It feels like the USMNT is entering a new era, one that requires a sea change in thinking by the powers that be. Americans are thriving in modern systems at the top levels of world football. The USSF and coaches need to keep up. I just watched highlights of today’s Juve preseason match, in which Weston McKennie started and performed well, He seems to be featured Pirlo’s system, which allows him not only to be a disruptor of counterattacks but a creator at the offense of end, based on the highlight video. Tyler Adams was Man of the match in his preseason game yesterday playing a fascinating deep, central role that takes advantage of his motor, his defensive tactical acumen, and his ability to begin the attack with pinpoint passes. RBL rely on him heavily. Christian Pulisic was just handed the number 10 jersey at a Big Club in the top leg in the world. That reflects what he has already accomplished. The bigger the game and opponent, the better he played last year. Barring injury, his ceiling is much higher. Gio Reyna shows size, skill and poise that is making him a very hot property the world markets at a very young age. He can place centrally or wide, sees the field very well, And (like the other three) is an intimidated by the biggest stages. And you can go to the Yanks Abroad board to see Sergio Destiny, Josh Sargent and the next tier of Americans rising up through European leagues. It is time for the USSF and the coaches to build an American team around taking advantage of these supremely talented American players playing key roles in in tactically-sophisticatedsystems at the biggest clubs. The USMNT under Berhalter has been a system-first team. Asking “who can best implement my system“ puts the cart before the horse. To say nothing of the outdated nature of the system itself. If you Google “regista” in soccer, you get explanations telling you that it is passé, an historical artifact eclipsed by modern tactics. There are lots of ways to play winning soccer, and lots of formations that can succeed. But the American team is no longer a bunch of cookie cutter pieces to be arranged and interchanged. It now contains some elite talents who play at new and higher levels of sophistication and speed than ever before. We aren’t the PTB asking what formations and systems best take advantage of those talents. Running around giving interviews saying that these players will be at the core of your plans is easy. So far, there is no evidence on the field that the USMNT is doing it. And MLS ought not to have any kind of privileged position with respect to USMNT decisions. It is aspiring to become a feeder league to the top leagues in the world. We should rate our own players using a similar default ranking.
I thought this was going to be interesting post and not a rehash of the same, repeated complaint that has taken over every thread for literally closing on two years. I do like the angle here, though. Criticizing Berhalter for not adjusting for all these new developments when there hasn't been ANY ability to do so is, of course, a special move that ensures that you get to rant to your heart's content. The last time the US had call-ups in a sanctioned international window: The guy playing the fascinating central role in Leipzig was hurt The guy with the "10" shirt in England was hurt The17-year old "hot property" was playing in a youth league I think perhaps Berhalter should actually get a chance to do something before people criticize him for not running the team you'd like based on developments that have largely occurred since he last had a chance to do anything. I have a better question for all the Berhalter haters. The focus has shifted to the regista now, but previously a big hate point was that the US did not have and would not have any time soon personnel good enough to play out of the back. What think you now? We have Adams, McKennie, Reyna, Pulisic, Dest, Sargent and so on. Are these guys incapable of holding the ball in CONCACAF?
GK Manchester City RB Ajax Amsterdam CB Wolfsburg CB TBD LB Fulham MF RB Leipzig MF Juventus AM Dortmund RW Lille FW Werder Bremen LW Chelsea Looks like a contender to me.
Hell will freeze over, pigs will fly, and France will win the World Series before USSF does anything like that. And sadly, I'm almost looking forward to how badly the USA is going to crash and burn in 2026 in front of the entire world and US population. And after the US is knocked out of that tournament, the US populace will go right back to ignoring soccer, just like they always have and will continue to do when the World Cup is not on TV.
Going into the first game of Berhalter's Nats tenure, the team was elo-ranked 35th. It's currently ranked 36th. He lost the GC final to Tata and the Mexico B team. He then got smoked by the A team in the subsequent friendly. He then lost to Canada in Nations League. There is nothing to defend there. The 'regista' was not the issue: trying to build around Trapp, Bradley, Yueill was the problem. Playing out of the back wasn't the problem: trying to randomly force a style of play was the issue. But Head Coach Gio has been working to straighten Gregg out. We'll see.
It wasn't a good year, but that wasn't my point. My point was that criticizing Berhalter in the context of a developments he hasn't gotten a chance to react to is ridiculous. Perhaps for you. But that wasn't OP's point: he very particularly says the tactic itself is outdated.
I think we're at a clear tipping point also, because we're nearing a point where success reinforces success. If Pulisic continues his success, McKennie does well for Juventus, Adams continues strongly with RasenBallsport, Reyna breaks out, and more of the other guys have strong seasons, etc. It's a big IF, but it's not impossible. Then that results in more European clubs taking interest in more American players. It helps that European clubs are finding success with young American talent and that MLS is unambiguously improving on the young player front, both for American and non-American players. Because if players like Adams, Cannon, Steffen, Davies, Harrison, and Herrera are able to find immediate European club success, then comparable clubs will have no issues taking risks on players like Aaronson and Pomykal (if he can prove he can stay healthy). We almost seemed to be reaching this point in the late 2000s, but the Lost Generation together with MLS and US development struggles resulted in serious setbacks.
You seem to not like to see people making these observations, but without actually responding to them on their merits, beyond a vague insinuation that “trust me, he will do what he has not yet done.” The new information are the steps into central roles in the the big time by more Americans. It appears we are making different inferences about GB’s willingness to abandon the woefully underperforming tactics that have marked his tenure in the face of that new information. And one of us is happy to see both points of view discussed.
This quote was from back in March. We are there, now!!. Juventus Chelsea Man City Leipzig Ajax Dortmund Brugge That adds another data point to our being in another era.
The shift isn't just abroad. Anyone remember 4 years ago and everyone was bitching because American kids weren't getting a chance in MLS? Well now look. They're not only playing they're excelling. Kids are racking up minutes and contributing to goals and wins for their clubs. The group behind them look just as good. As long as that's sustained the national team will be much better for it because a good many of these kids are going to go abroad. From there they'll have to perform and prove it on a much bigger stage but the pool as a whole has dramatically increased in size and that's vital. Our first 11 looks to be pretty special but we need more and finally at long last it seems the DA, USL, and MLS are going to get us there.
The bigger and more expansive the player pool, the more it can support a system-first coach because there are multiple quality options and a variety of high level players to pick from to fill whatever is needed. When you have a smaller number of stars, you have to first accommodate those stars. I think we are nearing the time when we have some real quality that goes to the bench regardless of system. Most likely not everyone pans out, but looking optimistically at the pool, we could have multiple guys in most attacking spots playing at higher levels than any previous bench player for the US. By the time Qatar rolls around, I think it is highly likely that we have multiple bench player with resumes that would have cemented them as starters for most of the history of the US program.
I am a little curious. Does anyone know what Berhalter’s system actually is? I have to say that the notion of selecting a tactic forst and then choosing players around it seems, um, unwise. I guess that makes sense if you only know how to make one system work, but you'd think a good coach would diagnose the best system for the players available, especially for a national team where you cant just sign new players to fit your tactical plans.
I will say, in addition to all that, a weekend that shows first American appearances for Juventus and Barcelona (in friendlies of course) feels like something that wouldnt have happened even ten years ago
I think it's perfectly valid to question whether he will abandon the regista concept. I think it's absurd to write a long post criticizing him for not playing a midfield of Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Gio Reyna yet. And I was honestly hoping it was going to be a really interesting post, and it was disappointed.
The only question left is will he realize what he's got and let them play best by putting them in their now natural positions? Is Berhalter smart enough? Make your bets. If he's not, he's gone. In short order.
I can see both sides of the debate here. On the one hand, we haven't played a competitive game in almost a year, and at that point, Adams and Weah were out with long-term injuries, and guys like Reyna, De la Fuente, and Llanez were still youth academy players. So, I don't know that it's fair to say that we know definitively how Berhalter will set up when given the full complement of players now at his disposal. And I'm not sure that it's right to criticize Berhalter's system for lack of sophistication. It seems wrongheaded to insist on such an important role for a deep-lying playmaker given the player pool, but his system itself seems quite sophisticated and intricate, and if anything, the criticism might be that it's too sophisticated to implement with a national team that doesn't train together much (hence the tentativeness shown by the players at times and the bad giveaways in the back). On the other hand, it is getting to be kind of incongruous having a growing number of players at these very illustrious clubs, playing in the UCL, and generating big transfer fees being led by a coach whose biggest accomplishment thus far is making it to MLS Cup once. Coaching upstarts like Arena and Bradley might have been appropriate 15-20 years ago when the US player pool was made up of similarly overlooked players from MLS and second-tier Euro teams, but now that we have some real A-list players, having such an undistinguished coach seems weird. Though I guess Dalic had an equally undistinguished coaching career before he took Croatia to the final in 2018. May Berhalter be another Dalic.
In no way do I think a Hammarby coaching failure and ex mediocre Crew coach is anywhere near the level to maximize some of these players. On another note, I expect Europe to start raiding Canada and Liga MX as well.
there's a real danger here (in a sporting sense) a more competent and expansive player pool can just as easily mask the deficiencies of a doofus system coach too. you often see big national teams chock full of CL stars fall flat and suck every world cup, seemingly inexplicably ...especially in terms of hpw they stack up on paper. Sure, that's why they play the games....there will always be randomness. but players 12-100 in a player are meaningless when the whistle blows. A team that doesnt know how to select its talent very well can vastly underperform relative to its cieling. and importantly...there is no way to expose that...because the other iteritations of the team simply never got a chance to show what they could be. its much easier to select a team that picks itself...as the us team has done for a long time. weirdly, theres a bit of an advantage to a limited supply of talent (as long there is enough of it)....the talent that you do have and the combinations that can be tried are easier to figure out and maximize...with less complexity, the teams can somehow overachieve more easily, in my opinion....they can sort themselves out better and build more of a true team. i think uruguay is a good example of this. this could easily become a case of "mo money mo problems".... which would suck bc the lack of talent has always been the big thing that people point to in terms of not being about to be a contender. i think the us has not been a good team at selelcting its rosters...sometimes the team picked itself though and the end result was usually not too far from the theoretical ceiling...but now we could see some really shocking mismanagement undermine the success instead of lack of talent....and bc of the historical results and narrative around usa and soccer...no one will really know or complain much...it will just be "par for the course" even though it really shouldnt be. this is my biggest thing about jurgen and gb and pretty much all the coaches the us has had....they get far too much of a pass for poor performance. if gb continues to struggle...I wanna see a big name euro or south american coach...not just a name but a brain with a name.... the leash should be short, in my opinion. give him his chance with the full team....but this roster should be capable of big things any way you slice it at this point....time to take the training wheels off.
I understand and am sympathetic to your feeling this is a rehash of the same thing, to be honest it really is and could have just been another post in the coaching philosophy thread. On the other hand you are asking us to give Berhalter a break because we have not had a game in forever, which is fair. I think you need to give some of us the same break, we have not had any new developments either and these were absolutely the valid questions of the day when we left off and have only become more urgent with the emergence of all this top talent that flat out 100% unequivocally does not fit the system, roles and shape that Berhalter has heretofore built around and that he has continued repeatedly to say he will stick with moving forward. I will also go ahead and be redundant in saying that even if Berhalter changes everything and plays a system with a real 6 at the 6, McKennie, Reyna, etc and begins to actually press and play some real defense it doesn't mean a thing. Because he has NEVER in his very short and mediocre coaching career set a team up that way and hiring him was an absolutely massive mistake, motivated entirely by nepotism, cronyism and an insular incompetent federation. He never should have been given the job, does not deserve it and if we are not going to play his system which is the only system he has ever used, then we should dump him right now and undergo the legitimate and professional coaching search that we were supposed to have to start the cycle. I am also extremely aware that myself and many others are sounding one note and it is boring, grating and not particularly fascinating, I am aware of that and believe me, I don't enjoy it at all. It is going to continue though because just as it was clear as day that Berhalter was a bad hire and his system sucks and didn't fit the pool from day one, it is also clear that this bumper crop of talent is going to save his ass, he will make changes because he is forced to and we will qualify for a world cup with him at the helm and we will enter the vast majority of games with a tactical deficiency compared to our competition and the best talent we have ever had deserves better than that.
Sure, you're right. I'm cranky. I'd really like a game to talk about. But we have this amazing wave of talent coming, and guess what, while US Soccer is far from trustworthy or even strongly competent, they absolutely had a hand in it. So did MLS. And while Berhalter has made some terrible roster choices, he's also very clearly supported our best players, and he's Reyna and Sargent the hell up; he recruited Dest. I'm one of his bigger defenders and I don't know if he'll shore up some of his more questionable points. But I just feel like most opinions start from an assumption that US Soccer / Berhalter sucks and then looks at the facts rather than the other way around. Like it or not, they do have positives. I think it feels like the dawn of a new era, too. But I'm much more optimistic about it. I'd much rather actually talk about all the talent. Enough meta from me.