I do think Marsch’s system is a good fit for the current player pool. And while he hasn’t showed it with Leeds, his teams have historically been very good on set pieces (probably the biggest thing this team needs to improve on). More broadly, in terms of American coaches, Marsch and Matarazzo are the only ones I rate at the level that it’s even worth making a change. I’d rather just role with Berhalter for another cycle than hire Cherundolo, Curtin, Wolff, or any of the MLS candidates. I don’t know that they are a clear upgrade over Berhalter. I’m open to a foreign coach, but who knows what that option even looks like.
As I recall, Neven Subotic had a problem with Thomas Rongen in the US youth teams so he decided on Serbia. Looking him up, he has been out of the game since he turned 32 so not sure what he is doing now. Giuseppe Rossi had aspirations to play for Roberto Donadoni right after Italy won the World Cup in 2006 and also when Marcello Lippi was rehired from 2008-2010.
I do feel like our goal for 2026 is basically be Croatia at the 2018 World Cup, a team with a couple elite guys surrounded by a lot of solid pieces and no real weak links. The pool is progressing nicely, but it doesn’t seem that by 2026 we’ll have a team like a France or Brazil where we have multiple World Class guys and the whole rostered filled with guys playing for top 4 clubs in top 5 leagues. But Croatia made it all the way to the final and that caliber of team, playing at home, with a favorable draw, and a little luck could definitely do so too.
Outstanding idea. We still gonna suck, but woke crowd would be ecstatic. The first page NYT guaranteed.
Right now. I'm just not sure it's a tournament style, and I'm just not sure it's the style for four years from now. And I'm not sure he'll adjust even as much as Berhalter did. Hence the questions. I would default to a change of coach. It's a risk, but I think the risk of stagnation is large. I saw your other post -- but I don't think the aging is the issue with second cycle. Alex Ferguson used to switch up United expressly because the motivation angles simply got old. He had to go or they did. Berhalter's not firey, so there's a chance he sticks, but at some point, do they get bored? Does Berhalter? Fresh eyes can have huge value. New ideas. New excitement. I think there can be real value inherent in change of leadership. It definitely can come with risk. I think Berhalter overall did a lot of things right and we're definitely not guaranteed an upgrade. But I'm not sure Berhalter 2.0 = Berhalter 1.0. I like that he's a learning, but the inherent aspects of second cycle might be that the default is that Berhalter 1.0 > Berhalter 2.0.
I agree as far as whether Marsch's style is appropriate for tournament. Tough to press all of the time and have the energy reserves to go deep in a tournament.
I think we need to be prepared to not have a Modric and to not have a Mandzukic/Kramaric at striker. Because there's almost zero chance we have that. I know there's a lot of hype on Reyna ... but that expectation is just too much. And I am hopeful we get an upgraded striker, but the the experience of Mandzukic ... yeah. Our midfield will be good -- but their midfielders were Barca, Real, Real, and Inter Milan. And they played, and Modric won the Ballon D'or. Yes, this was somewhat chicken and the egg, but let's be real. We're going to have to vastly improve through depth, experience and improvement. If we improve depth, have a couple of players make something of a leap, and play well, execute, we can make a run. But Croatia's high end talent is likely to be superior. I think we can swing better depth.
That is so much fantasy speculation that I am not sure there is any discussion to be had but I am sure he Jose would change many things.
You may get your wish as I'm listening to Italian radio right now and they are saying Mourinho could be fired at Roma.
Jesse has experience as a USMNT assistant coach under BB. He has had head stints at NY, Salzburg, RBL and now Leeds and his style has been very different at all those stops but he is certainly from the Klopp "Heavy Metal" school as opposed to the Pep "Classical Music" school, using Klopp's terminology. Our current and projected future pool will be IMO much more suited to a high tempo transition-based system.
I was so disappointed they chose not to play for the USA. Both were needed and would have been very good players for the US. We could have definitely used Rossi to combine with Donovan and Dempsey too. The forwards that year were Jozy, Hercules, Buddle and someone else I can't remember and dont' feel like looking up.
Reyna is the one who really needs to hit in terms of being an elite player. And that’s no sure thing, but is sort of the best case scenario in terms of how his career plays out. And we probably won’t have a striker at the level of Mandzukic, but we definitely can upgrade at striker and make up the difference elsewhere. Adams and Musah would definitely need to move up club wise to elite clubs and McKennie needs to establish himself as a regular starter wherever he goes next (likely Tottenham). And Pulisic needs to get in a situation where he’s playing regularly. We’re not likely to have a player of Modric’s caliber as very few of those guys exist, but I think the team overall can be roughly the caliber that Croatia was in 2018.
How about this? How about the US hires the best coach they can possibly get and we can all watch and at least know they were put in the best position to utilize their talents and make them the best they can be? I'd be happy with that. I'd love to see that in my lifetime. But the US Soccer Federation doesn't inspire confidence that they'll hire that coach, but rather I fear it'll be so ho hum guy that is cheap and is one of the "guys". I hope they prove me wrong.
Yeah I'm not sure if the the results will have changed that much but including those two in the squad could have improved the level of play at that time.
I’ve long thought that if we were to try to emulate any country’s general style, it should be Italy’s. Compact defense, quick transitions, good set piece play. I’m not a big fan of pressing in summer tournaments, and I think we saw some of those issues in Qatar. It should be in the tool kit, buts not what I think we should be built on. I don’t know who exactly should be hired, but I feel strongly that they need to have a strong record with man management, familiarity with and respect for American soccer, and hopefully good at the things I mentioned.
Not just that. He never wanted to play for us, Germany was his top choice, then Serbia. Still someone like GB would have had a chance, but not Rongen who had no clue about either defenders or communications.
Croatia hit it with 2-3 elite guys. Reyna, Pulisic, Aaronson, Musah, Mckennie, Adams, Dest, Weah and Jedi can all get a lot better over the next 4 years (not saying they will get Modric level) and they are all really young. Damn, McKennie will only be 27 and he's the 2nd oldest of that group. There's a solid, talented core there that we will add to over the next couple years.
I feel like at a club you definitely have to change things up. Hence Sir Alex always doing so every few years and that the longest Pep has been at any club is the 6 years he’s been at Man City. But I think that matters less at the international level as there’s just way less of the day to day interaction. I do think there’s a learning curve to bring an international coach. And Berhalter both learned a ton, but also showed a willingness to adapt and be more pragmatic when needed. Both of those are very valuable qualities in a manager to me. I’m also just concerned that some of the domestic names being thrown around won’t be an upgrade or aren’t quite ready yet (Cherundolo). If you look at what went wrong in 2006, was it that things got stale or was it that we got old/had injuries. Guys like John O’Brien, Clint Mathis, and Cory Gibbs who should have been playing key roles just weren’t able to. Eddie Pope fell off hard that World Cup and wasn’t the same player. We brought Berhalter at center back because we had no one else. We were still extremely reliant on a 33 year old McBride at striker. Claudio Reyna was just not the same player he was 4 years before. I think Arena had a much worse team than he did 4 years prior. Similarly in 2018 the biggest issue was the pool got old and the next generation didn’t really come through (though I think Klinsmann wasn’t really a great coach to begin with). I guess I don’t see those dynamics present in 2026. The other thing about Berhalter, there has been so much talk about how he wouldn’t be willing to get rid of guys who are perceived as his favorites, but he has actually fairly ruthless in this regard when warranted. This is also a very good quality to have if you’re taking on a second cycle. Now I think there are other factors to consider as to whether to bring him back or not. I just don’t think the second cycle thing is one of them.
Rossi's father was a super Italy fan and instilled that in his son from the moment he was a zygote. No chance there for Arena or Bradley. Maybe Berhalter and today's group of players would have gotten him to reconsider. Just want to correct the dates, I think it was 2002 for Rossi, and 2006 for Subotic. In any case it was the 2002-2010 era.
I'm not saying we can't make a run at all... but this discussion is kind of what I mean where I think we just inherently look on the sunny side. I hope Reyna becomes an elite player by 23, but let's just take Modric off the table. I think we're also not likely looking at a Modric-Rakitic-Kovacic midfield, though we could do pretty damn well. We'll also be generally still younger and less savvy; I think compared to 2018 Croatia their experience and composure are an edge. Where we might have an edge is the depth across the board, although their CBs were pretty good IIRC. We'll have HFA. So yeah, we can make a run. But this just where I think sometimes we look at our talent, but we kind of miss how talented some of these teams are when they make a run. The most intriguing thing to me is that it's definitely a weak link sport -- there's a multiplication when talented players play together. If we had a great striker next to CP, the result isn't CP+striker -- they make each other better. So I do think our shot at a real run rests heavily on not having weak links, plus some regular improvement. Maybe Reyna becomes elite; maybe not, after all, look at whatever happened to Jadon Sancho. But he'll be very good if he stays healthy. Give me a striker and a left back who can pass, and a CB pairing who doesn't need to be defended as much as we could be relatively cooking.
I believe Giuseppe Rossi moved back to Parma from New Jersey at 12 and played for their youth team. He played with the Italian youth and Olympic teams from 2003-2008. Italy just won the World Cup in 2006 and so when they came calling, he jumped. I can't say that I blame him for picking Italy.