https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...-returns-to-netherlands-to-join-psv-eindhoven Article lays out a timeline. Stewart stays on til 15th Feb. McBride told US Soccer before the world cup he wanted to resign. Anthony Hudson will stay interim coach until new hire. New sporting director will make the hire and theyve hired a third party group to search for that person. Rats jumping ship or old boys network crumbling? The next here's are so important and gotta be better.
It's going to be very difficult for us to find a better football person than Earnie Stewart. I don't like this.
That's why he's moving to PSV. Godspeed Earnie. You did your job as a player and executive for US Soccer, and the program's the better for it.
Same. The whole "let's build a national team identity around a Dutch-style 4-3-3" was his handiwork. Where do we go from here? -JM
Yeah, I’m open to a clean start but am a bit nervous about moving on entirely from a cycle that yielded good results.
I don't know if this is a matter of USSF wanting Stewart out, or if Stewart is leaving because he would prefer to pursue the opportunity at PSV. If it's the former, the first thing that comes to mind is something about bathwater and babies. Our program is headed very clearly in the right direction, and the big test is coming up this cycle. This is not a good time to "start over clean." Last cycle was the right time for that.
Good riddance to Stewart. I think he sees the writing on the wall and wants to jump ship before hes held accountable. He IS one of the main issues with this program, more so than Berhalter, and his handling of hires, operations, and the "investigation" fiasco was criminal. To decide to publicly run an investigation on a 30 year old minor story just to throw a bunch of peoples names through the mud was what did him in. I think he thought he was being clever in giving himself a reason to no longer hire his buddy Gregg, but didnt think through the actual ramifications. If this program can hire an actual competent DOF the potential for 2026 is through the roof.
Cindy Parlow Cone, the president of U.S. Soccer, said the organization would employ an outside consulting firm to conduct a wholesale review of its team structure. The new developments, she said, meant the team could be without a sporting director and coach until the end of the summer. Berhalter, she said, remained “a candidate” to coach the national team, but the loss of two key decision makers and the end of his contract — with no end in sight for the investigation — almost certainly will mean the end of his tenure. A U.S. Soccer spokesman confirmed that Berhalter “is no longer a U.S. Soccer employee.” “We did not plan it this way,” Cone said Thursday. “We find ourselves in this position, and we’re going to take the opportunity to really do a deep dive on our sporting side to make sure we’re as effective and as efficient as possible, because we have grand vision of where we want to go on the sporting side, and we want to make sure we’re the best position to accomplish those goals.” https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/...RaYzmSgPnM3POFe04XDSQ1X6_hVI8Q&smid=share-url
That ignores the fact that Claudio Reyna as the Youth Technical Director actually defined the 4-3-3 style of play in 2010-2011 which was then adopted by the USMNT Manager in 2011 and reaffirmed by the USMNT TD in 2013.
U.S. soccer is pretty insular. An outsider is needed. But not any outsider. Gotta get the right kind of person. I just threw out Pia's name as a possibility. The kind of person we should be looking for. Someone with deep knowledge of the game. And NOT an insider.
Discounting someone of Earnie Stewart's background in the Eredivisie as "an insider" is simply condemning him for being an American who played for our national team, and that's a completely wrong-headed approach, IMO. Professional soccer is pretty insular. Most federations are pretty insular. If knowing some of our players on a first name basis is disqualifying then not only are we crossing off an awful lot of names for no reason, but we're also no closer to getting the right guy for this particular player pool. I mean, in Sundhage you're talking about someone with no professionally demonstrated knowledge of the men's game at all. That's not a qualification.
I disagree And this is precisely why. My belief (forgive me if you've seen me make this point 10 times already) is that Earnie dictated our style to Gregg. I base that on 2 things. 1. We play like the Dutch. 2. We don't play like Gregg's Crew. Further, I think our tactics were a significant mismatch for the strengths and weaknesses of our talent. I think this slow, narrow, FB-reliant system held us back. So I'm very happy to see him go, based on my belief that he dictated our tactics. If I'm wrong about that, and Gregg adopted the Dutch style all on his own, then yeah, losing Earnie isn't good.
An outside the box name I was thinking about is Dane Murphy https://theathletic.com/4076657/2023/01/11/dane-murphy-nottingham-forest/ He's a bit less of a soccer guy and more of a CEO guy, but he was very involved in recruitment of the Nottingham team that got promoted. Otherwise I think we're mostly looking at MLS guys as I don't a ton of foreign interest in this job.
Oh, I do think it's fair to assume that Earnie wanted Gregg to take that general approach, and hired him based on the idea that Gregg had experience with it as a player, and could implement it as a manager. I don't think he was dictating tactics or player selection choices to him, though. Remember in his first games it seemed like Gregg was trying to have us play a Guardiola-like Man City-lite approach that turned out to be totally wrong-headed. Which is rather Dutch, but it isn't quintessentially Dutch. I doubt that Earnie was telling Gregg specifically to mold the team after Man City.
I pretty much agree with all of this except last graf. Our potential (looking at Berhalter's XI for starters) is poor. Berhalter's MMA midfield lacked balance, his attack had no 9 nor a substitute for one, his back line couldnt play a 3cb system because he never practiced one. Argentina didn't have that problem when they played Holland. We lacked an Ake hybrid lb/cb type. Our fullbacks lacked brain/experience in a position that calls for it. McKennie at the 10 CAM was a passenger who should have been thrown overboard. However, lack of potential makes it all the more important to create a team with tactical flexibility which can take advantage of home atmosphere. Look how far adoptee Morocco went in Qatar. We need a smart guy who can leverage our advantages - depth/range of skills - and who will have the spine to stand up to marketing drones while developing tactical flexibility. 70 year old Looie VanGall had no problem ditching the Dutch system for a 352 and no problem ditching the 352 when Argentina adjusted to his 352. I know people will say we lacked depth but imo we never developed it. I think the way to prepare for a 2026 run at the quarterfinal is to prepare for a showdown with a top 8 team by becoming tactically flexible. We can't wait til summer 2026 and give everybody a crib sheet. We have to start playing variations from the git-go so we'll be ready.
Yeah. While I don't necessarily think this is the greatest identity for us, it's a very good foundational one for forcing pool and player development in the long run. More importantly, I would hate to see our organization see-saw direction every time we had a new president elected. Very often, having a consistent direction is more important than the right direction.
There are lots of good soccer people out there. I am concerned about who wants our job and who we'd hire.
Klinsmann did not have us play any way. He just rolled out the ball and the players just played. Did you forget the BS script? Not clear that Berhalter had us playing a Dutch 4-3-3 which is certainly not known for relying on aimless crosses into the box.
Yeah. The Dutch influence/perspective has been around at US Soccer for a long time. And it makes absolute sense from a developmental standpoint. It perhaps makes less sense at the senior team level, but for youth teams, it's a strong choice.
I agree. It's going to be very difficult for us to find a better soccer person than Earnie Stewart. Superdave's point about needing the manager to be free to pursue his own tactical approach with the senior side is a valid one, however. Especially considering that we have a good generation of players already in the side right now heading toward a key, high-leverage event (a home-hosted WC). A consistent national direction is a good thing, but you want to take advantage of that one rare opportunity. Little would be better for US Soccer than success at that event.