A nifty little article is floating around this week and drawing lots of attention to Klinsmann's unpopular methodology. This
Sporting News expose is worth a read, as it specifically outlines the growing discontent within the team locker room. Although race is not mentioned, it's easy to read between the lines.
Among the contentions are:
- Klinsmann's clear favoritism for his German-born mulatto appointments, four of whom are all but guaranteed starting spots. These players stick to themselves, speak in German, and show no particular regard for representing the USA.
- The useless assistant coach Martin Velasquez, a Mexican-born mediocrity (moved to LA at age 12) who befriended Klinsmann during the latter's brief retirement spell in California. Velasquez has only ever underperformed in coaching stints that stink of cronyism.
- Banal practices of mandatory yoga, militant diet, and assorted other holistic rules. What was initially a novelty has become tedious, with diminished returns.
- Klinsmann's inability to prescribe tactics before or during a match. Players meet with each other privately to discuss strategies, as they are otherwise left to fend for themselves, usually with a piecemeal lineup. Friday's game will mark the 24th consecutive unique starting squad.
Despite the "travesty" of injuries to Tim Howard and three of the German mulattoes, this week's qualifying roster will feature just twelve whites* out of 24 (thanks to the late inclusion of Brad Davis, who will not dress).
What has surprised me is the widespread backlash against this article and its unnamed sources. Criticism includes calling the anonymous quotes "cowardly", declaring the absence of World Cup trophies as ample reason for sweeping overhaul, and of course blaming the stubborn malcontents for not integrating into multicultural mode. I can buy the protest against whistle-blowing from the opposite camp, but otherwise, these are silly objections from cosmopolitan partisans.
* My accounting is: Beltran, Beckerman white; Gonzalez, Corona non-white.