Landon, Unfiltered

Here's a partial transcript of the media questions for LD on Tuesday about his farewell international match. I didn't post them earlier because I didn't want to put out quotes that people needed to write their articles, but most of these have now been published. Landon talked for a while longer, so I might post that later. Landon is, as usual, very candid, which is why I tend to trust his honesty over people who dodge press questions. Incidentally, I did not ask any of these questions. I asked a few towards the end.  

What are your emotions before the game? 

Emotions? I'm excited. It's going to be different for me. I'm not going until Thursday, so it's not going to feel like a normal camp, but it's going to be really nice. This summer, obviously, was tough, not only for me, but for my family. So, then we'll all have a chance to enjoy a national team game again. It'll be nice. You don't want your last memory to be getting cut from a team and my family didn't, either. So this will be a nice way to hopefully put a ribbon on my career. I'm excited to have the chance to say goodbye to a lot of people who have been supportive of me. 

I don't believe US Soccer has ever done this before. 

I don't know. 

I mean, it says something about the magnitude of the honor. 

Sure. Obviously, I give Sunil a lot of credit for making the effort to make this happen. He made sure that this was something that was going to happen. I'm glad that he did. I was very unsure at first. He did a good job of making everything come together so that this could be possible.  I think it's going to be a terrific event and I'm very excited for it. 

Without him, does it not happen?

I don't know for sure, but I'd say that's a safe assumption. 

Have you heard from Jurgen? 

I have not. 

So, the first time you'll talk to him is when you show up on Thursday? 

Perhaps, yeah. 

Have you guys talked at all since Palo Alto? 

No. 

Are you disappointed that you haven't heard from him, leading up to this?

Disappointed? No. 

Surprised? 

No. 

Frustrated? 

No. 

Happy? All of the above? 

I don't give it much thought, to be honest. 

What will you expect from this? 

Part of it is a little tricky because I've so far approached it as a nice event and a chance for me to say goodbye and a chance for the fans to say goodbye, but the reality is that it's a Class A international game that means a lot to a lot of people, so this week I've turned my focus to make sure that I don't just go and soak up everything - that I go and help the team any way I can. That's important, too. I owe that to everyone who is playing in the game. I want to make sure that I have that attitude. Other than that, I don't know what to expect. 

This is an old picture, but same dude, same field where interview took place.

What do you remember about your first game against Mexico in the Coliseum (Los Angeles)? 

I remember it was crazy. I remember there were a lot of Mexicans in the Coliseum. I remember not expecting to play. Within minutes, with Chris Henderson going down, just not having time to really think about going into the game. From there, obviously, it was a dream come true in every way. It's a game I'll never forget. 

Did Bruce tell you anything? 

Honestly, I don't remember. It was just surreal to be there, as a starting point. I didn't know any better. I was just too young and dumb to even know what was going on. I just ran around and it all worked out and it was great. 

Did you feel, "I'm a national team player now" after that?

For guys my age, we didn't grow up with MLS. The ultimate goal was to play for the national team. That's all you saw on on TV. Kids now think, "I'd love to play for the Galaxy. I mean, I want to play for the national team, but I also want to play for the Galaxy." For me, it was the only goal, because I didn't know anything different. So this was truly my dream come true. It was just - I didn't know if I'd ever play again. I was ecstatic to be there and play. 

And to do it at home made it more special. 

Yeah, my whole family got to be there. It could not have been more perfect in that way. 

A lot of people say that you, especially have been part of expanding that dream, where kids now have other dreams. 

I think a lot of us in this generation have and a lot in the generation before have. Sports are - it's a long process to make a sport popular. It's not five years or ten years or even twenty years. The NFL wasn't always what it is today. The NBA wasn't always what it is today. There's a lot of guys who played - and girls in women's sports, that paved the way to make things the way they are. We're doing our part. We sort of came in at a point where the sport was very much fluctuating between whether is it going to stay or not. It was an interesting time to be a part of it and I think we get a lot of praise for it, but the reality is, without the people that came before, we wouldn't have been there, either. 

Latino Link-up

Ok, Throwback Thursday! Watching the recent ouster of Mexico in the Gold Cup by Panama got me to thinking about how the USA has improved. The squad is on a win streak, but I don't think Jurgen Klinsmann or Landon Donovan should get all the credit. 

Jose Torres speaking to kids in El Salvador, presumably in Spanish

Frankly, the USA squad looks different than it once did. Meaning, there are a number of Hispanic players who are now making a regular impact on the squad. I don't mean to discredit at any point the contributions of past Latino players, such as Tab Ramos, Hugo Perez, Claudio Reyna, or Pablo Mastroeni, but it was weird to see in 2006 how few Hispanic players went to the World Cup. 

Months after that World Cup, I looked into the reasons why, and the plan, if any, to address the issue, and then wrote this piece.

Obviously, this happened back when the Dempseys were talking to me, by the way. 

It's not, and never should be, that players should make the USA squad based on ethnic background. It's about realizing that there's a pool of talent that could be reached and in return, add a lot to the USA team, if the initial stages of development are more accessible to them. 

Landon Donovan speaking Spanish

What Landon Donovan and both Dempseys made clear in their quotes was that they'd played soccer in those early days with really talented Latino players. For various reasons, those players hadn't continued to develop. Hugo Perez and Sunil Gulati were both saying that greater outreach to that segment of the population was needed and would be good for both parties. 

So, now the USA team features Jose Torres, Ale Bedoya, Herculez Gomez, Edgar Castillo, Joe Benny Corona, Omar Gonzalez and the youth teams feature young talent like Jose Villarreal and others. The Development Academy program continues to grow, and more squads are giving players a chance to participate without paying expensive fees. Good progress, I'd say.

There's even a page of the US Soccer website in Spanish, by the way. Granted, it's a pretty sad and boring news page. Would it kill U.S. Soccer to post a few videos in that language on the page? After all, a lot of the Latino players speak Spanish well. It doesn't have to be Donovan busting out his high-school Spanish all the time. Although a few of those would be ok, too. His Spanish is decent.

It's Klinsi

It's a bit weird to be writing about Jurgen Klinsmann getting the head coaching job at US Soccer so long after I thought it should happen. 

I thought he should come in after Bruce Arena's tenure, and I thought Arena stayed overlong. When Bradley got the job instead of Klinsmann, well, I thought it was a mistake. Not one that would sink the program, but one that wouldn't move the men's team forward.

It's not just that Bradley hadn't been exposed first-hand to techniques and approaches outside of the USA that constitute top-level soccer. Klinsmann has shown a willingness to think outside the box and shake up the status quo. It's easy for teams to get stale. 

Plus, I've never bought into the thinking that the American player is so fragile that he needs an American coach to understand him better. I've always thought it was about landing a coach who understood the game better and could point players in that direction. 

Klinsmann is in a weird position, coaching-wise. He could be at a number of clubs, even after Bayern Munich canned him. The reason he's not isn't because the offers aren't there. It's for the same reason he turned down the USA position in the first place. He's happy. He can afford to be picky. If things don't line up the way he wants, Klinsmann can pass on an offer. 

The timing of Rongen losing the USA U20 position and Wilmer Cabrera's recent middling U17 results could have given Sunil Gulati the carte blanche from the U.S. Soccer board of directors to hand Klinsmann the keys to the castle in terms of overhauling the US development system. Things could change drastically from top to bottom. 

It was the development system that was the sticking point back when Klinsmann first refused Gulati's offer. 

All that said, I was hoping Marcelo Bielsa would be the pick. It's not that I'm unhappy about Klinsmann, but other coaches offer a number of qualities to the USA post as well. I like how Bielsa's talents line up with what the USA team seems to need.

Bob Bradley Firing

Not long ago, someone with a long history with US Soccer was talking to me about Bob Bradley, and about what I thought about him continuing as coach of the men's team.

I answered honestly that I thought it had been a mistake to retain him, but that I didn't see it as an error that U.S. Soccer would rectify. 

"Bradley hasn't done badly enough to warrant firing," I stated. "It's not something the federation usually does. They haven't fired a coach since Steve Sampson in 1998."

Well, today they did just that. 

Specifically, Sunil Gulati fired Bradley.

I'm genuinely surprised, but not shocked. 

The expectations for the U.S. team are higher now, perhaps, than ever, given the investment in the squad. The team hasn't played that well under Bradley this year. 

I can't help but think back to the idea that Bradley seems to have his best success with squads in the early years of his time. With Chicago in 1998, he won MLS Cup in his first year as head coach, in the club's first year of existence. His tenure with the MetroStars was promising at the start, as was his time with Chivas USA. Bradley's beginning with the USA squad was similarly stellar. 

Which it not to say that the USA team ever was horrible, as it's likely no Bradley team is ever that. Yet there are some players who seem to tune out his motivation and philosophies after a while. 

That's human nature. It happens.

The bottom line is, if Clint Dempsey's shot hadn't slipped away from the Algerian goalkeeper at the World Cup last year, and if the rebound hadn't fallen kindly for a trailing Landon Donovan, then there would probably be a new coach of the USA team right now. One's tenure shouldn't come down to one kick, whether in a positive or negative way, no matter how many celebrations that moment set off. 

That's why I argued at the time that Bradley shouldn't stay on the basis of that kick being successful. It was too arbitrary, too close. 

Luis wrote earlier on this blog that Bradley should go. I didn't write a post myself, mostly because it seemed pointless to write about a firing I didn't think it was going to happen. 

Now that the deed is done, I can give a qualified nod to the move. It's the right thing, in my opinion, if the replacement for Bradley is right. 

But that's another blog post, for another day.

More from Gulati

Some quotes from Sunil Gulati. The entire quote sheet will be up on US Soccer's web site later in the day but for now here are a couple of quotes that I'll put up on here.

On the review process:

We weighed up everything that took place principally in the last 45 days… and partially over the last couple of years. The highlight of those two years of effort and training and preparation is the last 30 days in China.

I’m not going to point to any one fact or any one individual decision. Obviously coaching decisions impact games and all of that was weighed in but I’m not going to try and put a percentage on any particular result or decision.

On hiring a woman:

Obviously we have the national team led by April Heinrichs for a number of years and prior to that we’ve only had men coaches. We will certainly be talking in the next two to three weeks with some female candidates but we’ll have the best coach we can for the national team. If that’s a woman, that would be terrific.

On the different levels of expectations between the men’s and women’s teams:

We do bring a different level of expectations and standard to the women’s program. My guess is that if we would have gotten to the World Cup final in Germany, aside from the immediate disappointment, we would have said ‘Wow. That was pretty terrific.’ Whereas in our women’s program because of the excellence that group has achieved over time, the expectations are much higher and frankly the players and our fans and everyone else knows that we’re not going to win every game but the expectation is that we’re going to be competing for a gold medal virtually every time we’re in a competition.

On Greg Ryan’s 45-1-9 record:

Greg’s record over the last two years is very good in terms of the winning percentages it’s probably the best we’ve had. All of our coaches because of the dominant status of our team obviously have very high percentages but even within that, Greg’s has been very, very good including against top-level teams.

The end of the process, which is the Beijing part of it and those 30 days there for a number of different reasons, it’s not just about one result obviously it’s the only loss Greg has had depending on how we view penalty-kick competitions in tournaments but I think we also were concerned about some of the performance in games we may have won or tied as well as the overall assessment of the program was and based on all of that we came to a decision that we wanted to make a change.

Two-timing Sunil

Sunil Gulati cracked a smile at a recent roundtable with soccer reporters when one asked if he was taking a leave of absence or sabbatical from his job at Columbia University as an economics professor during his US Soccer Federation term of service as president

"On sabbatical? A four-year sabbatical? Columbia doesn’t feel good about that. No, I’m not on sabbatical."

At the USSF's Annual General Meeting, however, one of the items up for potential approval is granting a salary to the president's position, which as of now has been unpaid volunteer work. So it might become more feasible for Gulati to take a break if that passes.

In his classes at Columbia, where he's a popular professor, Gulati fits in a few soccer references now and again. He gave the reporters an example, from, I believe, his Sports and Economics class:

"David Beckham – I put up a slide and I ask my class, 'How many of you know who this is?' 90% raise their hands. Then the next slide is of Jeff Sachs. I’m not going to embarrass anyone (the reporters, that is) by asking if you know him (I didn't). He’s probably the most famous professor at Columbia, literally trying to bring a billion people under the poverty line at the UN to a living standard. The third pillar of the Bill Gates, Bono, End Poverty in Africa movement. He’s a rock star at Columbia. People know his name, but not his face. Beckham, 90%, Jeff Sachs, ten people. Then I tell the students - 'By the end of this term, you'll know both, and you'll also understand why one can pull in a potential $250,000,000 million dollars.'"

When asked if his students knew about his involvement with U.S. Soccer, Gulati nodded. "They’re all aware of it now."

Nerd with tape recorder

Yeah, I'm the one. So everyone else is listening to Sunil Gulati talk, and I'm turning on my tape recorder. I don't trust my memory, and I can't take notes fast enough. Actually, even tape isn't perfect, because soft voices are hard to hear. But for the most part, this is the transcription of Sunil's stadium statements.

"We could have hosted World Cup in 1998 and used stadiums that did not exist in 1994. We could’ve hosted the World Cup in 2002 and used stadiums that did not exist in 1998. We could have hosted the World Cup in 2006 and used stadiums that did not exist in 2002. These are all stadiums of 70,000 seats or more, because new NFL stadiums keep going up. It’s an extraordinary set-up that we've got. FedEx Field. It’s the biggest stadium in the world right now, 90,000 seats, real seats. There's Gillette Stadium, and so many others. There weren't that many stadiums in Germany that had 70,000 seats. And we would fill them."

And voicing support for South Africa:

"When I was in Mexico in 1986, it was a different World Cup, but it was a fabulous World Cup. Part of the reason was because there was this guy wearing a blue and white shirt that was pretty fabulous, but it was also a sensational World Cup. It was different than the World Cup in Germany. I think South Africa will host a great World Cup. It will be different."