Guest-blogger Brian Boswell, coach of Rolling Hills Estates-based Ajax America Women of the Women’s Premier Soccer League, a perennial national championship contender, has this take on the hiring of Pia Sundhage as coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team. Incidentally, sources say Australian Women’s National Team Coach Tom Sermani was also contacted about the job; he told U.S. Soccer he wasn’t interested.
Is a Swede who we need?
The U.S. Womens National Teams new coach Pia Sundhage, one of the greats of Swedish womens soccer, has been given the job to get us into the Olympics on a one-year contract.
She has a good coaching CV, with club and youth national level experience in Sweden, as well as serving as assistant coach for the Chinese Womens National Team through the World Cup.
A foreign coach seems to be the in thing for soccer in and around the Home Depot Center, with Dutchman Ruud Gullit appointed Galaxy coach.
U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said a list of 10 candidates was cut to three before Sundhage was chosen.
It would be a good guess to say the majority were college coaches with a smattering of former WUSA coaches, too.
Is the college game the best stepping stone to the national coaching job?
When the U.S. was at the top of womens soccer the coaches all came from the college ranks. At this time the womens college game was the best in the world. There were a few European leagues, but the level of play in the top college game was as good as anything out there and our college coaches matched up with the best.
Now the world is catching up, the European leagues rapidly improving and the national teams of the world getting better and better.
The great advantage the European teams and Brazil have over us is that they are able to turn to their national federations and use the success and experience of their mens programs to develop the womens side.
Is it surprising that the up and coming European teams – Germany, Norway, Sweden, England, France, Italy – have very strong mens programs with tons of experience?
The U.S. mens program has not been as successful as the womens.
Although talented, the men have been coached by ex-college coaches pitting wits against some of the worlds best soccer brains.
The U.S. perform well in CONCACAF and in friendly games, but disappears when it comes to the World Cup.
The players are the same; its the experience of the coaches that lets us down.
Bottom line: Our womens program doesnt have anyone to lean on, learn from or try to emulate.
Whats needed?
Our best mens players play in Europe, maybe our coaches need to get over there, too.
So is a Swede what we need?
Why not? She brings great world experience, has been involved in coaching at the highest level and is female.
Sundhage has less than a year to show what she can do and bring back U.S. womens soccer to the top.
