United States Under-23 coach Caleb Porter has been a star here in the US at the collegiate level, and is now charged with the responsibilities of managing the US Olympic team. His goals are not only to qualify for the Olympics, but also to help develop a nucleus that will compete for the US in the 2014 World Cup.
"If you're a coach, you're a coach, and you can switch gears," Porter said. "I'm certainly aware that this is a different animal than coaching the college guys, but in all honestly I've been coaching pros. I've been coaching future pros, I've had 16 in the last five years.
"These guys are professionals, and I'm going to treat them like professionals," Porter said. "I'm going to treat them like men and my job is to bring the best out of them."
Porter's main tasks, along with picking the right players to help the US reach the Olympics, is implementing the attacking style he has enjoyed success with at Akron. His use of a high-pressure, possession-oriented 4-3-3 formation should maximize the skills of the current U-23 pool, a group filled with quality midfield and forward options.
The system has been a hit among the players.
"He's going to do a great job," said Montreal defender Zarek Valentin, who played for Porter at Akron. "I know that he's been successful, and he's going to be successful wherever he goes. Hopefully we can put the team together in this short amount of time, and develop that cohesion that's important in these kind of teams."
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