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Dave Sarachan to take charge of USMNT for Portugal friendly

While Bruce Arena is no longer in charge of the U.S. Men’s National Team, one of his top assistants will hold down the fort on an interim basis heading into a November friendly.

U.S. Soccer announced on Tuesday that Dave Sarachan and the
remainder of the current technical staff will take charge when the U.S. faces Portugal on Nov. 14. The match, set to be played in Leiria, Portugal, will be the USMNT’s final game of 2017.

Sarachan has been one of Arena’s top assistants for decades, working under the head coach with the University of Virginia, D.C. United and the LA Galaxy before joining Arena’s USMNT staff in January. Sarachan was also head coach of the Chicago Fire from 2002-07.

U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said earlier this month that he expects a more expansive coaching search to begin in the near future, although the federation is in no rush to name a full-time replacement with no official matches set until 2019.

Comments

  1. There was never going to be any good/great options available to fill in as an Interim Coach, but I would have preferred someone from outside Arena’s camp. They should have given Brad (U-18/19) or Tab (U-20) the nod. Both have knowledge & familiarity with the younger generation and would hopefully use the opportunity to give a large number of players a chance to showcase themselves for future consideration once a full time manager is hired.

    Ultimately it doesn’t matter who the coach is as long as whoever it is doesn’t perpetuate the use of OLD VETERANS….Howard, Omar, Bradley, Dempsey, Wondo, McCarty, etc….
    If this guy doesn’t call in a squad comprised predominantly of players 24 & under than I’ll consider it another lost opportunity.

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    • With all leagues in season and most international managers in jobs right now it’s hard to judge who would even be available. If within US, I’d still say Pareja for his use and development of youth and Berhalter because of attacking style. Roberto Martinez after his Belgian contract is up next summer. Tata Martinez has been mentioned a lot but unsure he’ll leave ATL so quickly.

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  2. I do feel disgust and shame as the USMNT is now being used as a pre-WC warming-up for another team. What’s f..king accomplishment out of this game? just total money waste and garbage. Stupid, idiots, dumb i.e

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  3. When these coaches/managers are hired the first thing they do is bring in their ‘yes’ men.
    Get someone different for this Portugal match like an up and coming MLS coach to do this one match, just not HIM. Hell, I’ll do it for free and win.

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  4. An alternative is that US Soccer already has their guy and he is coaching in MLS. They are just waiting for MLS season to end to name him.
    ————————————————————————————————————————-
    We will learn nothing from any roster until March as many MLS players will be unavailable due to playoffs, and Euro players in season during March.

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  5. While you can count me among those fans refusing to spend more money, dedicate more time watching, or displaying sincere interest in the team until wholesale changes are made: from top to bottom, unfortunately, I’m resigned to the fact that it won’t be anytime soon.

    If Sunil is re-elected, I may reevaluate whether or not I’m going to support our side until he’s out. I simply can not continue to bang my head against the wall believing it’s going to give this headache relief.

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  6. This is a good start I suppose. Glad that the USSF recognizes the need to wait until after the presidential election in Feb, and preferably after the World cup, so all the best candidates are available. Therefore the interim job is a lame duck post, so appointing someone else is just going to harm one of our up-and-coming coaches. But leaving Sarachan in place does neither, and he is already (I assume) under contract. I do hope he calls in exclusively young players for November. The old guard is done.

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  7. An Arena disciple. I know it’s interim, but we need new thinking even at this stage. They should have brought in somebody from outside the old staff.

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  8. “U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said earlier this month that he expects a more expansive coaching search *reading between the lines (until after Sunil is canned)* to begin in the near future”

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  9. Let’s get this fossil out of there. I wonder how hard he is going to enforce the ban on German-American players. And if I see Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley called in, I will refuse to watch. He probably thinks if he can just find those Americans who will “try harder” and have that good ole American spirit, that we’d be making it to the quarterfinals of the WC.

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  10. Please no more MB, Jozy, Timmy, Gonzalez, Wondo, Zusi. If they couldn’t get it up for T&T
    in a critical World Cup qualifer, what is the point for giving them another chance in a meaningless game.

    If Sarachan calls on any of the above, it just means he is a puppet of Gulati and MLS.

    Maybe Clint since the guy tries but is too old, give him a chance to break the record.

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    • In my opinion, Clint had his chance throughout qualifying to beat the record when it mattered most. He didn’t take it. So, as much as I’ve loved watching him throughout his career, I don’t think he deserves the record at this point.

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      • Agree 100% SiF. He had his chance. Now we move on. if we give him a game, why not give other veterans more game and, before you know it, we will have wasted a year of friendlies accomplishing nothing…

  11. what this team needs now is a victory tour featuring Tim Howard, Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, & Omar Gonzalez. Let Clint get that record. Give Tim one last chance to see glory and Jozy & Michael to do whatever it is that they do. It’ll be a good opportunity to evaluate Zusi with some meaningful minutes at his new position at Centerback with the rest of the starters for the foreseeable future..

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    • Absolutely correct, but don’t forget he also needs to call in injured players who have no chance of making the starting 18. We want the Manager to be comfortable with his “team”. We don’t need or want the young kids or them German/Americans.

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  12. USSF at its finest but not sure they had much choice with Tab apparently wanting a chance at full time coach and not just caretaker. Hope he learned his lesson and doesn’t follow BAs path but just fear with the lack of outside MLS Experience it could be another step back with roster selections

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    • The slections and results really do not matter at this point. This is the most inconsequential US soccer game in 30 years, and this guy is just a babysitter for a few months at most. I am sure there will be plenty of outrage when the roster selection comes out though. Expect to see plenty of familiar faces with some of the younger European based guys in the mix.

      The only thing that matters now is finding the right person to captain the ship for next cycle.

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  13. Glad they are waiting until after the election and possibly the WC to hire a permanent coach. There is no reason to rush the selection as none of the games come even close to mattering for almost a year and half. Get us through this game and possible European based WC tune ups. Provide some data points on the younger players for the permanent coach.

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  14. I hate to say it, but over the next 9 months I’m afraid we’re going to see the US take some of its worst ever beatdowns…. particularly in late spring / early summer when we agree to be pre-WC whipping boys for teams who have been training together and hitting their peak

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