Where do we go from here?

In 1998, Steve Sampson resigned pretty much immediately after the cup. Will Bruce Arena do so as well? Actually he doesn’t have to because his contract ends at the end of the cup. But what is the way forward? There are actually some startling similarities between the situation in 1998 following the cup and 2006. But there are striking similarities before the cup as well.

I’m not going to go for the obvious ones that BigSoccer posters have gone around in circle(jerk)s over for weeks regarding easy friendly opponents and odd formations, but deeper things.

First of all, I want to say: Steve Sampson is not as bad a coach as you think. Okay, maybe he is NOW but he wasn’t in 1995-97 when he took over the National Team Program. Before 1998 ruined him. He had an amazing record as the coach of the USA. Spectacular results and stunning showings given the dearth of talent that he had compared to the present day.

USA 4 Mexico 0
USA 3 Argentina 0
USA 0 Brazil 1
(Yes, it was a loss. But this semifinal of the Copa America marked a huge change in mentality for U.S. soccer. We attacked and actually forced Brazil to play defensively against us.)
USA 0 Mexico 0 (in the Azteca, down a man)
USA 1 Brazil 0

These results restored belief in not only the American player, but the American coach. Gansler hadn’t exactly excelled in Italy in 1990, and Bora was brought in to make the USA ‘respectable.’ Steve Sampson proved that an American coach could get the best out of American players as well. Ironically, he wasn’t even supposed to be the US coach. The US had already signed a gentleman’s agreement with Carlos Alberto Pereira after USA94, but the USSF ended up giving the job to Sampson. Almost all of that good will and belief was undone, however by finishing last in France98.

When the search began for a replacement in 1998, the thinking was we needed an outsider. It had been shown that American Coaches just couldn’t cut it at the international level. Arena was far from first choice for the position, but his success at DC and UVA combined with others’ disinterest led to him getting the job. He picked up stunning results as well and restored faith in the program.

3-0 over Germany
1-0 over Argenitna
Three 2-0 wins over Mexico
3-2 over Portugal.
But now that hard work has been undone again by a poor showing at the World Cup, and once again, people say we need a foreign coach. MLS coaches just can’t cut it at the international level.

Bull.

Sorry, but I don’t believe that for a minute. MLS coaches know MLS players, how they play and how they think. That’s a very important think in this job. More importantly, MLS coaches know the place of soccer in the US and the critical role that the National Team plays in that place. It’s a critical piece of knowledge that I don’t trust anyone from outside the system to understand without at least a year or two to get there.

Realistically, what the coach of the USA needs is time. A great coach like Guus Hiddink would do a short-run job for us. Look at what he did for South Korea in 2002 or Australia this year. Yeah, he’d get us short-term success, but where would that leave us after he left? Look at where South Korea ended up this year. Outplayed badly by France even though they got the draw and well beaten by the Swiss. Not a great showing by any means.

No, we need tenure. Can we get someone who could provide us with both? Certainly the US Soccer Federation has enough money to entice someone into the job, but can the prestige (or lack thereof) hold on to a great coach? If we somehow manage to get Scolari to come to the US job, would he stay with us when England come knocking after a failure at Euro 2008? Somehow, I think the draw of more money and a short-term glory job would be a bit too much for someone like him to want to stay with the USA and where would that leave us?

Where do we go from here? I don’t know. Who can we get? Who do we want? These questions will have to wait until after the World Cup to be sure, but we know that whoever we end up choosing, we have to support the decision and give them time.

I will leave you with the thoughts of the second-most successful US coach of all time:

“The next coach needs to go about his business, especially in the next two years prior to qualifying, where results are less important than exposing players to the international level. But that's going to be very difficult because this is a results-oriented society with commitment to sponsors and their desire to having a winning product.”

''The key for me has always been, whether it's an American or a foreigner - everyone must support him. I'm a firm believer the U.S. will never win a world championship without an American coach in charge, because there are too many cultural nuances that play a part in a team's success.”

-Steve Sampson, upon his resignation, July 1998.

Trying to be philosophical

I predicted this.

I always said we’d go three and out, but really, in the end, I believed. I knew we had the quality to beat Ghana. We had the ability. We had the results going our way. And then we threw it away.

We didn’t show any drive or heart. That’s what hurts. I can take a loss, although I was sick after the loss to Germany in 2002, but I knew we’d done ourselves proud. We’d outperformed our abilities if we’re honest and reached dizzying heights through determination and a bit of luck.

This time there was little of either. The latter perhaps is just things evening out a bit, but the former is very disappointing.

What hurts is the lack of meaningful games until 2009. I don’t know how I’m going to survive until then without any success to fall back upon. In 1998 it took nearly two years to get back to even wanting to watch this team, such was my level of disillusionment. I hope that it doesn’t go quite so badly. If we get a few good matches and make a strong showing in the Confederations Cup or something.

We need to get some momentum going quickly in order to pick up the hardcore fans who’ve been so disillusioned and maybe just maybe get some press.

If you can't be there, watch with a superstar!

I could have gone to Germany. I could have been there in Geselkirchen watching the US national team get decimated by the Czechs.

I chose to get married instead. All in all, I’m reasonably certain that I made the right choice, especially as my fiancée and I are already saving up the money to go to South Africa together in 2010. Or at least we will be, as soon as we finish paying the bills for the wedding itself.

Left in the Twin Cities on my own recognizance’s, I decided to eschew the absolutely dreadful Billy’s On Grand (where the Thunder was organizing a watch party) and instead went to the Sweetwater to watch the game. As I pulled up to the parking lot, I was happy to see that the Miami team bus was still in the parking lot—the team was still at the hotel.

We settled in to an empty restaurant to watch the game, getting the large screen, high definition TV set up on ESPN2. Shortly thereafter, Fabian Sandoval entered the restaurant and took a seat in a booth near us. I asked where the rest of the team was and he indicated that they were still in bed. I was disappointed, but soon players began to stream down to the bar to watch the game as kickoff approached.

The man that we wanted to meet was not there, however. Romário de Souza Faria did not arrive at the bar during the match. However, as I went to the bathroom, I saw him in one of the conference rooms, where the team’s breakfast was being served. I waited around for him to exit but he was taking his time, apparently uninterested in the USA vs. Czech game.

After a while, he did exit the conference room and briefly sat at the other end of the restaurant, eschewing the small crowd of players and sprinkling of fans that were watching the big high definition screen, preferring a little more anonymity near a smaller screen.

I spoke with him very briefly and learned that he was indeed impressed with the level of play in the USL, and that he (unsurprisingly) felt that Brazil would win the World Cup. He didn’t seem all that interested in talking, more that he was passing by to watch only a bit of the game on his way back up to his room, so I didn’t want to keep him, but still despite the dreadful match on hand, watching it with a Golden Ball and World Player of the Year winner certainly added a thrill.