What would you have to do to get fired as the National Team coach? Considering the WC is going to 64 teams there's almost no way we wouldn't qualify. Implode in the Copa? I mean, that's not even our own tournament so I don't know if that would be enough. I just don't think we'll play enough high quality meaningful games before the next WC that there would be enough on-field play to justify firing a coach. It would have to be off the field issues that would get a coach fired. Is beating Barbados only by 2-0 fireable?
Imploding in the Copa was enough to fire Berhalter. Don't see why it wouldn't be this time. Getting grouped because of a loss to a Panama tier side is just plain unacceptable, our tournament or not.
Bradley got fired because of a Gold Cup. There’s precedent for regional performances mattering. I mean if it’s 2029 and Poch doesn’t have a regional title he’s not the man for the job.
The timing of which coincided with a bad loss to Mexico in the A team Gold Cup. I think Bradley got one more friendly window so technically he wasn’t fired because of the tournament, but realistically I don’t see him being fired a month after winning the tournament.
The US was not playing well in 2011 going into the GC. BB was trying to play a 4-3-3 which was looking lost. To compound matters BB decided that some young CB named Tim Ream was going to be our starting CB. That decision did not turn out well. GC2011 resulted in our first ever loss in a GC group stage match and of course there was the ugly final where we went up 2-0 on Mexico only to see them score 4 in a row and win 4-2! Bradley was a couple of weeks later.
I mean yes but the Gold Cup final was used as the purported justification. But we’ve never otherwise fired a coach for losing a Gold Cup final to Mexico.
Berhalter's body of work in 2024 was dreadful including getting grouped at Copa, which was why he was fired. Klinsmann's start to WCQ in 2016 was dreadful which was why he was fired. BB's body of work in 2011 was dreadful which is why he was fired. Arena's body of work in 2006 was dreadful which was why he was fired.
The famous ringer article explains that Bradley/Klisnmann switch. An article worth reading for a lot of reasons. Own Goal: The Inside Story of How the USMNT Missed the 2018 World Cup - The Ringer
It's all there isn't it? USSF already talking with Klinsmann when BB was rehired. MB a polarizing figure in the dressing room. Players deciding on their tactics in the tunnel (echoing what Lahm said). Chandler telling Bobby Wood to save himself for club games. JK firing delayed because Gulati didn't want to make the decision alone. Arena sticking with players tired players in Couva. And much, much more. What will the Pochettino era narrative be? Why did it go so wrong against Belgium?
It is really a case study on an organization that needed to grow up from bootstrapping fiefdom of one person to an actual organization. That was a lot of the focus of Cordeiro when he came in.
Balogun situation will define the Belgium game for years to come probably. I don’t see much controversy related to Poch himself other than perhaps the stuff between him and Pulisic regarding the Gold Cup was even more heated than we thought.
Wasn't Pochetino suppose to decide this week if he stays or go? If he goes I doubt we will have a replacement by September. Time will be lost like almost every damn cycle. They should have a plan in place talking to someone else secretly in case Pochetino declines. Games are coming up and they'll be wasted if we don't have a coach.
My guess is Cherundolo is the interim backup, then he'll be appointed until 2030 unless he shits the bed in the 2028 Copa, which still hasn't got an official host.
If they are talking to others "secretly" then us knowing they are doing this wouldn't make it "secret".
I mean...........those two cycles are completely different stories. The narrative for the 2026 cycle ending is we lost to a better team. A team that gave eventual champs Spain a tough game. The narrative will be primarily a sporting one (and yes, the Trump/Balogun thing). Why was the gap on the field between the USMNT and Belgium as stark as it was? That ringer article tells a story of complete dysfunction at a USSF/USMNT level that resulted in us losing out on the World Cup altogether. A team that lost to an already eliminated Caribbean team when it mattered the most. We had a better player at every position on the field against T&T. Also, we know that the current situation is completely different than four years ago, when we were in the midst of Berhalter/Reyna family drama that resulted in both McBride and Stewart leaving their posts. Also...........just because we haven't heard anything, doesn't mean a coaching decision hasn't been made already behind the scenes. Presumably Poch and the USSF are in discussions.
We have narratives for every World Cup cycle from 1990 to 2018 because players have retired and spilled the beans. Once the 2022 players retire the stories will start to pour out. At the moment they're all still playing.
Yeah Gulati deserves credit in that he really helped grow USSF from the dark ages and made it a financially viable organization and got the national teams to a place where they were credible. But by the time 2018 rolled around it was long past time for him to move in and for USSF to be further modernized.
Según fuentes fiables, entiendo que las conversaciones para la renovación de Mauricio Pochettino marchan avanzadas y bien. La intención es anunciarlo lo antes posible para que pueda empezar a preparar la fecha FIFA de set/oct. ////—-Through reliable sources, I understand that…— ANDRES CANTOR (@AndresCantorGOL) July 28, 2026
No real surprise. ...................if he didn't want to stay, we'd already have known about it. And we know the USSF's position because they already had offered him the extension. Hopefully its settled shortly so they can get down to the business of planning for the September and October friendlies. Those friendlies, of course, being used to prepare for the Nations League in November.
The Athletic reports that the deal is close to being finalized: On top of that, Pochettino’s incredibly high salary was justified in the last cycle by those who said a coach of his stature was needed to push U.S. Soccer to the next level. The Belgium loss, at a stage the U.S. has previously reached multiple times, certainly wouldn’t qualify as such. At a time when U.S. Soccer is trying to fix youth development and the pay-to-play model, what’s the justification for an enormous salary for the coach of a men’s national team program that has so much under it that needs to be reformed before it can truly challenge at a World Cup?