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Reports: Laurent Blanc, Sam Allardyce interested in USMNT job

 

A lot of big names will be linked to the U.S. Men’s National Team job in the coming weeks, and one of the early names to arise is that of a former French star and Les Bleus manager.

According to France Football, Laurent Blanc is reportedly among the potential candidates for the USMNT coaching gig. According to the report, Blanc has previously shown an interest in American soccer, including in MLS and the new Los Angeles FC project.

Meanwhile, ESPNFC is also reporting that former England manager Sam Allardyce is also interested in the job. Allardyce lost the Three Lions job last September as part of an undercover sting but recently helped save Crystal Palace from relegation.

Blanc, widely regarded as one of the best defenders in the country’s history, took charge of Les Bleus from 2010-12 after previously managing Bordeaux. Blanc stepped down as manager of France following a quarterfinal loss to eventual champions Spain at Euro 2012. Following the France job, Blanc managed Paris Saint-Germain, winning the league three times before departing the club due to a lack of Champions League success.

Allardyce played in the old NASL and reportedly sees the opportunity to lead the U.S. as a major sporting opportunity. His time with the Tampa Bay Rowdies reportedly served as a major influence on his managerial career and the Englishman would like to be the coach that leads the U.S. back to prominence in CONCACAF.

Regardless of the names linked, the USMNT is unlikely to appoint a manager in the immediate future. President Sunil Gulati says the federation expects to take its time with appointing a manager and that an interim boss is set to take over for November friendlies. The search for a permanent coach could extend into 2018 with most of the world’s top managers looking for work following the 2018 World Cup.

Comments

  1. Big Sam is all about route 1 football. Just look at the teams he managed and the way they played. Bolton comes to the top of my head. They were unbearable to watch. He was also at Sunderland.

    West Ham used to play attractive football too before he came along.

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  2. A dude that will be considered especially if he has a successful World Cup run with Belgium is Martinez. He is a former EPL has been at Wigan and Everton. Martinez has managerial skills and seems to understand the international game with pedigree and resume.

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  3. Allardyce???? Seriously the last thing the US needs is an English coach. Keep all English managers as far away as possible. The US doesn’t need to regress to kick and run soccer.

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    • Brian K–
      Ah yes…. compared to all the other former EPL (or other top 5 European league) managers not named Jurgen Klinsmann who have shown interest in the US job, we certainly have plunged. Remind me again what there names were?
      ——
      Kidding apart (and I think you were too), I should hope we can do a little better than Big Sam. Then again, I get the feeling we could probably do worse.

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    • The story is about two guys that are not, not interested. It has nothing to do with who the US may be interested in. Bielsa is having a terrible start at Lille so he may be available soon.

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  4. They’ll probably hire a coach 6 months before the next gold cup (Jan. 2019). Until then Tab, Brad or who knows will be pulling the strings. I like many of you know what making an interim the head coach is like. If you think about it, Bob Bradley did a very good job until that Mexico match. You just never know what kind of coach you have until the chips are down. A lot of you are saying negative comments about Sam Allardyce but his results are pretty impressive in the way he has saved several clubs from going down. I’m not impressed with reputations as much as the results people have on their resume.

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    • Reply to Alfred-
      As you said Big Sam is mostly known for keeping teams from going down. Playing for ties by bunkering in on the road and maybe stealing one or two on the counter is not what most fans are looking for. Perhaps a little unfair, but he’s known as the poster boy for long ball football. He generally sticks to veterans (contrary to his use of Yedlin) and of course, then there are the ethics scandals. If he’s interested in being a caretaker until July sure, but I think most would rightly be disappointed if he got the full-time position.

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  5. There will be MANY interested. US Soccer needs to take their time, find the right guy and get over this bump.

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  6. I think the issue with making Tab Ramos the interim manager is the expectation that he will be given the full reigns thereafter. While that may be something that the general soccer population would find reasonable, I think it limits the potential of choosing someone else because it could be a slap in the face of Tab if he gets dropped back down, and I like him running the youth teams. There are and will be plenty of coaches interested in the position as the US has a lot of upside and these managers can add to their resumes by restructuring and leading the US to a potential World Cup victory (or at least highly compete in the latter stages of a World Cup).
    One of the coaches I’ve always liked is Carlo Ancelotti. Numerous league championships, CL championships, and has the Italian tactician capabilities that none of our other coaches have had. Not to mention he was a phenomenal player in our favorite CDM position. But, who knows who will end up being our coach? At least, for the interim coaching job, don’t use Tab. That is just my opinion based on what I wrote above. Perhaps Friedel or someone unlikely to be up for contention for the full time job.

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    • Didn’t he captain the T/T game? That was a disgrace. It would have been tough for him to yell at players to go 100% when he was walking slowly to the ball to take a free kick down a goal and the WCup at stake.

      I am a HUGE pass on this.

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  7. Before anyone gets to worked up about this rumor, the France Football article only says that he has not closed down the possibility of considering the USMNT coaching job (what coach is ever going to close down any potential job?). It doesn’t say he’s actually interested in it. Although it says he did turn down offers from Turkish clubs and Chinese clubs, so he is being somewhat selective. And it says he was considered for the LAFC gig, but not clear if he turned them down or if the club went another direction.

    You don’t go from coaching France and PSG to some crap team, so it would have to be the right set up for him. Not sure what formation he favors, but this candidate will need to take the long view to coaching this team since the next WC won’t be for 5 years and Copa America isn’t until 2020.

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  8. i imagine there are a lot of divided opinions in USSF right now. the logical thing to do is appoint an interim manager, someone like Tab Ramos or Brad Freidel, and pick the new long term manager after the World Cup and USSF Elections. That said, who knows if Ramos or other likely candidates even wants that? or if he is negotiating for more.

    the interim/logical path also doesn’t bode well for Sunil and his attempt at a reelection; from his perspective he needs to be part of solution and long term plan before February. I see any recommendation for a long term solution, like Blanc, as a Sunil pick.

    Blanc sounds like a great manager for the US, but its a much more complicated situation that just finding the best resume of interested managers.

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  9. I imagine there will be a lot of agents floating their clients name out there for reasons beyond sincere interest in the post. Additionally, I imagine the federation will float some names out there to appease the fans.

    I remain neutral until an actual name is interview/hired. Going to be a lot of smoke with very little fire in the coming weeks/months. I’m almost anticipating an internal candidate being given the caretaker role and eventually being named permanent manager – which will be incredibly underwhelming.

    In otherwords, I’m not getting my hopes up with the same people in charge making the hiring decisions.

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    • i think everyone would be SHOCKED if it wasnt tab ramos in the interim. win-win for him, as he gets to treat it like a trial. if its not for him, he goes back to youth teams.

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  10. why are people even entertaining these rumors? we all know that a permanent manager won’t be named until the next USSF president is chosen. even if sunil tried to pull a power move and name one and ends up losing the election, we all know that the new president could/would replace the manager with their pick, if they didnt think that he/she was the right person for the job.

    the fact that people are getting all worked up about who the next permanent manager will be RIGHT NOW is laughable…

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    • First off, why would Vieira be interested in this job? He clearly has higher ambitions than US soccer coach. He is a young up and coming manager and this is not a glamourous job. He may have a more high profile club job coming soon.
      Also,We have 0 idea who is actually being considered. None of us are in the room for these discussions. I just hope we allow the USSF Presidential situation to sort itself out beofre naming a permanenet manager.

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      • Yup, no point hiring someone if Gulati is gone. Whoever, is the head of USSF in 2018 the first thing on their agenda is to create a committee comprised of a think tank from different futbol regions. The committee will offer comprehensive insights into various countries youth development and senior level systems, but most of all offer insights into the positives and negatives of the current USMNT.

        This hire is almost at the same place the US was prior to Klinsmann hire. However, I would say the player pool is larger but vastly unproven at he professional level. The next step is bridge the gap for what Klinsmann’s unsuccessful ambitious vision was.

        This is an appealing job for an ambitious coaching willing to live the job for the next five years. Literally will themselves and sell themselves to everyone associated with US Soccer. Most of all get the best 25 players ready for 2022.

        What this means just like with Klinsmann a lot of different players will be brought into friendliest and tournaments. The biggest hurdle is determine what system will allow the best eleven to succeed and how the bring the best out of the player pool. Rather then think 442 or 4231, or 433, think about dexterity in a teams focus on the pitch. A group of individuals that will to work as a team on and off the field

      • I actually laughed. Kinda hard to disagree with Roberto on that one.

        My own opinion is, the USSF preaches the 4-3-3 and has instituted it at every level except the senior team. A rebuild is needed and we’d be foolish to do anything except do a full implementation of the system we’re already running at virtually every level of youth soccer…or what was the point?

        Do Blanc or Allardyce really run that scheme? Dunno, just asking. I seem to recall Allardyce being your typical English hard-nosed, defensive-minded coach (which we don’t need), but I know nothing about Blanc.

      • To Lil’ Bobby’s credit, he kept the idiotic comments to himself for at least 72 hours. That’s gotta be a record for him…

      • Quizel, if you think a man should not be selected as the national team coach solely because of his nationality you are swimming in the same sewer as Rob. You say you know nothing about Blanc and that is all that needs to be said to discredit your post. Everyone shouts for this formation or that, sure one or two may seem more logical than others based on the player pool but it isn’t THAT simple. I am not saying Big Sam or Blanc ARE the right guys, simply saying it is beyond foolish to weed someone out based on their nationality or assumption they would “surrender”.

      • Apologies, ween. I mean, whammmmmmmmmmm. Whatever. See, I can mangle names too.

        All I was saying was that I laughed at Rob’s joke. I found it funny. Not a personal slam on Blanc, who I freely admitted I know nothing about. If I implied that I was “discounting” Blanc, apologies, but looking back I question your reading comprehension because it does appears in typical SJW fashion you just started screaming about “nationalistic prejudice” before really settling the question of whether I was actually discounting Blanc or not. Which I actually wasn’t, though I will freely admit to laughing at the French joke.

        If we can’t laugh at the French anymore, go ahead and shoot me, because the world has gotten so ridiculous it’s past saving.

    • moron: this team doesn’t need a frenchman
      Quazel: kind of hard not to agree with the moron on that one.
      (you then attempt to justify why you agree, only to discredit yourself in the same post)

      I reckon my reading comprehension is just fine, perhaps you should say what you mean?

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