News: Earnie Stewart addresses Gregg Berhalter Speculation

Failure is:

• Anything but 2 wins that also clearly demonstrate progress
• A plan to change and improve the defensive tactics (which isn't going to be made public, but should be demanded)
• A plan to incorporate young talent (ditto)

I don't think Earnie agrees with any of this.

 

What is wrong with Stewart? What team is he watching? Progress? I’ve reached a new low in my support for the USMNT. It is such a joke...I honestly believe I could do a better job!

 

I still think we'll qualify for WC 2022, but what we've seen so far hasn't been pleasing, in my view. We've got questions, and we have gotten good answers.

Q: Can Christian Pulisic play at the level required by the Premier League?

A: Started slowly but now one of just two players (w/ Mo Salah) to have 5+ goals and 5+ assists in all competitions.

Q: Can Frank Lampard coach at the level required by the Premier League?

A: Started slowly, but has now run off 6 or 7 league wins in a row, plus a decent showing in the Champions League.

And yes, playing, coaching and life are more complex than this, but the bell rang and these two answered the bell.

Q: Can Gregg Berhalter coach the USMNT at the level required for us to qualify for the next World Cup?

A: I don't know, but I do know it's scary to still be asking this question as 2020 and qualifying matches loom in the near future. I hope the answer is yes, but I don't feel fully confident, not the way we should feel with the (admittedly uneven) level of talent we have.

It sounds as though Earnie is okay with Berhalter's experimentation and performance so far - 'pleased' would seem to stretch that word out of ordinary shape - although who knows what conversations they've had behind closed doors.

Here's hoping!

 

I'm done with this inbred experiment. Earnie should just add meaningless adjectives like 'the greatest ever' and 'most improvement' if he's going to lie to us like the POTUS.

F off Earnie and take the Beerholders with you.

 

I'm a big Pats fan, and I've admired the Steelers as a "rival" for years. I understand the value of continuity and patience.

That said, National Team soccer doesn't allow for those virtues. This is a whole different game, and you gotta be humming after just a few games in charge (especially if you waste 15 months before hiring a coach).

I never thought it'd get worse after Couva, but the current state of affairs is downright depressing. How a group of people can make supporting a NATIONAL TEAM impossible shows such a degree of myopia and the inability for self-criticism that it's almost impressive. This ain't a pro team that you can lose interest in. It's a team representing your country. How can you mess that up???

 

Time to boycott

 

my god. When a poster like appoo says this, something has gone off the f***ing rails.

 

Don't be so down guys, maybe this is the dreaded vote of confidence. Or maybe Ernie needs to be fired too (although really I'm not yet at the point of saying GGG needs to be fired).

 

what has to happen for you to cross that line?

 

I do like appointments.

 

when this poster says this....................it's a national soccer emergency.

 

Nothing specific has to happen. I'm just willing to wait a bit longer. Longer may only extend to this international break though.

 

My only takeaway from this article is that Earnie Stewart's job should also be on the line. What a load of nonsense.

 

Have you done the "math" on qualification? Say we lose 2 games to Canada and 2 games to Mexico. There's 6 games left. Jamaica away is tough. Honduras is tough altho I'm not even sure they would allow them to play home games. Costa Rica away has been tough altho I wonder who good CR is in this cycle, admittedly.

Say we beat Honduras, Jamaica, Costa Rica at home. 9 points. Not looking good.

Canada will only be better with time, as long as they stay healthy, certainly from the goal scoring perspective. Mexico has a talent rebirth and a great manager.

Anybody know if FIFA has decided which confed we would play if we get 4th?

 

The person who SHOULD be holding Earnie accountable is the brother of the person Earnie should be holding accountable. Ugh.

The USSF org chart is like an M.C. Escher drawing. Maybe that's what Earnie means by implementing a "Dutch" system. :/

 

I've generally given a long leash to all our managers, and that's true of every team I root for. In general, I tend to be sympathetic towards coaches.

I started out optimistic with Berhalter, and that even held when he moved Adams to RB. He sounded like he knew what he was doing, and I appreciated his goals. I even rationalized off those ugly friendlies prior to the GC, and was....ok....with some aspects of the GC, and thought it could have gone a lot worse against Mexico.

But the reality is that when I watch this USA side, you can not even assess our individual players, because they are playing in a system that requires high end talent to pull off. Building from the back, and passing it down the throats of your opponent is absolutely the deadliest and often times a beautiful approach to this game. It also requires an incredibly high level of talent from back to front to be effective. Talent we don't have at any of the levels of the pitch - and that may sound like a criticism of our player but it really isn't. Take a look at Liverpool. Even THEY don't have the talent to pull this system off in the Premiere League and Champion's League. Yet they can take on more talented sides in City and Barca, and both beat them, and look better while doing so.


Berhalter does not adjust. Not before a match when looking at opposing sides, not during the match when plan A is going woefully wrong (which happened after 25 minutes in the GC Final), and not after getting destroyed 6 - 0 by a pair of teams that shouldn't be beating us. Not only does he not look in the mirror when we get these awful results (and make no mistake about it - our loss to Canada was on the of the most embarrassing results in A-team history), he blames the players.

That alone is not enough to boycott USSF. No, that happens when you have the GM, the lone source of authority, says he's actually HAPPY with the results. HAPPY with the progress. HAPPY with a manager who refuses to play to the strengths of this player pool, no matter how weak we look while his preferred system.

There is a reason I'm basically done as a Knicks fan until James Dolan sells the club. When the sole authority has gone off the rails, then there's only one thing you can do to convey your displeasure of a sports club, and that is to give up your fandom, and boycott. The alternative is to accept being unhappy in your sports world, and go through painful moments, that you know are unavoidable.

I have no faith in Berhalter to adjust his system. I have no faith in Ernie Stewart to acknowledge that his decision was a poor one.

Thus, I won't tolerate this any longer. I will root for the individual players who give their all to the shield, but simply won't root for this club as a whole, until they make changes that put players in a position to have some success. That's all I got.

 

Since Earnie is the buffer between Jay being able to hire his brother, good luck with that happening.

No one at US Soccer cares about winning. As long as the MLS expansion fees and SUM money from El Tri friendlies keeps rolling, everyone is happy.

I didn’t expect Earnie to say thing were going to hell in a hand basket, but it sure would have been nice to admit things need to improve. Instead, he claims things are great because the US looked good for 25 minutes in the Gold Cup. Yay?

EDIT - I realize that it won't make a difference, but I took the chance in the American Outlaws survey to express my displeasure with how little US soccer seems to care about results. Nearly all of my questions - and there were a lot of them - focused on the overall theme of lack of urgency and lack of accountability. I'm upset with results, but I'm really upset with how little the current organization cares about success. Everything appears bent toward certain people keeping their hold on power, and that's just not right.

Short of sponsors telling US Soccer they are pulling their money or TV partners saying they are done, I just don't think anything will make them change.

 

******** this shit.

 

This is 100% spot on in every respect. And I am not sure which emotion it up more –– anger or sadness.

 

I just hope everyone is putting their money where their mouth is, so to speak. As everyone likely knows, I haven't watched a match since Couva, as the only thing that will change is sponsors getting involved (ie. the money). Hope you all aren't doing the "oh this team stinks, eff this!" and then tuning in to see McKennie on Friday. Cuz that will just keep the gravy train flowing.

 

In addition to not watching or attending, everyone should let the sponsors know via email/snail-mail that you don't intend to use their products while a boycott of the team is going on.

 

Sounds like there was at least an opportunity for some Q&A on this conference call...

...therefore, was it too much for any of these reporters to ask by what metrics...hell, any metric...has this team shown progress? My God, how difficult can it be to pin these guys down at least once in while?

Earnie just did the equivalent of walking up to each supporter's door, defecating on the doorstep, and then walking away. This just sucks.

 

I’d rather see active protests. 1 Gregg + Jay + Earnie OUT sign in the stadium on Friday is better than 1000 people not tuning in at home. Now if only there were 50 signs.