Coach's Corner: Brian Ainscough

Entering his second year as the head men's soccer coach at Northeastern University (Boston), Brian Ainscough took time out of his busy recruiting schedule to chat with me about the World Cup.

Ainscough grew up in Dublin, Ireland and played for the Irish Youth National Team in 1983. He played his college soccer at Farleigh Dickinson University and then played for five years in the American Professional Soccer League. When his playing days ended, Ainscough worked as the men's head coach at Providence College and Bowdoin College before taking the job at Northeastern. He has also coached ODP teams in Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts during his career.

In our conversation, Coach Ainscough analyzed the United States' struggles in Germany and weighed in on numerous aspects of World Cup 2006, from player ejections to David Beckham:

On the U.S:

One thing people are going to take from this World Cup is 4-5-1. Everyone was playing it by the end of the tournament. If I put a guy alone up top, you’ve got to be quick. McBride is strong, but not quick. You’ve got to be able to chase balls down. So the U.S. ended up [being] too predictable, going east to west. I wasn’t happy with all the selections [to the team]. Eddie Pope has seen better days. [Taylor] Twellman scores goals – he may not be a great player but he scores goals. And I’d rather have fast Eddie Johnson up top [if playing with one striker] than McBride.

On 4-5-1 in general:

If you’re playing 4-5-1, if I’m the best team, I look like a 4-3-3. Chelsea is a 4-5-1 because they chase back, [Arjen] Robben chases back, [Joe] Cole chases back. But they’re a 4-3-3 going forward. But most teams are so conservative. A 4-5-1 can be a 4-3-3 if you’re pressing but instead it’s an afraid to lose mentality. There were a lot of isolated forwards. I’d hate to play on my own [up top] in that situation. I’m a fan of 4-4-2.

On the low-scoring tournament:

I think the quality and intrigue and suspense [of the game] is great but Americans want to see goals. I’m not worried about goals going in for it to be an enjoyable event to me. [It’s like how] a 0-0 baseball game doesn’t mean much to me but it does to a purist.

On player ejections:

Mike [Russo - see below for his "Coach's Corner" from July 10] is right with goal changing and offsides is still subjective. That rule is still so ambiguous. [But] I worry about yellow and red card accumulation and what it does to the game. When you pay [so much] to go to these games and you send someone off and no one gets replaced, to me, I want to go home. When someone gets sent off, and I’m a real fan, I want to turn of the TV. They’re [the team with ten men] just going to sit back. It ruins the spectacle with me. How many games become bad because they’re 11 v 10? It really bothers me. I wish maybe you could replace him and maybe suspend him for the next two games [instead of just one]. You’re punishing the fans when its 11 v 10. I hate playing those games and I hate watching them. That’s the rule I want to see change.

On diving:

When soccer decides to take on technology it will be a better game. Linesmen are only worried about offsides because players are so quick, they miss the fouls and dives. With cameras, there’d be less diving like the one that gave France the PK [against Italy]. [It should be]: ‘You dive and you cheated and you won but you got a game suspension for it from the cameras.’”

On the “gentlemanly” rule of playing the ball out when a player is down:

It should never be in the hands of the players to put the ball out. A midfielder gets beat and he jumps to the ground so they have to play it out. It’s used as a tactic. It’s all cheating. No one’s hurt, no one’s bleeding. The cheating shocks me. Review diving after the game and give them a yellow card or suspend them.

On Germany’s run to the semis:

I thought Germany was a real surprise. I was in Germany in March and the feeling of the team was so negative. They thought they had one national team caliber player in Michael Ballack and the rest weren’t that good. Getting to the second round would have made these people happy. That was a joy to watch this World Cup.

On England:

I was very upset and disappointed with them. Gerrard and Lampard couldn’t get it done against World Cup competition. [It showed] that the reason the EPL does well is because of the influx of international players, because their [England’s] technical ability, speed is not as strong. They couldn’t play the ball under pressure and had to slow it down to a pace that was lethargic. It was shocking. Their defenders can’t play out of the back while the Italians can pick you apart. England is still way behind the rest of the countries. They have a lot of work in front of them, as much as the Americans have.

On David Beckham:

I like him. I think he’s a specialist. You can’t have them all be like Joe Cole but I would like to have him [Beckham] in a more central role but they had Lampard and Gerrard. England just tried to play the best guys [regardless of postion] and it backfired. He works harder than people project. If you look at him he never stops working on that line. I would like a player on my team like a specialist. He keeps them honest because there are things he can do that 90% of us can’t. He’s a specialist you have to live with. I’ve been a fan of his from years ago. He can never live up to the hype of his name, like Ronaldo.

On Ronaldinho and Brazil:

I hate to see him [Ronaldinho] on the left. He ends up shut down as a winger. In the center, he has a lot more vision. Ronaldinho is easier to mark and shut down on the wing.[Also] I wish Brazil had been smart and brought in the two good fullbacks instead of the old guys [Cafu and Roberto Carlos].

On the World Cup as a whole:

The World Cup itself was a very good event. Look at Australia, they've really come a long way. [The Cup] showed that anybody can beat anybody on any given day.