I'm not taking a shot here or being snarky, I really wish this was NOT the case, but that is damning with faint praise. The state of American soccer coaching is not great to say the least. American coaches are achieving almost nothing anywhere, in MLS or abroad (where they're pretty much nonexistent, and Marsch went from Premier League to Canada). Columbus won trophies once Berhalter left, Vanney won MLS Cup and then almost won the wooden spoon the next year. National team coaches Arena and Berhalter came back and didn't do a whole lot. Curtin was the top guy for many and now he's relaxing on the couch while his non-American replacement just won coach of the year. The runner up is a new European coach, despite "it takes time to get used to MLS"... Chris Armas went from Manchester United to fired by the Rapids. We don't know if Cherundolo will still be working a few months from now. The top American coaches right now in terms of what they're actually achieving are probably Pat Noonan and Mikey Varas?
I think it's unlikely to ever find a non-American who views the US job as a dream job. The best you can do is to hope someone comes in with a level of professionalism and perhaps workaholic levels of personal work ethic. But I don't know what any non-American would view this job as a dream job. Okay, I can actually think of one scenario: Emma Hayes. I could see a woman viewing the job at that level because of the trailblazer element of it. It's not impossible or fantasy level. But I don't think I'm breaking any ground in saying there isn't a world class coach out there that is American. There's people with different styles than Berhalter, people who have coached at higher levels, a couple of guys with better MLS track records (namely, Bruce), but they all come with their own pluses and minuses. None of them have anywhere near Poch's CV. There isn't a perfect hire anywhere, IMO. I much prefer Poch here right now to say, Jesse Marsch, which seems to be the lead American option. You are right on that. I almost never notice what thread I'm in.
You're randomly throwing in Diego Kochen (who hasn't made his first team debut) so your attempt at an excuse "Poch isn't worried about post WC26" makes sense (I think the psychological term for this is "anchoring"?) but Noahkai Banks is relevant NOW when at his position Poch is calling up Tim Ream, Miles Robinson, and Auston Trusty.
Aren’t U.S. soccer fans supposed to respect everyone who has ambition to leave the country and go to the highest levels of Europe?
In the current atmosphere, almost every coach is only around for one cycle - maybe 2 at most. They know it isn't like a club job where successful coaches can last for a decade or longer. If you read the whole interview, he was answering a direct question about what he was going to do AFTER the upcoming WC when he's out of a contract. Nowhere did it indicate that he's less than 100% focused on the WC. Maybe you don't like his roster choices, but I don't see how you can accuse him of not being "all in" for the 2026 WC.
This was before his roster (which I would have to say doesn't really support the all-in vibe, but that's a separate issue). I was certainly reacting to the quote and reporting I saw. Maybe that reporting was out of context. After that it became an academic exercise as to whether it's reasonable for a fan to be frustrated if the coach doesn't seem to sufficiently prioritize their current job. I am definitely not convinced Poch is "all in," though, at least not in the sense that he is working intensely and relentlessly to make the WC a success from a USMNT point of view. The question seems to be whether his genius is enough to make up for being "80% in" or whatever. Only way to know will be to see what happens in 26.
ChatGPT spits out plenty of nonsense. Next time it might suggest 2-3-5, where 2 are Fullbacks rather than forwards, while 5 consists of Left, Right, and Forwards and two insides. Used to be popular.
And he shouldn't. Totally wrong time to worry about distant future 7 months before the WC. Iloski, Gutieres might be candidates for the tail of the roster, but apparently Poch doesn't rate them. I, personally, disagree with them, but that's his team, not mine and for a reason.
Putting aside the guys who are injured and McKennie being left to get time with his new coach, are there guys missing from this roster you really wanted to see?
I'm not sure I understand why some people consider results in these friendlies as having any kind of significant effect on generating actual excitement for the tournament next summer. Did the results of the usmnt mean anything in the lead up to the World Cup in 1994 when the team barely registered on most people's radars? No. It's the World Cup. People are going to be excited about it regardless of how well or how poorly Poch's team performed against the likes of South Korea and Ecuador this fall. I'd also much rather have the team head into the World Cup as underdogs than be hyped up, like in 2006, and then lay a big fat egg. I'd prefer to see something like what happened to France in 1998. They had failed to qualify for the previous two world cups and the French fans were underwhelmed by their team heading into a tournament they were hosting. Nothing actually matters until the World Cup starts.
Just a few comments above this I mentioned Noahkai Banks: I would also call up some different MLS guys in some cases, like maybe Wolff or Gutierrez instead of say Diego Luna who hasn't done much recently. Pick a name out of a hat over Zawadski. I also mentioned Matt Turner over Schulte and Klinsmann, that one makes no sense... Oh and Chris Richards just played 90 minutes TODAY, I would call him up no matter what given he's not injured as he's CB1 and we have two windows left. So there's a bunch of names for you!
I asked ChatGPT for some tactics against Liverpool. It gave me some good ideas but kept mentioning that Alexander-Arnold is one of Liverpool's most dangerous players.
What I want the most out of this window especially with so many starters missing is a continuation of playing really hard. They've been doing that lately no matter who's out there and if they continue it it seems Poch has conquered the effort problem that was around for a couple of years. I think most of the missing players would be here if it was the actual WC but every player out there needs to show that same level of effort for this team to have any chance at the WC. This is really where Reyna needs to show he can do it. Even if not all of practice or a full game but until he basically drops and then the next time a bit longer.
If any AI uses Reddit as a source then yikes. We all hate going there for MLS or US national team stuff. can't imaging why they'd do that. In a way it would be like using our arguments at BigSoccer as gospel. I actually think we're decent especially compared to other places but again, yikes.
Some people watch the games and base their opinions on what they see, other people defend Poch by basically saying "what do you expect from the well paid highly respected coach, to be able to see the slow motion car crash and do something about it before it plows into us"? So 38 year old Tim Ream is a lock for the USMNT because of his wise decision-making: Nico Fernández takes it the ENTIRE length of the field! 😱@newyorkcityfc takes the lead right before the end of the half. Audi MLS Cup Playoffs pic.twitter.com/nhtIKBwMMY— Major League Soccer (@MLS) November 8, 2025
At best, pretty identical to google, just with more verbiage. At worst, horribly inaccurate but confidently stated, with little sourcing. AI isn't "AI" -- it's literally just a language model that works better with basic syntax. It's not reasoning, it doesn't "understand" it's not fact checking or even really able to handle things like exclusions well. There's absolutely uses for what it does, but there's very little value in the internet wide sourced models for anything. If you google how to attack a three at the back or something, it'll tell you much the same thing in both sections. The difference is that you can get to the source with google and understand far more with a bit of thinking. But people don't like to do that last part.
I don’t know about everyone else, but I don’t think analysis by a single highlight is accurate. Unless you’re analyzing something fixed, like, how fast someone is or how hard their shot is, by definition you’re making grand statements based on 10 seconds. For anyone who understands soccer, or sports really, that doesn’t make sense.