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1. The US has 2 GC’s, a Copa America, 1 1/2 NL’s, an Olympic tournament, before 2026 is even born. This is where most started the last cycle, in 2018, looking at ‘22 WC. Sarachan’s match v Bolivia was the new guard being put in place and fans completely missed it. Complaining about Bolivia having D+ or C team or BS. We’ve got a deeper pool than 4 years ago. I suggest we focus on who’s going to help us win the NL, and then the GC. Zendejas declared he was going to play for the US today, did u c it?! The notion of needing a HC to get players to commit is no longer necessary by Zendejas decision today. LAFC & Bayern Munich joint-venture was announced today also, did u c it?! The CEO of Bayern said an interview months ago that North America, MLS was only scratching the surface of player development. I guess, the joint venture with LAFC, confirms to me that Bayern puts the money where they mouth is! #MLSstillSux#Americanslikeit!!
   #Wedontcare

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   • You seem to be under the impression that the USSF/USMNT is a professionally run organization like Bayern Munich, for example.

     If Bayern lost their Manager and Sporting Director/Technical Director/Director of Football/ General Manager, whatever, it’s not likely, based on their track record that they would let this uncertainty reign this long or if they did you would trust that it was because there was a process in place.

     A lot of people assumed that was the case the last go around with the USSF.

     We all saw how that ended up. Why should it end up any better this time? How confident are you that that would happen with the USMNT?

     “The notion of needing a HC to get players to commit is no longer necessary by Zendejas decision today.”

     That’s correct but is he the only dual they are trying to bring in? The uncertainty is not necessarily a deal breaker but it doesn’t help either.

     The manager is the face of the recruitment program but not the be all and end all. In international football a commitment is permanent. It’s not like the NCAA where you could follow, for example, a Lane Kiffin or a Kirby Smart around if he left the school you committed to.

     Duals commit to a program not a manager. For example, if a dual committed to the USMNT because he wanted to play for Gregg, now what does he do?

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     • Vacqui, you seemed to be under the impression that you work for the USSF or that you used to be employed by the USSF. You don’t have a clue how the organization is setup. All you do is use the comment section to lie about the organization. You are clearly dense. You’ll come back another article and pretend to know job titles, job responsibilities, without telling the rest of us, how each job directly corresponds with the other jobs in the organization, thus we can find out what actually applies to USSF business structure. You don’t. You ain’t fooling me! Idiots only spread conspiracy theories!!! USSF is ur boogeyman and ur not smart enough to understand that you don’t work for USSF, and you never have. You and imperative are average people who pretend they’re smart. The type of idiots who repeat the term Inverted wingers, without looking up the definition of an invert. What’s next Vacqui, Jesus is going to be Donald Trumps next VP, or it JFK Jr?

     • Mr Think,

       Both Jesus and JFK jr. are dead. They aren’t available for the VP slot.

       “You don’t have a clue how the organization is setup. All you do is use the comment section to lie about the organization.”

       I can access the USSF website. For example, there are quotes there about what McBride’s job was. I take them at face value since I have nothing else to go by.

       I don’t have the insider knowledge that you are implying that you have.

       Whether what they say there is true, who knows.

       I don’t lie about the organization. I insult the organization and accuse them of being incompetent. There’s a difference.

       “You’ll come back another article and pretend to know job titles, job responsibilities, without telling the rest of us, how each job directly corresponds with the other jobs in the organization, thus we can find out what actually applies to USSF business structure. You don’t.”

       You can research that stuff yourself. Why should I do your work for you? Take my word for it or do your own work.
       It’s all available to you. Go to the USSF websites or research , for example, Earnie and , assuming the sources are more or less reliable, you can get an idea of what his job really was. It would be better if the USSF or Earnie were a lot more transparent about what actually happens but they aren’t and the demand isn’t there.

       What I mean by that is that if Earnie had a similar job with an NFL team, there would have been a ton more material on him and his role.

       “The type of idiots who repeat the term Inverted wingers, without looking up the definition of an invert.”

       So what is your definition of an inverted winger?

   • given the opportunity of a NL doubleheader he’d be committing a grand total of 2 dual nationals — sonora and zendejas. tepid stuff.
     i find more interesting the list of noobs like reynolds and booth that got called. i think those too could be called “developmentals.”

     my beef, i think the US used to have a better grip on what was necessary for the elephant to squash a bug. this is a full dress roster for grenada and el salvador. this list strikes me as overdoing it. i would have actually spent more energy playing around because i think we could send out experiments and get 6 points — precisely what we historically would have done with this sort of game. maybe people don’t remember what sort of team used to get called for q semi round WCQ. these would have been great games to get more pool players trialed and dual nationals committed. but we are now in the howitzer for a fly business.

     last point, why do we play the games at all? the standouts from january were gaga, cowell, and tolkin. why am i looking at sonora and zendejas instead? why i am seeing steffen and the same wingbacks who just sent us home? i think we have fixed ideas in our leaders’ heads that have no correlation to watching the games.

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     • Gaga and buff Arriola will likely be with U20s, for their last camp before WC. That roster supposed to drop Friday.

     • vazquez likewise got left off. he too played well first game.

       i’ll answer my rhetorical question. you call an elephant to crush a bug squad when your job is at stake. hudson wants either the job or them to rehire GB. after how january went his hope would be to win these games plus whatever we do in april and make the case for continuity.

       the long term interest of US soccer is getting the dual nationals committed, and by that i mean more than 2, and looking at a full list of experiments in games where we can get by with that. i don’t think calling a september 2021 type list with scally, booth, or reynolds off the bench for 20 minutes helps this along much. i think it channels them towards being backups for players who disappointed in their starting roles in qatar, whose jobs should be up for competition.

       where is chris richards?

     • JR: i fully expect this coach, like GB before him, to demote kids down to U20 or U23 even if we later on see them senior team end of the cycle. which, if you are already senior ready, historically, we just go ahead and graduate you. pulisic never played U20. i mean when i was playing select we were taught, name aside, the ultimate end goal of ODP was feeding the NT — not age group soccer. not sure why age group soccer suddenly got so important. we seem very insecure. can’t blow a few friendlies on experiments. can’t graduate players from the age groups, or even call them again to senior to consider whether that’s more appropriate.

       i mean the part you seem confused about is he will probably use this to play turner 135=180′, which doesn’t teach us anything. he then calls steffen as one of the backups, like we didn’t just get through making that choice in the negative. but back in this time like we didn’t just cut him. hmmm. i would be calling something like cohen horvath gaga. cohen i would like to see his level. gaga see if he can put together 2 good games and skip ahead of steffen. horvath make him prove whether the last ES game was a feature or a glitch. far as i am concerned you already know turner is the 1, that does nothing but protect the coach, and you should be trialing players to see how they compare to steffen or if they replace seanjohn.

       the focus on age groups is about prestige and reputation — emotions and insecurity — not rational preparation of the 2026 team. and if we decide he’s not ready i think a GK is more plug and play than say a CM to put back into a U20 squad.

     • Apparently Hudson mentioned the match with Mexico in April will be more for MLS based players since it is not a window. My guess is they aren’t to worried about Vazquez bolting so he’ll be in next month. I’m not necessarily agreeing with that strategy but that seems to be the reasoning.
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       Cowell is not NT ready sorry, that’s why I refer to him as buff Arriola. He runs hard puts himself in really good spots and then most of the time shanks his cross, dribbles harmlessly into 3 defenders, or hits his shot into the 15th row. Obviously, at his age he’s got time to develop those areas which is why he should be with U20s.
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       I feel like your taking the exception, players like Pulisic and Reyna, and trying to make them the rule. I don’t remember us traditionally skipping a lot of guys past the age group level. Even with Pulisic and Reyna they had played and scored in Bundesliga. I’ve probably seen 25-30 Cowell matches in the last 18 months he’s not ready, he struggled against Concacaf U20 defenders in qualifying. Slonina I think would be fine if you weren’t starting Turner but if Chicago isn’t going to release Brady then U20s need a GK. Depending on who is released the U20s have a chance to make a run and Gaga moves their bar farther.

     • JR: y’all were dismissive of my concerns about hudson but surely you see where even your own post is admitting he has this job for so long he’s implementing a definite, months-long plan of action, chasing certain players (zendejas) but not others (balogun), maintaining system/formation continuity. the intelligence with which he does so then results in how much use these games have later and how much we have to immediately undo. i anticipate we will be undoing his formation and system. i anticipate he will settle back into a lineup like this, fairly continuous, fairly conservative, which will later be picked apart. this will in a few years be seen as a fairly pointless exercise in perpetuating GB’s ideas and personnel while not securing the real prize prospects.

       i find your critique of zendejas at the expense of cowell funny because all i saw zendejas do is hustle, he wasn’t even creating chances then whacking them into side netting. i can work on cowell’s finishing but zendejas hustling against B team opposition is likely to bear zero fruit against first choice opposition. or, at least the good ones. my concern is per usual we will use games against group round gold cup type teams to argue who should start. as i have explained 100 times, who starts should be decided by how “mexico” or “canada” goes. kind of like my select coach thought lineup choices either stuck or twisted based on if they worked against the teams we were competing with for state; not whether we beat some scrubs 5-0 that week. if they don’t work against a good team they are a mirage. we love to perseverate on mirages. we need guys who can beat holland next time.

     • “last point, why do we play the games at all? ”

       To make money.
       The coaching staff not necessarily the players need the practice periodically

       “the standouts from january were gaga, cowell, and tolkin.”

       You think every player’s world revolves around the USMNT and what it wants and needs.
       That’s not how it is.
       Players have day jobs and need to do them so they can pay their bills and eat. They can’t always be available for the USMNT. If they don’t focus strongly on their club team, it can have far more dire consequences for them than not getting called up by the USMNT. Don’t ever call Gio up again. He could still have a great career.

       From the USMNT side if Gaga , Cowell and Tolkin are now the starters, they can’t start them for every single game between now and the 2026 World Cup.

       They have to develop depth and alternatives:

       1. Those guys might get hurt
       2. Maybe, just maybe , better players might come along between now and 2026.
       3. Something might happen to where a player loses his form and is not as good in 2026 as they are now.

       “why am i looking at sonora and zendejas instead?
       why i am seeing steffen and the same wingbacks who just sent us home? ”

       No one is forcing you to do that.

       “i think we have fixed ideas in our leaders’ heads that have no correlation to watching the games.”

       ?? And you don’t? Kettle , pot, black. Much more than club teams, trying to draw too much from previous national team games is very tricky.. There is so much turnover of the players and coaching staff of both teams.

       What games are you talking about?
       You’re a hypocite, talking avbout USMNT games that have a totally differnt coaching staff and mostly, a differnt set of players.

   • if you want to talk like he is truly battling for the tough “gets,” where is balogun? zendejas just played for us and would have had to file a switch.

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     • Hudson responded to a question that he has had conversations with Balogun and his people but he had nothing else to add at the moment. Just because you ask someone doesn’t mean they’ll come. The same could be possible for Cowell he’s mentioned his eligibility for Mexico in the past. As for Zendajas vs Cowell: Zendajas has 23g in 95 Liga Mx matches, Cowell has 9g in 83 MLS matches. You like to think that a NT match is the whole picture it’s one piece of a puzzle undoubtedly a bigger piece than say a midseason match at Colorado but still just a piece. Did you factor in that Cowell was matched up with Mihailovic a journeyman in Serbian league and Zendajas was matched against the vet with Europa league experience.

2. Who does Claudio Reyna think he is? Can’t believe the Reynas refused to talk to the investigators but immediately released their statement in which they tried to paint the report as one-sided and then drum up sympathy by referencing a tragedy involving a family member completely unrelated to the matter at hand. Sickening. Feel bad for Berhalter, he deserved a better send off than this. For sporting reasons, I think it’s time for new on field tactics. For political and sporting reasons, think it’s time to get a GM and coach from outside US Soccer. Only fresh eyes can claim some objectivity while rebooting the USMNT.

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   • One surmises they didn’t talk to the investigators because they knew what they’d done would be perceived as straight petty retaliation, mostly because it was straight petty retaliation.

     There’s not a lot of other ways to perceive what they did.

     Granted, Gregg came out with some pretty severe dents and dings to his reputation, but honestly I think the thing that’s probably going to hurt him the worst (it would with me, anyhow, were I the GM of a club looking to hire a coach) is that he ran his yap and threw Gio under the bus publicly…no matter what a schmo Gio might have been – and given how his parents are acting now, it’s not hard to guess how he was acting – you handle that in-house and you never, ever air the dirty laundry about a player publicly or you’ll lose the trust of your locker room. No players like playing for a coach who they know will throw them under the bus.

     Also agree it’s probably time to bring in a foreign Alpha coach who neither knows nor cares who the Reynas are, and has enough credibility abroad he could care less about the petty local politics of US Soccer. I’d love Jose Mourinho – as would everybody, I think – but there’s plenty of guys who fit that bill if we’re choosy and willing to pay well. 2026 in North America is a huge, huge opportunity for a coach with our young, talented pool that will just be starting to peak by ’26 and a lot of big-name coaches will be intrigued by that combination. Now is definitely the time to be thinking big.

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     • they had wanted a clean coup de grace on GB. GB has already admitted what he did and they were being accused of blackmail. so they get out as CYA. they say the wrong thing and it might be prison. the USSF report says it wasn’t blackmail. honestly if they had a brain in their head at this point they would have kept their mouths shut afterwards, them yapping only seems to make this worse, but i don’t think they have changed or learned a lesson from this yet.

       “retaliation” is a little amorphous. they want something specific and definite — him to lose his job. i don’t think they care anymore how they look so long as he’s not rehired. they didn’t immediately achieve that goal but it remains in play.

       “retaliation” sounds like lawsuit language and the thing is the reynas aren’t going to lose a lawsuit for reporting to USSF that a coach kicked his now-wife when it turns out the coach did kick his wife.

     • on GB’s future. i think the “reyna hypothetical speech” burns him with USMNT. it undermines lockerroom trust, and they hadn’t finished the tournament well. but i think the “kicks” are his problem with some new team. segments of the fanbase won’t like it. i even start to think austin and its friendly owner would be a home but they have a coach, and the owner has to slide the choice past a liberal fanbase. would you risk that goodwill?

     • “A lot of big name coaches will be intrigued”. I think this is a fantasy created by Klinsmann. The pool is no where as deep as European teams, the JK type money went to lawyers fees battling the women’s lawsuit, and travel is a nightmare (flying back forth to Europe to scout and meet players vs hoping on a two hour train. I hope I’m proven wrong.

     • JR: you are for some reason assuming the center of personnel gravity hasn’t shifted towards europe anyway. there are 1 MLS and 2 MX on this whole roster we just picked.

       i know GB occasionally shows up at games but let’s be real, he was looking at box scores and spread sheets. hence all the form talk.

       side point, i don’t think we use scouting right. i would not be announcing i am watching, which we routinely do. and i would spend most of our scouting time on players i can’t already see on TV. the idea is not the pretense of absolute certainty. it’s does this player seem exciting and worthy of the level. you should be able to tell that from a couple tv games. spend the live action watching guys whose leagues don’t have american TV contracts, scandi, israel, australia, etc.

3. I hope ussoccer rehires GB now, I didn’t feel that way before.

   bur there is no way it can look even slightly like the reynas influenced anything in their favor, my opinion

   I know I am in the heavy minority but screw the helicopter parent crap…they can suck it. that’s the biggest priority in my mind, and again, I know that is a minority opinion

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   • USSF allowed it to happen apparently as far back as 2016. They could have at anytime put a stop to it as they should do with any parent. The Reynas were out of line, but USSF let them behave this way. If USSF feels Gregg is the best candidate for on the field that’s their decision but they shouldn’t do it to send a message. Time for everyone to be adults and move forward.

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     • well, disagree. appearances matter. GB got backstabbed, and yes, ussoccer let it happen before with the reynas (so Gio obviously knew all this too for years, yuck), but GB deserves better than this ending imo…but more, as said earlier, there is no way this behavior can even apear in any way to have been influential in the decision, and if anything, the opposite of their desired effect.

       that would be adult imo…send a no doubt message to all to stop this flippin crap

       every coach I know…every single one…we all agree no matter what we think of GB…the reynas suck in this, it’s the reynas, and they represent what we all cannot stand in these kind of parents. need to send message LOUD AND CLEAR

     • GB was never the best choice, he was the nepotistic choice. can we be honest for a change? and if rumor is we’ve called, heard from, or pondered people like mourinho or zidane, the idea he could ever be considered our best choice is laughable.

       i mean, did you watch the holland game? QED. thanks.

     • beach: in case you forgot, GB aired out a private locker room punishment convo to a public speech forum. he got some significant fraction of as obnoxious as the reynas did, in retaliation. the idea the reynas are the only black hats is giggle inducing. clean house.

       related point, i think objectivity has been lost, bunch of silly folks acting like reyna should be dropped or is no good. kid only had 5 goals his last 9 league appearances, in B.1. people are getting awfully selective in their memory.

     • IV: stop with your straw man arguments no one is saying Gio is no good. A few saying he’s not playing as well as he was 2 years ago, but that’s not saying he’s no good. Riddle me this though if Gio is playing so well scoring 5 in last 10, better than anyone else on the time. Why is he not playing more?

     • JR: there are people on here saying it ergo not a straw man. they started with punish him for his parents and then just a couple weeks ago it was a discussion on here that his status at BD means he’s lost it.

       let’s be blunt, we’re about to see if this coach fields zendejas first. weah will start. this GB-xerox won’t play GR as a 10/8. so who is the first RF sub. rubber hits the road, dude.

       you mocked my comments about harm to the team but if we lose reyna if he is 3rd string, that’s an unforced error. like i said, reyna might have been better off turning down invites until we hired someone new.

       similarly, we dig up vazquez cowell gaga and he leaves them off.

       and it’ll be more GB-ball in a 433. we will win probably like 6-0 and 4-0, clinch another NL final, and as per usual with these kinds of games, get a big head. mexico, canada, these are the real games. is this helping me win those games. period.

   • dude, do you understand he admitted and the report confirmed he kicked his now-wife twice (and that they broke up over it for months)? dude, do you understand that he “broke the confessional seal” when he discussed what went on private, at his leadership speech? setting aside GB’s questionable coaching judgement. the reynas did bad stuff, the GM/SD messed up taking reyna’s calls, and berhalter was not a saint himself. i think USSF reached a reasonable compromise. everyone involved lost their job, not just GB, including reyna lost his austin job. why is GB special?

     i think it is a sort of “reverse politics” if a bad coach keeps his job because he was accused of misbehavior and managed to dodge this issue on a bunch of technicalities, such as that he could no longer be charged, or USSF didn’t ask about it at the interview. he still did what he was accused of. now that it’s public any job he applies for from today will ask about it, it’s on the internet. IMO no better than the others.

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   • “they can suck it. that’s the biggest priority in my mind, and again, I know that is a minority opinion”

     You can’t prove it is a minority opinion unless you take a poll. I’m sure there are lots of people with pitchforks and torches who just want to stick it in the Reynas faces.

     Me? I got no time for revenge. Too much work.

     And I don’t want my team to suffer because the Reynas and the Berhalters are assholes.

     Claudio lost his job at Austin FC, has tarnished what used to be an amazing legacy, and has cast a cloud over his son’s developing career.
     Gregg ruined the legacy of what was a pretty promising World Cup because he couldn’t keep his fucking mouth shut for ten seconds and kicked off the very public phase of this whole shitty mess.

     Fuck them both.

     I’m focused on what is best for the team future and their chances for 2026. Would the players be happy with Gregg and his big mouth ( Even Roldan said he was pretty upset about Gregg leaking out the locker room business with Gio.. That’s Roldan as in the guy you think would be a pretty big Gregg supporter.) ?

     The USSF is going to do what they will do, If those weenie clowns want to bring Gregg back to punish the Reynas then they should do it immediately so that the team could move on. It will be great copy for the media. If I’m a dual, maybe I stay away from a team that will have proven just how much of an old boys club they really are..

     Gio then, should not ever play for the USMNT again. Why would he want to?

     What is interesting is what this report DID NOT SAY.

     Apparently Claudio has been a dick overbearing parent since 2016. You’d think that a truly professional organization would have told him to fuck off years ago.

     Why didn’t it?

     Tip of the iceberg question:

     1) Has that ever affected anything serious having to do with Gio? I would think that everyone at the USSF and USMNT knew about Claudio’s behavior and put up with it because of who Claudio is. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that I’ve seen this sort of thing in my own workplace.

     Are there other instances of this sort of thing from other parents? Pulisic’s dad is pretty out there but he does not have a ton of USSF/USMNT “buddies” like Claudio does..

     2) Is that why Gregg never got anything out of Gio? Fortunately for Gregg, Gio was hurt a lot so Gregg did not have to deal with it that much and when he did, Gio’s fitness was always an issue which gave Gregg an out.
     If Claudio’s inherent dickness was keeping Gregg from doing his job, if it was an impediment, then why didn’t Gregg do his job and have it out with either Claudio or Earnie or whoever Claudio was backstabbing Gregg with?

     The jerk parent who interferes is one thing. But the weenie manager who lets that parent interfere is another thing.

     You can’t have a wussy like that leading the USMNT into the 2026 World Cup cycle.

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4. Continued to be impressed with Paredes. He seems to be an important piece for Wolfsburg. Have a feeling Paredes won’t be on that u20 WC team as Wolfsburg continues to fight for European spots towards the end of the season.

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5. Hopefully Gio will learn from all of this. He has a bright future.

   Sad to see all of this happen to all parties. Hope they all find peace and solace after this US soccer scandal.

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   • Gio should not play for the USMNT again.

     He should stick with professional organizations, not amateur clown shows like the USSF/USMNT.

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6. Pulisic came off the bench and played 20 minutes.

   Anello of Hajduk Split came off of the bench and played 15 minutes.

   Isais started for Pachuca and went 90 minutes.

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   • Good stuff 2tone, i know I saw CP celebrate with the team on the field on Chelsea’s 3rd goal. I didn’t know until last month that there was another US eligible player on Hajduk. Isais is a solid starter for Pachuca. Saucedo got an assist coming straight off the bench. I had the game on and still missed it. Benji Michel came off the bench for Arouca, also. There were a lot of Haitian Americans, who didn’t know Benji before but all they know now, is that one of their own is playing in Portugal.

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7. US Soccer just cleared Berhalter. No surprise. The report I just read was not exactly flattering to the Reynas.

   Interesting the way they phrased it, though. “Berhalter is eligible to coach the USMNT, but is now out of contract.”

   In other words…they can just not re-hire him, but he wasn’t fired. Which is probably the best way of dealing with the situation, and the one I suspect will happen. Regardless, I very much doubt we’ll see Berhalter coming back…a mutual parting is probably the best outcome at this juncture for everybody.

   If I was the next coach I’d be really, really leery of bringing Gio in again.

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   • His contract expired in December, he was not fired. There was no reason to fire him because his contract ended.

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     • Oops misread your comment Q. I agree with your statements, just move on, best for everyone.
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       As for Gio, I have no problem bringing him back but mom and dad need to be told they are to have no contact. Imagine your mom calling your boss?

   • first off, i don’t know how you paint this good for HC when the report says the law firm “confirmed a physical assault,” ie, pushed her to the ground and kicked her twice before being tackled by a passerby, after she hit him in the face. the marriage story they pushed omits they split for several months afterwards before getting back together next school year.. and, sorry, but “statute of limitations has run,” “wasn’t asked an interview question to which he had to disclose,” or “does not prevent an employer from employing” is tepid stuff.

     second, everyone involved got vaporized. HC was not reupped despite stewart conducting a performance review. he can apply but that status itself is a loss.
     presumably that performance review had originally been intended to end before HC’s contract ended. both GM and SD “quit” — and the GM had already extended for the next cycle which is why the performance review was done, ie, he had power to hire/fire the next one. reyna is out in austin, where the owner is a berhalter friend.

     so despite the findings of the report, carnage all around. stewart suddenly deciding he wanted to quit suggests he was pushed. they didn’t like what reyna did but i don’t think they liked their being a back channel either, and this drags out the coaching search forever, which doesn’t seem to have been the original plan. no, they were unhappy enough they booted the bosses, dragged out the process, negated the performance review. which together with letting HC’s contract just run out, allows them ambiguity for what will follow. “we cleared him, we let him apply, we just went another direction.”

     it’s an interesting thought puzzle whether what the reynas did proves counter-productive, extends out the hiring process, wipes their friends out as bosses, leaves HC more a candidate than he might have been. it’s possible we would have had a new coach by january. as it stands this will play out with GM type hires by gold cup and a HC by september, for which old HC is still eligible.

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     • put differently, the law firm basically told USSF this won’t stop them hiring him again, a minor victory, but i don’t think they plan on it anyway. i think in reality it’s a shield against a berhalter lawsuit. they investigated, they cleared, his contract expired, he got to apply, oh, well, shame, didn’t get the job. too bad. BUT cat being out of the bag this can’t help berhalter get his next job. berhalter may get hired someplace but some teams may now reject him out of hand for non soccer reasons. and compared to USSF saying we didn’t even know to ask about it, now it’s out there, next team does.

       BUT then claudio came out looking like heck too.

     • We don’t know what would have happened had the bystander not tackled Berhalter 30 years ago but they did. If you read the report the actions prior were a misdemeanor. A typical misdemeanor wouldn’t preclude you from employment, but assaulting a women could be trickier if it wasn’t 30 years ago, There’s no medical or police report and there wasn’t cell phones in every pocket in 1992 so no video or pics so the story is dead. Throw in the admission from Danielle Berhalter and Rosalind’s family that there has never been another violent incident, Berhalter is employable. I don’t think it should be by US soccer but he’ll manage somewhere. Chris Beard after being fired in December for being arrested for a third degree felony assault was just hired 3 months later by Ole Miss.
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       The Berhalters in their press release in December stated they broke up after the assault not sure why you think that’s a smoking gun.
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       I don’t know that Stewart ever completed the performance review as it was tabled do to the investigation. I could be wrong on that though. I thought Stewart had said that other candidates would be considered even before the investigation but maybe I’m wrong on that too. Also not sure it’s a sign Earnie was pushed out he re-upped in July, could easily be he decided on his own he didn’t need this in his life. He likely lost longtime friends out of this and an opportunity at PSV is not a bad fallback.
       ———————————
       Never forget no matter what the organization if HR launches an investigation its first goal is to protect the company. This whole thing was to decide “can we get sued” and “could we be sued in the future”. If USSF was found liable for something a lot more of this report would be blacked out.
       ———————————
       Thousands of people omit fights that were never reported to police in job applications everyday. The question on your application doesn’t say “Have you ever committed a crime to which no one every found out about and that won’t be on your background check”. Especially what at the time was a misdemeanor.
       ——————————-
       You are right though no one wins in this. The Reyna’s and Gregg’s reputation is damaged (and deservedly so), USSF looks like poorly run CYSL, Rosalind loses a friend of 30 years that she talked with almost daily. This also likely damages Gio’s value in the transfer market. As you say perhaps slows the hiring process, but I think summer was always the intention. Sounds like replacements for Earnie are being interviewed so maybe manager gets done before GC in July.

     • “Berhalter is employable. I don’t think it should be by US soccer but he’ll manage somewhere.”

       Maybe.

       His problem is that this entire business has been so public including you getting to read this report.

       It will take a long time for the dust to settle on this.

       If Pep leaves Man City and decide they want to hire Gregg to replace him, the Brit tabloids would not have to work too hard to dig up the dirt on Gregg like they usually do.

       Most of their work is now done and out there ,

       If Man City were convinced that Gregg’s coaching ability was worth the trouble to make his “baggage ” irrelevant, then they could make it go away. Because once Gregg wins the champions league for them, no one will care anymore.

       All Gregg has to do is find a team that believes in his abilities enough to want to make the baggage irrelevant..

     • V: as I said Chris Beard left marks on his fiancée’s neck, bite marks and cuts just three months ago. The fiancée said later oh it was my fault I hit him he was just defending himself. There are many coaches in different sports who have done similar or worse and all landed on their feet. I don’t think anyone is saying he’s going to Man City, but a misdemeanor assault that never warranted a police report or doctors visit? Not even going to get a front page headline in England. Add in 30 years of no indication of further violence towards anyone, meh. Sam Allardyce has been accused of corruption 3 times, having to resign as England manager and yet still continued to get jobs.

     • “but a misdemeanor assault that never warranted a police report or doctors visit? Not even going to get a front page headline in England. Add in 30 years of no indication of further violence towards anyone, meh”

       No violence as far as you know. We’ve already established that Rosalind doesn’t like to go to the cops. Gregg is a known liar. Why wouldn’t his wife be just as dishonest?

       Not everyone is a forgiving about all this as you are.

       Any prospective Gregg employers will have this to consider:

       1. For all his shady dealings, Allardyce has a reputation as a relegation saving coach. I don’t think he wants to manage anymore but Leeds should take him in a heart beat. Gregg, to my knowledge, does not have that kind of respect.

       I’m not saying Gregg won’t get a job out there but he has fewer options right now than he did just before he went to that Leadership Conference.

       2. No one comes out of this report looking great. But the Reynas aren’t out there looking for a high profile coaching job.. Gregg is.

       After the Netherlands game this was a pretty good World Cup kind of feel good story . Then, Gregg opened his big Leadership mouth, and now, this is the soccer mom scandal World Cup.

       This is the kind of scandal that probably could have been contained in house had Gregg not made such a public spectacle of it with his “blackmail ” allegations. He single handedly removed all of the positivity out of the USMNT’s 2022 World Cup. The Reynas were attacking Gregg through their connections at the USSF. It’s called backstabbing, where I’m from. Gregg could have demanded an investigation to clear his name. This whole investigation could have been done behind the scenes.

       Instead he took that fight public. Sure there would have been leaks and rumours etc. But at least there was a chance it could have been contained.

       I’m sure the USSF hates the Reynas but in Gregg they have an employee who made his employer,the USSF, look like clowns and fools.

       If I’m a prospective employer I ask the USSF would you re-hire this guy? What do you think the answer is going to be? That he was the innocent victim of the evil Reynas? I don’t think so.

       The Reynas screwed themselves but they also got Gregg pretty good. Whatever is going on between the Berhalters and the Reynas has been developing a long time and I, for one, would stay as far away as possible from both families.

     • V: multiple witnesses close to the Berhalters including Danielle Reyna stated that in their interviews there were no other incidents in the past 30 years. As for the investigation could have been kept in house. No way, it was coming out that’s why they released the statement to get ahead of the story. Someone gave them the heads up that the press was running the story. It was an incredible mistake to tell the Gio “redemption story” at the conference, but after reading the report I’m not even sure it’s the tipping point. If Berhalter had remained the manager the Reyna’s would have released it eventually the first time Gio didn’t start or got pulled early. As for Allardyce getting a pass because of his success. Berhalter won two trophies, got the US out of the group, and I think had the best winning percentage for a US manager, so you may not consider that on the level with guiding Sunderland to 17th place but someone will.
       ——————-
       “Gregg is a known liar” please elaborate.

     • look, he admitted what he did, and at some teams no amount of time will wash that away. he may get a job someplace else but my point is some owners won’t let it happen on principle, while others might avoid him for PR reasons.

       re they broke up, my points there were it was serious enough they split for months, and as such i find the cutesy statements to the media parsed or misleading. “we got married, drop it.” you mean after she wouldn’t take your calls for months? and to me it’s he admits to this nasty thing and then wants to dictate when it no longer is relevant, and when the rest of us have to drop it. it’s not like he’s denying it, or the report couldn’t find it happened, “and we got married so can you people move on.” he said he did it, the law firm concluded it happened, at that point, the suspect doesn’t get to tell me when his case is over.

     • JR

       “As for Allardyce getting a pass because of his success. Berhalter won two trophies, got the US out of the group, and I think had the best winning percentage for a US manager, so you may not consider that on the level with guiding Sunderland to 17th place but someone will.”

       Like who?

       You’re right, it’s not on the level of keeping Sunderland in the EPL. Not even close. That was worth millions and it’s not the only time or the only team that Sam has kept a team in the EPL.

       As for his World Cup achievements Bob, Bruce and JK did the same thing. We can debate their abilities but I’ll put it this way during Greg’s tenure the over whelming percentage of his games were against powder puffs. He should have had a higher winning percentage. The only time he came close to beating a “better” team in competitive circumstances was when they drew with England.

       ————-
       “Gregg is a known liar” please elaborate.”

       Watch any of his press conferences.

     • V: disagreeing with someone’s opinion doesn’t make them
       a liar.

     • JR,

       Sure but telling us things that are not true does.
       Being deliberately misleading does.

       And I don’t mind that Gregg does that .

       It’s part of coachspeak. But he really sucks at it.

   • “If I was the next coach I’d be really, really leery of bringing Gio in again.”

     Why? Do you think the Reynas are going to go after whoever that person is?

     Reply

     • no, because Gio went for all this crap. You think they acted without his knowledge? serioisly…LOL

       Gio needs to prove it at Dortmund first, where his coach there sees Gio the same way GB did. Imagine that

     • “As for the Reynas, the report confirmed they pressured U.S. Soccer officials and coaches about playing time for their son, but the investigation found the Reynas had been doing this for several years, which included complaining to a coach at the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup about Gio Reyna’s playing time. The report also revealed how far the Reynas were willing to go, with one staffer characterizing Claudio Reyna’s interactions as “inappropriate,” “bullying” and “mean-spirited.””

       since the U17s this has been going down!!!

       Gio knew.

     • “no, because Gio went for all this crap. You think they acted without his knowledge? serioisly…LOL”

       So you’re saying Gio used his parents to advance his career?

       If he didn’t agree with what they did how do you suppose he was going to stop them?

       You must know a lot more about that family’s dynamics than I do.

       A for “his coach there sees Gio the same way GB did. Imagine that”

       What makes you think you have any idea how either manager really saw/sees Gio?

       Gregg never went into great detail about how exactly he saw Gio and as for Terzic, he’s not Gregg. He has a lot more alternatives to Gio, starting with Julian Brandt, arguably their best player this season. He also has a ton of games more than Gregg did. He also knows Gio fitness is questionable.

       In other words Gio’s situation at BVB is quite different from his USMNT situation.

8. Wow, my quick skim of this list has around 25 guys starting or playing big minutes for top 5 league teams plus championship, plus Wright and Cannon. This has to be a relative first for USMNT. Time for US soccer to step up and get the GM and head coach to utilize this talent.

   Reply

   • dude, this is an ironic choice of words. i was gonna point out that the two big players of the week seemed to have been CCV (celtic) and wright (turkey). it’s kind of funny to be harping on the big 5 thing at that point. both CCV and wright were once big 5 types who couldn’t get the time of day from berhalter while at great clubs. it’s kind of funny to be trying to smush the 2 together to make some sort of big club point. this actually seems to say people making more subtle career choices may be rewarded. hmm

     Reply

     • also a funny day to be pimping big 5 when the report comes out about the whole two-headed scandal stemming from when our dortmund wunderkind got dumped to third string. i’m not sure if we’ve ever had a coach that simplistic. even JK who rhetorically got this argument in the bloodstream, might leave a player off one friendly window after moving to toronto or seattle but they’d be back starting next time. and even where he did favor dual national players from germany some of those choices sent him on long term vacation to california, eg brooks.

     • Just can’t let anyone be a tiny bit positive. More Americans playing in Europe and leagues we didn’t use to have a lot of players in that was his point. Nothing false about that.

     • “CCV and wright were once big 5 types who couldn’t get the time of day from berhalter while at great clubs.”

       WTF are you talking about? There was a reason Uncle Gregg didn’t give them the time of day.

       When CCV was at Spurs, he couldn’t break into the first team. Hadji had to odd game for Schalke but was far from convincing.

       Neither of those two were anywhere near as good as they are these days.

       “this actually seems to say people making more subtle career choices may be rewarded. hmm”

       Subtle career choice? Horseshit. You can’t impress anyone or have any kind of career if you don’t play. CCV and Hadji finally have found somewhere where they can play regularly enough to prove to everyone how good they are..

       There’s nothing subtle about their career choices.

     • V: I know why didn’t Berhalter call in Mix Diskerud he was a Man City player until July 2021?

     • i find this whole line of argument giggle inducing. i was pimping CCV as far back as 2018 when sarachan picked him. you’re trying to argue GB’s “form” theories where he was a spurs asset loaned out and must have sucked because he struggled for time. except i don’t buy the fanboy theory that someone on the radar and capped in 2018 and who made the 2022 team and played solid somehow magically sucked in between. have you ever considered that as with reyna and 20 other people we read far too much into their club situations, and not enough into their talent and the level of teams hiring them?

     • IV: guys also capped in 2018 by Dave Sarachan:
       Will Trapp
       Bobby Wood
       Jorge Villafana
       Marky Delgado
       Rubio Rubin
       Eric Lichaj
       CJ Sapong
       Tim Parker
       Justin Morrow
       Danny Williams
       Matt Polster
       Ike Opara
       Alex Bono
       Juan Agudelo
       Russell Canouse
       Linden Gooch
       Kenny Saief
       Kelyn Rowe
       Matthew Olesunde
       Dom Dwyer
       Do you want any of them based on their caps under Sarachan? Your whole theory is based around a players real ability should based off one good match they might have had when you saw them and their 38+ matches for club shouldn’t count.

     • “. i was pimping CCV as far back as 2018 when sarachan picked him. you’re trying to argue GB’s “form” theories where he was a spurs asset loaned out and except i don’t buy the fanboy theory that someone on the radar and capped in 2018 and who made the 2022 team and played solid somehow magically sucked in between. have you ever considered that as with reyna and 20 other people we read far too much into their club situations, and not enough into their talent and the level of teams hiring them?”

       Actually, that paragraph doesn’t make sense.

       “must have sucked because he struggled for time.”

       Not true. He struggled for time at Spurs because he had players ahead of him . In American sports there is a phrase called ” the numbers game”.

       CCV being out at Spurs was because of the numbers games. Too many guys ahead of him and not enough game time to hand out to everyone for proper evaluation regarding development.

       Hence his many loans. You despise loans but a loan means he remained Spurs property which means they still rated him at some level.

       Spurs loaned out Harry Kane 4 times before he become Harry Kane.

       When CCV got loaned out it was pretty hard to see many of his games. What I noticed about his loans was that most every time he came back from one, his transfer value went up.

       The point is he’s developed quite a bit since 2018. If nothing else the money tells you that at some level.

       You can pat yourself on the back for spotting CCV back in 2018 if you like.

       Dave’s games in charge were a lot of fun to watch but they were friendlies, Dave didn’t have a plan per se because the USSF had no plan per se. Given the circumstances it was kind of difficult to make any serious judgements about any of the players then

       What you’re saying is the 2018 CCV should have been elevated to USMNT starter right then.

       Your proof for this is that, 4-5 years, lots of solid club performances and one very good World Cup game later, he should be a starter on merit now.

       That’s called bassackwards logic. If you were a detective and came upon a murder scene, you’ decide who the killer was and arrange the evidence to point towards them.

       Would CCV have flourished had he been named USMNT starting CB in 2018 and stayed there all that time? Maybe.

       But you can’t prove it.

     • this is not difficult to follow. i don’t buy that players who were part of, say, holding france to a 1-1 tie in 2018, who then make the world cup team and even see the field playing well in 2022, actually sucked for the 4 years in between. i buy that their fanboy buzz fell off when they had a series of meh loans. i don’t think they became less talented.

       same garbage got trotted out on weah when he bounced around as a PSG loan guy. this is fanboy politics based on fanboy theories that usage = form = talent. weah had great goals per 90 at his loan stops, he just rarely played.

       people need to quit confusing not in fashion with not playing well. but then we play what used to be a fashionable formation in a wannabe pep way, and we pick the fanboy approved hot streak players you can see on TV in a short list of leagues with US broadcast deals.

       btw, re the sarachan list, that is not the people who played vs. france. as the year progressed it settled into a shorter list of players like sargent, green, and CCV that GB then dropped or sent to U23. you wanna do this, i’ll list the even worse bunch of GB 2019 refuse. whatever you think of 2018, 2019 was worse. and my point was sarachan identified several players who proved useful later on, that GB initially passed on.

     • “I don’t buy that players who were part of, say, holding france to a 1-1 tie in 2018, who then make the world cup team and even see the field playing well in 2022, actually sucked for the 4 years in between.”

       Who said they sucked?

       By the way, players don’t get less talented over time. They might lose their ability to access their talent as consistently or someone better might come long and put them on the bench, but they don’t get less talented

       Again, you’re not making any sense.

       Are you saying that all of the players who played when we held France to a 1-1 tie should have been the A team all that time?

       Here’s the lineup for both teams:

       https://www.google.com/search?q=France+vs+US+2018&rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS1007US1007&oq=France+vs+US+2018&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i13i512j0i8i13i30l2j0i390l3.11950j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#sie=m;/g/11ggrbtn1h;2;/g/11b66jrs60;ln;fp;1;;;

       Wil Trapp, Bobby Wood Julian Green, Joe Corona and Jorge Villafana played for the US in that game.

       “my point was sarachan identified several players who proved useful later on, that GB initially passed on.”

       Big fucking deal.

       Who did Gregg initially pass on that Dave “discovered” ? Can you tell me that had Dave not “discovered him” that Gregg wouldn’t have also have discovered him eventually?

       If you are a super star for Dave it’s pointless if you can’t reproduce it for Gregg.

       The key word is “initially”.

       Gregg basically ignored Ream for the entire cycle until the last second. But who cares?

       It doesn’t matter if Gregg had Ream targeted and in his back pocket as his ace in the hole all along or if he accidentally put him on the roster at the last minute.

       Ream was at Qatar and proved to be arguably, the USMNT’s best player.

     • V: since you seem confused, my frosh year in NCAA i didn’t start the first 2 games. one could read into that whatever malarkey they wanted. i was angry because i thought i was better than the starter. i got in game 2 in garbage time and we came back and almost win. i was a starter by game 3.

       on that basis, sometimes coaches make bad decisions and then correct themselves. i don’t read form into a player rotting on the bench when they play well when used as that suggests their form is fine and they just need an opportunity or a career change.

       a lot of the “form” bs is people confused about whether they are club snobs or stats fiends. is it the team they play for or the numbers they put up? it seems to flip back and forth and at points look like an excuse for subjectively doing whatever. like, i think CCV was getting dinged for being a cship back for years which is now fine enough for trusty. i kind of don’t trust any eyes or excuses that come up with trusty and ream over richards. i wouldn’t mind trusty as an experiment but then go call up a whole team like that. i kind of don’t buy we have to be worried they lose to grenada. this team’s fans are too insecure.