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Bob Gansler: Heavy Underdog US Must Rely on Intangibles Against Spain
Posted Jun 23, 2009 11:00PM By Brian Straus (RSS feed)
Filed Under: International Soccer, US Soccer, U.S. Men's National Team, FanHouse Exclusive
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Imagine if that famous 1980 Olympic hockey game between the American collegians and the Soviet Big Red Machine had been played in Red Square instead of Lake Placid. Those were the kind of odds facing Bob Gansler and his young U.S. national team on June 14, 1990, when they kicked off against Italy in a World Cup match at Rome's Stadio Olimpico.
The American side defined "moral victory" that day, holding the tournament favorites to one goal and nearly scoring through Peter Vermes in the second half. "The difference between our team in the first game [a 5-1 loss to Czechoslovakia] and the second was psychological,'' Gansler said at the time.
Nineteen years later, Gansler told FanHouse that the psychological again will play the defining role as the U.S. faces similarly long odds against a Spanish juggernaut in the Confederations Cup semifinals Wednesday.
Of course, just getting to this point was like winning the lottery. Losers by a combined 6-1 in poor performances against Italy and Brazil, the current American side shocked Egypt, 3-0, on Sunday, while the Brazilians defeated the Azzurri by the same score. Just for fun, noted baseball sabermetrician Voros McCracken ran 10,000 simulations of those two games and found that the odds of the U.S. playing in Wednesday's semifinal in Bloemfontein were 1.71 percent! The chance of becoming the first team to beat Spain since Romania won a friendly in November 2006 probably are just a little bit better.
To do it, the U.S. will have to replicate the spirit, humility and commitment with which they approached the Egypt game on Sunday, according to Gansler. Symbolized by Charlie Davies' relentless effort to push the ball past three defenders, Landon Donovan's brave runs through midfield and Oguchi Onyewu's towering performance in back, that effort overwhelmed the ball-watching Egyptians and produced a final margin that could have been larger.
"Yes we've got to play with good technique. We've got to be smart. We've also got to bring the intangibles. This is where that 14th [FIFA] ranking can lead some folks astray," said the man who nearly helped orchestrate that upset of Italy 19 years ago. "The players have a responsibility, and that is to know who they are, how good they are, and when they play their strong suit, pull the right clubs out of the bag, they can come up with an Egypt performance."
He continued, "I'm not convinced they always come with that, call it attitude. It is passion. Passion quite often trumps talent. ... We have to play to our strengths. The intangibles have to be intact. We have to come out with confidence, courage, humility, effort and consistency. When we do that we get a Honduras performance," he said, referring to the come-from-behind win over Los Catrachos in a World Cup qualifier on June 6.
The Americans' lack of commitment, humility and effort was noticed by just about everyone who watched the first two games of this Confederations Cup. Most observers pinned the blame squarely on coach Bob Bradley, with many calling for his dismissal citing an apparent lack of motivational skills. Gansler, who won championships with the Milwaukee Rampage and Kansas City Wizards after Italia '90, scoffed at the notion that it is a national team manager's job to inspire professionals.
"The coach needs to motivate you to play for the national team against Brazil? Pardon my French, but give me a [expletive] break. The situation is what motivates you. ... It's the clubs you choose [from your bag] in order to get the job done. That sometimes leads some of our players, and maybe the collective body, astray. It starts with competing. If you or I was a fly on the wall, I would be pretty certain that coach Bradley is saying, 'Let's compete. This is another time to learn.' The best way for good players to learn how to get better is to play against very good players. Then choose the right clubs. Let's remember what got us success against Honduras and Egypt."
Regarding Wednesday's opponent, Gansler said, "You don't have to say a lot about them. You say to the team, 'It's about us. How do we compete? How do we react to a good patch of their work, and how do we take advantages when opportunities come?' They're not going to be that wide open and they're not going to give balls away the way Egypt did, but we will have moments. You point out your own strong suits. You reinforce those."
Spain will dominate possession, and the Americans already have conceded that. "In every game they play, the advantage of possession is always clearly on their side," Bob Bradley said.
"It's transition. It's when you win it and when you lose it, how quickly are you able to think your way to the right spot? Those kinds of psychological moments, every time we lose it, how quickly can we form in order to make sure they don't dissect us? And Spain is awfully good at that. And when we get it, is there something we can do besides passing the responsibility, a square ball or a back ball, or getting the ball back to our central defenders and making those two guys, when Bocanegra isn't in there, the playmakers who really don't have the technique to do that?"
Gansler recommended that Bradley not just "circle the wagons", but try to press players up against Spain's back four. "I think we need to play," he said, and "defend further away from our own goal. You look for your opportunities because they'll be there. When a team like Spain comes with both outside backs, there's going to be room for you to go."
The key to making that counterattack work will be Donovan. The mercurial forward, still just 27, has abandoned the caution that has handcuffed him in previous tournaments and has been one of Bradley's most consistently effective players because he has been willing to take space with the ball and keep defenses off balance.
"He has an immense responsibility because he is flat out our best player," Gansler said, adding that Donovan, too, must choose the right clubs and play to his strengths. "When he errs, it's because he tries to do too much. ... But that young man can play. We have to hitch our team to him on the offensive part and he will have a lot of room because Spain brings both wing backs more often than not. They sit one defensive midfielder. There's some room."
Whatever happens on Wednesday, Gansler said he hopes Bradley and the players will use it as a valuable teaching tool and that the rest of us will recognize that it's all "part of a process."
"I would think the critics, the severe critics of Mr. Bradley and the national team right now, are younger people. They don't know how far we've come in a short period of time. They don't know how difficult this is, to give it the final polish. ... Those last little improvements are so difficult," he said. "The games like these, these are the games that help you to prepare for the big show. These guys have a fantastic opportunity. They need to be smart enough to realize this themselves. This is how you get better. You play against the best team in the world and you say, 'Let me pull the right clubs in order to stay in this game and hopefully to prevail
Posted Jun 23, 2009 11:00PM By Brian Straus (RSS feed)
Filed Under: International Soccer, US Soccer, U.S. Men's National Team, FanHouse Exclusive
Text Size A A A
Imagine if that famous 1980 Olympic hockey game between the American collegians and the Soviet Big Red Machine had been played in Red Square instead of Lake Placid. Those were the kind of odds facing Bob Gansler and his young U.S. national team on June 14, 1990, when they kicked off against Italy in a World Cup match at Rome's Stadio Olimpico.
The American side defined "moral victory" that day, holding the tournament favorites to one goal and nearly scoring through Peter Vermes in the second half. "The difference between our team in the first game [a 5-1 loss to Czechoslovakia] and the second was psychological,'' Gansler said at the time.
Nineteen years later, Gansler told FanHouse that the psychological again will play the defining role as the U.S. faces similarly long odds against a Spanish juggernaut in the Confederations Cup semifinals Wednesday.
Of course, just getting to this point was like winning the lottery. Losers by a combined 6-1 in poor performances against Italy and Brazil, the current American side shocked Egypt, 3-0, on Sunday, while the Brazilians defeated the Azzurri by the same score. Just for fun, noted baseball sabermetrician Voros McCracken ran 10,000 simulations of those two games and found that the odds of the U.S. playing in Wednesday's semifinal in Bloemfontein were 1.71 percent! The chance of becoming the first team to beat Spain since Romania won a friendly in November 2006 probably are just a little bit better.
To do it, the U.S. will have to replicate the spirit, humility and commitment with which they approached the Egypt game on Sunday, according to Gansler. Symbolized by Charlie Davies' relentless effort to push the ball past three defenders, Landon Donovan's brave runs through midfield and Oguchi Onyewu's towering performance in back, that effort overwhelmed the ball-watching Egyptians and produced a final margin that could have been larger.
"Yes we've got to play with good technique. We've got to be smart. We've also got to bring the intangibles. This is where that 14th [FIFA] ranking can lead some folks astray," said the man who nearly helped orchestrate that upset of Italy 19 years ago. "The players have a responsibility, and that is to know who they are, how good they are, and when they play their strong suit, pull the right clubs out of the bag, they can come up with an Egypt performance."
He continued, "I'm not convinced they always come with that, call it attitude. It is passion. Passion quite often trumps talent. ... We have to play to our strengths. The intangibles have to be intact. We have to come out with confidence, courage, humility, effort and consistency. When we do that we get a Honduras performance," he said, referring to the come-from-behind win over Los Catrachos in a World Cup qualifier on June 6.The Americans' lack of commitment, humility and effort was noticed by just about everyone who watched the first two games of this Confederations Cup. Most observers pinned the blame squarely on coach Bob Bradley, with many calling for his dismissal citing an apparent lack of motivational skills. Gansler, who won championships with the Milwaukee Rampage and Kansas City Wizards after Italia '90, scoffed at the notion that it is a national team manager's job to inspire professionals.
"The coach needs to motivate you to play for the national team against Brazil? Pardon my French, but give me a [expletive] break. The situation is what motivates you. ... It's the clubs you choose [from your bag] in order to get the job done. That sometimes leads some of our players, and maybe the collective body, astray. It starts with competing. If you or I was a fly on the wall, I would be pretty certain that coach Bradley is saying, 'Let's compete. This is another time to learn.' The best way for good players to learn how to get better is to play against very good players. Then choose the right clubs. Let's remember what got us success against Honduras and Egypt."
Regarding Wednesday's opponent, Gansler said, "You don't have to say a lot about them. You say to the team, 'It's about us. How do we compete? How do we react to a good patch of their work, and how do we take advantages when opportunities come?' They're not going to be that wide open and they're not going to give balls away the way Egypt did, but we will have moments. You point out your own strong suits. You reinforce those."
Spain will dominate possession, and the Americans already have conceded that. "In every game they play, the advantage of possession is always clearly on their side," Bob Bradley said.
"The coach needs to motivate you to play for the national team against Brazil? Pardon my French, but give me a [expletive] break."
Gansler told FanHouse the Americans will have to stay focused and pick their spots."It's transition. It's when you win it and when you lose it, how quickly are you able to think your way to the right spot? Those kinds of psychological moments, every time we lose it, how quickly can we form in order to make sure they don't dissect us? And Spain is awfully good at that. And when we get it, is there something we can do besides passing the responsibility, a square ball or a back ball, or getting the ball back to our central defenders and making those two guys, when Bocanegra isn't in there, the playmakers who really don't have the technique to do that?"
Gansler recommended that Bradley not just "circle the wagons", but try to press players up against Spain's back four. "I think we need to play," he said, and "defend further away from our own goal. You look for your opportunities because they'll be there. When a team like Spain comes with both outside backs, there's going to be room for you to go."
The key to making that counterattack work will be Donovan. The mercurial forward, still just 27, has abandoned the caution that has handcuffed him in previous tournaments and has been one of Bradley's most consistently effective players because he has been willing to take space with the ball and keep defenses off balance.
"He has an immense responsibility because he is flat out our best player," Gansler said, adding that Donovan, too, must choose the right clubs and play to his strengths. "When he errs, it's because he tries to do too much. ... But that young man can play. We have to hitch our team to him on the offensive part and he will have a lot of room because Spain brings both wing backs more often than not. They sit one defensive midfielder. There's some room."
Whatever happens on Wednesday, Gansler said he hopes Bradley and the players will use it as a valuable teaching tool and that the rest of us will recognize that it's all "part of a process."
"I would think the critics, the severe critics of Mr. Bradley and the national team right now, are younger people. They don't know how far we've come in a short period of time. They don't know how difficult this is, to give it the final polish. ... Those last little improvements are so difficult," he said. "The games like these, these are the games that help you to prepare for the big show. These guys have a fantastic opportunity. They need to be smart enough to realize this themselves. This is how you get better. You play against the best team in the world and you say, 'Let me pull the right clubs in order to stay in this game and hopefully to prevail