The term "golden generation" is always silly to use before the players have actually succeeded at the elite international level. Most teams that get painted with that brush don't live up to expectations. Mexico's "golden generation" that won the Olympic gold medal is instructive. The Portuguese "golden generation" that we beat at the 2002 WC is another. We have a nice generation of youth players that are succeeding at high levels in Europe. That does not guarantee anything at the international level. People ALWAYS blame the coach when results aren't meeting expectations. But the truth is that its the players that are on the field. They need to be part of the solution, when it seems a few of them are a big problem at the moment.
As a coach, you pick the players you put on the field and the tactics you give them to use. If they are not doing what you ask, they don't play. If what you ask of them is not working, then you alter the approach. It's why the coach gets the blame and credit. But in this case Gregg's history is working against him. The team has really struggled to score in a lot of games and looked like they absolutely wouldn't score in a few games going all the way back to his hiring. He also was fired from Sweden, did overachieve with the Crew but also was about a .500 coach in his career. Getting back to the topic, too many people have spoken out against the USSF and been excluded, so if Jesse really does want to coach the MNT, he had to backtrack. Would he be an improvement over Berhalter? Probably, I don't rate Berhalter very high, I don't like his tactics or style of play, but that's just me. Overall, I would like to see more high profile soccer personalities critique and praise the system as needed. It's how things change and get better. And it has to be better.
If this is the golden generation then they won't mature until about 2026 anyway, so either way it won't be GB that screws them over.
its funny coming from the dude who wants to email us soccer about the coaching...shouldn't you be in favor of someone with a huge platform agreeing
Gregg can be the GM, but his Pep complex is annoying as the coach. Just stick with the 4 3 3 and stop playing players out of position.
It is becoming apparent that the "golden generation" hasn't stopped coming. The illusion of a GG is that we had a lapse in development . Then along comes CP, Weah and a few others. Next year more and the next year more. CP looks like a veteran now and Pepi is 18! The pipeline is loaded and the future is bright. What we need is a coach. Maybe Berhalter can change and become what we need...maybe not. The depth will be there. Let's go USA!!
Just when you think this thread has some legs he goes out there and gives us arguably our biggest road victory ever and continues his long unbeaten streak. Craziness.
I doubt this is a "Golden Generation" since I expect the talent density of the pool to go up not down. MLS is only going to get better and produce more players.
It was called an "iceberg generation" on twitter a while ago. If that holds true, we would turn into a permanent top 10 team.
Despite this win, Berhalter's a poor coach. If USSF had any sense, they could at least hire assistants for Berhalter who could help him with on-field strategy and tactics.
I cannot say he is poor. I would lean towards average. But he is on a roll unlike any manager before him so there's that in his favor for arguing he is good.
The U.S. does have 330 million people. We were pretty competitive just depending on coach's sons, 1st/2nd generation immigrants, and expat's kids growing up in Europe. With an actual established & decent domestic league and real youth academies, perennially top 10 is kind of an inevitability imo. The success of the Men's team was always tied to domestic professional soccer taking off.
"We did a lot of talking before the camp ... about it being a 9-point week,” Berhalter said afterward. “And I think that's great to have high expectations, everyone wants to win games, right? But the other side of it is, it's just talk, and then you have to go out and do it, and it's very difficult to do" beating el salvador canada and honduras is not difficult. it shouldnt be for this team. it is indeed difficult for greggy, though...i'll give him that. he makes it very difficult.
When you have a young team trying to bond and form a cohesion anything is difficult. You cannot expect beat downs of your opponents no matter how bad you think our region is. ESPECIALLY playin 3 games in a row which has never happened in a Hex before. Not to mention Pandemic protocols and such that no one has had to deal with before.
That's a good term. Let us be aware, however, that while we are now producing more talent with more regularity than a lot of good national sides, sides that most people traditionally think of as "better than us," our development pipeline is still well behind the standard of a nation like France. We're not gaining any ground against the biggest fish.
That's probably the last? and biggest hurdle. France left players off their 2018 WC winning team that would have auto started for us without question. When we can field a full 23 of UCL knockouts contributing quality players (don't necessarily need to be playing in Europe, but have the ability to), we'll be closer. From there, it's basically a combination of form at the time of the cup, mentality, and some luck.
the other teams have 3 games to play as well.....its called squad rotation....which was miserably executed in this window. should be a huge advantage for the USMNTas they are deeper than every other country by a lot. who chose to have such a young team? the manager. so he cant use that as the reason that his team didnt play well...there are a myriad of options at his disposal....3 CBs in spain, italy and france...werent even called in....many euro based players havent even been used by him....he chose to go super young...it wasnt his only option. plus hes been mananger for 3 years....still trying to find cohesion is on him...not on anyone else. protocols are tough, i agree...but the other teams have them as well.....
I'm not a huge Berhalter fan, but I'm amazed by how harsh some of the people on these boards are towards him. Yeah, he makes some stupid decisions, but guess what....he's human. Everyone makes stupid decisions sometimes. Meanwhile, we beat Mexico twice over the summer to win two trophies, and are on a 13-match unbeaten streak in official competitions (11 wins/2 draws). And in this qualifying window three key players missed time due to injuries (Pulisic, Reyna, & Dest), one of the team leaders violated COVID protocols and had to be sent home (McKennie), and our supposed #1 CB (Brooks) was mediocre. I shudder to think how some of the people on this board are going to react if, god forbid, Berhalter actually loses a match
England and France both missed 1994. It was more common up to that point because the World Cup had 16 and then 24 teams and Euros didn't get expanded to 16 until 1996. Since expansion to 32, I think the only examples of a traditional top 10 not qualifying are Italy and Holland in 2018.