Next Coach

Discussion in 'USA Men: News & Analysis' started by nbarbour, Dec 3, 2022.

  1. Excellency

    Excellency Member+

    LA Galaxy
    United States
    Nov 4, 2011
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Foreign coaches have allegiances to European federations for economic reasons. We will get a team of Euroleague robots selected for their status, not their impact on our team. Everybody will applaud and we will go down like olde England in the quadrennial "interlull".

    Absent the burden of qualification, this cycle sets up as a great cycle for experimentation and search for a tactical flexiblity and soccer intelligence. We need somebody willing to gore sacred cows and that guy is likely to be born in the USA.
     
  2. Excellency

    Excellency Member+

    LA Galaxy
    United States
    Nov 4, 2011
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
  3. TheHoustonHoyaFan

    Oct 14, 2011
    Houston
    Club:
    FC Schalke 04
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    "For me I am not really biased on whether it needs to be a European coach or an American coach...".

    Sounds like a very smart sentiment to me. I hope that USSF takes the same attitude and finds the best available manager to lead the best pool we have ever had.
     
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  4. Excellency

    Excellency Member+

    LA Galaxy
    United States
    Nov 4, 2011
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Most others who will be at WC will have their "best pool ever" as well. Generally, athletes tend to improve, managers tend to improve, the sport tends to improve, over time. It's an illusion to say we will do better because our pool is better. What matters is how good we are relative to the teams who will oppose us.

    We performed somewhat badly in 2022 in Qatar altho we did some things well in concacaf. Having said that, our concacaf success was accomplished on home soil. We did not do well abroad.

    The main problem for me in Qatar was our midfield which lacked balance. The progressive passing of McKennie and Musah was about as bad as it gets in terms of peer comparisons. Neither one was known for assists. How much of this was down to Berhatler? I'd say 50% for lack of a scientific way of apportioning blame among players and coaching. Why didn't guys like Pulisic or Weah complain? I think that may have had to do with Berhalter's coaching which brooked no dissent.

    It's really important to counter the self congratulation in media like twitter where guys like McKennie can get views and interject how great his performance was in Qatar. It wasn't.

    One of the problems we will face early cycle is replacing legacy guys like McKennie before they get stuck in sacred cow status and drag down the 2026 cycle as well.
     
  5. tomásbernal

    tomásbernal Member+

    Sep 4, 2007
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    You'll have to rephrase your question. It's not clear, to me anyway, what it is you're asking.
     
  6. gomichigan24

    gomichigan24 Member+

    Jul 15, 2002
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I must have missed when the problem with the USMNT was Weston McKennie. Or when we found another 8 to replace him in order to phase him off the roster.
     
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  7. Grumpy in LA

    Grumpy in LA Bringing It Since 1807™

    Sep 10, 2007
    Chicago
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    For the poster you’re responding to, McKennie has always been the problem. I think that poster would gladly replace him with an injured Ledezma. Or the current Claudio Reyna. Or a warm bucket of hamster vomit.
     
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  8. Bajoro

    Bajoro Member+

    Sep 10, 2000
    The Inland Empire
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    On the other hand, the next manager will have more than 3 years to whittle down our massive pool of superstars and supporting cast to 23 to 26. Plenty of time to get to know the key players.
     
  9. Bajoro

    Bajoro Member+

    Sep 10, 2000
    The Inland Empire
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Did Weston really say "We put on a performance at the World Cup that everyone was actually happy with..."?

    Was he referring to Depay, Blind and Dumphries?
     
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  10. Excellency

    Excellency Member+

    LA Galaxy
    United States
    Nov 4, 2011
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    yeah, you must have.
     
  11. Excellency

    Excellency Member+

    LA Galaxy
    United States
    Nov 4, 2011
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Dude, Berhalter played McKennie as our 10; McKennie has 5 assists in 96 games with Juventus. I don't know where Ledezma or Hamster vomit fits into the picture and I'd rather you not explain it to me. I know that Gio has 2 winning goals in his last two games in the Bundesliga.

    But, hey, goals and assists v. Hamster vomit. I mean, there's no comparison. Hamster vomit wins every time on BS.
     
  12. ifsteve

    ifsteve Member+

    Manchester United
    United States
    Jul 7, 2013
    MS and ID
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The problem is that you simply can't get past your insane dislike for McKennie. Every poster who visits BS more than once a year knows this. But you have to turn every discussion into another of your personal bash McKennie threads. You may or may not actually have some good things to say but I can't tell because of your incessant rants on McKennie.
     
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  13. deejay

    deejay Member+

    Feb 14, 2000
    Tarpon Springs, FL
    Club:
    Jorge Wilstermann
    Nat'l Team:
    Bolivia
    But if he doesn't fit in with the players, if the chemistry is just crap then there is no fixing it.

    Let me give an example. We know Marsch will be respected by the players because he is close to the current American context and currently coaches MNT players. Caleb Porter, otoh, is a no go because he rarely plays Americans and often rubs people the wrong way. That is easy to figure out.

    @RevsRule says that he wants a European coach with no ties to the current context and no biases. Figuring out if the proposed coach will mesh well with the current players is harder. It is not an ASAP thing.
     
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  14. deejay

    deejay Member+

    Feb 14, 2000
    Tarpon Springs, FL
    Club:
    Jorge Wilstermann
    Nat'l Team:
    Bolivia
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  15. laxcoach

    laxcoach Member+

    United States
    Jul 29, 2017
    intermountain west
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It's beyond petty and childish at this stage. I hate the ignore thing but he's so close. I used to laugh out loud at his posts now I tend to not read them.
     
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  16. russ

    russ Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Canton,NY
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    You must have Excellency on ignore lol.
     
  17. dspence2311

    dspence2311 Member+

    Oct 14, 2007
    Within the environment of the team that was probably the overall vibe
     
  18. gomichigan24

    gomichigan24 Member+

    Jul 15, 2002
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I found this interesting

    He also believes communication is “a non-negotiable,” but on the subject of language barriers, which arise frequently in soccer, he said: “I do think having an overbias to a particular narrow language set as the only operating model reduces the market of talent. If you find someone that you like who doesn’t have the language skill set, I think you can supplement them in intelligent hires around them.”

    I think the overall review of organizational structure and looking to implement best practices from other federations around the world is a good thing. But you’re right that it will lead to delay in filling the sporting director job.

    Sportsology does have a mixed record when it comes to actually picking people, but at least for the sporting director job, the pool of likely candidates is fairly small. I don’t see alot of foreign candidates being interested in the role and you’re mostly just look at the best of MLS (and the random American whose gone abroad like Dane Murphy).
     
  19. largegarlic

    largegarlic Member+

    Jul 2, 2007
    Kind of a side note, but is the author, Henry Bushnell, new to the soccer journalism scene? I don't think I've read anything of his in the past, but over the past few months, I've read a couple pretty good articles from him. He seems to have actual, harder to find details in his works (e.g., Sportsology's track record) and gives an evenhanded analysis.
     
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  20. largegarlic

    largegarlic Member+

    Jul 2, 2007
    I've been thinking about how hard the coaching search will be in the sense that it's not clear at all what the ideal qualifications are for the job. Maybe 6 months ago, I preferred an accomplished Euro guy, but as we've discussed a bunch here, when you look at the resumes of the coaches of teams who did well in Qatar, they're not very distinguished prior to national team success. So, how do you tell who will actually be successful, if prior success doesn't necessarily matter?
     
  21. gogorath

    gogorath Member+

    None
    United States
    May 12, 2019
    No, he's been around for at least five or so years, maybe longer. Is better known for his basketball stuff, though, I think.

    He's a very good journalist, one of the very best in sports.
     
  22. grandinquisitor28

    Feb 11, 2002
    Nevada
    McKennie jumping into Berhalters arms after that, I think NL goal against Mexico, told you where he stood with Berhalter. I believe him, but I also don't care, it's time to move on.
     
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  23. gomichigan24

    gomichigan24 Member+

    Jul 15, 2002
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    He’s been writing about it over the last couple years at least I think.

    He had a very good article during qualifying about what how the site location process for qualifying games work, who at US Soccer is involved, what factors go into it, and who the main decision makers are.
     
  24. Excellency

    Excellency Member+

    LA Galaxy
    United States
    Nov 4, 2011
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Excerpt dealing with criteria for certain hires, my bolded:

    When we advise a team on hiring a head coach, general manager or sporting director, there are four key themes which are crucial for any successful appointment,” Manhire told ESPN in 2021. “
    One. Are they coachable and prepared to take ideas from staff or ownership?
    Two. Are they self-reflective and open to change in terms of their approach?
    Three. Are they open-minded to feedback and prepared to get uncomfortable in order to progress?
    Four. Do they know what they are and what they are not? Basically, are they able to give staff, experts in their field, the autonomy to deliver
    ?”

    I feel like Berhalter flunked items 3 and 4. I think Berhalter was ok on theme 2 (self-reflection as a source of change). Theme 1? Dunno.
     
  25. deejay

    deejay Member+

    Feb 14, 2000
    Tarpon Springs, FL
    Club:
    Jorge Wilstermann
    Nat'l Team:
    Bolivia
    That's an excellent post for the two dozen Berhalter threads.
     

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