"It was a big gamble, to come out and play Spain on their side of the field. But with the way I see football, it's a gamble I wanted to take. I did not want to play on our side of the field and still
lose the game. I wanted to take a chance on winning the game and unfortunately it did not work out."
-- U.S. under-20 national team coach
Tab Ramos
after the 4-1 loss to tournament favorite Spain in the opening game of the Under-20 World Cup in Istanbul. (
MLSSoccer.com)
Tab, some would say you displayed poor judgement on that call. Except I believe you have displayed poor skill as a coach. You have not picked players for this team who know how to or value the art of defending. And you did not show them how (except you do not know how, yourself). A dismal future for this side unless we find a coach who understands the art of defending. It is easy to throw players forward. And embarrass yourself and your team.
Randy that's pretty harsh, I thought the US aside from some flat out defensive errors did quite well. They attacked instead of parking the bus in fear of the Spanish team. Yes there were mistakes made but all in all the US displayed a good attacking style of play, of course the defense needs some work but these are young players learning the skills needed and need a little more experience
Randy I totally agree with you. I don't think Tab is a particularly good coach. Definitely a poor tactician. The US gifted Spain 4 goals yesterday. I have rarely seen such poor team defending at that level. It is puzzling to me how some of these players have made the squad. Torre is way over his head, he already was during CONCACAF qualifiers.
Tab Ramos is a former attacking player who does not understand defending. He naivly thought he could attack his way to a victory. the senior team did not do it that way in 2009. They defended high in the midfield and disrupted Spain. They did not initiate the attack but rather counterattacked off of a steal in the midfield.
Tab... Bravo for your approach.... well done!
@ Berndt, Mark, Randy...
you must also see my comments here: Luis Gil stands out; defense struggles http://www.socceramerica.com/article/52266/luis-gil-stands-out-defense-struggles.html These address the real state of youth development in America
Stay the course
Mark... the senior team has/had no room for development, Ramos did the right thing for development... get away from anti-football hunkering down and try to improve and develop from the experience... had the senior team done that game over 20x, it would have only one 1 time, and they got lucky to win it that very game... let's not build our future on luck... hunkering down and hoping for that lucky game is not what you want your youth players learning or developing into...
Thumbs up for Tab Ramos, I'll rather watch a team that is not afraid to attack and lose 4-1, than a team that defends in their half of the field all day long in the hope of a result, and still lose 0-1. Defense made some silly mistakes and got punished with some excellent finishing. We have been getting beat for many years parking the bus, time for a change guys.