Bocanegra is a significant USSF insider. He's served on the USSF Board of Directors and chaired the Technical Development Committee. He was also on the Board of the 2026 World Cup Bid. Played a significant role in that. He's EXACTLY the kind of guy the USSF would hire for this gig. The USSF doesn't care about Bocanegra/Atlanta failing to release players for various events. Nor should they.
Which is almost tautological given they aren't telling us anything. But yeah, the whole "it wasn't just the Reyna's" postscript of that story is the elephant in the room here.
I should have added, having an east coast operation makes sense because it's a shorter flight to Europe, having a west coast operation makes sense because LA and California in general have top of the line facilities in place and a ton of relevance for player development, plus we host a ---- ton of friendlies, and tournament games out in California/LA as well and its good for outreach to dual nats. Chicago can still be a thing too, kind of a central hub (though I think Texas makes way more sense w/how Texas is basically having an oil boom level explosion of talent coming out of there), but honestly, I 100% think things should be decentralized, especially w/zoom meetings. You could save a ton of ton of money by selling off all that Chicago crap, and just creating a more decentralized set up where you have offices in LA, Texas (not sure where I'd put it, I guess Dallas? Where's the best spot?), and an East Coast spot, maybe Atlanta or NY or Philly but no one mega office (maybe that's more expensive lol, but I think having an eye on happenings in LA and Texas is important, and having some sort of rep on the East Coast almost as a liaison to relations in Europe makes sense. I just don't get Chicago, I don't get how that serves anything. As a railroad hub in the 19th/20th century sure lol, but I'm not sure how relevant it is these days.
I'm not really sure in what possible world Berhalter suing the USSF for what the Reyna's released would not get laughed out of a court. If anything, the USSF had to come clean about it once the Reynas pressed the issue because of their own mechanisms for handling this sort of stuff. There isn't anything to prejudge. He has no contract, you aren't trying to get rid of him, he is gone. This is only really explainable if they actually want to keep him as an option.
The sweet spot you're trying to hit is someone who has both the insider credibility to work productively with the complicated vipers nest that is the US Soccer scene, while also having a broad enough soccer background and view to make decisions that aren't just aimed at pleasing that same in-bred network. And you need a foreign coach who knows nothing about any of this to believe and trust that person. Earnie Stewart was kind of a rare bird in that sense. We can absolutely hire a manager who has absolutely no experience in the US whatsoever. Maybe we shouldn't but we can. But this technical director role can't just be someone who is a DOF at pick-and-elite-Euro-club, that could never work. And it can't just be, like, Cobi Jones either. The list of people who actually make sense probably won't be very long.
Hope you're wrong. The 'home run' doesn't exist with the budget they'll throw out there. And 'easy' isn't the best answer either. New blood is needed. New ideas. Flexible alignments based on talent available. Berhalter means a repeat. Not significant improvement.
The question of whether somebody is managerially incompetent and fumbling around on a hot-button issue seems like a vitally important question for a major European club like PSV. It would be absolutely astonishing to think otherwise.
I don't think the position he is taking at PSV is one you just "fall" into. It had to have been in the works for a little bit, seeing as Earnie was contracted through 2026, so there had to be time for contract review from Earnie/PSV/US Soccer. Of course the conflict may have made it easier for the fed to mutually agree to a release clause.
To me it reads as a straight line if you ignore the US based run for the past what, 8 or 9 years or whatever? Started with NAC Breda: Grades out fantastic there. Brings Money Ball to AZ Alkmaar: Does brilliant work there until budget cuts kill him in one season. Moves up to PSV. Basically: Relegation fodder side: Grades out as an A Upper mid table side (Not Ajax, or PSV, but not Groningen either): B to B+ minus the budget cut season. Flagship Eredivisie side: PSV IT's basically a steady climb up the ranks. It makes plenty of sense.
I would bet a lot of money they keep saying Berhalter remains a candidate in order to avoid a lawsuit. Every possible ally he had in the building is gone now. No way he's a real option. The world in which there could ever have been a case made for retaining Berhalter was one where the players affirmatively and publicly demanded it. In the few days after the WC you saw the federation starting to try to craft that narrative, that Qatar was a harmonious dressing room determined to continue with the same project together. And then, uh, all the stuff happened.
It’ll be hard for them to find an option outside of the MLS front office scene. I don’t see it being a job that sporting directors of European clubs have any interest in.
I'm really going to need people to explain what this possible lawsuit would be. look, in some sense anyone can sue if they find a willing lawyer, but that doesn't mean you don't get laughed at in court and ordered to pay the other side's costs.
Lol, so, they had to get rid of his --- because he ignored ---- advice from his board and made the team 10's of millions as a result of ignoring said ---- advice? Too funny, sounds like the board is being run by my Washington Wizards F.O.
Yep, definitely need to remember that one issue for some of these guys is they want a HC who actually is at the same universe of their CV. They don't want some guy that's been an assistant in MLS and a youth coach, they want a guy w/experience coaching high end soccer at the top level. They aren't gonna get what they want, but handing them an U20 coach who hasn't even coached in an U20 tournament yet, let alone at the senior level of anything would never fly (and I LOVE what Varas has done since being thrown into a burning dumpster and told to coach at the Revelations Cup 48 hours later).
My understanding has been that he has a horse ---- reputation period. I know he's connected as hell, so that's a thing, but I think he rubs far too many people the wrong way in his post playing career to think he'd get this gig. Unless a best bud or two are key players in the final sign off, I'd be stunned if Boca got the gig.
I would say Earnie's job - makes sense to me. Why would McBride look for a lateral position? That means Earnie has been talking to PSV for a bit - which makes sense. Again - not just a job without a vettting process. I don't think I would be confident in McBride in the Earnie role.
Not my area of expertise, but when you've got an adverse employment decision made on the basis of something like the Reyna information, with questions on the process with which it was handled and the independence of some of the people it was handled by, you're in the Lawsuit Zone, I think. They are separating the Reyna Situation from the Manager Situation, and seeing that Berhalter is publicly declared to be assessed as a candidate by people uninvolved in the Reyna Situation. I don't think that's a coincidence.
In fact, nobody has been fired. McBride resigned Stewart resigned Berhalter was out of contract. Nor really SHOULD McBride or Stewart have been fired. The program is in better shape now than when both got to the USSF. THere's a question about whether they reported the Danielle Berhalter "allegations" fast enough to their leadership. Of course those allegations are about an event from a heck of a long time ago................about a guy who was imminently out of contract.
There has been no adverse employment decision. He is out of a contract. Unless there was some backroom deal that basically assured him of an extension, which I guess is possible but also pure speculation. You can't sue someone for not extending a contract after it expires though.
Yep. I am not hopeful at all. I expect another connected type, and the worst bit of it is that the outside the box ideas have been lazy as hell. Zidane: Does anyone actually know if he's a great coach? You get handed Real Madrid, it's hard to screw that up, he got good results, but it's not like he worked his way up from like Getafe to Madrid, he got Madrid handed to him and all the respective world class players. He sounds like a stud player, with some nice championships/titles on his resume, and they looked no further. Mourinho rumors: Same thing. Lots of titles in the bag, lots of success first rate mind. But, he's also old, Tataish at this point, stubborn as hell, and aint a fan of playing the kids and our entire pool is kids (granted some will hit their prime soon) plus we need attacking acumen, not defensive acumen. I would be ecstatic if I thought they were talking to Japan's coach, just for ideas, Morocco's coach about team building in a rough situation, Saudi Arabia's coach about how to maximize potential in hopeless situations, Germany's coach Flick about generating tons of xG (turning an offense into a chance generating machine), talking to Ghana's guys who took a team that nearly imploded at the Nations Cup, and infused them with belief to turn around and knock Nigeria out and then scare the hell out of Portugal, Uruguay, talking to Hjulmand about what went right in 2021 and NL, and what went wrong at the WC etc. None of that is happening, it's just domestics rumors, and famous coaches that any one whose spent half a second thinking about soccer, and no more than that, would know the name of. It's lazy as ----, AGAIN (maybe behind the scenes there is more to it but I am sick and tired of no leg work happening whatsoever in terms of talking to people, regardless of where they're from, about how to do this well).