I had to address this. It's somewhere between, but it's nowhere near the middle. I've never attributed 100% of anything to the players, so if anyone is strawmanning here, it's you. The problem is, if your idea is that it's anywhere near 50%, that's simply wrong. It's between the two, but it is far closer to the players. Only in the sports space could we think it illogical that the people playing the game and doing the work would have the overwhelming amount of impact on success or failure. I've personally pegged it at about 10-15%, which is more than enough to effect things but it is very suspicious when the ration of criticism is about 85-15% the other way.
I don't know how other countries do this, but how much does someone like Didier Deschamps really get involved - or even care - about the youth programs in France? To me, that seems more like what a general manager or an academy director would be responsible for doing. Given Matt Crocker's previous experience with the English FA, he should obviously have ideas on how the national federation should work with youth development. I'm guessing Southgate had some say in England's youth program given his background. But I just don't see people like Roberto Martinez and Antonio Conte (when he coached Italy) saying, "Yeah, how about that national youth development system?" That type of role seems to be more suited to a general manager role like the one McBride had.
The issue is that the number of meaningful results on which you can base that comparison is going to be too small over the next 2 years to make it significant. Unless people are about to start putting a ton of stock in the results of friendlies, which is ill-advised at best. Otherwise, what are we comparing against? A Gold Cup from 2021 that we won and Nations League, which we've also done nothing but win?
Crocker was hired off his experience with England. They had underachieved for years, but Crocker and Southgate and others developed and implemented an "England DNA" -- a standard of style of play and player skillsets for the national programs. Then they vertically integrated those programs so that a player moving from U15 onward up was playing similar styles of play, had similar but rising expectations, etc. The coaches worked together. Other programs may or may not do this, and the head coach may not be as involved in some. But it's worth noting that Crocker helped designed the program in England and had massive success -- and they did it that way.
I don't really think it possible to mount too strong of an argument against hiring Pochettino. I get that it's possible that he doesn't work out--maybe he's not committed enough, maybe he can't transition to the international game, maybe he can't do it without elite talent, etc. But, he's got the best CV of any USMNT coach ever by far, arguably the best CV of any coach currently coaching internationally (right there with Nagelsmann), and arguably the best CV out of any coach currently without a job who is interested in having a job (right there with Tuchel, assuming Klopp and Zidane don't want to coach right now). It's really impressive that Crocker pulled this off.
It was equally fun watching Katie Ledecky and Cole Hocker. In retrospect, there was no good reason to downplay Cole. Like he said, if you watched the season he was having you shouldn’t have been totally surprised. I don’t know what the difference is between what he did and the USMNT reaching the semifinals on home soil would be, but it doesn’t seem much different to me.
a temporary place in Atlanta (thinking 5 hours to LA and 6 hours to London - via first class) is probably just fine ... it also depends on having a happy wife/family ("happy wife - happy life").
Which is exactly why I have significant questions about how or even why the senior national team coach needs to be as involved with the youth programs as Berhalter supposedly was. The senior team job is hard enough without having that person needing to be a big part of the youth program. Sure, the senior coach can have discussions and advice on U20 and U23 players, and maybe you want to have a combined camp or two. But a senior team coach trying to be overly involved with the youth teams while underachieving with the senior team wouldn't seem to be helping anyone. I don't see Pochettino working hand in hand with Crocker on youth development, regardless of what did or didn't work in England. At the end of the day, the senior team's coach needs the first priority to be the success of the senior team.
‘After the 22 World Cup and the Reyna / Berhalter mess, I was on record as saying we needed a head coach / manager with the following qualifications: 1. Trophy or semifinal/final appearance in a major knockout tournament (CL/WC/Euro/Copa/Europa) 2. Success in major 5 European leagues. Title preferably. 3. System of play /identity 4. Competent in-game tactics I also advocated for a godfather offer for the coach/manager, at $10/15/20m a year. A lot of posters said it couldn’t be done and began circulating the same names. The USSF is broke, we can’t afford it, etc. We ended up re-hiring Berhalter, only for it to end in disaster. As you so rightly point out, we don’t know if this will work out and if he’ll actually improve the team and deliver results. Fine. But at the very least, we’ve given ourselves the best shot for a 2026 quarters or higher appearance. There are maybe just a handful of coaches with his pedigree and I find the nit-picking to be hilarious. At this point in the US soccer community, maybe three managers (Pep, Klopp, Ancelotti) would be universally welcomed with open arms, anyone else would have some amount of criticism haha. But I don’t think we could have asked for a more accomplished and reputable coach. Good for USSF, well done by Crocker, super stoked for the international break, and I’ve actually never uttered those words before.
It's mainly the players the manager is selecting and the culture he created, if you're: - losing at home to Panama, even down a man, after being spotted a lead - losing at T&T, even after being down a man - needing to be bailed by an own goal at the death at home v. Jamaica's B-team - losing at home by 4 against Colombia There's no pool or tactics that are bad enough to primarily explain that. But we see managers lose a team all the time and results fall off a cliff. Happens to a degree to every 2nd cycle manager here, w/ Klinsmann being the extreme of getting even worse outcomes than I mentioned. Then teams bring in a new manager and they get the famed new manager bump/honeymoon effect. Players compete harder, on average, for new managers they're trying to impress to earn their spots. While new managers, on average, don't come in w/ as many prejudices to play guys independent of their performances. This can happen to Poch too, if he sticks around too long. Then will it be that the player pool must suck and be worse than Panama & Jamaica, when a year or two earlier they were good enough to make the quarters of a home WC while out-playing a top 15 team or 2 & win every regional tourney. So the players suddenly regressed to 1980's levels, or he didn't turn the page on a few accordingly & the group as whole got complacent or alienated. Incidentally, I think it'll be best for both parties for this to be a project just thru 2026 (I'd be surprised if it wasn't). Then Poch can get another lucrative, big club gig. While the US can get a fresh manager that's a lot more affordable long-term.
Mancini is coaching Saudi Arabia, but Poch is probably #2 or 3? Edit: do we really expect significant roster selection changes compared to Copa? Who?
I am very sympathetic to sample size, and if one of our players is an idiot and gets a red card or we get a shitty draw, I will adjust much as I would with any coach. But between Nations League, an expanded Gold Cup and the World Cup, we're going to have 10+ competitive matches with the A team. I don't think it is insane to expect objective improvement, especially since we've clearly taken a step back during this summer compared to even where Berhalter had us at the end of the first cycle. That's three chances to prove out. You can't out-result Nations League, but you can out-style -- the close tie against T&T and the close match against Jamaica caused much hand-wringing. We could avoid that. We'll have to see the teams and draw at the expanded Gold Cup, but surely that performance SHOULD outdo Copa, right? I mean, we may not get a Uruguay, but we lost to Panama. And the World Cup -- quarters are a possibility, especially at home and with 4 more years of player development and movement past the lost generation. I don't think to be a success he has to do all three, but certainly we should some improvement given player aging, the low baseline of Copa and a home World Cup? Either this is a material upgrade or it's not. I'm not a Berhalter hater and I think it's likely a material upgrade. I'm curious as to why everyone else seems so hesitant. If I had to bet, I'd put money on 2 of 3 of those tests showing material improvement, with the GC/Copa divide a clear easy win right now.
I take the third option: Berhalter was doing well, the players gave their all. It's on the fans for inflating a bunch of promising kids who are still mediocre for the most part into a "Golden Generation" just because American money is flooding Euro soccer and big clubs are getting many Americans who don't really belong there yet.
Yeah, I think I used the phrase "2nd cycle malaise" to try to capture what it felt like in Berhalter's second stint. We just seemed kinda stagnant and complacent...able to get up to beat Mexico (which is still always nice), but struggling to have intensity against lesser teams or level up to seriously challenge better teams. I don't think that means Berhalter is a terrible coach. I think he's still an ok coach, and it won't surprise me if he has a good run in MLS the next few years. But he just wasn't the right coach for the moment. We'll never know now, but I think even a more or less lateral move to someone like Cherundolo or Vieira would have seen the team pick things up a bit just from having a new boss and a new style.
There's some difference. Cole was one of the people favored for the bronze, and he's routinely rated in the Top 5 in that event and often he's listed third. I get the idea that the semis are not winning the race, and so Top 20 --> Top 4 might be comparable to Top 5 --> Top 1 ... but I think the US is a bigger longshot -- especially since it's over more than one "race." I'm all for it, though. I think the US will likely have to win 2 games they aren't favored in to win and that's totally possible. With the right draw, it might be only one game. In that case, the Hocker example is probably a good one -- certainly he was less than a 30% chance to win before hand. With a bad draw, it might be three.
Yeah, I was thinking too that if Crocker wants him somewhat involved with the YNTs, it's not that hard to fly over for the infrequent U-20 and U-17 camps and then have Zoom meetings with YNT coaches outside of that. The "must live in Chicago" thing always seemed weird for today's world.
It is a 2 way relationship. Most managers have input into the players they need to play the scheme they want to play. Some managers have quit when the SD does not get the type of players they need. Some SD's have been fired for not aligning with managers.
Its interesting that you mention those guys because when I think of them, I can't shake the fact that they didn't seem entirely serious about the programs, and could that be an issue with Poch? I imagine not, since we'll be hosting the tourney, and they don't want to face plant in it. With Tata, I just got a Ron Rivera vibe of being too good for the gig, and for just not giving a ---- to be honest. He was making blatantly obvious stupid decisions about WC rosters for instance (leaving Santi at home was just clinically insane). Sven was similar, I just sensed that the guy thought he was hot ----, and El Tri were beneath him. Just a vibe, I could be wrong. I wonder with some guys, if they think they're too good for the gig? There is a risk of that here, but I wonder if its just 22 months or whatever, is that gonna make him more serious or less? Not sure. Hopefully he isn't a Sven, or Tata, I was shocked by how "blah" Tata was w/them.
It's more than a vibe, Tata literally tried to quit in September (?) of '22, and given the timing, the FMF wouldn't release him or convinced him to stay. When he was hired. I noted that he had stayed in a job for four years only once, and I think that was Argentina. The guy has constant wanderlust.
Probably as simple as they thought Berhalter did enough things right to deserve the Copa America opportunity.
Apparently not a popular opinion: Berhalter was a horrible international manager. Pocch iis at least a very good manager. This is a massive leap forward. It will be interesting to see how he deals with the sht show that is Hack-a-Calf. But, ultimately, that is meaningless. We've dominated Mex. Been there, done that. The upcoming WC is wayyyyyy more important than any Gold Cup. Way.
That’s where Poch comes in for me (despite knowing very little about managers)….he gives us a chance to run a PR at the right time. Players need to run it, though, and somebody needs to open up that lane on the inside for us.