Next Coach

Would have been better than Gregg. People in this thread are bringing up his short comings and rightfully so. Having said that, his failures have all come on a stage Gregg will never come close to reaching. There is no perfect manager out there. But there are better ones then we’ve had or talk about having (American only approach).

It’s too bad that their golden gen never got over the hump. He’s gonna have a chance with Portugal now and CR7 and Pepe should be done. So it’s officially a new leaf for them. Will be interesting to see if he can do it there.

 

Gio broke the trust of his teammates one time. He apologized and they’ve moved on. The same is true of Weston and likely many others. The staff is an entirely different situation.

 

Zinedine Zidane has reportedly rejected an offer to coach the USMNT, per @lequipe.

He does not want to coach a national team unless it's France. pic.twitter.com/Uiq31w6f0V

— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) January 7, 2023

 

Lequipe isn't always most reliable but if true good on US for reaching out.

Fabrizio did mention on In Soccer We Trust that US is gaging interest with European coaches. And again, I appreciate the attempt but Zidane basically wants either the France or PSG jobs. He's never really showed interest in any other jobs

 

His head looks like an egg so I would’ve had a hilarious nickname for him.

 

I imagine it wasn’t an offer but that USSF was reaching out to see if he’d be interested in talking to them about the job. Which is exactly what they should be doing while they consider Berhalter’s future. Best to know what your options are before you make a decision.

 

Me, too. There have been a handful of names thrown out here but I haven't seen much focus on analysis in terms of "did you get better than expected results?"

I'll briefly go through names that I remember people putting forth with any sincerity:

An argument could be made for Steve Cherundolo in this regard (and his is probably the only name submitted here where that's been addressed). LAFC finished in 12th and then 17th league-wide in the two seasons prior to his arrival. They won the Supporter's Shield and MLS Cup in his first, and only, year.

Gareca? I'd say he definitely beat expectations (with Peru, anyway--I have no idea about his other career stops).

Jim Curtin has been suggested (though not with any serious backers up to now). I think he's done better than expected, but the whole Philly org has done really well during his tenure--hard to know how much is him and how much is the whole club. Philly is the only club he's ever coached, so we lack contrasting examples.

Paolo Bento:

• First gig was at Sporting CP--in the 6 seasons before he took over they finished 1st, 3rd, 1st, 3rd, 3rd, 3rd. They finished 2nd in each of his seasons. He resigned during his 5th season when Sporting was in 7th place.
  
• Next he coached Portugal: there are lots of different numbers you can look at, but none of them indicate that he made an improvement. Portugal has finished higher in the 2 WCs prior and the 2 since his term.
  
• Next was Cruzeiro, where he lasted 2.5 months before resigning.
  
• Then on to Olympiacos, who had finished 1st in the league the prior 4 seasons and 11 of the prior 12. He was fired before the end of the season with the team in first place but having lost 3 in a row and with him complaining that he had a weak roster.
• Chongqing Lifan was next stop: I'm not sure how the seasons work in China, but he was fired for poor performance after less than 8 months in charge
• Last stop: South Korea. As I commented up thread, his players liked him and believed in him throughout his 4 years. The public apparently did not like how he was trying to play, nor did they like his reliance on Hwang In-beom (who garnered the nickname "Crown Prince of Bento"). They lost in the quarterfinal of the AFC Asian Cup 2019 under him, having been runners-up in 2015 and 3rd place in 2011. They've participated in every WC since '86 and have gone out in the group stage in all but 3: finished 4th in 2002, lost in round of 16 in 2010, and lost again in round of 16 in 2022 under him.

I've already spent well over an hour on this so I'm not going to continue (for now, anyway).

 

Looks like the search committee is getting the high hanging fruit off the board for starters. Makes sense.

I think I'm not the only one who thinks the USMNT needs tactical awareness and flexibility for the 2026 cycle. I had suggested we might want to try 3 in the back early in the 2022 cycle but didn't get much joy. It is certain that aspirational players in the back or in mid may be benched for games in favor of tactical flexibility. Can the Twitter dictatorship take that? We'll see if we do hire a tactically minded manager for 2026. I doubt it personally. Most managers of national teams take the easy way out. That's probably why foreign managers don't win World Cups. They don't feel they have the authority to upset the national apple cart (present job) or the soccer meritocracy (future job).

The Athletic had a good article on the difference between 2 and 3 in the back some time ago. The gist of it was that different backs like different systems. Some just don't play well with 3 in the back. What happens when the next manager plays 3 cb's from mls over guys in Ligue 1 and the Belgian league and the Prem and drops an MMA midfielder to make room? Does he get fired?

 

I hope this is true. If so, then we can all rest assured that USSF doesn't have Anthony Hudson in mind for the full-time job.

 

Pochettino would be the next of the high hanging fruit.

 

I'm amused by so many on the Twitter verse who are laughing that US even reached out to Zidane. I mean he was never gonna be interested but still worth asking.

 

In life I never fault anyone for trying and aiming for the top.

Fear of failure plagues the average person.

If this report is true, bravo.

 

So random accounts that bash Gregg and say dumb things: important, worth mocking
Random accounts that support Gregg: irrelevant

 

Yup.

Also:

 

I like Tac more than most because he doesn't take himself serious on Twitter (though there are narratives he and Pete tend to get in front of that I think they need to reel in a bit) but I do agree that Herv Renard would be someone worth looking at

 

It's always a zero sum game for them. If US asks Zidane then it's because they say he'll turn them down and they are "forced" to rehire Berhalter. If they don't ask it shows a lack of ambition. Always make someone give you actual names they think can do it so you get a chance to see them put their own rep on the line instead of always being negative after.

 

He put an actual name out there. Means he has skin in the game and can criticize others who put names out there. My two for the moment are Low and Matterazzo.

 

There are some people on twitter whose opinions are worth sharing here. Journalists, professional pundits, people that have wide audiences among them. People who aren't in those groups but who have first-hand information about something relevant. Tweets from completely random nobodies don't belong here. They can join this site and post for themselves if they'd like. Until then, I don't I care about their opinions, and even less about their off-topic retweets.

 

If they’ve reached out to Zidane to gauge interest, they’ve almost certainly reached out to Pochettino too.

We probably won’t get it, but it’d be nice if the Athletic or someone else can do a tick tok of the coaching search once it’s all over.

 

Really similar to downplaying peoples opinions because they are not facts but putting out your own opinions that arent facts. Internet.

 

According to French outlet @lequipe, Zinedine Zidane has rejected an offer to become manager of the USMNT.

L’Equipe also reports Zidane turned down Brazil and Portugal as well. Zidane won three Champions Leagues + two La Ligas as manager of Real Madrid. pic.twitter.com/pPc55BnA9q

— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) January 7, 2023

Update https://t.co/k1MMkCTq9y pic.twitter.com/xHHvksZQuj

— JMoore MLS and Footy Analytics (@JmooreQuakes) January 7, 2023

I said in the beginning, start at the very top (Pep) and work your way down the list as guys get crossed off… this isn’t college applications where each one requires an essay and a fee.

If US Soccer really reached out to the Zidane camp they should be commended. My only concern is that they have Gregg ranked like 25 on their list instead of 125.

 

I agree. No shame in aiming high. If they reach out to more realistic candidates too, then we can be sure it is not just performative.

 

One new development US Soccer might want to consider when making a coaching list:

Are any of the options confirmed girlfriend abusers or no?
Do they think US Soccer's corporate sponsors would be happy with them re-hiring a confirmed girlfriend abuser?

Seb Salazar seems to think sponsors may not go for a confirmed girlfriend abuser, and he works for ESPN he's not just some random person on the internet spreading conspiracies...

 

Zidane? pfft…

I thought we were aiming high.

Who’s next? Ancellotti?

 

This @lequipe story by Francois Verdenet, who knows Zidane well, doesn’t say he rejected U.S. offer. Just that he or his agent received offers, feelers or contact from middlemen. NTs mentioned: Brazil, Portugal, USA. Re: USA, issues: language & relocation. https://t.co/GfFNFXco3e

— Paul Kennedy (@pkedit) January 7, 2023