America the Beautiful

So this post will deviate from the world of Red Bull because I recently was fortunate enough to see the US men's national team play against Germany in Köln (Cologne). When the game was first announced, I knew I had to go. So, I had a nice trip that included stops in Dortmund and Düsseldorf plus a few days in Köln to see the match. The US came out on top in a surprising 2-1 victory over the world champion Germans. I certainly will not say the Americans are on the same level as 'Die Mannschaft' but it was certainly a good win.

About four years ago Jurgen Klinsmann took over as the US head coach. He immediately made it clear that the red, white, and blue were going to be more proactive, imposing, and we were going to challenge the best teams in the world. This past week, the US beat the Netherlands in the Netherlands and then beat Germany in Germany. In both games, although not the most beautiful football ever produced, the US had a strong showing.

As it would turn out, I also got to meet one American player's father after the game and we spoke for quite a while about our views on the US team. He echoed my idea that while the two matches mean very little (especially for Germany and Holland), it is the greatest confidence booster for the American squad. Two quality victories playing against some of the world's best players is something every guy in that locker room will hold on to. For example, Bobby Wood is currently a 22 year old American playing in the German third division. He scored his first international goal against the Netherlands - the game winner. Then he scored his second international goal on an absolute cracker of a shot (maybe 30 yards from goal) to beat Germany. If his confidence is not high right now, it never will be.

And that concept applies for the team as well. The entire group can come back proud of what they had accomplished, and as a coach I know that it is a huge motivational building block to use. There are obviously things that could have been done better, but it gives you the ability to say, "Okay - we can compete. But now the next step is this or that."



I think experience is something incredibly underrated in football. The best players are used to playing on the biggest stages, with the biggest crowds, the most pressure, and against the best opponents. The more the American team can be in those situations and perform well, it only helps the group. Yes, many play professionally for big clubs and have seen lots of success, but it is also crucial for the young players (a Stanford sophomore is on the roster!). The German squad is composed of players from the biggest clubs (Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Real Madrid, etc). The US certainly does not have that. And it will, in my opinion, be very hard to consistently compete at the highest level without that pedigree of world class players. Germany has built that and over the past five years or left their mark on the world as the team to beat. Well, the USA beat them. Don't call us number one in the world yet, but it was certainly a step in the right direction. To tweak the phrase, the Köln Dom wasn't build in a day. (let's just hope it doesn't take US soccer 600 years to get to the top haha)