I'm worried the federation is happy with GB right now. 2021 was maybe our most successful year ever and he gets a ton of credit for that. Nobody wants to look at how much more successful it could have been, though. The Gold Cup was really great work with a 2nd team squad that required tactical mastery to put us in position to succeed. Big credit goes to GB for that. I have come to the conclusion, though, that GB is the ideal manager for a squad with inferior talent and a hard nosed work ethic. He's far from ideal when he's got elite talent and depth.
You can't get your 1st team players back and keep tinkering with the tactics like he did in the GC for every CONCACAF opponent. He's got more talent at his disposal than any USMNT manager ever has. Let them go out and play once the whistle blows and they'll dominate 80% of CONCACAF matches home or away with results to support it if you just go let them do what they do. I'm convinced he's repressing the potential of this group. The tactical options available with this squad are endless and it isn't a zero sum game between choosing offensive or defensive execution.
I'm just fed up with it, but also fairly certain nobody within the USSF will have the stones to acknowledge this before Qatar or after. I mean, we hear and read the excuses all the time right now.
"It's a very young and inexperienced group."
"Once they gain experience we'll see fewer growing pains like this."
"It's hard to play away from home in CONCACAF, especially with a young team."
"They haven't been able to play together long enough yet to really find their groove. Give them more time and it'll come together."
"We completely missed the last WC, which proves how hard this is. These kids are amazing for what they've done at their age. They'll only keep getting better."
All of that stuff may be true or have some truth to it, but it belies the fact that these kids are already better than their collective results yet we seem too eager to gloss over it. Most of this starting 11 plays for the best clubs in Europe and most have been seeing extensive Champions League minutes too. Am I supposed to believe that the collective UCL experience in this group isn't adequate to prepare for a road game in Jamaica or El Salvador? Sure, the grass is grown crazy high and the pitch is routinely sloppy and muddy, but the opposing players and environment are child's play by comparison. If they're consistently failing outside of the USA borders (assuming we have any) it's lazy to use the inexperience excuse. It's a failure of the staff to prepare them and deploy their talent in the best way possible.
I'm more convinced than ever that GB needs to go back to Columbus, but I'm also pretty sure Ernie Stewart won't be making a change quickly enough to Qatar to be fun.
/rant
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