So Brooks has played a grand total of 2' in League play for Benfica. He has played in the Allianz Cup, which looks like a Portugal Club competition being played during the World Cup break to keep players fit. He's barely played since like March. If Richards and Miles Robinson weren't out injured, we wouldn't be debating who the starting centerbacks are. Last season McKenzie wasn't playing well in Belgium. Since August he has been. Could he have been brought in instead of Long? I'll give you that one.
Today and tomorrow will be the last time we (seriously) see this thread in my opinion. We are going to win Tuesday and Berhalter will be the guy until July 2026. We may see this thread again after losing some sort of friendly but that would be some silly post no one will take seriously.
We'll see a different version of this thread. Instead of Fire Berhalter, it'll be Fire *insert the next head coach's name here.* IMO, Berhalter leaves at the end of his contract next month to return to the pro game grind.
Funnily the opening post has “at least they fought with Klinsmann.” I fully expect to hear that about Berhalter the first time the next guy has a tough loss.
So before qualifying started people were saying Tata should have been the hire, not Greg. How's Mexico doing? Then during Qualifying people were screaming about Herdman and how he was coaching circles around Greg. How's Canada doing? Zero point zero zero. People were then talking about Roberto Martinez as the coach who should take over after Greg is fired. How's Belgium doing? International soccer is hard. Anyone watching these games without a bias can see all the teams are good, all the teams have good professional players, and the coaches are all good. If fans had some delusional idea that the US should walk through these games, have tons of shots on goal, score more than a couple goals, and play attractive attacking soccer that's their stupid ass fault. Not Greg's, the USSF, or fans who had a realistic idea of how the tournament would go.
The US have looked really well coached during the first two games. They look like a cohesive unit with one of the more dominant team characteristics in the whole tournament. The design and performance of the midfield is absolutely one of the more dominant features of any team in the tournament thus far. You can’t divorce Berhalter from that. It’s kinda his baby. Berhalter has won two tournaments with two different US teams so far. In this tournament they are performing at a higher level than they had in either of the previous two. Should that end against Iran, it will be a let down. However, should they beat Iran and go through to play either Ecuador or the Netherlands, this could very well be an historic tournament for the US. If this US team plays either of those two teams like they did against England, they will win.
It's funny how things have turned. I have been going to USMNT games since 1980 or so. Even up to early MLS days, our national teams always had decent if not good goalkeeping, hardworking defense , midfield more defensive than offensive minded (not always creative ) and a wing and a prayer up front. Now we have somewhat attacking offense (when we score ), dominating at times midfield, still solid not flashy goalkeepers. Now we are missing that hard nose defense at times. Yes, I know a couple good options are injured this yr. Between now and 2026, my thoughts are= 1/ Develop a solid defense, as the old adages apply- build from back or defense wins games/championships. 2/ Get our young players more time together- yes they are spread out in various leagues, but with no qualifying, we need to find that edge going into 2026. 3/ Need strikers with a nose to goal, poachers, true finishers. 4/ I withhold thoughts on coach. Will see what GB does with the rest of this tourney. I still worry that (some) foreign coaches are not any better for us. Now, maybe if you bring that coach in 1-2 years in ahead and really builds a relationship to the teams mentality and the American player, then maybe ok. On the other hand, does a MLS coach suddenly become an option or a hybrid approach, American Coach and a good foreign coach with some pedigree working together? Its wonderful we are already qualified for 2026 The pressure is always on the host country We have 4 years to get all the details right.
Another reason to fire Berhalter: US Soccer's social media strategy is to talk a bunch of smack to the opponents before matches and disrespect them. Obviously, their goal is to get social media mentions, but it comes at the cost of making it harder to win matches. Of course, you can just blame the social media guy for this, but the coach should ultimately be held responsible for this.
Wouldn't that person answer to the same people as Greg does? Can't tell if you are being sarcastic or serious.
How about the morons in our federation be forced to answer questions from journalists about talking smack and the coach answers questions regarding actual games.
Well, if Berhalter is in charge of US Soccer's social media accounts, this is a fair critique. If he isn't, this is one of the dumbest goddamn things I've ever read.
It might have been a dumb take. But, I believe this wasn't the first time our social media accounts talked trash before a game. If you are the coach that is something you want to shut down. Probably Greg doesn't monitor that or have any idea what the social media people are doing. But, I knew as a casual fan before Iran that they do this, so it should be Greg's job to know. If the Patriots organization was talking trash before a Patriots game, do you think Bill Belichick would not know about it? Of course not. Bill knows everything.
I feel very confident that Bill Belichick spends zero time monitoring the social media account of the New England Patriots.
So do I. And I also feel confident if they talked trash before a game that would be the end of that social media manager's career at the New England Patriots. And it wouldn't happen repeatedly. Anyway, this is a minor annoyance, certainly not something you fire a coach over. Jordan Morris over Gio Reyna is though.
What a tenure for Gregg. In spite of all the negativity here, guy has been a pretty big success. Objectively. Good job Gregg.
i want him gone as much right now as i ever have. to see what we can do/be in the first half to what we did/are in the second is shocking. the early 90s with college kids was more fun to watch than what gregg makes us.
I feel the same way. Here's a mea culpa from me. I'd been saying not to play one of our unproven strikers, but Sargent & Wright played even much worse than I expected. Pulisic still sucks at free kicks. And McKennie is still not tidy enough in possession to beat out Reyna in the 10 role. Berhalter is really thick.