User:Lovewhatyoudo

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

- Bernard Shaw

<!---



Jurgen Americans refer to a group of soccer players, born and trained in Germany, being called to the United States men's national soccer team from 2011 by the U.S.'s German head coach Jürgen Klinsmann (2011-16). It brought a period of Germanization of U.S. soccer and also brought the biggest wave of foreign born players representing the U.S., which the latter led to open complaints by U.S. women's captain Abby Wambach and former U.S. coach Bruce Arena. The issue of dual citizenship in U.S. sports was also under scrutiny. The Germanness of the squad led by a German coach received particular attention in the cycle of 2014 FIFA World Cup as the U.S. was drawn against Germany in the pool stage.

2014 World Cup cycle
The media devoted much cultural commentary on being German Americans, "not being American enough", the emotional reaction for the half-Germans fighting real Germans. It is also noted that the media portrayed them as German Americans instead of Afro-Germans or Americans in Germany.

2018 World Cup cycle
Both Jurgen Americans and the German head coach Klinsmann survived to tournaments later, however, after the U.S. shockingly failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, the media revealed Klinsmann's selection of squad ignited deep locker room tension because of perceived preferential treatment. A sports analysis wrote, "The complaints about German American players could have xenophobic undertones, but over time — rightly or wrongly — Klinsmann’s perceived preferential treatment for this group of players would damage team morale".

The reception of Jurgen Americans is part of a bigger discussion on the criticism of Major League Soccer for being not European enough (or German enough). Klinsmann openly said one of his achievement is to bring more American players to Europe. He also preferred American players played in Europe or Germany. A writer explicitly wrote "the European panache of his Jurgen-Americans".

The players
Five German-originated players were called to 23-men squad in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. They all have African American serviceman fathers and German mothers, Four of which are playing at a German club when called up. The calling up of Jurgen Americans reflect a change of managerial philosophy of the U.S. men's national soccer team.

Reference
--->