Obviously there hasn’t been enough discussion about Berhalter’s initial hiring. Definitely need to spend pages arguing the same points that have been endlessly debated the last five or so years.
What does Bob Bradley’s performance in Toronto in 2023 have anything to do with the national teams current coaching? It’s not as if he was a candidate for the job this time around.
Nah. I just put folks like you in ignore. Down the well with you https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cgTvT2CvUCc
I liked Nancy considering he was the first of a line of coaches who got Montreal playing well. In the case of Columbus, note that the front office guy (Bezbatchenko) is the same one who won Cups at Toronto with Vanney. When Vanney came to LA he had support (?) in the FO of a different kind and ended in the cellar. This year LA hired a new guy who had worked for LAFC and things look up but the guys he brought in aren't really Vanney's style so we'll have to see how that goes.
since Gregg Berhalter is clearly destined to remain the USA's head coach at least through the next WC I see no reason any more why we (in particular I) should continue to criticize him for anything short of a truly illegal action. He is written in as the USA coach at least until then. We will just have to live with what many of us perceive as his stupidity. I doubt that he, or anyone at the USSF, actually hears any of the critical comments and, even if they do, they will never act to remove Gregg and Gregg will never voluntarily quit. I will, until after the WC, only discuss what I believe is being done with the team and how things will behave given the choices made. The hardest job in coaching is to coach a national team mainly because of the lack of contact and training time with the players means that most coaches are more guessing that doing and, when they get it right they look like geniuses while if things go wrong they look like dunces. Gregg may do poorly during the remainder of the runup to the WC or he may produce wins in most matches and that still does not mean much unless he never changes anything. I think we will see the same kind of results we have seen that is we will soundly beat CONCACAF teams most of the time and lose or draw most good teams with the vast majority of wins coming against teams we play at home. Even in the Copa our showing is only marginallly meaningful. My one continuing criticism is his lack of adjustment when things go wrong. But that may improve as we are seeing really good players developing to back up our even replace players. I do think we need to avoid, mostly, picking players from the ranks of MLS, except for goalkeepers, simply because average players we have playing overseas seem a lot better than MLSers. But that does not mean MSL should always be excluded it just means that we are more assured of good performances from Euro based players than from the domestic crop. But Gregg should be allowed, without excessive second guessing, to build his team as he wants. If he is wrong, as I expect he will prove to be, then will be the time to criticize his overall actions. The coaching of the USA will not change before the WC unless things really go totally wrong and then the USSF will be forced to act. If the USA does not drop much in form we will have the Gregg as a coach for the foreseeable future. Even after the WC, if we at least get out of the group and win one knock out match Gregg will remain coach as long as he wants the job. So we, as fans, need to tone back our anti-Gregg rhetoric as it will have no impact and try to influence, within the constraints Gregg's mentioned, Greggs choices and formations. They will work or they won't and there is nothing the fan base can do to really have much positive effect although we can have a negative effect. I hope the USA does well in the Copa, but I kind of doubt we will, and then I hope we build a strong WC team and have a good run. After that we will just have to see. The USA coaching is set through the next several years.
I think for Nancy the Montreal stint is also a data point and winning the CCL would also be a point in his favor. If they win CCL he’d also get the chance to coach in the Club World Cup if he were to stick around. If he’s still in MLS we have way more information on him by summer of 2026. If he’s not still in MLS he’s probably not taking the same job. It can be tough with some of these younger coaches (like Cherundolo for instance) because we don’t have as much of a track record to go off.
Respecting those coaches privacy so their employers don't know they were considering a move. Would be a dumb move to out those coaches as it would make it harder in the future for coaches to trust them.
US loses Brazil and Colombia friendlies, win + draw versus Bolivia/Panama, loses to Uruguay, fails to make it out of the group. In that scenario, is Gregg in trouble?
My guess is no. He’d have to fail a little worse than that. Let’s assume for the purposes of this discussion that the coaching was garden variety bad; he didn’t coach ok but the team had horrible luck on the one hand, and he didn’t completely screwed the pooch on the other.
The friendlies don't matter in the evaluation. Friendlies are for experimenting with players or tactics. [We have horrific recent records against both Colombia and Brazil.] I think if he doesn't make it out of the group at the Copa America, he could be in trouble. ............but he'll make it out of the group. Last time the "A" team played Panama on home soil, they knocked the stuffing out of them 5-1. Pulisic hat-trick. And this Bolivia team is really poor. Heck, the US has a good record against Uruguay on US soil. Ever since Berhalter became coach, this board has had this collective calamity thinking when it comes to Berhalter. Expecting a disaster....................and the disaster never comes. He'll be fine. We'll be fine. He'll be our coach thru 2026 WC.
A friendly like the 0-3 loss to Mexico while trying to teach old Long how to perfect the trick of passing out of the back mattered. You don't think being one kick away from losing to Jamaica in the NL semi final was a disaster? How about playing home to Trinidad and looking at 0-0 going into the 80th minute? How about losing to Trinidad again in Trinidad days later? How about not being able to get the ball past midfield v. Japan just a few weeks before Qatar WC then drawing Saudi Arabia 0-0? How about not being able to handle the simple question of what to do with somebody who was causing problems on the training ground in Qatar? My sense is that Crocker will have an influence this cycle that Earnie did not last cycle. That isn't a reflection on Earnie; Crocker just comes along with an easier problem to diagnose because there's more knowledge when it comes to the team and Berhalter. I think Berhalter will be our manager through 2026 and I'm fine with that because I think change will come in the way we play and the personnel we use. We will not lose to or draw Panama in Copa. We night even beat Uruguay for that matter - I think the result in that one is 33% each WLD.
"You know? I don't think Berhalter is THAT bad. Sure his tactics are extremely predictable, he has issues breaking down a low block, some of his selections especially in the first cycle were baffling, and he takes way too long to adjust at times but I've seen far worse from previous US managers." "You don't think GGG is the worst manager of all time?!?!! You're an MLS fanboy, GGG slurper, and USSF shill!!!!"
Yes, Gregg would be in huge trouble -- as far as I'm concerned, at least. To turn that around, though...... US loses a good game to Brazil and beats Colombia in the friendlies. Smashes Bolivia and beats Panama comfortably. Ties Uruguay. Beats Colombia in PKs. What is the mood toward Gregg then?
That's sort of meeting expectations. A USMNT coach doesn't get fired for meeting expectations. I think if Gregg gets to the knockout phase, he's safe. If he gets to the knockout out phase and we give a team like Colombia/Brazil a great game, but lose...................we'd all probably walk away satisfied. As far as the mood on this board towards Berhalter, we've seen it. If Gregg wins the damn Copa America, a percentage of fans will say "the players won it despite Berhalter." So when it comes to this board, he can't win. He's literally done nothing worthy of this firing talk. He just won the Nations League after totally dominating Mexico in the final.