it's interesting seeing his reputation is defensive with the USMNT. with the crew it was for being too attacking and not defensive enough.
Not shocking in the least. He's a company man, the company is happy and he's keeping his job. The idea he was going to get such good offers he'd leave this gig always sounded suspect to me. He wasn't about to quit the US team to go back to MS or take a job in some European second division, which was far more likely the type of offers he'd get than a Premier League gig or something more substantial.
If they extend Gregg so be it. He's gotta be willing to adapt. But I still think it's too early to commit either way
There seem to be some assumptions that USSF opening up contract negotiations with Berhalter means that he's a shoo in for the whole cycle. They could just as easily be negotiating a short-term contract, and it's entirely possible that he might want to get a job at a club somewhere in Europe.
I'd prefer a different coach, and I'd hope (perhaps vainly) that the USSF would actually explore who might be available before re-upping Berhalter, but I can see an argument for keeping him: 1) If American coaches in MLS are the only viable alternatives, there is a risk making a change just for change's sake. Guys like Schmetzer and Curtin basically have no experience internationally as players or coaches. Not that they couldn't be good, but it would be reasonable to expect a pretty big learning curve, and they presumably wouldn't have many competitive games against good teams to get things figured out. 2) Berhalter does now have the track record of getting out of the group at the WC. It's easy to imagine McBride and Stewart thinking that if he has more or less the same core in 2026, plus better depth and a better striker situation, it's reasonable to think that he can get the team to the quarterfinals at least. Can you really have a higher expectation from another coach you bring in?
Well, usually you open contract negotiations with someone you are going to hire. And I don't think they are likely to tell a guy, yeah we're super happy and you met your goals and we want to extend you but only for 6 months because maybe we can do better down the road. I guess that could happen but I'd find it unlikely.
I mean.................."preliminary talks" taking place means nothing. That can just be a guy from the USSF calling Berhalter to gauge status moving forward. That tweet is also 3rd hand information from an "aspiring sports journalist." So.....................somebody from the US (unknown) told Doug McIntyre something that's being tweeted out by this guy. OK.......................
There's always the chance of a bit of telephone here on the sourcing. They were always going to meet, but this makes it sound like "we're haggling on a price" but the actual situation of the meeting could be more of a cooperative sort of "what path do each of us want forward?" Whoever we hire, including Berhalter, I'd be asking for a detailed plan. Berhalter clearly has inside scoop, but even outside people can evaluate players, evaluate the situation and talk about how to get from A to B. Maybe all these has happened with Berhalter and they are really ready to sign. Maybe none of it happened and Earnie is lazy. Maybe Earnie made the plan and Berhalter is just executing. All could be true.
The point is our next coach should know what an international-class player actually looks like so we don't waste time and can build international-level dept. Look at the history: Selecting Trapp over Acosta. Sending Acosta home from the January camp and never featuring Canouse who along with Adams were the best #6 in MLS in 2018. Selecting Trapp over Adams and moving Adams to RB. Adams, Canouse, and Trapp all played in MLS in 2018 so their relative qualities were crystal clear. Selecting Lima over Cannon and not giving Cannon a single minute is the same camp. Note that Cannon was not even on the original Gold Cup 23 and was a late replacement at RB for Adams who was injured. Selecting Lovit over Jedi, to this day that one is as bizarre as trapp over Adams at DM. Doubling down on Yueill after it became embarrassingly clear that Trapp was not international quality. Bringing Lletget to a Euro camp to play striker while not even calling in Haji Wright. Selecting Lletget over Musah at Nations League, another major headscratcher after we saw Musah's ability in his debut earlier that year. The point is that none of those selections are particularly close choices. it is not like next cycle where they may be legitimate debate over Weah vs Aaronson vs Reyna vs Pulisic vs Parades (if explodes at Wolfsburg) vs Paxten (if explodes at Frankfurt),... Trapp over Adams, Lovitz over Jedi, and Lletget over Musah is selection incompetence that results in the fanbase complaining of biases.
This is my personal favorite as something that was "not a particularly close" choice. At the point this camp roster was announced, Haji was like five games into his Danish season, having done literally nothing the prior year. I always love when people try to recast the past. It was a camp where we were restarting from COVID. We were calling in an absurd amount of new players -- Reyna, Musah, etc. Sargent got pulled from camp (I think COVID restrictions) like three days before camp started and Pulisic I believe got injured as well. I am shocked we grabbed someone with some veteran aspect able to fly on last minute notice to the match instead of a guy who had just started playing in Denmark and had not scored a goal in the Eredivisie the year before. It doesn't matter who the coach is -- if you don't even try to reason the decisions behind it, and you fudge the details, you can continue to make dumb criticisms.
Yes. It’s a full four years away. Why would anyone set our ceiling so low….ever, let alone this early.
I don't the rep is so much defensive as it is, after 4 years, GB does not know how to create a scheme that consistently puts our pool in positions that creates offense. "We are going to use the ball to unbalance our opponents and create scoring chances" sounds great but it is similar to saying we are going to use words to write great works of literature. After 4 years we have not seen the great works of literature and I don't see it happening until we put in a scheme that leverages our player pool.
Well, if it makes you feel any better, Berhalter talked about putting Gio in the midfield but then he got hurt again. If Berhalter gets hired, I don't know if it happens, but we've run the 4231 and we've put Aaronson in the midfield. I suspect a healthy Gio gets a look.
One person you can be sure has higher ambitions than that is Gregg Berhalter. But slaying the Eurosnobs and defending the forces of Truth and Justice on the internet for one more day means loudly protesting that getting out of the group presents a successful "track record".
We'll never know for sure how it goes down, but I would be fairly surprised if this wasn't basically the plan all along. As long as nothing horrible happened the plan was Berhalter through 2026 from the time he was hired if not before since we all know the first "search" was barely that if at all. There was not some top-secret search that happened the first time around and I don't think for a second they honestly considered other options for 2026. I've said before, I think we overstate how much difference a coach makes but it's still disappointing to see the organization work this way and personally I'd enjoy at least a different flavor even if the results are likely to largely stay the same based on the player pool.
The question isn't, did G have some success this cycle and do an ok job. He did. Some good, some bad. Real questions about use of our player pool. The question is, did he do well enough that he should be considered the best option this coming cycle and that we shouldn't open up a substantial search for a replacement/alternative. The answer to that is a resounding, no. If in back to back cycles our Fed considers G the top option and doesn't do a serious search in either cycle, it's a charade.
We need n average midfielder veteran aspect at a fringe Euro camp to play striker but we can start Haji at a WC? It was a fringe Euro camp, See Niko and Soto 2 actual strikers who each scored 2 Gs the nest match. Haji Wright was an actual striker who was off to a hot start (6Gs in his first 8M). Lletget was not and would never be a striker. This was all debated in the GB coaching thread so already recorded for posterity. Much like your strange defense of Trapp over Adams, Lovitz over Jedi and Lletget over Musah, it was moronic then and is doubly so now.
Yeah, it's possible. I was less bothered by others with the Berhalter hire because I understood a lot of the reasonings in the context of where we were. While others think pure corruption or MLS influence, I honestly think that it was a completely different conversation. The goal an objective was to build a program, and Jurgen scared them off the idea that you could have someone not completely committed. Berhalter was a good MLS coach, is a good organization builder, is hard working, detail oriented and organized. He's the anti-Klinsmann and for an organization interested in things like "building a style of play" and aligning the youth teams as well as integrating a new generation and healing a lot of wounds of Couva ... it wasn't the worst hire. People wanting a superstar foreign coach who jetted in for camps ... that was never anything Earnie wanted. And while I share many concerns with Earnie's Dutch-focused style of play direction, Berhalter represented someone Earnie would hire but still be pragmatic when it mattered. Not a home run hire, but I absolutely understand the hire. And US soccer is gunshy from JK, I am sure. I think people miss that Earnie views things in program terms, not immediate national team goals. And Berhalter was hired for that. This hiring decision is some of the same but the urgency for results in 2026 has to be increased. That's the question for me. I don't have nearly the concerns with Berhalter others do, and I do think he can learn. But there needs to be a solution on offense and set pieces. I don't think we're as far on offense as people think ... but it's absolutely a gap and the question is has he learned the right lessons. The other one is simply ... I think 7 years is too long. I'm very worried about that unless Berhalter really redefines himself and the team.
Ummm, that camp callup was not 8 matches in. Lletget over Musah for nations league is similar... it's not hard to see the reasons, but you are locked in!