That’s of course not my point though unless you think Poch would be a guaranteed success under any circumstances. Most elite coaches don't take International gigs until later in their careers and most "cinderella" runs are lead by domestic coaches no? Old man Guus Hiddink is one exception I can think of.
Heck, I think we still could’ve had success under Berhalter so I agree that Poch’s resume isn’t a big thing for me yet. It’s a weird situation in that his tenure will pretty much be all or nothing based on what happens next summer. I’ll be happy to reevaluate the whole situation if the World Cup is a smashing success but for now I don’t think he’s transcended what some domestic options could’ve brought.
My issue was the "country mile" part and the whole QED after 4 decent games. I agree that his resume is clearly much better than any USA coach ever - but I think it can be misguided to assume that a foreign coach with a decent pedigree is going to figure out our pool and make the right personnel choices and be the right fit for our team. I thought we looked pretty poor under him for a stretch even in light of the experimentation. You haven't answered the Mourinho question - you can have an amazing resume and it doesn't mean it will make sense for our program. Is Mourinho miles better than any coach we've ever had? Objectively yes - and objectively no? People thought Sven Goran Ericksen was going to be a good coach for their international team too probably. Of course it's reasonable to conclude he was learning the pool and trying stuff given how little time he had, but as I said when he was doing poorly - none if it matters until the Cup. My issue with "miles better" than any American coach is that an American coach CAN do what he's doing - build a good culture, unearth difference makers from our pool, get players on the same page playing together and with confidence, put players in positions to succeed, scout opponents and come up with game plans - and as I've said - many awesome World Cup runs are achieved by relatively unknown local coaches. I think there is a degree of magical thinking that we need a Poch to rescue us from ineptitude and I just don't really buy that and think it it's potentially misguided. We need to improve our program from the bottom up - our player base is improving its tactical awareness, its technical ability, its creativity, its overreliance on athleticism, etc. - but I still think we are behind where we need to be. (And, as it seemed to shock you to hear, I think Poch is overrated.) At the end of the day, we will be limited by our players abilities more so than our coaches and we will go as far as their talent can take us. If his tactics backfire in the World Cup - how will you feel about his resume and abilities then? If his coaching skill is the margin we need to get to a semifinal, I'll be the first person to celebrate what a dummy I've been to have doubts.
In my non-insider opinion he’s done a good job of not guaranteeing anything and making players feel like they’re wanted but not needed. Something I’m not sure our last coach did very well. There was a sense of entitlement that has been talked about, where call-ups were given to those who didn’t deserve it from a club standpoint, or from a form standpoint, and were just called in because “they were the best” or “they played for a certain team/badge/etc.” I think that idea and culture (which is different from what I’ve seen, can’t speak on earlier than 2012), has driven the hunger, aggressiveness, progressive, and energy that I’ve seen the last 3 windows. Poch has (in a very small time) integrated an attitude that if your club situation isn’t good, fix it, don’t make excuses, and work harder if you want to be with the national team. all the other things aside, if that’s the only thing that American players learn from him, I think it would go a long way.
Yup. Its all about the World Cup performance. He's had a year to figure things out. Sometimes people have weird recency bias, though. We're seemingly constantly crushing the existing coach versus a previous era. Pochettino just coached the team to four unbeaten results in a row against top 40 teams. When was the last time we did that? Think carefully.........................
People like to blame Berhalter for it, but I think his choices probably had less impact than simply the basic comfort level of having the same coach over time. The biggest mistake was bringing him back, but I also think the Federation was in a weird spot because of the Reyna debacle and the player stance on continuing. It would have been great to get Poch then, but he was employed. I wonder if the very new Crocker looked to get a big name coach and couldn't, or was so new he didn't want to rock the boat. Either way, I do think Berhalter made two big mistakes in regards to comfort level. 1. Post-'22, he went very young and all potential, I think with the idea that he'd have time to get everyone up to speed and he didn't need a lot veterans or intensity. You had a lot of young players already thinking they were great getting called in every time to grow but never getting challenged. A veteran core might keep up the professionalism, but I don't know that there was enough leadership or guys willing to kill for a spot. I don't think it was overt -- but I think it was part of the strategy. 2. He went back to trying to be a full possession team and dropped the press. The actual gameplay became sleepy on both ends -- and again, this team is pretty emotional, very young. I don't know that you can ask them to be ruthless, emotional-less killers. That style of play might be good with veterans or like Danes or something, but not this crew. I don't think he was too buddy buddy or the leadership council was an issue, or whatever. I think the players got comfortable because that's what happens in a second cycle, because Berhalter jumped the gun on solidifying the pool with pretty much only young players and because we went away from a physically aggressive gameplan.
I disagree on that, but that's probably because you are looking straight results and I'm looking at progression in how we play. Perhaps someone like Matarazzo or, if we're looking at Nancy as a US coach, Nancy, could have brought something similar. Nancy is the MLS Pochettino, so sure. But Marsch would have us playing Red Bull, and Dolo likely would have shifted to a counter attacking based team. Arena likely something very pragmatic. And so on. I wouldn't use the word transcended for sure, but we are absolutely in a different place than we'd be with them. And I'd argue that place is further along the path to where we want to be than under someone like Marsch or (likely) Cherundolo. They might've all ended up with the same number of wins -- heck, perhaps they even get there sooner. But we'd still have the same questions we've had for a decade plus -- what does it take to get us to where we can dictate the game. Where we decide the terms of engagement -- where we don't need to rely on opponent mistakes to generate offense and where we can use our skill and ability to win rather than play an underdog game. When will we have versatility in how we win? If we actually want to dominate CONCACAF, this is the path. If we actually want something more than a somewhat luck-filled run in the World Cup, this is the path. USSF has been right in thinking it's the next step and frankly, they've been right in trying to take it even if it hasn't worked. But I think Poch is both better at moving us there AND it's clearly the best time yet, given the pool.
Personally from the things we’ve heard and/or even seen it seems like the way things were operated was very Buddy Buddy. With the pool. Calling people who were not selected, constantly talking to them when not on international break, amongst other things I think that builds a culture of more personal than professional. Not to get off on GB, as I liked him, but I just think Poch’s steps to getting the culture he seems to have now was a new approach and seems to have brought good results so far after hitting reset in March.
I don't think that's necssarily true at all. I don't know that Berhalter was calling to catch up, see how things were with their girlfriends. I assume they talked their game, what they were working on, etc. I really don't think a coach needs to be cold and distant to keep people focused. And in time, that level of disengagement breeds a different type of issue. Ferguson used to intentionally turn over much of his team every few years because he knew motivational dynamics and leadership style get stale. It happens to most coaches.
Like I said, don’t really want to get off on GB, as I liked him and thought he did good stuff. The point being Poch has nurtured a culture of getting what you deserve and hunger and it’s come out the last 3 windows IMO. I do think it’s very different than GB and what was needed.
A bit of both for me. Although I don’t value friendlies (even ones against good teams) as much as many fans do, so that’s a factor.
An American coach could do that. But I don't see any American coaches playing proactive attacking soccer with american players outside of the occasional youth team. I'm not sure the guy who is now Surfs Girls Technical Director could manage professionals but man is SJE u15 Girls made everyone else look silly. Maybe there's some guy in the college ranks, but he's probably importing professional academy washouts as 22 year old "freshmen". I don't see the usual MLS suspects doing it without relying on attacking talent from outside the US on DP/TAM/GAM money. I think the big thing we needed to progress as a country was Crocker - not tied in to the 94/98 er pack on the men's side, not a 99er/Dorrance protege on the women's side. I'm trusting he is evaluating the domestic coaching pool and is going to uncover the Arfsten/Luna/Agyemang equivalents for the next cycles
Is it? Yes, the Klinsmann / Arena cycle is a knock for sure -- even with the dip in talent, we should have qualified. How much is on Arena and Klinsmann is certainly a question, but no one thinks they performed. And the second Klinsmann cycle in general ... not great. The 2022 Cycle saw a number of trophies, largely owning CONCACAF and the round of 16. I don't really know what results should have been expected or that Poch is destined to exceed -- especially since even a quarterfinals trip would be offset a bit by a better pool, home field and not winning either of the two CONCACAF trophies we could have gotten.
To play devil's advocate, I would say much of the Berhalter group from last cycle definitely play possession ball, and in MLS, the whole group is much more aggressive offensively -- from Gregg to Varas to even BJ Callaghan. Varas, in particular, has San Diego playing some very progressive ball. But Berhalter is obviously out, and Varas and Callaghan are very unseasoned, and frankly, I'm not going to put them up against Pochettino.
We've been talking about being a more progressive/possession/attacking team at least since Klinnsman was hired - he was supposed to bring us out of the Bradley Bunker Ball era into a world of Brazilian flair. Okay I'm being a little hyperbolic. But the hope was he'd change us for the better - with some mixed results. I tihnk our personnel have evolved in quality which makes it a little easier although even a keeper with limitations on the ball can harm our ability to use the ball against top teams.
Yeah, this is my hope for this cycle: we put 10 behind the ball when that’s actually the best option. But I want us to play more aggressively more often than US teams have traditionally done. It mostly won’t make sense to go toe to toe with the very best opponents (Spain, Germany, etc), but I’m at the point where I think we have the players (and the manager) to go toe to toe with everybody else. And, sure, there could be situations where it still makes sense to counterattack, e.g., against teams at our level that take a ton of risks and are especially vulnerable to counterattack. But I’d like the mentality—and the reps—to be that playing with some attacking commitment is the default.
Generally true though a bit different this cycle with guys like Pochettino, Tuchel, and Nagglesman coaching international teams.
Apparently not... Not to be a jinx, but the US seems to, all of a sudden, be able to pass/move/shoot. Who knew?
A little off-topic, but Tab Ramos just said that Bielsa interviewed for the USMNT job in early 2007. (Apparently US Soccer brought Tab and Claudio Reyna to sit in on the interview.) Kind of a fun alternate-history to imagine there.
Total agreement. I think we both have the best pool we've ever had for it AND Pochettino is the right coach to keep continuing this progression. The fact that it isn't complete speaks more to the time it takes (largely because the pool needs to progress) rather than that is a bad progression or strategy, IMO. One of Poch's tactical strengths acknowledged even back in his Spurs days -- so in a broader and more varied contextual set rather than USMNT managers -- is that his build up patterns were very strong. I think it's notable that none of our keepers and all but Ream of our CBs are pretty mediocre to poor players with their feet where they are, plus a good number of our central midfielders are not exactly Pirlo, and this team seems more adept at it than we've ever been. It's not that Gio Reyna looks great building out of the back; it's that there were days when supposedly just playing Aaron Long was a disaster and now no one is talking about issues with Roldan, Morris, Miles, Scally, and Freeman back there.
There can't be too many spells in US Soccer history where the team went on a 5 match run outside of CONCACAF as solid as this one. Heavily rotated the team as well. Even if prior managers were still able to get results in teams with heavy squad rotation, they still often needed somebody like Donovan or Bradley in the lineup to get these results. Caveats: obviously, these have all been home matches and international friendlies