WASHINGTON, DC and SAN JOSE, CA (Aug 11, 2008) USSoccerPlayers -- Tony Edwards and J Hutcherson talk about the early going in the Olympic groups and wonder how any team in the Men's tournament is supposed to make it through a game without a card issue.
Tony Edwards: Hey, J, so how is your Olympic experience going? So far we've seen card-happy referees who apparently don't believe in talking to players before booking them for time-wasting, fields that my U-12 team wouldn't play on, and an awfully subdued atmosphere both in the stands and in the broadcast booth.
Oh, yeah, and it looks like Monaco got a bargain.
J Hutcherson: Credit Michael Bradley for stepping up during the post game and calling the officiating soft. There are more creative terms, but that will do. I don’t need to see another Olympic ref running over already shaking his head no. We get it. Time wasting in these here Olympics is considered to be a venal sin.
You have to wonder about the mindset. Do we think anyone anywhere at any point really thinks the fans care about tough enforcement of time wasting one way or the other? I doubt it seriously, since it’s pretty much obvious when it’s happening. So far in this tournament, we’ve sacrificed the obvious in favor of micro-managing.
Unfortunately, that micro aspect goes for the US as well. For anybody congratulating Peter Nowak on his switches to get the US competitive in the second half, keep in mind that he chose the starting XI and took out Monaco’s prize too early. That setup the jumping wall that allowed the Dutch equalizer every bit as much as the foul that let to the freekick.
Who didn’t think that Holland would bring on as many attackers as possible to close that game? Do we have to feign technical naiveté here?
TE: And considering there is an easier solution to the time-wasting situation, which is to talk with the teams beforehand, warn them, and then keep the game going. Teams will get it soon enough.
How about dealing with professional fouls or the tackle from behind. When does it sink in that a tackle from behind is a tackle from behind? Does an Adu or a Messi have to have their career ended before some ref is willing to pull out the card immediately.
Especially, lets face it, in the Olympics. This isn't a FIFA tournament, this isn't any of the Champions Leagues, this isn't even a regular season midweek game. We all know how much Argentina and Brazil want to win the gold medal, but you can almost understand the club's thinking in not releasing players. Do you really want Donovan playing on that field? In that air quality?
JH: With our British friends – at least in the media - already salivating over getting a team in for the London Games, there’s a chance that the profile of the tournament is about to take a major step forward. It’s worth considering that pre Korea ’88, the Olympic tournament might have sold a lot of tickets but wasn’t considered representative of much of anything. I think that’s changed for the better, even if it’s still a world away from the World Cup.
The conditions haven’t shown as much in the US games, but there have been others with a distinct lack of interest in running. Though all credit to the players who asked to stay after FIFA lost their case for blanket inclusion, it’s a point on the wear factor. By the end of the Olympics, most of the leagues represented will be in season. There’s preparation and there’s exhaustion.
TE: But isn't it possible that FIFA dropped the ball in this case?
We all understand this isn't a FIFA tournament. That point was certainly brought home with the bizarre image on Sunday of the Netherlands players wearing their uniforms manufactured by one company and their coaches wearing shirts manufactured by another. Yet, if soccer still sells the most tickets and is the reason for most of the tv money from the majority of countries in the world, I think you can argue that FIFA needs to be a little more engaged.
Agreed on credit to those players who stayed, but what's the cost going to be to them when they get back to their clubs? How much damage will their lungs take? How long is it going to take to recover? An interesting study would be to track the players who played in this tournament and see how they hold up over the coming year.
I would have liked FIFA to essentially tell China, build indoor stadia for soccer or we'll take our balls and overly time-conscious referees and go home. That just led to the thought that maybe futsal or indoor soccer should replace the outdoor game at the Olympics.
JH: I don’t think so. If they put too much into the Olympics, they help create a potential competitor to their won marquee competition, and one they don’t directly control. From the International Olympic Committee point of view, what kind of precedent would it create if they were to invite FIFA to more fully participate? I just don’t see that happening.
FIFA’s move to try to enforce representative squads was a step beyond what I would’ve expected. Then again, that was internal. Pushing for stadium requirements is external, and likely to get the expected response. In fairness to the hosts, they did stage a Women’s World Cup in that environment.
TE: There is a lot of validity in what you're saying. And its understandable that FIFA would want to keep their hands clean. And when some player's injury is attributed to fatigue from the Olympics, FIFA can throw their hands up and point the club's lawyers towards the IOC.
Getting back to the play on the field, Klejstan's goal was as good as anything we've seen this tournament. And while people are already saying Feilhaber and Szetela will have to step up on the 13th against Nigeria, it's Peter Nowak who needs to step up. How do you get McBride more involved? If they are in the lead, how do they kill the game off? How do you make the most use of Altidore.
What is this US coaching obsession with playing players like Dempsey, Adu, and Donovan as out and out forwards? We've talked about teams, such as Roma, playing without forwards before, and sure, any system works better when you are writing Totti on the team sheet. But to me the question is how do you get your best team on the field and how do you play to their strengths. I don't see Nowak as having done that yet, altho I will give him some credit for the first half changes against the Dutch.
JH: No question about the Klejstan goal. There were two instances in that sequence where Holland should have felt like they had him. It’s hard to regroup after being on the wrong end of that type of goal.
With you on the Nowak issue. Let’s face it. Game one almost went badly and game two ended up as a disappointment. Painting either of them as results due to coaching changes tends to downplay the issues that required those changes. I’m not sure if we ever get past the out of position trend at National Team level. It’s bordering on the comical.
TE: The out of position trend would be comical at a lower level. What makes coaches like Scolari, Lippi, and Arena (in 2002) successful is that they find a way to get their best players on the field.
But here, you play your best 11 players who are healthy and eligible. That's where having an idea what kind of game you want to play comes into focus during the selection period. Not, 'we're going to play 4-4-2 with an empty bucket' so let's find the required number of destroyers.
Before the Netherlands game, the Dutch coach said something about the US team being a good system team, and maybe not having the individual talent of some of the other teams. And sure, we may think that's a ridiculous comment to make, but I'd ask you, where did he get this impression?
An experienced coach trained not to give away 'bulletin board' material gives a presumably honest impression after scouting the US teams, and maybe rather than all of us pointing towards Adu or Bradley or Donovan or Dempsey, maybe we should step back and ask ourselves if there isn't more truth in that statement than we are willing to admit.
Not because of the players, but because of the coaches and the system. It's the coaching, the scouting system in this country, and the structure, which appears to value conformity over creativity and results.
JH: Remember when they used to sell coach tickets to games that got you a “chalk talk”? An honest one would have had the coach telling the eager attendees to switch their right and left backs, play a defensive midfielder as a defensive midfielder regardless of the strength of opponent, and start the guy you brought into camp for a first look.
In fairness to Nowak, club vs country cost him some compelling options that would have likely put the US a class above their group. It’s hard getting around that when you look at Brazil and Argentina.
