the purpose of evaluating players. I’d never come again to Germany to play the host country in their last tune-up before the World Cup with a second team, but this team is wearing USA. We got beat, and we deserved to get beat."

Yes, Klinsmann used his starters to pummel a team of Arena's backups in order to save his job a decade ago. It's the mentality of a small-minded man - to beat a weak team and claim glory for it, as Klinsmann did in the 2013 Gold Cup for crushing Belize and El Salvador. The same mentality of "going for it" was seen in friendly wins at Germany, Italy and the Netherlands when those European powerhouses never really were up for the fight. Now it's Arena's turn to try to clean up this mess and restore some semblance of cohesion to the once-proud United States national team.

Don't worry, it didn't happen!

The rumor is that the United States played a football match somewhere last night. There are numerous news stories about the aftermath. Some people even believe the coach will be fired.

But the real question is did it happen. Because a little after 4 pm Eastern time, there is no mention of the match on the U.S. soccer website.  Go and see for yourself.

We are going to interpret that to say there was no United States match last night! So go ahead and dream big, U.S. supporters!  Remember we are on our way to the semifinals of the 2018 World Cup!

Dumb tactics? Yes. But Mexico still should have lost

History was made Friday night. Jurgen Klinsmann added another chapter to his illustrious reign as U.S. boss. He already guided the U.S. to our first loss ever against Jamaica back in 2012.  He did one better by losing to Jamaica yet again in last year's Gold Cup semifinals.

Now he's the first coach to lose a home qualifier in Columbus  against Mexico after Friday's 2-1 defeat. And it's clear that the new "3-4-3" with Christian Pulisic playing centrally was a horribly naive decision. Things improved when Andres Guardado got hurt and the U.S. went back to the familiar 4-4-2 thereafter with Pulisic operating on the wing.

So yes, Klinsmann blew the start of the game. But U.S. fans have long known the team needs to perform better to overcome his tactical insanity. The real question is should the U.S. still have won this contest?

We here at IMOTGP say a resounding yes because after Bobby Wood's equalizer, this was no contest. And what was exposed was the fragility of the Mexicans. It's not hard to see why this is a team that lost 7-0.   This blog was shocked at how meek and mentally shot Mexico was the game required just an ounce of grit. And the fouling and yellow cards that came with that during the portion of the match in which they were outplayed was evidence of that.

This has been described as one of the "most talented" Mexican teams ever. Well we still see the same one. Chicharito - so sublime at Bayer Leverkusen - was a complete non-factor. Outside of the first half hour in which Mexico were so superior because the U.S. was lost in a trash formation, the visitors brought little to the table, were yelling at each other and looked like they wanted to hide.

Of course, one last tactical mistake - not having a player on the back post in the 89th minute - proved to be the undoing for the U.S. But it's likely the team under Klinsmann doesn't practice such set-piece defending, more likely choosing instead to drill formations that are unusable. Still, let's not hail Mexico for this performance when they were abject for half the contest. Their frailties remain. Bravo to them for getting three points on the road against the U.S. but what this contest proved yet again is that CONCACAF remains a footballing minnow.

Short-handed Gladbach revive Champions League qualification hopes

Borussia Monchengladbach were rooted to the bottom of their Champions League table. They had stalwarts Thorgen Hazard and Raffael out with injuries as well as United States superstar Fabian Johnson while Mahmoud Dahoud started on the bench for their Wednesday trip to Glasgow to face Celtic. None of that mattered as the Fohlenelf rolled to a 2-0 victory that silenced the Bhoys' faithful and boosted qualification hopes.

After a Matchday 1 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, Gladbach looked doomed in the Group of Death.  Blowing a lead at home against a Lionel Messi-less Barcelona on Matchday 2 made that fate even likelier.

Now Andre Schubert's side could leapfrog City with three points at home against Celtic provided Manchester City do not win in England against Barca that same day. In that scenario, Borussia could now advance with three points in a Nov. 23 rematch with City.

It's all conjecture at this point but this was an inspired showing by the Foals. Lars Stindl and Andre Hahn proved too much for Celtic to handle after the Scottish champs gave City the business in a 3-3 Celtic Park thriller that had them looking the likelier of the two sides for a Europa League berth.

Instead Borussia turned on the style and made their hosts impotent, seizing on two Kolo Toure errors for their goals even though in truth they were the better side throughout. It was the kind of away performance rarely seen by Gladbach.

"We're fearless at home – we play with a high tempo and we're always looking for the quickest route to goal," Schubert told Bundesliga.com. "In the opponents' penalty area, we look for one-on-one situations and try to get shots on goal. When we're away, though, our attacks break down, or we just pass the ball from one side of the pitch to another." 

Last season, Gladbach took four points off Bayern Munich and visit the Allianz Arena this weekend. They could prove to be the bogey side again to the Bundesliga's best.

Said Hahn: "We know we’re a team who can give Bayern problems."

Need an Aspirin? Bayer 04 Do After Another Champions League Draw

Yet once again, Bayer Leverkusen were fit to be tied in the Champions League after a 0-0 draw Tuesday at the BayArena against an injury-plagued and underwhelming Tottenham Hotspur squad. Three draws in three games leave the Werkself third on three points - which easily could be nine.

To refresh, Roger Schmidt's men squandered a two-goal lead in the Group E opener at home against CSKA. Then they nursed a 1-0 lead in France until Monaco's Kamil Glik struck with the last kick of a 1-1 draw on Matchday 2.  Bayer held shot advantages of 18-8 and 10-6 in those games.

That only foretold the story of a matchup with Spurs lacking injured talisman Harry Kane while Son Heung-min made his return to the club that made him famous. You will recall this blogger's trip to Ukraine to see the great Son in action.

Although the Londoners had more of the possession and the stronger of play in the first half, Leverkusen held a final 16-5 edge in shots and piled on the pressure in the second half with Hugo Lloris coming up big for Spurs. No bigger was Lloris' save on Chicharito in the 58th minute although the Mexican missed a good chunk of open net for a shot that the 'keeper barely kept from going over the line.

So an uphill battle remains for Bayer to qualify with road games against Spurs and CSKA along with a home matchup with Monaco.  Questions will be asked of Schmidt, who received plaudits from the English media even though his club is in 10th in the Bundesliga and yet to win a Champions League match.

Why Stefan Kießling was allowed to go the full 90 was a good question considering his final 15-20 minutes left plenty to desire and he wasn't that great before that, either. Kießling has only played in three league matches and has yet to score. The same question goes as to why Julian Brandt received only five minutes to make an impact.  Hakan Calhanoglu didn't make the most of his start before giving way to Julian Baumgartlinger at the break.

The lone positive was Leverkusen's first clean sheet against an English foe in 17 Champions League matches. They also have three straight at the BayArena, blanking Augsburg and Borussia Dortmund.

Nobody Respects the MLS

Who knew that there is one week of football left in the MLS. And the big story in the league was how 45-year-old Didier Drogba refused to play for Montreal when he learned we was not going to be in the starting lineup.

Playoff-bound Montreal coach Mauro Biello has made up with the washed-up Drogba.  But let's be clear: Drogba would never have pulled this move at his former stops. He knows that it simply doesn't matter for his career or really anyone's career what happens in meaningless MLS matches.

This event highlights how players who starred in Europe view the league. You may have missed Andrea Pirlo's recent comments about the league.

Said Pirlo: "I love the style of sport in America. Here you come to the stadium with your family and the victory comes second. What counts first and foremost is the sense of people coming together."

This in a country that brought you Donald Trump. Yet Pirlo is right. The family atmosphere in MLS stadiums is legendary, as this blog can attest to from games in Colorado, Orlando and Chicago this season. You can sit and enjoy the match and talk to the people next to you about the weather, politics or how your kids are doing. That's what Pirlo is talking about.

Furthermore, only three teams fired coaches in season. To be fair, the ineptitude of the league is a major reason for this. New York Red Bulls will finish atop the Eastern Conference despite blowing five, count them FIVE two-goal leads in draws.  Normally those 10 dropped points would matter but the quality in the MLS is so low it didn't. No one is paying attention anyway.

MLS coaches love that nothing is on the line for them.  There's very little pressure to perform in the league - or in the country - for anybody.  The United States finished fourth in the Gold Cup and retained coach Jurgen Klinsmann. The U.S. fourth-place finish in the Copa America consisted of three wins and three defeats. Consecutive fourth-place finishes are considered "success," apparently.

The football culture in the U.S. is more than accepting of mediocrity and no one respects the MLS. Even this old guy is back scoring goals.

Back in business! Real football returns

After a stretch of boring internationals that included a useless 1-1 draw between the United States and New Zealand, it's time to get back to business with some real football action in Europe. Let's refresh what's going on in the top leagues over there and get ready for the weekend.

Premier League

The biggest story continues to be how foreign managers continue to latch on, with Pep Guardiola and Antonio Conte coming aboard this year. Ronald Koeman has Everton flying high and Mauricio Pochettino and Tottenham look capable of another third place run.

The big matchups this weekend are all between foreign managers. Former Barcelona bosses Guardiola and Koeman meet along with a match between Italian supremos Conte and Claudio Ranieri as Chelsea take on Leicester City. Perhaps the most intriguing is Arsene Wenger matching wits with Bob Bradley as Arsenal tussle with Swansea City. Bradley's hire has drawn plenty of attention and the Swans have actally won on three of their last five league visits to the Emirates.

The Premier League features a last-place team with an American striker in Sunderland's Lynden Gooch.

Bundesliga

The table is still tight with Bayern Munich only enjoying a three-point lead. The big match is today as second-placed Hertha Berlin visit third-placed Borussia Dortmund in a matchup of heavyweights.

Both have American stars and Christian Pulisic and Dortmund will be eager to take over second place ahead of a big Champions League encounter with Sporting Lisbon. Hertha, who have been playing without John Brooks, have shipped six goals in their last two road fixtures, including a humbling 3-0 defeat to Bayern. The last time these sides met, BVB rolled in the German Cup semi-finals, and Berlin have plenty to prove. Hertha's Genki Haraguchi and Valentin Stocker had impressive weeks for their countries.

The Bundesliga features a last-place team with an American striker in Hamburg's Bobby Wood.

La Liga Santander

No league will have a better title race than this one. Atletico Madrid currently lead, followed by Real Madrid, Sevilla and Barcelona in fourth. 

The big story is the return of Lionel Messi. Both Barcelona and Argentina showed their frailties without him. The plan is to get him some action this weekend against Depo so he can possibly start against Guardiola's Man City next Wednesday. 

In other news, Cesare Prandelli is the latest to take over at troubled Valencia. Can the Italian maestro revive this once-proud club?

La Liga, of course, features no American players.

Serie A

Juventus is back on top and on form, although is there cause for concern after Gianluigi Buffon's gaffe against Spain? We think not.

The biggest game is second versus third when Napoli host Roma. Things won't be the same since the strike partnership of Jose Maria Callejon and Arkadiusz Milik has been broken up thanks to Milik's ACL injury while playing for Poland. How ill-timed are these internationals?

Quietly, a Carlos Bacca-led AC Milan may finally be a Champions League contender again. Over at the San Siro, Keisuke Honda is out of favour once again and he has ripped the Milan faithful in response.

Serie A features no American players, although that could change.

FINAL THOUGHTS

That about sums it up. There is one bit of business we want to mention from international play - the developments in Asian World Cup qualifying this past stretch. You may be surprised to learn that neither South Korea nor Japan hold automatic spots in a region that is becoming more competitive.

Iran scored a deserved 1-0 victory over Korea in front of a huge crowd in Tehran despite playing on a Shiite day of mourning. Check out the highlights below:

Another stinging critique of U.S. Soccer culture!

The United States team edged past Cuba in a meaningless friendly today that hopefully no one saw. The match came hours after former boss Bob Bradley made no bones about how much he hates Jurgen Klinsmann with some oddly-timed comments at his introductory Swansea City press conference.  Bradley also made clear that he felt Klinsmann was not a good candidate to coach England (hopefully England doesn't realize that!).

Meanwhile, it's college football season in the States or college 'soccer,' as the Yanks call it. And we have more evidence of how idiotic that sport it in this story by the Guardian. You see, college soccer allows what amounts to basically unlimited substitutions. That leads to chaotic slopfests that prevent players from developing technical skills. It's a complete mess.

Said UConn coach Ray Reid: "People wonder why the USA doesn’t play the right way – and it’s our fault, because we haven’t given Jurgen enough guys with technique. We should have more guys playing good soccer, but you have to be willing to sacrifice early on and a lot of guys aren’t. More guys concentrate on wins and losses than on development."

Why would college soccer exist like this?  Well Americans always do things their own way, don't they? That works in sports they invented, although even that isn't true all the time. It doesn't work in a sport in which everybody in the world plays - with the notable exception of the greatest cricket powerhouse in the world India.

There is no reason for college soccer not to play by regular rules but American colleges are essentially overpriced, self-contained businesses at this point with little to no oversight. If tuition continues to reach record heights each year with the government unable to do anything about that, do you think U.S. soccer has any chance of fixing a sport that is an afterthought at these faux institutes of higher learning?