I am trying to understand why it matters if the USA keeps or fires a second rate coach that will NOT be a head coach anywhere. He is only a place holder and he will go away, mostly I hope, as soon a the new coach gets everything straightened out. If you are going to fire anybody for this current fiasco fire those that "hired" a coach and leaked the hiring and then could not get the i's crossed and the t's dotted to get him here. He should already be here or his hire should never have happened or been leaked. The incompetence of the USSF is at and around the top. I wonder if the is even one person in the USSF that really knows how to make things work. I actually do not blame Parlow. It is the people that actually implement things that are to blame. But, like coaches, it is simpler to fire the top person than it is to fire the underlings. We just have a set of underlings that could not survive in any business endeavor that needs any people management and logistics skill.
Maybe? I am not sure even Poch would want that -- he seems like a guy who wants to come in clean slate. And at the risk of worrying people, a lot of the high level stuff was pretty similar to what Poch runs. We ran something like a 4231 - Poch. We didn't do bombing fullbacks, which he tends to ... but I suspect that was the personnel. We play religiously out of the back -- Poch. Positional play is important. Again, a key part of Pochettino's systems. I think the differences that Poch will bring are simply more detailed and at a lower level than big sweeping changes. And not something Mikey Varas can implement in two days. But maybe not -- I mean, how the hell do I know? I just suspect it's not that easy. That said ... I am still baffled that neither Berhalter nor Varas looks at this team, looks at when we were playing our best, and continues to think "we shouldn't press in any way at all." Re-implementing our old press would at least give Poch a look at what he's got. And again, it would push our players to start with intensity. And furthermore, maybe it would have influenced a player selection that had intensity.
I would hire someone who wouldn't repeat the same crap Berhalter was doing. See if we can borrow Sarachan for two weeks. I'm not asking him to "invent" anything. I'm asking him to allow the team to progress the ball up the field in a natural manner, not this hyperstructured tomfoolery that we saw. Hell, Klinsmann's "express yourself" would be better. Let's hope the Poch deal gets done.
Ok so you’ve hired Sarachan and what would be the point of him changing things up two days before the Canada game? Do you think the team is going to look worse or better installing a new system in two days? And what have you accomplished in doing so with a new coach coming in immediately after? Thinking about it in hindsight and having watched the game is the better move would have been calling up a more experimental lineup. I would have left off Pulisic, Aaronson, Reyna, Balogun, Scally, Ream, Richards, Turner, Horvath, Musah, and LDLT and called up players like Luna instead. At least there’s some value in giving some new guys a look in advance of Pochettino starting in October. And you can bring the core guys back then along with anyone who impressed..
Go back and read my posts if you want. I was advocating for an experimental front 4. =====Sarge Cowell---Wright -------Luna I wouldn't have called in Puli, Aaronson, Reyna, Balo, LDLT ... You can go find my preferred call up list if you want. Who ever the manager was should have let them scrimmage w/ each other for however many days they had, and then given them a formation and said go play soccer. That would have been better than what we saw today.
I think people are overthinking the hiring of the interim coach. Recently the USSF has used guys that were already under contract in one way or another. Hudson, Callaghan, and now Varas. So you don't have to pay somebody else when you're an organization living on the edge financially. Varas is actually well thought of in the US soccer community as evidenced by the comments about him in the posted Athletic article. Its why he's gotten the San Diego job. People weren't this vehemently opposed to Varas' appointment before the game; only afterwards. [By the way, I think its possible that Nico Estevez will stay on Pochettino's staff. He was Varas' assistant for this camp. Estevez knows the pool, knows MLS, speaks fluent Spanish........................in fact I wouldn't be surprised if Poch and Nico know each other. Nico, of course, spent the first decade of his coaching career in Spain. When Pochettino was coaching Espanyol, Nico was on the staff at Valencia.]
I would not have had an issue with a more experimental roster under the circumstances given how disengaged the team was against Canada.
To me, it was just about getting the best out of the team. All four of those guys warrant a look. And, frankly, imo, collectively, they are about as good as the four we ran out. Puli is special, but I didn't think he should be called in for this, anyway.
This is going to end up like Mexico last cycle into this cycle. Their fans were of the mind that they had a great squad which Tata was holding back. Then after they got rid of him they realized that the players sucked and that Tata was actually what was keeping the team somewhat functional. Everyone said that GGG was holding back the "golden generation" of the USMNT, but now that he's gone it has become apparent that our player pool has been astonishingly overrated and that GGG did a phenomenal job with the group he had, especially considering their youth.
Baloney. Varas played the exact same tactics as Berhalter. This match revealed nothing about the team's skill level. Might as well have just hired Gregg to be the interim.
Of course! An interim coach has an extremely limited time with the team. Did we think Varas was going to bring in the team, work with them for the couple of days he had before the Canada game, and install a new system?? Unlike say, Hudson and Callaghan............................this interim period always seemed like it was going to be nothing more than a "treading water" situation. Just get us thru this window, and then the guy we really want will be installed.
Team is softer than a tootsie roll flavored fruit cup right now, and I dont mind if we have to put in more "grit" "unskilled" guys now to compensate for it. Canada is frankly what we need to get back to. If there was any doubt that the 2002-2010 rendition of the USMNT doesnt absolutely maul our current version, that has been put to bed. Poch has work to do. If hes gotta crack skulls that include skill guys that are favorites, Im fine with it.
I was asking myself while watching the Canada match whether we'd have been better off not even playing those games................................... There really isn't a point to this window. If people say "well, it gives us a chance to look at some fringe and backup guys"....................my response is that it doesn't do any good if they aren't put in a position to succeed. I think Varas was so outcoached by Marsch that our guys weren't able to put their best foot forward. I've seen every guy on the field play better than that. And Marsch's tactics were friggin; simple. He knew we were going to play it out of the back no matter what. The strategy was to harass the hell out of Tim Ream. Have him either make a mistake or pass it to a guy not as comfortable on the ball. Phase two was to make somebody other than Pulisic beat them, which isn't rocket science. That's what the good national teams do to us.
It’s not surprising he was outcoached by Marsch. Marsch had significant playing career, was a USMNT assistant, a successful MLS coach, coached in the Copa America, and has coached in the EPL, Bundesliga and Austria. By comparison Varas has been a youth coach and a USMNT assistant for a brief period. He was the very obvious choice as interim but there’s a gap in experience there. I do think there would have been value to looking at some of the newer and younger players since this was a single window before a new coach comes in. At least you would have got some more info in terms of how different players looked at the senior level.
I do believe it is safe to say the Mikey Vargas has been fired from his role as USMNT manager. The Last Stand of Berhalter Ball.
I personally think we put Varas in a very strange position. It was a good learning experience for him. He'd never been the head coach for adult professionals like that. But in hindsight...........................I don't really know what our expectations should have been.
Mikey Varas has left the company to pursue other opportunities. We thank him for his contributions and wish him best of luck on his future endeavors, i.e., yeah, he fired.
𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗹𝘂𝗯 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆, 𝗠𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝗩𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘀.▫️ Led the @USYNT U-20s to the 2022 Concacaf Championship▫️ Qualified the U.S. for the Olympics for the first time since 2008▫️ Coached the U.S. at the 2023 FIFA… pic.twitter.com/vegs319BB9— San Diego FC (@sandiegofc) September 16, 2024
Just shows how silly opinions can swing. We all thought he was good when the U20's he coached marauded CONCACAF but now that he had a few days with a despondent group awaiting their real coach he's terrible. I do think he'll be like any first coach at an expansion team and get replaced fairly quickly because the talent won't be there yet but owners are expecting miracles.