Hmm - interesting spin on the insular us soccer fishbowl that somehow now includes Poch and Hayes? I mostly said my piece about Poch. I’m not in love with the pick but hope springs eternal. I’m keeping an open mind that he can be as solid an upgrade as Emma has been.
That choice certainly didn’t go over well for Klinnsmann with South Korea and he was a disaster - but luckily Poch is no Klinnsman
1. "remain primarily in Europe": This may not affect the roster status of the core players, but certainly could for players on the edge of the rosterIt wouldn't be overly surprising to see USMNT camp rosters pretty much entirely from Europe if those are the players he's watching pic.twitter.com/pw8ltqCvl0— ChuckMe92 Soccer (@ChuckMe92Soccer) August 15, 2024 .@MarkOgden_ says here that Mauricio Pochettino would be allowed to live in Europe and not have to be over here full time.https://t.co/Pxn2DZK9fcIf you want to see him being the public face of the program on American soil, that can't happen if he isn't here.— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) August 15, 2024 Like 28 of the top 30 players in the USMNT pool all play for clubs in Europe... Would it be more important for the USMNT coach to regularly watch A team players play for their clubs, or to live in friggin Chicago or Atlanta or wherever and "be the public face of the program on American soil"? 2. "only a 22 month project": Pochettino’s decision to take the USMNT vacancy is both a football and family decision.Appeal of managing a World Cup on home soil is high. And he will play a role leading up to the 2028 Olympics.In addition to his wage, role comes with sponsorship and endorsement… https://t.co/Sue0NWL0Vx— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) August 15, 2024 "Pochettino... will play a role leading up to the 2028 Olympics." 3. Also I love that US Soccer hiring Mauricio Pochettino (Espanyol, Southampton, Spurs, PSG, Chelsea) to replace Gregg Berhalter (Hammarby in the Swedish 2nd division, Columbus where he was average) is considered "USSF was stupid to let the idiots on Twitter bully them into making a knee-jerk decision" when people were expecting a name like... Steve Cherundolo https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GVEHPUjacAAmymr.jpg That mask meme above that represents most of this thread doesn't even apply here, this is straight up angry-crying through gritted teeth with mask fully off! Sebastian is that you??
Serious question, do you think Steve Cherundolo would have been a better pick for USMNT coach than Mauricio Pochettino? I mention Cherundolo specifically because a lot of the reporting had him as the favorite for the job... He has indeed had those conversations and, as of now, if he’s not the leading candidate, he will definitely be a finalist for the job, I believe. https://t.co/74MbpSlERC— Michele Giannone (@MicheleG3) July 12, 2024
Meola brought this up on the radio and said he’s totally fine with it given most of the NT is in Europe. Makes sense but from a cultural standpoint and getting familiar with the MLS pool I hope Pochettino is spending significant time outside his base in Europe.
If we have goofy holidays like you see here (today is National Tell a Joke Day, by the way), no reason we can't have a national "fire the coach" day or month!
I don’t know if he was ever the favorite for the job and more like the baseline pick if we struck out with European options. As best as I can tell the alternatives were Matarazzo, Renard, Vieira, Southgate, and Henry. At least of the names that were floated publicly. But I may be forgetting a name or two.
This joker hasn’t won a single game yet, it even against a CONCACRAP opponent. If he can’t get a win by the end of August, he needs to go.
I can't remember if anyone actually reported that Cherundolo was the favorite (beyond pure speculation). GIannone said Cherundolo and Nancy were among the main candidates, but he said USSF preferred Vieira to both of them, and now it looks like Vieira was 3rd choice at best among the realistic options. Other high level insiders claimed we were primarily focused on Europe. Of the foreign options, I think you basically got all of them. Luis de la Fuente also reached out, but who knows if he was actually interested or just using us to renegotiate his contract with Spain. And I honestly can't remember if any outlet actually reported that we were ever considering or talking to Renard -- I know everyone assumed that because it made total sense, but I don't recall seeing a report confirming that.
Obviously you’re not as high on the choice as I am but how do you think he compares to the alternatives (Berhalter, Nancy, Cherundolo, Renard, Matarrazo, Henry, Southgate, and Vieira)? I think for me the reason I’ve been so enthusiastic is he’s been a manager I’ve been tracking for a long time (going back to his Southampton days) far before he was ever on the USMNT radar because I hoped to see him take over at Manchester United (and over the last five years it’s gotten close on a few occasions but never quite gotten over the line). But it’s also true to me that he’s vastly superior to some of other other names that have been mentioned in regard to the USMNT opening.
I think "favorite" depends on how you define it. Cherundolo was likely the favorite because many (myself included) felt like Crocker would ask a number of higher-profile and foreign manager candidates and be told "no". He would then look at his "floor" candidates, of which Cherundolo was probably one of the two best/most qualified. I don't think he was ever considered any sort of "top" choice (obvious in hindsight now), but I do think he was the "floor" hire from the beginning of this search. I still think he's a future USMNT manager.
no no no / fails the style test @Dan Loney taught us all the proper format from the BigSoccer Style Book. It has to be Now. It has to be in bold, all-caps, and with triple exclamation marks. And it should use established nicknames to make it short and punchy. Like this -> FIRE POCH NOW!!!
What makes him vastly superior? I think he's vastly superior to Klinnsmann but I think beyond that it's hard to gauge. He will have pluses and minuses just like any hire. It's a fair question - I was more of a Nancy homer, but I would have been okay with Cherundolo. Like I said, every coach has pluses and minuses and Cherundolo has a lot of pluses I appreciate - he's been there done that with the USMNT, he's intimately knowledgeable about our whole pool, he knows the region, he knows our limitations, and he's been doing an excellent job in his day job. There is potential for Poch to not work out because he lacks a lot of the strengths of Cherundolo and I think we overrate the importance of the coach much of the time. The difference in quality he brings worth the difference in price and results? I'm not so sure but will be happy to be proven wrong. There's part of me that would rather get to the quarters with an American coach than I would with a foreign savior. And I'm not sure this particular savior is as good as his reputation.
I would say his track record compared to the other names that have been mentioned. Don't think there isn’t a lot more to question with a Henry or Vieira (or any of the other named alternate options). Of course no hire is perfect, but I’m comparing him to the other options I’m aware were in consideration.
Lesser resume'd coaches often outperform resume'd ones in tournaments. See Japan last World Cup. Not sure how that translates to "vastly superior".
Japan still only made it as far as we did. You can be successful with a homegrown coach without a ton of pedigree. But that’s also the sort of coach who tends to end up coaching most national teams. It’s also pretty rare for a coach with Pochettino’s resume to be coaching a national team who isn’t their native country. I think @KALM did this analysis but there isn’t even a comparable hire like this globally. Nagglesmann is the closest comparison in terms of club pedigree but he’s coaching his native country. Someone like Scaloni did great with Argentina but we also don’t have the counterfactual of putting an elite club coach in charge of that team and seeing how they’d do by comparison.
The point is your argument for vastly superior is just resume. His resume isn’t perfect - and none of our local alternatives have ever dealt with that level of talent. There can be benefits to that (and minuses). And resumes arguably matter less in tournaments. So even if he’s vastly superior what does that really mean for us? It does put to the test the importance of coaching - sort of. If he loses he’ll have made the wrong choices and if he wins it’s because he’s brilliant.
Considering how many people watch the European leagues, I'd say the public face of US Soccer being on TV at AC Milan, Fulham, and Moenchengladbach games would probably be more visible than being on US soil. I get it - there is a balance and there does need to be a "boots on the ground" presence in the US to a degree. But I still say that seeing the USMNT manager in the stands at a Premier League, Serie A, or Bundesliga game is still "being visible".
But the thing he’s also coached in places like a Southampton and Espanyol. It’s not as if he’s only ever coached elite clubs and elite players (and Tottenham is a big club but not on the same level as some of the elite clubs globally). It’s not as if he spent his entire career coaching Messi, Neymar, and Mbappe. The resume matters in that past performance tends to correlate with future performance. And no one on our list (in terms of names that were out there publicly) has done anything comparable in terms of their past performance. And while Pochettino resume isn’t perfect (no ones is), there’s significantly more to pick at if you start digging through the alternatives (who also don’t have his level of success). And yeah he’s going to be judged on the coaching job he does relative to our talent pool (which is the limiting factor).
It's circular logic 28 of the top 30 US players ply their trade in Europe already, because Berhalter got lazy, stopped team-building, & started selecting on that criteria, thereby not roster-building, as our managers still have had to do up until now. If Poch just calls up virtually the same guys as Berhalter has the last yr, we're probably going to have problems, as that squad did. It would be ameliorated by better incentive for players & tactics from the manager, but it's not going to resolve things like CCV being a stump. The real # is closer to 24 at this stage in the cycle. And if 6 better players, 1 or 2 who could be starters, are left off, that's going to hurt us. It's not the indicator I wanted to hear that he's going to stay in Europe. He didn't need to move to Chicago or Atlanta, but ideally it would have been somewhere in the US. I had wondered if January camp would be abolished. This news increases the chance. He could carve out a few weeks in winter. But how much is he even going to scout domestically and the youths now? This is a gap that I'm a skeptic he'll close unless I see it. Same goes to actually listening to a domestic coach. Jurgen didn't seemingly listen to Vazquez, & Berhalter to Varas even. A more pedigreed European is going to take some advice from any of our coaches? He's going to have to show humility or be ready to get into the weeds for that salary. He'll have a lot of extra time than he did w/ his clubs to scout. It's more of a GM job than he was used to. He should be analyzing hundreds of players, not 30-50, almost all in Europe near his home base. Current domestic players could help themselves by trying, to move overseas. But it takes two to tango. The club needs to be amenable. Then there are financial & familial considerations.