Next Coach

Berhalter said today the semifinal is the goal.

I don't see how you can 1-0 your way there.

 

well, you could ask spain or france.

...unless you meant "how you (berhalter) can". cause no, he totally couldnt.

 

Interesting!
Intriguing, even.

 

No need to be that good. we can just 1-1 our way there like Croatia did this time.

 

True. I don't want Marsch anyway, because he is a system guy, but I think he's more flexible than Berhalter. On the other hand, he is a fabulous motivator and doesn't seem to hold grudges (Klinsmann, Berhalter).

 

Fair enough. My analysis was missing. First I took a realistic look at who the USA would want and could get. Scratch Zidane, Mourinho, Ancelotti, Klopp, Van Gaal, etc. Who's left? Marsch, Herdman, Bento, Gareca. Marsch is out, because he wouldn't take the job. Herdman was shown to not be up to the task. Gareca is too old. That leaves Bento. So what's attractive about him? I think he'll let the players play. Express themselves. Not shove a Columbus Crew system down their throats. Finally, Bento's progressive build-up play that he directed at South Korea mirrors the positive aspects of Berhalter's tenure.

 

There's plenty of reason to believe that this very young team might get different results in 3.5 years. I'm still skeptical of Berhalter making as much improvement as I think he needs to make (or, at least, that I'd like for him to make)--if he's retained--but that doesn't preclude the team from looking better, playing better and getting better results.

 

Thanks for finding that! Two exerpts that I thought some would find similar to recent USMNT history:

"The last four years have been very important. The football the manager wanted to play, us players had never once doubted him despite many others doing so." --Son Heung-min


"I'm so thankful. A lot has been said on the outside. 'Why are you playing Hwang In-beom, what on earth do you see in this player? Do you have personal connections?' When I heard this kind of talk, if I was a manager I would have been affected by that. But no matter what he always believed in me. Because of him, I have even bigger dreams ahead of me and..."

Reportedly, Hwang In-beom was unable to finish his sentence due to his emotions.

The former Daejeon midfielder made his debut under Bento in that September 2018 friendly against Costa Rica in Goyang. Hwang came off the bench on that occasion and did so in the next match but he soon became a regular and known as Bento's 'hwangtaeja' or the 'Crown Prince of Bento.'

He was a key part of Bento's system in that number six position.



From these comments (and they were the only two players quoted), it sounds like people outside the team didn't like the way Bento was trying to play, and that there was widespread disagreement with his decision to use Hwang In-beom, who apparently earned the moniker "Crown Prince of Bento", but the players believed in what he was doing--and he stuck to his guns despite what sounds like heavy outside criticism.

 

I don't think Gareca is too old (64) and I love how he had Peru playing. He got them qualified for the first time since my birth, and nearly again. I think he should be in the discussion. I agree with all your scratches--all those guys are highly, highly unlikely to take the job (and I'd be terrified if Mourinho did).

I'm not convinced of Marsch, even if he was available and wanted the job now. There have been a lot of complaints around here about his tactical rigidity, inopportune subs and lack of a plan B--sound familiar?

Berhalter didn't use "a Columbus Crew system", for what it's worth.

 

Why do you do this shit all the time? Who gives a shit that some dude named "Craig Walters" likes Berhalter and also retweets some catfishing account?

Keep it on twitter.

 

🚨 EXCL: Roberto Martinez has reached verbal agreement to become Portugal coach. Appointment as Fernando Santos successor likely to be finalised towards end of next week. 49yo Spaniard has had club + int’l interest since leaving Belgium role @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/8sC6PhvdC3

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) January 7, 2023

Can't say I'm the least bit upset to see this guy come off the list of potential next USMNT managers.

 

Gareca will be 68 at the next World Cup. That's 2 years older than when Bruce Arena had his Couva disaster. Gareca is good at setting up his defense. I just don't think he'll have the energy at 68 to keep up with the demands of the modern game. The USA is ahead of Peru and will be beyond any system that Gareca can put together by 2026. The USA will be an attacking team.

Berhalter started with the Crew system and evolved from there. 2021 was the Year of the Zardes. Jesse Marsch I'm not convinced about, so I'm glad he's not available.

 

Some similarities in the possession emphasis, but Columbus never played with a single pivot. That is a really big difference.

 

I don't know enough about Gareca to argue further about him. I looked through a list of 2022 WC coaches and there were only 3 that were as old or older than Gareca will be in '26. They were the coaches of Netherlands, Portugal and Iran.

I should note that the article that I looked at listed Tata Martino as being 44, when he's actually 60, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of the rest of the coaches on that list.

EDIT: I found another list. If you look at this list it seems like the sweet spot is 45-55 (20 of 32 are in this decade of age), though the results for the 3 oldest guys also weren't bad.

 

I mean, Spain 1-0'd their way to a title.

But I'd imagine, crazy as it might be, that Berhalter and the team might try to improve over the next 3.5 years.

 

Ironic that he was pillored for being personally biased towards an MLS player while coaching South Korea!

 

Looking at the elo Top-10, NT coaching appears to be fairly prestigious.

1. Argentina: Scoloni--Strong La Liga playing career. La Liga assistant for one year with Sevilla. They finished 4th to qualify for UCL.
2. Brazil: Tite--2 League titles. A Club World Cup title
3. France: Deschamps--World Cup winner as a player. As a manager--Ligue 1 title, UCL runner-up, Ligue 1 Manager of the Year
4. Netherlands: van Gaal---7 league titles across La Liga and the Eredivisie.
1 UCL title. 2 UCL runner-ups
5.Portugal: Santos--1 league title. 4-times league manager of the year. Also voted league manager of the decade
6. Spain: Enrique--2 league titles. 1 Club World Cup title. 2 UCL titles. League Manager of the Year
7. Italy: Mancini--4 league titles. League manager of the year
8. England: Southgate--nothing
9. Germany: Flick-- 2 league titles. 1 UCL title. 1 Club World Cup title. League manager of year.
10. Croatia: Dalic--not much

 

I dunno. I know a lot of people don't like Martinez, but I don't really get the hate. The expectation of winning a World Cup or a Euro for Belgium, even with a Golden Generation is a bit too high of a bar to set for even a minimal count of success.

They qualified quickly in UEFA, won all their group games, beat Brazil and only lost to France in the World Cup. They were the only team to really scare France -- they technically finished third but were the second best team there. They won every game -- beating Brazil and England twice -- and only lost to France 1-0. People call that a failure.

In the 2020 Euros, they won three games in the groups stages, beat Portugal and then only lost 2-1 against Italy ... which won.

In 2022, the team got old, and there was drama, and so that wasn't great. They still only didn't make it out of the group because Lukaku choked on goal. That was a failure.

But 2018 and 2020 were not.

I know his club career has its ups and downs -- for example, he coached Everton's best year in however long. But this is a national team job, and he knows that. And his style of coaching would sync in fairly well with what we've built.

We're going to be able to pick apart any coach's resume ... because those with unimpeachable resumes aren't coming here.

I'm a bit bummed he's gone, but if you are choosing between Portugal and the US, they definitely have more talent, plus he's Spanish, so the commute is nice.

 

To start, could we maybe find a coach who is a threat to score two goals in a game?

is that asking too much?

 

Mostly downs. Let's start with Wigan. In the 4 PL seasons prior to him taking over Wigan finished 10th, 17th, 14th and 11th. In Roberto's 4 seasons they finished 16th, 15th, 15th and 18th (relegated). Martinez couldn't manage a better finish at Wigan than Paul Jewell or the much derided Steve Bruce! At Everton in the 3 seasons prior to him taking over they finished 7th, 7th and 6th. In Roberto's 3 seasons they were 5th, 11th and 11th...and once he was gone they'd go on to finish 7th, 8th and 8th. In his last two seasons at Everton his 47 points (both years) were the lowest points total for Everton over a 17 year period (it wasn't until last seasons shambles they managed worse).

As for his Belgium career, we've gone back and forth on this before. You're far more impressed with him basically holding serve in 2018 than I am. I've seen nothing in the rest of his top flight coaching career to suggest that that result in 2018 was anything more than a one off product of some combination of exceptional talent (he had at least the 2nd best squad in the tournament) and good fortune (and speaking of fortune, Belgium needed an injury time goal to escape the Rd of 16 in that tournament after going down 2-0 to Japan). He got through a very weak group in the 2020 Euros and lost in the quarters to a weaker Italian side and of course the less said about WC 2022 the better. While you MAY get a short stretch of improved results with Roberto, those will quickly fade and you'll be worse off than before you hired him.*

*Relatedly, I recall Susaeta (when he was posting here) saying that Roberto's style could pretty quickly grate on players.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=joa...j0i10i512l7.3831j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

You may be right about Martinez in general, but you are downplaying his run with Belgium. Finishing second in the World Cup isn't "holding serve." They did need to come back against Japan, but they won, and won every game except that loss to France.

From my point of view, I don't think we can actually get someone with a better World Cup under their belt. The world basically agrees on Pep and Klopp and that's about it.

I'd have taken him.

 

Yeah, I think that if Belgium swapped brackets with England in 2018 and 2020, Belgium would have made the finals in both. Maybe they still lose to France and Italy there, but the perception would be different. Those Belgium teams were playing very well and just had the bad luck to get matched up against the eventual winners, who were obviously playing even better, before the final.

So yeah, he might not have been my dream hire, but I do think Martinez would have been a good option for the US.

 

Conversely, he’s three good weeks from being cemented as a top notch Euro level coach. A four year stint with the USMNT doesn’t move the needle much for his long term coaching career. He’s a young dude.

 

I agree, Croatia did not hold serve in 2018...

Look, like I've said before given the talent he had at his disposal over the last three tournaments it would have taken a lot of work NOT to get to a semifinal at some point. I think there are plenty of managers out there (not named Klopp or Pep) who have done more impressive jobs with lesser talent than Martinez did with Belgium. I'd like the US to hire one who actually made a team better/led a team to better than expected results. Not one whose teams have regularly underachieved and gotten worse during his tenure.