There are very few strikers of *any variety*, with experience in *any* kind of league, that wind up being productive US national team strikers. IOW being a good club team striker in any league has a poor correlation with being a good US national team striker.
This can't be underlined enough. With Nations League joining the Euro Championships (and associated qualifying), and WCQ, getting friendlies against Europe is largely impossible, and it's about to be the same with Conmebol apparently partnering with UEFA Nations League. To then waste a rare pair of friendlies against UEFA sides (I'm trying to remember the last FIFA date ones we had, was it as far back as November '20?) like this illustrates how little he knows, or is interested in knowing about the program. I'd love for one of the soft ball interviewers he gets to lob this at him,"How many times has the US gotten a FIFA open date friendly with a European side over the past four years to test themselves against the deepest confederation?" The answer would be.... 1. Germany, October of 2023. Before that, the last time we did was against the Swiss in May of '21, before that Northern Ireland in March of '21, before that, Wales in November of '20, before that, you'd have to go back to 2018 and that pair of friendlies against England and Italy in November. So in the past nearly 7 years (since December of '18), we've played only the Swiss (twice), Turkey, Germany, Northern Ireland and Wales, in UEFA friendlies. That's what Nations League has done to UEFA availability for friendlies. 6 games in nearly 7 years. So to just flush a game against the bulk of the Swiss A team, a team that was largely bad --- in Euro '21, WC '22 (in the group stage, they got pimp slapped in the knockouts), and in Euro '24, and just play basically a mix of no hopers, a couple of prospects, and a couple of meh vets? It's just so immensely disrespectful. One wonders if the Swiss will bother saying yes to another friendly request after that colossal waste of time. In their next window they need to open their qualifying campaign with a strong start before traveling to Sweden in October. I don't know if they really appreciated wasting this window against Mexico, and our C/D team. An 8-2 beat down is not the greatest prep to UEFA qualifying, even this watered down version. They still need to win a group with Slovenia and Sweden or risk missing out due to a playoff, and they got ---- all out of this friendly window.
This may be a controversial opinion around here but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this is perhaps not ideal...
Me neither. I'm not going to pretend that my statement was one of fact, though. That's what I gather from my observations.
Some intrepid reporter should ask Poch about that time he went to see Atlanta United in person HANNES WOLF AGAIN! 😱 pic.twitter.com/AGuQqP7uz5— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 13, 2025 The Atlanta players he went to see in person are somehow even worse than the ones he called up! Hell yeah Brooks Lennon another assist— Rob Usry (@RobUsry) June 13, 2025
I truly had great respect for Jesse … he just wiped that out with one incredibly petty and childish comment. I guess his ego can’t let him hold his tongue.
If Poch’s WC striker depth chart doesn’t have Pepi, Balo and Sarge (when healthy, in some order) at the top, he is full of himself.
Obviously the reflexive fan reaction when a team is struggling is, fire the coach/manager. But blaming the overpaid, entitled players can also be a reflexive reaction. It's usually a joint failure when a team struggles, at least a team with decent talent. And it's usually a difficult call- ask the Denver Nuggets, for example. We'd need more info about Poch's performance behind the scenes, and in this regard Keller's comments on ESPN are pretty damning. If Poch is failing to fulfill commitments to evaluate the player pool, combined with his failure to build a relationship with a player as important as Dest- and the results suggest inept roster building, lack of intensity/effort, and a mismatch between tactics and talent level- we have a lot of smoke, and probably a fire. But in the end, Crocker and whomever have to take the temperature of the locker room and gather the rest of the relevant data largely hidden from the public, and make a difficult call. If we see a failure at the GC, given the short timeline and the stakes of the WC for soccer in this country, the difficult decision will be not whether to fire him- but whether to stick with him.
Note: I posted this on the Poch master class thread regarding concerns, I have one year out. 1. He was hired, almost as a backlash/reaction to his predecessor. 2. He’s never coached a national team, before. It’s different. 3. There’s no evidence that he is scouting players. 4. There is evidence that he’s hobnobbing in Argentina and Europe (perhaps not taking the job as seriously, as expected despite getting paid $6 million a year.) he’s expected to move on back to Europe following the World Cup. 5. As of yet, Pochettino doesn’t seem interested in recruiting dual nationals, much. 6. Concerns and criticism were expressed following historic losses/poor performances, on our home soil in the CONCACAF Nations cup versus Panama and Canada. 7. 6. He’s 5-5 since taking over including the first 4 consecutive match, losing streak since 2007. His three consecutive losses and his first 10 matches (now four) tied a record by Manny Schellscheidt back in 1975, that’s 50 years. 8. First time the United States has shipped four goals in a half since 1980. 9. First time the United States has not had a shot on goal in a match since playing Argentina, Copa America 2016. 10. He’s not American and doesn’t understand the complex nature of the culture, players, fans. Some, might see this as an advantage, I do not. 11. First time I can recall key players taking a break a year before a World Cup. 12. The starting lineup against Switzerland was almost in the abomination/clueless category. 13. Poch doesn’t seem to have a handle on the player pool less than a year before the World Cup 2026. 14. Former players, Kasey Keller and DaMarcus Beasley have spoken publicly about how bad the United States has looked, recently. This is worse than the usual concerns that we have enjoyed a year out from the World Cup. and personally, I would be surprised if we did not do well in the gold cup, perhaps even winning it. I’m still concerned.
Matarazzo looks a lot better in retrospect. Cheaper, plus you know he always gives 110%. And fluent in English and understands American culture.
and just in case you’re wondering, here’s some ESPN click bait on the possibility of Poch being fired prior to the World Cup: https://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=45504387
Even David Moyes and Roberto Martinez looking like good choices now. If we had hired them a year ago.
Assuming- and it's a big assumption- that we fall short in the GC (say, by getting outclassed by MX or CA in the knockout stages), what are the downsides of firing Poch? Why *wouldn't* you do it?
Putting money aside, you would need to know the replacement is better and can get up to speed immediately.
there are no good options available immediately, aside from maybe Matarazzo or Cherundolo (if willing to leave LAFC before end of season.)
getting outclassed by mex or can in at least the semis would be vastly overachieving from everything weve seen since his hiring. im not confident we can draw our way that far...
I've never bought the premise that there is "the US game". That would be like blaming a foreign coached Nigerian national basketball team, after getting embarrassed in a friendly, on his unfamiliarity with the "Nigerian game"! The objective of the game is the same WHEREVER it's played, simply put the ball through (in) the net. A coach needs to be familiar, among other factors, with the strengths and weaknesses of his players and make A game plan. To speak of "the" US game is reductive, limiting and a hand out to the opposition.
if you watched the video above from ESPN, the commentator suggested the same people who hired Poch, would not consider firing him, because it would make them look too stupid. True story. . .
Donovan didn't play as a striker at Everton. He played in midfield and was by all accounts outstanding, being named player of the month in both spells.
Would probably cost the federation a lot of money, there’d be the general embarrassment for the decision makers for making such a mistake in terms of coach, we’d have a limited pool of replacements to choose from, and the new coach would have even less time with the team pre World Cup.
I mean it’d be too high profile failures for Crocker both of whom lasted about a year. For a decision that is one of his most important in his job. And after really playing up this hire when it happened. There’d definitely be an element of not wanting to admit failure.
He often played in midfield in MLS too. I think limiting the discussion to “striker” anyway doesn’t make much sense because the OP was about goal scoring and how goal scoring in MLS supposedly means nothing as a predictor of goal scoring success in intl play. Also, of the top 5 USMNT goal scorers only 2 were really “strikers” in a traditional sense, on a consistent basis? Anyway, the point is, for Donovan certainly his MLS goals were a predictor for his intl goals because he scored a lot of both and barely scored any anywhere else.
You'd lose money, take a PR hit, deepen cynicism, at least in the short run, all true. I struggle to see what Poch has brought to the table that you'd miss if he were gone. Even Berhalter (who had to go post-Copa) had his virtues: Recruiting dual nats, creating a decent locker room culture (this side of Reyna), sustaining a semblance of a play style, however flawed it may have been, dominance v. MX, etc. One would also have to weigh continuing on the current trajectory, with its own set of potential downsides.