Perfectly put. Berhalter did a better job with the roster for NL; but that is an easier roster to pick. But I think he has done a better job coaching this one. Two knock out games and there is no crazy tactical wrinkle or obvious player out of position. He didn't build a game plan around Yueill either. He has made good positive adjustments and subs. The USMNT has an advantage for having mostly in season players that can go 90', unlike other teams that have been tiring, but I think Berhalter has been really leaning into that advantage instead of watching his players suffer.
Yes, agree. Given that Qatar’s expected goals must’ve been quite high last night, one is tempted to ask what tactical error produced that problem. But I think it was probably a limits of the personnel issue. Sands had a horrible game, and the midfield and Vines looked overmatched by the speed and width of the counters. I am not sure that that was a tactical error defensively; it may just be that we have players on the squad that can’t measure up to that speed, or who lack the experience to anticipate at speed.
Berhalter is going into finals week with an A. Just dont bomb the final, and you get an A. A crappy final will drop you down to a B.
He gets an overall B for me at this point, some monumentally stupid roster decisions, 2 really bad games vs Haiti and Canada, only scoring more than 1 goal once in 5 games...... But results matter, so at this point, it's a B. Win Sunday, and it's an A++, lose 1-0 or 2-1, B. Get smoked by Mexico, then I'd give him a C.
Yeah this is correct. It's a solid B. The team has been pretty much outplayed for long stretches in every match outside of Martinique. They can't score more than 1 goal. But the defense is excellent for the most part, and they made the final. Beat Mexico, and you can sign Egg up through 2026. Lose, it stays at a B. Get smoked, down to a B-. I expect we'll get beat pretty bad, which is why it doesn't move to a C.
Only way Gregg should get to coach thru 26 is if he wins a knockout match in Qatar, even then I’m not really in favor of 2 cycle coaches.
That's what Gulati did with Klinsmann. Signed him up through 2018 before the 2014 World Cup. Wasn't a good idea then; isn't a good idea now.
I was joking. I'm not a big fan of Gregg's teams so far, and think they'll get killed Sunday, so that was my way of offering an olive branch to the Berhalter Brigade.
The other poster was not being serious, but I'll agree that it would be a terrible idea, particularly because it's not like we have to worry about someone coming along and snatching Berhalter from us.
Honestly, I'm not sure anything would make me invite a coach back if I was in charge. I think there's just a lifespan. Win the whole thing or semis -- some great performance -- and I'm not going to be mad about it, obviously. But there's just a lifespan. And I think there's also something getting the organizational process running of changing over, bringing in new ideas, etc. One of the bigger mistakes US Soccer made with Klinsmann was pinning everything on a person instead of a better organizational process.
Winning the Gold Cup in 2017 didn’t mean squat for Arena when he failed to qualify later that year. How we do in qualifying and (hopefully) the World Cup is what is going to determine whether he gets rehired.
This tournament is already a resounding A+++ success. 1 - Solidifying the player pool. - Hoppe, Moore, Robinson, Turner, Sands, Busio, Gioacchini, Vines…these guys all have solidified positions as depth and have gotten invaluable reps at increasing levels of pressure. They have taken their opportunities and created roles within the program. They are all young except for Turner. - Lleget, Roldan, Zardes, Arriola, and Acosta all have more extended reps within the system and have developed leadership reputations. - other players have been given minutes at varying levels of success. 2 - Results - not a single goal conceded in the run of play in over 450 minutes. - group stage points winner - 5 wins, 0 losses - plus 9 goal differential - Have beaten two of the top 3 opponents in the tournament with the other slated for Sunday - Semifinal winner, Finals Appearance - youngest team in the tournament w/ multiple players receiving their 1st caps - RESOUNDING SUCCESS
Just dont bomb the final. An A going into finals week and then getting an F-bomb (4-0 or greater) is gonna drop you down to a B. Just dont 2009 GC Final this, and this is an A. We've fortified a lot of mental strength and toughness this tournament. Dont wanna undo it with one game to give these guys PTSD if they play mexico again. I dont think that will happen though, Turner alone will see to that.
I’m sorry, but watching these matches and not just looking at the results, and you think our coach deserves an A+++++ you have extremely low expectations.
if you look at Hoppe getting an EPL move off Gold Cup success...the motivation for clogging the gold cup roster with MLS players is so clear. MONEY! and why put Mueller on it if they know he wont bring a single buck? its not a conspiracy its business.
So far I think the big winners in this tournament as far as possible moves up the depth chart are Turner, Robinson, Hoppe, Zardes, and maybe Moore and Vines. It was unfortunate for Sands that Zimmerman went down as I think he needed a chance to prove he could backup Tyler at the 6. I highly doubt he makes the grade this Fall as a center back and Acosta has played pretty well at that spot. You would think he will be Gregg's backup there.
yes they were! thats just not true that they werent available. some euro players declined or werent available but there were at least 20 euro players who couldve come. these gold cup spots were a precious resource to raise players' value and potentially earn transfers...obviously the motivation is there for MLS to have as many of its players on that roster... and to connect to what I said about mueller being left off....he coudlnt make mls any money...so mls wouldnt want him on the roster, either. theyd rather someone like lewis... hmmmm
I mean Berhalter does not pick players based on who will or will not make MLS money. While he can demand clubs release players for the Gold Cup he also does play nice with clubs who have a history of releasing players outside international windows. We don't know if that happened in the case of Mueller, but if it did I don't think its because the club was being petty but because they legitimately didn't want to lose both him and Dike for the duration of the tournament. More realistically though I think Berhalter just rates Lewis above Mueller. Now I think this is the wrong opinion, but the last time they were in camp together Berhalter said Lewis played better in camp and went on to start him over Mueller in the subsequent friendly. Lewis was just a bad call by Berhalter, not evidence of anything else.
this is a fifa date ....its nothing about keeping clubs happy. now, if players were ina tenuous club spot and wanted to ask out of the gc thats fine and it did happen with several euro players...thats different. the roster is all MLS, basically. and this isnt the first time in his tenure where he coudlve called in euros but went all MLS...its actually happened many times. All of his "pets" that he kept playing despite poor performance, trapp, yuielll, bradley etc were basically all from MLS. Now when WCQ comes around it will be so convenient that he can only call up MLSers to fill out the squad bc they are the only experienced ones. there will always be a reason why he cant call in the obvious euro players. Its so easy to see through. its not about mueller.
I'm going A- for this tournament up to this point. I agree with a lot of what you wrote here. I've also been impressed with the defensive organization and structure, particularly moving between a back 3 and back 4. But I'm still concerned about this team (A-Team or B-Team) not being able to play to the sum of its talent on offense. I still want to see more variety and unpredictability on attack. I realize some of the issues with lack of wingers, etc., but the offense just has to be more varied as we face better teams.
Sure, it's a FIFA date. But it's also a FIFA date that we're clearly not taking all that seriously. While there are a few European players that seem to be using this as a shop window, the rest were adjudged to be better off staying in Europe for the sake of their club situation. If you want to know what the MLS/YA breakdown would be for a FIFA date that we were to take seriously, you don't have to go back any further than a month ago. The Nations League roster was clearly Gregg's first choice squad, and the breakdown was 19 YAs to 4 MLS players. And at least one MLS player from that squad (Yueill) seems to have played himself off the 23 man roster, having been replaced in the B team lineup by a player (Busio) set to depart for Italy at the end of this tournament.
I mean yes it’s a FIFA date. But MLS clubs other than Atlanta regularly release players when they don’t have to during non-FIFA dates. And so if they make reasonable requests about players, then those requests and fair consideration and are sometimes granted. There’s lots of European players I would have liked to have seen on this roster (specifically CCV, EPB, KDLF, LDLT, Richards, and Green). Berhalter didn’t call them in because he made a judgement that preseason was more valuable. That might be right or wrong but that was a judgement he made. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t rate them or that they are out of the picture. It was also reported beforehand that multiple center backs turned down call ups so perhaps Berhalter wanted them and they didn’t come. Similarly I would have liked to have seen some younger MLS players like Clark or Araujo, but they either turned down the call up were. Given the constraints we faced the main issues on Berhalter are taking Lewis over Cowell and Yueill over other midfield options. The rosters were more MLS heavy early on in Berhalter’s tenure because that’s just where more of the players are. Nations League was a super Euro heavy roster and so will WCQ. MLS guys will be there but mostly they’ll be in depth roles and filling out the back end of the roster. I know of at least one MLS player I’d like to see start in Turner, but Berhalter may not share that opinion.