Jurgen Klinsmann Says Part of the US Soccer Team's Problem Is Having Too Much Respect For It's Opponents

ESPN - Part of that work involves improving the mentality of the American player, according to the coach.”There’s still a sense,” he said, “of having too much respect.” Jurgen Klinsmann noted that his U.S. team often gives too much respect to its opponents. Klinsmann contended that the only time the U.S. feels comfortable pressing the attack is when the team is losing. When the U.S. is even or ahead, the tendency is to sit back and play more conservatively.”When you concede a goal you have to chase the game, and suddenly we are able to do it,” he said, pointing specifically to Tuesday’s loss.”We could have turned that game around the last 15 minutes of extra time, absolutely,” Klinsmann said. “We had enough chances to win it 3-2. Why not [attack] earlier? This is a constant discussion we have — I believe it is a mental thing we have to work on more than it’s about talent.”

Jurgen Klinsmann  thinks the US team gives too much respect to its opponents? He wonders why his team won’t attack earlier? He thinks it’s a mental thing they need to work on. Hmm I wonder why? Maybe it’s because everybody is acting like we just won the god damn World Cup.  Motherfuckers throwing parades and shit for Tim Howard. People treating these guys like conquering heroes for going 1-2-1 in the World Cup. That’s why the US team is so mentally soft. It’s EXACTLY everything I’ve been saying from Day 1 with this shit. When you celebrate mediocrity and failure it changes the mindset and the definition of success and what players are satisfied with. That’s why they don’t attack. They’re happy with the results. They think they proved something by not getting crushed. No you didn’t. You Play to Win the Game. The US didn’t do that and Klinsmann just admitted it.  Unfortunately he’s part of the problem doing the Lambada after getting crushed by Germany.  There is simply no way to expect and demand better results when you treat failure as success.

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PS – For any soccer Stoolies who are proud of the US performance I got good news.   Our USMNT shirts are now 10 bucks.   I need to move em out because the site of them makes me puke.