Jürgen Klinsmann

12/01/2016 by PeekYou Team

Parchman: Early preview of MLS Cup 2016 – Toronto FC vs. Seattle Sounders

Author: Will Parchman / Source: MLSsoccer.com

We’re all set. How’s Toronto in December sound?

Toronto FC’s rollicking 5-2 win over the Montreal Impact at BMO Field on Wednesday wasn’t just perhaps the most entertaining night of postseason soccer in the league’s 21-year history. It cemented both the highest scoring series in playoff history and the final matchup for the 2016 MLS Cup final (8 pm ET; FOX and UniMás in US | TSN and RDS in Canada).

Toronto and Seattle. BMO Field. December 10. The first time in league history two non-MLS originals meet up in the league’s ultimate game.

A lot’s been said about what got these two teams here and those wildly divergent paths, but what about the final itself? What can you expect? And what shape might that game take? I have a few ideas. Here’s a first look at what should be a heck of a time north of the border.

Toronto FC

Bradley’s been quietly excellent for most of the 2016 season, cleaning up in the defensive third and going box-to-box like ex-USMNT coach Jurgen Klinsmann always wanted. He’s also a tempo-generator when he’s on point, and nobody in the entire league averaged more than his 75 passes per 90 minutes this season (and his 84 percent completion rate on those isn’t too shabby either). But he’s sat deep a bit more for Greg Vanney, a sure sign he’s been given a bit more leash to do as he pleases for club.

But that doesn’t mean he’s been perfect this postseason, and he had a second leg to forget against Montreal. He was uncharacteristically wasteful, dumped 28 percent of his passes long (over 25 yards) and registered zero interceptions and just three tackles. Altidore had more.

Bradley’s task isn’t particularly enviable in the final. He has to figure out how to help push Seattle playmaker Nicolas Lodeiro out of the game, which few teams have this year. The Sounders have been shut out just once in 19 games under coach Brian Schmetzer, and Lodeiro’s been the lynchpin operating in the hole Bradley likes to claim. Bradley can be prone to turnovers in the middle third, and if Lodeiro finds space in behind he has a tendency to rip open defenses up the belly.

At his best, Bradley is a metronome in the middle, sweeping possession one direction and then the other before finding a diagonal or setting up the pass before the assist. And he’s rarely caught in 1v1 situations defensively. If Toronto FC gets that Bradley, Lodeiro might not have as much joy as he otherwise might have.

Key Matchup: Toronto Fullbacks vs. Sounders Width

So much of what Toronto FC’s done in an attacking sense revolves around the 3-5-2 Vanney’s astutely implemented full-time late in the year. By spreading central defenders Drew Moor, Eriq Zavaleta and Nick Hagglund across the back, they’ve been able to send fullbacks Steven Beitashour and Justin Morrow up the touchlines to create havoc in the final third.

Most of everything TFC’s done this postseason – including all those goals – has been predicated on that system working. TFC essentially works from the outside in, pinching with numbers and overlapping like no other team in the league. Morrow and Beitashour have created a sneaky number of chances in this way, and it pushes defenders out and creates favorable numbers in the middle. There’s a reason forwards Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco continue to feast despite the fact that everyone knows they’re coming.

The Sounders, though, have mobile fullbacks too, which the Impact did not. Schmetzer may play a 4-2-3-1, but on average Tyrone Mears and Joevin Jones live around the halfway line because the Sounders are so thin on attacking options higher upfield. If Beitashour and Morrow insist on pushing as high as they like, and Jones and Mears both settle around their average position, there will be space on both ends for runs in behind. And lots of it.

It’s hard to say who this benefits more, but it’s probably TFC. They’re better on the break and utilizing that space before Jones and Mears, who’s slowing down, have a chance to hit the recovery boosters. And while the Sounders have gotten better playing…

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11/25/2016 by PeekYou Team

Jurgen Klinsmann failed his ideals but not American soccer

Author: Ben Valentine / Source: Sporting News

When Jurgen Klinsmann arrived as U.S. national team coach, he promised lofty goals. He preached elevating the play to something more dynamic than defend and counter. He spoke to overhauling a broken developmental system.

Five years later, those promises remain largely unfulfilled. His U.S. sides often played ugly, and his attempts to change the system may take years to deliver any fruit — if they do at all.

But failure in the goals Klinsmann set is different from failure as U.S. coach. Despite celebrations that would indicate Klinsmann’s failure was a catastrophe to the level of the 1998 World Cup, the reality was the German coach achieved plenty of heights as U.S. boss. He also came close to achieving even more, but fell just short — a resume that puts him on the level of his predecessors Bob Bradley and Bruce Arena.

The 2014 World Cup saw the toughest group the U.S. has managed to qualify out of: The eventual champion Germany, a Portugal side that would win the European Championship two summers later and a Ghana team that perhaps played the Germans better than any team in Brazil, fighting to a 2-2 draw.

Was it pretty? No, but the U.S. arguably was considered the weakest team in that group. Just getting results should have been good enough.

If those contests were ugly, the Belgium game was nightmarish. But despite the World Cup dark horses’ gaudy shot total, the U.S. could have still walked away with a memorable win, either by Chris Wondowloski converting or the furious comeback in extra time that fell just short.

And with hopes low given a difficult group in the Copa America Centenario this past summer, Klinsmann’s side again exceeded expectations, winning its group and making the semifinals before an Argentina side that would make its third major tournament final in three years outclassed it.

There were bad moments, too. But even those moments could have gone differently with a bit more luck.

When the U.S. lost to Jamaica in the 2015 Gold Cup semifinals, it was the better side throughout — but execution errors and poor finishing let the Americans down. In the CONCACAF Cup, the U.S. was outplayed but found itself a few minutes away from penalties against a better Mexico side before surrendering a late goal.

And there were his final matches — a shellacking on the road at Costa Rica — something all too common among for a U.S. national team that has lost by at least two goals in that World Cup qualifying fixture now five straight times, and a performance against Mexico that, like the Jamaica loss, could have been a win with better execution.

If these sound like excuses, they’re not. That close losses can turn into wins and visa versa is the reality of the job and the sport itself. And its the same reality that happened to his predecessors.

Take the man he replaced, Bob Bradley. The current Swansea coach built much of his legacy on the 2009 Confederations Cup upset of No. 1-ranked Spain. It was a game that saw U.S. on the back foot for most of the contest, but the Americans nabbed opportunist strikes and held on for dear life. It wasn’t dominant, and it was lucky, but it was impressive, given the opposition.

In the final, the U.S. attempted to repeat its strategy after grabbing an early lead, but…