Four years after he was hired as U.S. Mens Soccer National Team coach, the most pressing question isn’t whether Jurgen Klinsmann will be fired. It’s this: Is the 51 year old German delusionally optimistic or clinically delusional?
Even as the green and red smoke lingered over Pasadena’s Rose Bowl and beer trickled from the stands onto the field—signs that flare-wielding, beer-tossing Mexican National Team fans were delirious with their team’s 3-2 triumph over the U.S. in the CONCACAF Cup— Klinsmann characterized the night’s contest against the U.S. as anyone’s to win.
“I think it was an open game until the very, very end…The game was very even, especially the first half I think we had enough chances to score a second or third goal.”
But even those without access to official game statistics could see the match was anything but even, unless you call sitting on a seesaw opposite a pallet of cement an even pairing.
At the end of the first half Mexico’s mesmerizing, hard-pressing front line held 56 percent possession. At the end of the entire match, which included the regular 90 and 30 extra time minutes, Mexico’s possession rate inched up to 56 percent while the United States’ tripped slightly from 46 to 44. Not quite a blowout but, as Klinsmann would say later in his post-game press conference, the “second half belonged all to Mexico.”
Statistics, however, tell only part of a story.
Even without the numbers revealing possession, corner kicks, shots and ultimately goals (which El Tri dominated), the Mexican side demonstrated its superiority virtually every time it touched the ball. While the U.S. looked capable of handling Mexico’s immediate pressure in the first minutes of the game, it took only one series of brilliant quick touches down the United States’ left side to disabuse any objective observer in the crowd of 93,000 of the idea that this would be an even game.
In the 10th Mexico’s combination of three crisp, perfectly timed passes that ultimately found goal scorer Chicharito left Americans DeMarcus Beasley, Matt Besler, Kyle Beckerman, Geoff Cameron and Fabian Johnson looking silly and confused— as if they had been playing a round of blindfolded keep away.
Though the United States would come back to tie the game twice, with goals from Geoff Cameron and Bobby Wood to force the 30 minutes extra time, the squad never held the lead and never had a chance to win the match, despite what their coach stated. On Saturday night, Mexico simply had better players and better execution.
Ostensibly Klinsmann dressed and started the players he believed would have the best chance to win. However, learning that half of the U.S. starting field players are in their 30s would be enough to provoke even a Tibetan monk’s skepticism. Thirty year olds belong in the huff and puff divisions of Sunday recreation leagues, not in the championship game of an international tournament, second rate as it might be.
(Unless of course they play for Mexico as does Rafa Marquez, defensive player who does for sports diplomacy what a baseball bat does for the kneecap flexibility).
While players must be accountable for their performance on game day, a coach must be accountable for the decisions he makes assembling the squad. Unless, of course, his choices are limited. The idea that might be the case on Saturday would have been easier to swallow if Team USA’s late subs and early 20-somethings had not performed adequately, if not admirably.
Klinsmann watched the same game players, fans and chat room analysts did. He watched the U.S.team struggle to keep up with their south of the border neighbors. He saw them lose. Valiantly but not undeservedly.
Which brings us back to the pressing question. Is the 51 year old German delusionally optimistic or clinically delusional? Given what we have seen from Team USA lately the answer appears to be both. And if that’s the case then U.S. Soccer fans should be worried because in both cases it demonstrates a coach divorced from reality.
