Looks like Cherundolo is the smoke where there's fire. My feeling is that Klopp might want more time off. If that's the case, what I could suggest is that Hugo Perez, concacaf expert, take over the interim period and stay on as an assistant to Klopp with possibility of permanent trial to kick off 2030 cycle. It's a plan anyway. My sense is that USA might be bait for the Germany job as far as Klopp is concerned. Hwvr, we'll just have to see. If he wants abnormally high salary and we only hire him for 1 1/2 years, it may not be more than we've paid Berhalter over 6 years.
Steve Cherundolo would be my ideal pick after the 2026 World Cup. I still think he would be a good choice for this cycle. But we need someone who can take a team in 2 years, without any other major competition in that time frame, and make sure we’re ready for the big show in 2026. We need someone who can implement his vision right away. It’s a tall ask for anyone.
Hugo Perez is the one hire I'm confident would be a downgrade from Berhalter. Both in results and performance. He won 7 of his first 11 in charge of El Salvador and 3 of his last 35, with a 13-game winless streak (over 15 months) sending him out the door. Hard pass.
Agreed, but Klopp is easily a top 3-4 club coach in the world, and has an argument for number one. It’s funny that we need that or something like it for people not to blame the manager at every turn. seriously, though. I would reach out to 5-6 guys or so while putting the full court press on Klopp. If/when he says no, move quickly to Cherundolo unless someone else really stands out in initial discussions/interviews.
Good post. Agree with almost everything on your list. I think that two of the most important positives (if not the most important) were the bolded and the team unity that he helped create. I think the playing style was both his greatest achievement and his greatest weakness at the same time. I think the incoming coach would probably do well to keep the basic structure but add creativity and flexibility with creating space in the attacking third for our strikers being one of the high priorities. We need to score. Oh...and it shouldn't be one or the other, counter attacking should definitely be reinstated as one of our tools.
It’s worthy of note. Besides the fact he was mostly a failure with Mexico, and he doesn’t speak the prerequisite English for the USSF, and he doesn’t have that many Latin players to play, and he won’t rotate to save his life, he is (1) got plenty of big boy experience, (2) got MLS experience and a championship under his belt, (3) he’s the epitome of a coach that can get the most out of a team in a very short period of time, and (4) I believe he would figure out a way to get this team to score goals.
US soccer doesn't even put the player interviews on the US soccer webpage. It is poorly done on the socials.
Signing Klopp, or someone like him, would signal intent to the fan base that mediocrity won’t be tolerated.
Eh, I think that vision needs to be implemented by like June 15th 2026 or something, no sooner. We're already in, that's why making this move now was a no brainer. We can afford someone that has a vision that will take 18 months to implement. The first thing we need to do is bring in a ton of guys that aren't regular nats. Tell the old guard they can focus on club for a minute and start to foster some competition among spots.
That’s a tough choice to make (assuming it is actually an option): 1) takeover USMNT or 2) Chase club glory and end up in Europe. Cherundolo has said that the usmnt job is one of his dream jobs, so I assume he’d take it. But man, he is already breaking records at LAFC and will continue to do so. What he (and the club in general) is accomplishing must be acknowledged. I’m sure LA helps attract players like Lloris for $350,000 per season, but I think playing for a coach like Steve helps a lot, too.
Had to happen. Can say this now, but announcing Gregg was coming back just as the US was about to play Mexico in the NL game kind of always made it so that unless the team was constantly playing very attractive soccer and winning big that there would always be an uneasy tension with the fans. I honestly think the Colombia game was the nail in the coffin unless the team made a late run. Had to happen though. Clearly not everything was Gregg's fault but a change was clearly needed.
As someone who has generally stayed away from the nastiness, I think the circumstances explain a lot of it. That's not to say there won't be unhinged criticism of any US manager, but I think it was especially heightened by the circumstances under which Gregg was hired: first, coming off our biggest failure in modern USMNT history, where everyone was already primed to assume that anyone in charge of the program or the team was incompetent and actively hindering our success; the YA vs MLS divisions among the fanbase and within the locker room from that period and a sense among one side of that divide that an MLS bias led to those failures; Jay Berhalter + Gregg's relatively thin resume leading to accusations of nepotism or at least an unearned position; a number of roster and lineup decisions in that first year in charge that didn't make a lot of sense to even fans willing to be more charitable; more disappointing results than encouraging ones in that first year as well, including the Gold Cup loss to Mexico, the Nations League loss to Canada, and several blowout losses in friendlies, etc. I think Gregg did a lot in the next few years to turn that narrative around, but I also believe a lot of opinions and perceptions were shaped and solidified at the outset there in a way that won't necessarily happen again this time. And then the circumstances around his rehiring didn't help at all either.
Wow I check back and this finally happened. So now to wait a week for an interim and a year for the next coach. Yay? PS: Any tweets from the Leadership Council?
not a wise move IMHO ... how much do you enjoy outdoor training in August in Hotlanta? no I would rather see the US train in LA (any month of the year), the coach live in Rancho Palos Verdes, be close to LAX to fly every where he has to go .. no I mean LA. And I don't live there - but having travelled there enough - it was always a no brainer for the US to be based there from a training standpoint.
Just me being hyperbolic. I'd prefer a Klopp type coach; but we are not going to spend the $$. Cherundolo is probably the best American candidate.
I feel like Berhalter was a decent executive but I wish Crocker would hire somebody with proven tactical acumen which berhalter lacked. Just the way he handled the shorthanded teams after red cards was revealing. If we hire Vieira we will look ok but stuck at a level we won't surpass and it will be frustrating. Henry is typical of the great players can't coach theory. As far as Dolo is concerned, would he be getting all the accolades if he had taken over DC from Rooney, say? The front office at LAFC had a lot to do with their success imo. Of course that's not Dolo's fault but I just wonder what the best way is to evaluate him so I'll leave it to Crocker. In fact, I'd be happy with anybody Crocker feels is good for our team, even if it is somebody obscure, because he has a lot of experience and has learned a lot about us since being hired for Sporting Director. But, yeah, Klopp #1 candidate.
I just didn’t know how many rookies there are around here who don’t understand that McIntyre is basically the mouthpiece for US Soccer. When they are announcing something like this, this is how they do it.