The US soccer year in review: women rule the world but questions for Klinsmann

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/dec/23/us-soccer-review-uswnt-carli-lloyd-klinsmann

Version 0 of 1.

1. Women rule, basically

For a glory that felt a long time coming, it was over with quickly: thanks to a Carli Lloyd hat-trick over the first 16 minutes of the contest – the fastest hat-trick from a kickoff in World Cup history – the US women’s national team trounced Japan 5-2 in the final on July 5 in Vancouver. It was America’s first title since 1999, capping a journey that saw coach Jill Ellis’s squad raise its collective form, round by round, which each ascending stage, blanking China (1-0) and Germany (2-0) in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively.

More importantly, it got the taste of the July 2011 World Cup final against Japan – in which the US twice surrendered leads and ultimately fell on penalties – out of everybody’s mouths, a line in ink through the last item on the program’s bucket list.

The victory also kept the momentum from the men’s World Cup performance and pushed America’s soccer conversation – and soccer pride – to new heights, with a record 25.4 million domestic viewers watching the final via English feeds, a bigger audience than Game 6 of the NBA Finals (15.9 overnight rating) or the 2014 World Series Game 7 (23.5 million) and an 88% jump from the title game in 2011 (13.5 million).

Players rocked the talk-show circuit before and after the World Cup, and a farmer in California went so far as to built a corn maze in the shape of Megan Rapinoe’s face. Their swagger even inspired President Obama to quip: “This team taught all of America’s children that ‘playing like a girl’ means you’re a badass.” As executive tributes go, that’s a tough one to top.

2. Abby Wambach’s retirement tour (and legacy)

On December 16, Wambach closed the book on the kind of career that tends to wind up chiseled to the base of a statue somewhere: a pair of Olympic golds, pro and NCAA championships, and, finally, a World Cup title. The 35-year-old New York native collected 255 appearances with the USWNT and more international goals – 184 – than any other man or woman in the history of the sport.

Related: One for the road: Abby Wambach's final match closes book on unassailable legacy

But even more impressive than the statistics and silverware was Wambach’s uncompromised candor, be it on the state of the USMNT under coach Jurgen Klinsmann (see below) or, more pointedly, the fact the Women’s World Cup was played entirely on artificial turf. Wambach’s body of work set a new standard for the sport while also pointing out some of the double standards that often bubble beneath its surface.

3. The men whiff (Concacaf Cup edition)

It wasn’t just that the USMNT turned up before more than 93,000 at the Rose Bowl and fell to rival Mexico for the first time since 2011. Or even that the US blew a shot at a berth at the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia.

It’s that during a 3-2 loss to El Tri on October 10, the team, and Klinsmann, gave the impression that they fielded neither a lineup – more than a few selections raised eyebrows – nor a game plan that reflected the urgency of the moment. Mexico, meanwhile, seemed to put the host squad on the back foot almost from the outset, with Javier Hernandez’s goal opening the scoring 10 minutes into the contest. Geoff Cameron’s strike leveled things five minutes after that, but El Tri wound up dominating possession for most of the evening. Mexico netted as many goals in one outing as they had in its previous six meetings against USA combined, making it the latest in a series of big-game slips that seemed to define Klinsmann’s year.

4. The men whiff (Gold Cup Edition)

And yet that even might not’ve been the biggest toe-stub on the calendar. Despite the stars seemingly aligned for USA at the Gold Cup in Atlanta, Klinsmann’s tean fell to Jamaica 2-1 in the semis – the first US loss on its home soil to a Caribbean squad since 1969, and the first time the Yanks failed to reach a Gold Cup final since 2003.

Klinsmann had a bad day, as the move to a 4-3-2-1 formation – switching from his usual 4-4-2 diamond – left his midfield and defense vulnerable to the pace of the Reggae Boyz. Keeper Brad Guzan had a worse one, as his outlet pass off a corner-kick save in the 36th minute was ruled a handball. Jamaica’s Giles Barnes bent the ensuing free kick into the top corner of the net to double the Boyz’ lead – one they would never relinquish.

Things didn’t get much better for the USA during an uninspired third-place game against Panama. The latter ultimately triumphed on penalties, 3-2, in a contest neither side seemed particularly thrilled about. US fans, even less so.

5. U-23s forced to take the long road to Rio

In a year where few things came easy – or predictably – on the men’s side, why would the path to the 2016 Rio Olympics be any different? The men’s U-23 team went cruising into the qualifying round the top seed in Group A, outscoring the opposition in three group play matches by a score of 13-2.

Then Honduras happened.

The US appeared feckless and stunned in a 2-0 setback, a contest notable for an alarming drop in form and shocking display of temperament that saw head coach Andreas Herzog receive a red card. They were able to pull it together in time to record a 2-0 victory over Canada in the third-place game, earning a berth in a home-and-away playoff against Colombia next March for spot in Rio. But which team will show up?

6. Carli Lloyd, Carli Loyd and Carli Lloyd

Captain Clutch? Sister Streaky? If the USWNT were elevated to rock stars (and they were), Lloyd was their Jimi Hendrix – brilliant in the biggest moments and electric on the brightest stages. Of course, the midfielder had shone through several personal Woodstocks already: in 2012, she’d netted two goals in the Olympic gold-medal contest against Japan and had converted four game-winners at the Olympics, including clinchers in the finals at the 2008 and 2012 Games. The grander the stakes, the greater the performance.

In the final against Japan, the 33-year-old – World Cup Golden Boot winner and US Soccer’s female player of the year – not only recorded a hat-trick in 16 minutes, she recorded a hat-trick with an epic flourish. The third goal came on a 54-yard rainbow that lofted over the reach of a flailing, backpedaling Ayumi Kaihori, the definitive snapshot in one of the standout performances during a World Cup final of either gender.

And while segment of purists have debated (and continue to debate) the best ways for Ellis to utilize Lloyd’s skill set, the move during the World Cup to more of an attacking midfield role only served to underscore her status as one of the most clinical finishers in the women’s international game. Ever.

7. Bobby Wood late …

One of the standout finds of a mixed year, a silver lining with a golden touch, the 5ft 10in forward netted four goals with the national team in 2015 – and almost all of them were huge.

In a June 5 game in Amsterdam against Holland, the FC Union Berlin striker capped a wild comeback with a goal in the 90th minute – the third for USA over the final 19 minutes of a 4-3 victory. Against Germany five days later in Cologne, Wood came of the bench and scored the game-winner against the reigning World Cup champions in a 2-1 win.

The run continued in domestic play: on October 10, down 2-1 in the aforementioned Confederations Cup qualifier against Mexico, Wood entered in extra time and leveled the match in the 108th minute. For all the criticism leveled against Klinsmann this year, there’s little debate that the Hawaii native blossomed into one of his finest revelations.

8. … and Jordan Morris early

In the 49th minute of an April 15 friendly against Mexico, the Seattle native – his father, Michael, is chief medical director for the Sounders of Major League Soccer – netted his first international goal against senior competition, leaving pundits wonder if it won’t be the first of many to come.

An All-American at Stanford University, the 21-year-old forward and MAC Hermann Trophy finalist is the first active collegian to receive a senior cap since Ante Razov in 1995, and is already being feted in some circles as the new rising “face” of the future on the men’s roster, another badly-needed feather in Klinsmann’s cap. While staying on the national team’s radar, Morris has also become something of a poster boy for advocates of collegiate soccer system in the United States, a system that has come under some scrutiny by advocates of the youth/club model so prevalent abroad.

9. Johnston steps to the fore

Initially cut from the qualifying roster and called up because of injuries, the 23-year-old defender became one of the breakout stars of the Women’s World Cup, collecting two assists, creating hell on set pieces, and helping to anchor one of best back lines on the planet.

And yet arguably the most pivotal moment of a pivotal summer came on a rare miscue, against Germany in the semifinal. With the score knotted at 0-0 in the 59th minute, Johnston’s pass back to keeper Hope Solo was intercepted by Alexandra Popp; a panicked Johnston reached out and pulled Popp’s shoulder down, drawing a penalty kick. When Celia Sasic missed to the left, it gave Johnston and her teammates equal parts relief and euphoric lift – a lift that would eventually carry the Yanks to a 2-0 victory.

10. Klinsmann under fire (reprise)

The down side of raising the bar, of course, is that it also increases the height of the fall. If 2014’s flashpoints elevated eyeballs and expectations, 2015 was notable for how many times Klinsmann’s mighty leaps ended with him landing awkwardly on one ankle or the other. The Concacaf Cup. The Gold Cup. The U-23s. A $2.5m contract through 2018 probably keeps him out of danger (for now), but it hasn’t kept him above reproach; In a narrative that rather neatly sums up the state of both US national programs as the year draws to a close, it was Wambach who laid perhaps the most damning of criticism at the the feet of the second-term coach, telling Bill Simmons in December that “Oh man, I would definitely fire Jurgen. Sorry, Sunil [Gulati]; sorry, US Soccer.”

She didn’t stop there, either, accusing the German-born coach of not focusing enough attention on youth programs and relying on “foreign guys … it’s just not something that I believe in.”

One of stalwarts phased out in favor of those aforementioned “foreign guys,” Landon Donovan, unsurprisingly jumped on the pile, too, in a Sirius XM interview: “I wouldn’t feel as good about it if we had a team full of players that didn’t really grow up or didn’t really identify as being American … If it’s win at all costs, that’s fine. But in my opinion, it’s not win at all costs, it’s win in a way that makes us feel proud of it.”

All of which means, regardless of what side of the Jurgen fence you happen to sit, Klinsmann begins 2016 needing to win more than a few hearts and minds. To say nothing of matches.