I don't know if Poch will succeed overall. But this is one reason that we hired a name brand coach: to have the cache to restore respect fpr the program and get rid of the entitlement. At least one mission looking good.
I’m just spitballing here….but if you’re looking for someone to coach on short notice who isn’t gonna need a lot of time to become familiar with a country’s playing pool….choosing an ex international from that country who spent the entirety of his coaching career in that same country might be a little less of a hurdle than someone who could probably name 5 players in the entire pool (being charitable here) prior to cramming in a bunch of research for his job interview.
Yeah, but the point is that a few windows and a few months is more than enough time to implement a game model. The crux is in evaluating the pool during and ahead of those windows in order to pick the right players and the right game model.
according to you. and theres nothing wrong with that opinion (other than we need to stop giving a single shit about "respect" from anyone else). i believe we had to move on- not simply due to berhalter taking us as far as he was able/going to- but because american players have outpaced american managers by an unsustainable margin. but our options still included dolo, matarazzo, marsch (at the time) because (as we are seeing) a manager from a traditional power doesnt understand that there arent endless "levels" you can drop to find the effort/mentality you want. the irony is, poch and berhalter have ended up at the same place. gregg is the architect of that entitled "culture" you mention. he cultivated that with his "in the group" vs not mentality, with guys who helped him win in concacaf from moore to roldan to yueill in addition to our biggest players/prospects (when all of those players were still prospects- puli, wes, adams). he was too slow to integrate (or completely neglected) our "middle class"- guys playing abroad who werent very obviously our top tier, or who werent as far along as the "big 3". thats why everything "turned"/was exposed as toxic so quickly after the world cup. that top tier of "the group" had never been pushed in any way, and everyone outside of that werent buying what gregg was selling when he tried to open up the pool (swinging wildly to full-euro). the path, and speed, in which poch got us to exact same top and bottom heavy mess of a "team" is impressive really. that sense memory, the engrained mentality of an argentine manager who sees it as obvious- not even worth debating- that you can tell a kun aguero to take a hike if he doesnt run as hard as you want in training. and that only makes sense when theres always a higuain or a martinez waiting in wings. no one, at any point, has thought our pool is even close to germany, france, etc. but we are getting close(r) to a switzerland, or a belgium, or a morocco (relatively solid domestic leagues, a modest number of players at higher levels)- however much anyone wants to pretend its the global soccer community that just doesnt get it, tillman and cardoso is sooo overrated but let me ask- who are the great swiss, belgian or moroccan managers? much like our utilized player pool under our last two managers, wheres the middle class? because managers from traditional powers just arent on the same frequency. maybe thats as simple as a club manager from those top nations issue. bora worked. i imagine renard would have done similarly (making the most of what we have). so we default to familiarity (with mls in particular)- so our other "big" options are viera, or roberto martinez cause he followed mls. bur rather than oh so sexy euro guys with mls experience/interest, i was more interested in american managers with experience at higher levels (matarazzo, dolo and marsch in that order, with an outlying interest in rafa benetiz). yes, that contradicts what i said about american managers in general but the alternative is lower "level" managers (who are going to name recognition up some euro clubs ladder anyways). in any case, to what i was responding to like ten minutes ago- that cache you speak of lets poch do whatever the hell he wants to do. so if you think american players are suddenly going to adopt argentine mentalities (like notable nose to the grindstone, all go/no quit- except for the multiple times he threated to do just that to arg- lionel messi), or aguero:martinez:ulisic:sullivan doesnt make you laugh out loud i guess there is reason for optimism.
Did our guys suddenly start trying harder, follow direction, and develop toughness last night? No. They looked good because T&T is terrible and because they could show their skills under very little pressure. Coaches and fans blame those sorts of player character issues when the tactics and setup don’t fit the player. Next time Tillman (or any of our top players) looks lost on the pitch it won’t be because he lacks character or talent. It will be about fit.
The team showed less character and toughness than it did with guys like Herrera, Long, Vines, Yueill, Lletget, Arriola, Lewis, Ferreira, etc. Two goals less to be exact! just so everyone knows we won 7-0 with this US team pic.twitter.com/pPCkuf3YQC— Michael (@usmnteaglegun) June 15, 2025
Its why this game tells us literally nothing about the quality of this group. Tells us nothing about Poch's ability to steer this pool against the world's best opposition when the games truly matter. T&T failed to beat French Guiana AT HOME in the recent Nations League. Although that game above is a little unfair to use. That was the January 2021 camp cupcake game. Right? T&T didn't play a single match in 2020 and hadn't trained together at all. Their league wasn't even back up and running. They threw together a group and showed up. If there was any game from the last five years that I think it would be fair to erase from the record books, it would be that one.
A thought - just a thought … anyone think for a moment that Poch knows some of our better players aren’t that committed and he wanted to use the friendlies and the GC to set up the competition? like he wants the better B players to improve and send a serious message to the players not present? maybe Cardoso, Adams, Pulisic, Weah, Reyna, and McKennie all need to have a fire lit before next summer? if this is the case - then he uses this tourney and the Swiss and Türkiye debacles to wake them up … just a thought of what might be in his mind … note his post game comments about Tillman (why did he not sub him at minute 75?) … and his past comments about Luna …
“ Young players have hunger, energy and potential and if they show they have enough quality, it’s perfect, especially if you have good team-mates, who give you good advice. I was 18 years old when I won my first title with Newell’s. “There are a lot of factors in football but if you have good balance between younger and experienced players, it is a perfect mix to try to achieve big things.” Always in life, you need to show and to do, rather than speak too much about the things you cannot change with your words.” “It’s important to show that we are in the race to achieve big things. You can speak a lot but you need to show that we are a team. I think my players are clever and I trust in them.””
Correct. They are, in general, more philosophical about soccer than in say England, Scotland, Italy or Argentina. Maybe it's because it wasn't the biggest sport outside of certain cities until the 1980s, or maybe it's more the joie de vivre. Certainly when I spent a lot of time in France and around French people there was more talk about tennis and F1 than footy. That was a few years ago. Of course they'll celebrate when they win. Millions partied in England when England won the rugby World Cup, then went back to ignoring club rugby.
Maybe he's more astute than we think and can spot a good 'un before others can. Maybe when you play a bunch of rookies they take time to gel, and we saw the start of that yesterday. Or maybe Trinidad were terrible and Richmond Kickers could have put 5 past them yesterday.
Football is the number 1 sport by a margin, but there's competition coming from rugby however, at least in some parts of France (mainly south-west). People aren't that much interested by tennis and F1.
Maybe they’re less passionate than Italy or England. But compared to America, France is 100x more into soccer. Played everywhere by kids, more than any other sport. Thats my metric. Kids aren’t racing F1 cars, or playing tennis in the banlieue suburbs. Maybe your elite crowd didn’t care about PSG, but they still knew about it and can name a few players.
Yeah I'm comparing France to Italy and England, not the USA, where there are 4 other major team sports. And it wasn't an elite crowd. Rugby was traditionally more popular than soccer in France before the Platini era. Professional soccer used to be an afterthought in Paris. PSG didn't exist until 1971 and didn't win Ligue Un until 1985/86. Things change. Of course, a lot of people don't think that soccer existed at all before 1991
Meh. Only Pulisic and Musah asked out. The others are either at the CWC or injured. So I don't think the intention was to use a "B team" so that the more established Euro-based players will "feel the footsteps" behind them. I legitimately think that he'd have taken Pulisic for the whole summer. He'd have picked McKennie, Weah, etc. He'd have picked Antonee, Pepi, Balogun, and Dest if they were healthy. He wants to use Adams if he's healthy. Just I like I believe he think Tillman and Richards are part of his best roster. He picked the best guys available in his mind. Guys he wanted to work with. I'm sure he wants competition for every place. I'm not sure that the Euro guys do actually feel the footsteps based on the Turkey and Switzerland games........................... We'll see how this group does against better opponents than T&T at this event. ..........................and our players are used to that from club soccer.
Yep players that were "dropped" were Sargent, CCV, Trusty, Tessmann, and Scally. Sargent unfortunately just hasn't been able to score so he was dropped. CCV has IMO looked awful every time he's played for the US outside of the Iran WC game. Trusty I'm guessing hasn't impressed because he barely got looks even when in camp. Tessmann I'd have liked to see again, but I wonder if he was dropped because both Tyler and Johnny were available. Scally I think is fine but is a high floor low ceiling guy so checking out other options. I do think there was always gonna be more new names than people expected flat out because the March window was so bad but I also think it would have been much more of a mixed squad too
Yes. Guys like Sargent, CCV, Scally, etc. should definitely "feel the footsteps" from this Gold Cup group. They weren't picked for "footballing reasons" in Poch's words. And none in that group have performed so well that their spots are unassailable. But not the stars. Pulisic, McKennie, Weah, etc. play at the clubs they do for a reason. Those are amongst are active leading goal-scorers and assisters. Those are our most impactful players. Who scored our goals at the World Cup? Give me Pulisic and Weah in the group phase. Pulisic already has more goals for the USMNT than Brian McBride in many fewer caps. His goals/cap rate is higher than Donovan's or Dempsey's. If they were available, Poch would have picked them. If they weren't injured, Poch would likely have picked the Dest, Antonee, Pepi, Balogun, etc. group. People have picked out some quotes from Poch about Pulisic, but not the ones in which he speaks glowingly about him (and what a big player he is for the team).
there were clearly circumstances beyond Poch's control: i. Club World Cup ii. injuries iii.players deciding they needed a break what is/was under his control? iv. Gold Cup and friendly roster v. Training an available group to get max productivity and performance possible (I think Poch realized he completely screwed up against Switzerland - but I don't think he thought the performance against Turkiye was all that bad - considering it was the first match and the players available) I just think he was faced with a difficult situation (i. - iii.) and decided to make the best of a bad situation ... if he had accepted some of the better available players that did not want to play more than 2 matches he would have set a bad precedent (you only want to play the better teams and will not sacrifice in the heat and humidity like all the rest on the roster?) for the entire team and it might not help him figure out who his best players (of the second tier) actually are if some of the 1st choice players are present and grab the reins .... he may have wanted the challenge on the 2nd tier to see who would really step it up (they certainly got hammered by Turkiye and Switzerland to learn). now I can see the counter argument - "we need the better players when we can get them because of the preparation for next year" ... this is why I am interested in how he handles Tillman, Luna, Agman/Wright, McGlynn, Freeman, and Arfsten .... It is going to get more difficult against Saudi Arabia and Haiti (and beyond I assume) for sure ... that will be the entire lesson and perhaps what he wanted to make the best of the current situation. If: Tillman Luna McGlynn Arfsten Freeman Agman/Wright all step it up and lead this team to win the GC .. then if I am first choice and was not present - it would certainly make me pucker up a little bit going forward .... we can already see the Turner Freese situation unfolding ...
Not really, except in Toulouse's area and in a few other places like Toulon, where rugby was (and still is) a religion. I would say that cycling was extremely popular until the 80s (the Hinault, Fignon years). Not so much today.
Did not see this posted here (yet) ... https://www.nbcsports.com/soccer/ne...ro_cta_soccer&cm_lm=PNIoAfaVQq1se89&cm_ainfo= "I am not a mannequin" haha
Yeah cycling was a religion. Amazing what can happen when you don't win your showpiece event for 40 years. Still, when a Frenchman does eventually win it'll be all the more precious.
He seems to be swimming up current. I appreciate that he's not afraid to battle it out in the press. The everything is fine we're a family blah blah blah shit didn't work and always resulted in hurt feelings one way or another anyways. Just call it like you see it and if guys respond they respond if they don't they don't. At least you know where people stand.
Yes, but I can't see happening soon. It's the same in tennis: the last time a Frenchman won a grand slam tournament was in 1983, with Yannick Noah winning the French open.