He didn't win trophies with Columbus....................but he made the playoffs in 4 of his 5 seasons. And, of course, made it all the way to MLS Cup final in 2015. Just making the playoffs would be a massive step in the right direction for Chicago. One of the most hapless franchises in MLS recently. They've made the playoffs once since 2013. And that was a first round exit. They have a record over the lest 10 years that would even make San Jose blush. Look at their goal differences since 2013. YIKES!!!
He’ll be an interesting baseline compared to MLS coaches like Nancy and Cherundolo. I think he’ll be way more competent than recent Chicago coaches and he’ll have them in the playoffs consistently. The question will be how he stacks up compared to the top MLS coaches.
3G is excited and honored to finally be coaching 2G (Gastón Giménez) 1843711531605020781 is not a valid tweet id
Strangely any and all foreign interest appears to have disappeared... reminds me of when Klinsmann was looking to get extended and there were suddenly rumors of Tottenham being interested in him. So the geniuses at US Soccer fell for the same trick twice. 1843676035382178173 is not a valid tweet id I will say I expect the Chicago Fire to be greatly improved, because they can't get much worse and there's nowhere to go but up. But also because Gregg is relatively competent and will probably provide them with a higher *floor* than many other coaches would. The ceiling on the other hand is not as clear. Do people expect Gregg to win trophies in Chicago? No excuses like when he was in Columbus, not only because Columbus won trophies both before and after (they've got many of those in just a few years, with no signs of slowing down) Gregg, but also because the Chicago Fire's owner is very willing to spend the money necessary to win in MLS. 1843765815495074183 is not a valid tweet id
I think the with Berhalter is they are basically starting from the bottom, have an owner who is willing to spend, and have lots of roster flexibility. So it’ll be hard not to show huge improvement. It’ll be different from his time in Columbus in that they were one of the lowest spenders in the league when was there and Chicago will definitely spend more. He also should have an easier time installing his system working with the players day in and day out. From my perspective hopefully he’s able to work with Chris Brady on his ball skills and continue his good record from the national team of bringing through lots of young players and giving them lots of minutes. And the real question will be how he ends up stacking up with the current top tier of MLS coaches. Many of whom are spoken of as potential future USMNT coaches.
I don’t remember a narrative about clubs “desperately” trying to sign Berhalter. The Club America link was pretty much it. Which would’ve been a big opportunity for him but not quite something on the level of being totally beyond belief, especially given Berhalter’s success against Mexico. But if a significant club opportunity didn’t happen then of course it won’t after the Copa America exit. MLS was always likely to be the destination. That tweet seems like it’s scraping the bottom of the barrel imo.
There was some chatter of European interest before the Reyna story broke but I think that sort of messed with everything. And he also lost his job with US Soccer at a time when no European teams were hiring and it’s still fairly early in the season where not many coaches have been fired. I don’t think he had a ton of interest anyways but the timing/calendar didn’t really help.
Club América was going to hire him, so I don't get that comment at all by the tweeter. I don't know anyone who thought he was getting a Big 5 job. I also think the Fire job is exactly what he wants. He gets full control, a very rich owner, low expectations and he gets to live where he presumably wants to live. Oh, and Mansueto is willing to spend but has also been incredibly patient, which is a wonderful combo for a coach and director of soccer. Oh, and I bet his salary is big, Positioning it simply as a terrible team is silly; MLS is not a Euro league. It's much more like a different North American sport, and good teams don't change coaches much and the top teams don't have massive financial advantages that can never be overcome. Given all that, I don't really think it is a worse job than a second tier European job or a LigaMX job. Club América is a bigger club, but aside from no payroll limitations, it's a far worse job. There's going to be zero leash for a coach, much less an American, and the idea that you could develop players or build a culture there is a simple non-starter. I don't even know if you'd get paid more -- Mansueto has a big pocketbook. It might be fun to live in Mexico City, but probably less so if you don't speak Spanish and if the chances of getting fired are very high even if you do a decent job.
What is all this... GhiGaGo Fire FC 1844005346081476751 is not a valid tweet id 1844053388977394161 is not a valid tweet id 1844086161293377669 is not a valid tweet id
1842191479067820063 is not a valid tweet id 1844029380202561770 is not a valid tweet id Disagree, I think all those goals are fine... but what really matters is can you achieve them?
Prior to the Reynas successfully damaging Berhalter in retaliation for not playing Gio, publicizing a DV incident he admitted to and causing an investigation, Berhalter had interest from Europe. After the investigation that whirled down to the Eredivisie and Club America. After a failed Copa America (actually before) I heard that the Fire wanted Gregg.
Despite the weenies on X, Gregg will go down as a legend. He was the coach who set the precedent of pure dominance over Mexico. I don't care if this has been the worst Mexico in a generation... I get that Berhalter was super corny, but let's not forget what he started with -- basically a bunch of teenagers (literally, a bunch of high school aged kids!) in a country that had just failed to qualify for the World Cup. He had to wade through a very shallow pool of players and build a ridiculously young team, so I don't blame him for having a super structured and detail-oriented program with powerpoints and whatnot.
It's impossible to ignore the sheer crappiness of El Tri during Gregg's time. 1. The WC draw against a supremely talented England side. 2. The very positive recruitment and integration of dual nationals. 3. The disappearance the type of counterproductive animosity that Klinsmann had engendered. Those were Gregg's biggest accomplishments.
Part of the reason El Tri looks so bad is because we dominated them. They did OK against the rest of CONCACAF but neither the US or Mexico cares if you are losing every game to your main rival. We dominated them so much that it became ho hum and expected and almost ignored while focusing on other teams especially those we should have beaten. It's almost like the team was solely set up to beat Mexico and that didn't work well against others and there was no second set of ideas for the other teams. I do hope Pochettino gives the team multiple looks. He says he wants to win now so to me that means you don't set up to play minnows and sharks the same way.
Mexico failed to make knockouts of the '22 World Cup and '24 Copa. They've been horrific. Over the past 6 years, they've slid from 11th on the elo to 21st.
I wish we wouldn't force our manager to always say we intend to win the World Cup. It makes it very hard to discuss anything. Our best chance of winning the World Cup or going to a final or semi-final or quarter final will come when we figure out how to not lose the R16 game. Saying that we will win the World Cup only lessens our chances of winning the R16 game. If you're standing next to your car on the expressway and you have a flat tire, you can set your objective as getting home by suppertime or you can set the objective of getting the spare tire on. I'll take the latter.
I believe both Sparta Rotterdam and Excelsior Rotterdam reached out to Gregg and there were some rumors Swansea City may have reached out (as in someone said it on twitter but nothing concrete). As of now, with the negativity around the program when he left and frankly how pedestrian the team looked since he came back? The interest abroad from Gregg was always going to be domestic or for a lower level team looking to stabilize. I think the issue more or less became less the goals and more it felt like Berhalter was too focused on down the road and style of play/results were just getting worse. I was never bothered by this personally, but look at the online outrate to players constantly saying Copa was a stepping stone to the World Cup. Felt like the team just kept looking at baby steps. That being said, I do think Gregg will do well for Chicago, and I honestly do think he's a solid enough coach on the club level. Things just got unattainable both due to things he could and couldn't control
The top tier of MLS managers is comprised of the likes of Nancy, Cherundolo, Vanney, Schmetzer, Curtin, and Tata. It'll be interesting to see whether Gregg can hang with this crowd.
good article that tralks Berhalter Ball in comparison to Poch Ball 1844429457148477729 is not a valid tweet id