A former FIFA World Cup winner has reportedly entered his name into the hat for the U.S. men’s national team head coaching vacancy.
Patrick Vieira is in talks with U.S. Soccer for the position, TUDN reported Thursday. Vieira, who mutually parted ways with Ligue 1 side Strasbourg, is not the favorite for the position, but talks are progressing, according to the report.
LAFC’s Steve Cherundolo and Columbus Crew’s Wilfried Nancy are also in the running for the role. Nancy led the Crew to an MLS Cup win in 2023 while Cherundolo lifted the trophy with LAFC in 2022.
The 48-year-old posted a 14-10-15 record in one season at Strasbourg, which was the fourth managerial position of his career. Vieira began his coaching career with MLS side NYCFC, serving as head coach for over two years.
He’s also head managerial positions with Ligue 1 side Nice and English Premier League club Crystal Palace.
Vieira enjoyed a 17-year playing career, which featured stops at Arsenal, Manchester City, Juventus, Inter Milan, and AC Milan. He earned 107 caps with the French national team, winning the FIFA World Cup, European Championship, and FIFA Confederations Cup as a player.
U.S. Soccer has continued its search to fill the role following Gregg Berhalter’s departure as head coach earlier this month. The USMNT won just one of their three group stage matches at the 2024 Copa America, suffering group stage elimination.
Since Cole Campbell was mentioned that he has an injury. Looks like our u20’s didn’t really need him. The team started the u20 qualifying tournament in spectacular fashion by beating down Jamaica 9-0. They now have a commanding goal differential in the group. Costa Rica and Cuba our other opponents in the group tied 1-1.
Jamaica was so bad. Match was over in the 4th minute. Honestly could have been 12 or 14 to nothing.
-Haji subbed out after 12 minutes injury precaution. 18 yr old dual nat Aidan Dausch subbed in for him.
– Damion Downs scored for Koln vs Belgian side St. Trudense
– Matt Turner held a clean sheet for his 45 minutes of his friendly vs Sunderland
– Tyler Meiser 17 yr CB/DM and Gio Reyna are on Dortmund’s Japan Tour roster. Gio will be meeting the team in Japan next week after his vacation following Copa America. No Cole Campbell, as they only brought 26 players.
ok, if cole isn’t with the senior team why isn’t he on either our U23 or our U20? before we start implying he sucks he had 11G 13A this year for dortmund U19, and 2 goals for US U19 ON ENGLAND U19. he recently extended his dortmund deal and they speak of him with glowing praise for pace, dribbling, final product.
secondary point, when a team jerks us around like this, on an important US player, they should be the first person on the next senior call sheet for a window they cannot refuse.
people talk about this like we are in control and fostering good relationships but it kind of seems like the clubs are messing us around for no good reason. at which point, if you are gonna deny me off-window calls, i need him on a window call, even if it’s during MLS playoffs. good vibes are a 2 way street.
or are we gonna pretend like the loosey gooseyness of our dual national approach where we drip drip drip leak players isn’t probably at work here too.
Did some more digging apparently Campbell picked up an injury. BvB missing guys still from Euros, but Adeyemi is there despite links to Chelsea. Cole still got a ways to go to get regular season time. I’m interested to see where Dortmund wants to play him as he’s played the 10, false 9, both W. According to Dortmund website they expect him to start the season with U19s. Cole is cap tied as he filed his one time switch and cannot play for Iceland again. Dortmund U19s start regular season Aug 4, so that might have factored in if he was not released.
Talking over lunch with my interpreter colleague, who is of Cape Verdean descent, and who was the fourth official for several 1994 WC matches, and is still a soccer referee in the RI, MA area. He informs me that Patrick Vieira is also of Cape Verdean descent, and is the son of a Cape Verdean diplomatic core envoy, thus grew up in several different countries, (i.e. Senegal, Republic of Congo, and France). Vieira’s French citizenship derives from growing up in France from age 11-12 or so, and eventually being raised in the Bourdeaux FC academy, eventually naturalizing as a French citizen. He did also anchor the mid-field of the “Amazing Incredibles” the legendary Arsenal squad that won the triple, and went undefeated, under the tutelage and tactical direction of Arsene Wenger, one of the most meticulous and brilliant tacticians that has ever coached in the Premiership. (And Vieira also went on to win several Champions League trophies with both of the Milan squads later.) I would venture to say that though he does not have the lengthy stellar resume of club coaching experiences that some would covet or require as prerequisites for the job, (and as has been posted her and on other chat groups, club experience rarely translates, nor is a prerequisite for success as a national team coach), he does possess the professional and personal life experiences that form the intangibles, the facets of the “whole package” of what we are looking for, and that we hope will gel and synergize with our players and staff. Then come into fruition, over a short period, as the motivator, inspirational leader (and international diplomat), and as well, as the intelligent, fluid and adaptive soccer coach and tactician that could fit the bill for USMNT. I would rate him a top 3 candidate.
there are guys off that france team who have been good coaches, eg, deschamps, there are a few less good at it, eg, henry. all things aren’t equal. vieira’s work thus far, particularly since leaving the city cradle, seems more henry than deschamps.
not everyone who plays at a high level can coach at that level. some are good athletes but inarticulate teachers. some of soccer is subconscious and some folks can’t explain why they do what they do. some were good players but not tactical geniuses. some can execute a game plan but not make one themselves. some are either too nice or too mean to the players.
anyhow, to me vieira despite being handed a loaded NYC squad never even matched what GB did with the crew, which i thought was below hiring standard for a US coach in international soccer. vieira would be another “just watch and maybe he’ll surprise you” pick. “see what he can do when handed a US-quality roster.” all due respect to surprises happen, but we need more of a sure thing.
IV
“we need more of a sure thing.”
There is no such thing as a sure thing, especially when you factor in the USSF’s budget. Or even if you didn’t.
For some reason you think the manager is somehow separate from the player pool/ ownership (USSF) situation. That is hogwash. The two are inseparably interrelated.
Somewhere out there is a manager who is perfect for the version of the USMNT that exists today and will be developing in the next year or two.
It’s always a balance. A great manager and a really good player pool (Uruguay) can do great things. An okay manager with a really good player pool ( England) not so great.
We have a player pool that even if you include IV favorites like Duane Holmes, Julian Green, CJ Sapong, Dom Dwyer, Juan Agudelo, etc., etc. is hard to classify as anything but mediocre.
Our very bestest player has just come off of his FIRST all around great season at a top 5 club. One season. The big boys have several players who can boast about multiple all around great seasons. Talent matters and we still don’t have enough of it.
So we need probably the very best manager that we can beg borrow or steal. But we (the fans) don’t necessarily know who that is.
I’m not against big names if you can get them.
But every one of those big names were an unknown before they became a big deal.
Nancy for example, has not done it at the international level before.
That does not mean he can’t.
And most of those big name guys? If they come here I’d be embarrassed by what they will find and they might be also.
The USSF need to identify people who are good at discovering coaching talent and then putting faith in those people. I don’t know who that would be.
I do know that Crocker is the guy who gave us a worse version of Gregg so I think those of you who think have faith in Matt may be disappointed.
I always thought Roberto Martinez might be a good choice. He has a good record at the club level with getting more than the sum of the parts out of a team. Some may criticize his ability to manage the biggest stars, i.e. Ronaldo, but we don’t have any of those. I was surprised US Soccer didn’t make a play for him when they dumped Klinsmann. The timing was right. He’s probably off the table now that he’s at Portugal, but not dealing with how to handle an aging CR might be a welcome change of scenery.
he’d be an interesting choice. he would be better than vieira, has done some things and helpfully with smaller clubs, wigan winning FA cup is nuts, won a lower division which means tactics that work without star wattage.
but there is a question if he should have done more with that loaded belgium team, and there’s also the basic question of availability.
i am not the biggest possession soccer fan, but honestly, not the worst idea, proven CV coach, articulate and speaks english for USSF’s checkboxes.
He’s under contract with his birth country through the WC. I’m sure the whole CR7 thing is annoying but that roster has far more talent than the US he’s not leaving. Just like he wasn’t leaving DeBruyne, Lukaku, Hazard in 2018 for the US job.
you’re framing it as “he’s not leaving,” which, setting aside why did you bring it up then…………my response, belgium never performed to expectation, and just finished behind romania in group and went out to semi team france. i mean that litany of names has somehow not amounted to a bunch of trophies. so maybe humpty was pushed.
I didn’t bring it up Flagermunsen did.
IV
“i mean that litany of names has somehow not amounted to a bunch of trophies. so maybe humpty was pushed.”
Maybe. after he left Belgium (he did a Berhalter, his contract ended after the World Cup) Roberto said that he took the Portugal job just before the 2022 World Cup started. He says he was leaving whether he went out in the group stages or won the World Cup.
You can believe him or not but he moved from one contender to another so he’s doing something right. Either that or he’s a lucky manager.
USSoccer is like a “cult” and they want to keep the US mentality and way of doing things the same.
From the days of Steve Sampson (1995) to Gregg Berhalter (2024) we’ve had only ONE FOREIGN COACH….Jurgen Klinsmann. The US coaching requirement (with the exception of Klinsy of course) from then to now, seems to be “an coach (more than likely American) who has coached Top University level (back then since there were no top US coaches) and/or in MLS (at least in a US professional league) and/or in the US youth program and/or was an assistant to a former US NAT coach”.
A high profile coach will disrupt the “same old, same old” flow of things, change the authority dynamics and wouldn’t tolerate outside interference (from former players, former coaches, former executive etc)…..and they wouldn’t want to lose control of the team heading into the biggest event in soccer, a World Cup.
So while all this delay is for show I bet you all they are going to go with “another one of the good ol’ boys”………. SO WITHOUT FURTHER DUE, I PRESENT TO YOU THE NEXT USMNT COACH…..LAFC’s MR. STEVE CHERUNDOLO. lol
They need to just stop with the smoke and mirrors, and get on with it.
while in think we need a serious coach from the international pool, i feel like just as important that they are either tactically flexible/omnivorous or if a scheme guy, offering some other concept than what just didn’t work.
What about 1930- 1994? How many coaches were foreign in the 60 years you CHOSE not to list. You & JohnnyRazor are thee 2 best researchers in this community. Bottom line no debate no discussion. When you or him cherry pick information, it does a disservice to this community. When intelligent people choose to manipulate information, we are all worse off for it. Look, at it from a different perspective. It’s like saying a WR has the most TD since he’s been in the league, without letting people know the WR has only been in the NFL for 2 years. Yeah, he scored the most in a 2 year span. What about the other WRs who’ve been in the league for a decade? In its soccer history, since 1930, America has had more foreign coaches than Americans. We as a country need to start a trend of American coaches coaching Americans. USSF has not shown any effort since 1930 to get the American collective/citizenry to enjoy the US national team. We need Americans coaching this sport, for Americans who play this sport, in order for more Americans to watch this sport. Anything else is non-American. Be easy Bizzy 🫡
I get what you’re saying Ok 2 Think, but I didn’t go that far back because there were no American Coaches, coaching in any solid professional system in the US (didn’t exist) or who had coached in any of the top leagues in the world back then to really pick from So its not a fair assessment because there were no good American candidates to chose from. MLS was in a development phase and didn’t have any American proven coaches like today (think about it, Eric Wynalda came back to the US from Europe IN 1996 to play in MLS, scoring the FIRST GOAL in the league’s history lol).
It would be unfair to talk about coach selection strategies earlier than 1995, when there were no good / recognized American coaches to even chose from and hence the reason we had to out source lol.
Even our players back then were so-so
https://ussoccerplayers.com/usmnt-1994-world-cup-squad
Again, I get what you’re saying though
“When you or him cherry pick information, it does a disservice to this community. When intelligent people choose to manipulate information, we are all worse off for it.” From 1916 until 1975 no manager for the USMNT managed more than 9 games. They’d come in for a year or two for competitions and then move on. 11 were Americans, 5 Scots, 4 English, 2 German, 1 each Hungary Wales, and Poland. Until you get to Woosnam and Jago in the late 60s they all had immigrated to the US and had been living in the states for many years. In ‘76 Chyzowych took over yes he was foreign born but moved to US as a child and had 3 caps for US. Next was Panagoulias who was Greek, but went to college in US. Osiander who came in his 20s and had lived longer in the US than anywhere else when he took over, Gansler born in Hungary but grew up in US, played for US. Kowalski born in Poland (not sure when he immigrated) but played in college and pros in America. Then you get Bora, Sampson, Arena, Bradley, Klinsmann, Arena again, Sarachan, Gregg, Hudson (foreigner), Bj, Gregg again. So that’s a really long way to say many managers were foreign born but almost all were immigrants that had made permanent moves to the US well before being hired. All but two from that ‘16-‘76 period continued living in the US until their deaths. Oh and all lived in the US for longer than the 3 weeks Marcel Jacobs lived in the US before his mom moved him to Italy, where he lived his entire life until moving to Florida for better coaching this year.
dude, bora had done stuff with mexico and UNAM. sampson was a bora assistant who had shared a NCAA title. arena had won a ton of NCAA and MLS. bradley won MLS with a freaking expansion team.
and then suddenly, GB, callaghan, hudson, and sarachan were the 4 worst coaches we have had in recent memory, objectively in terms of their CV, since roughly gansler around ’90. GB never won anything in club, hudson and callaghan were basically assistants. i didn’t think much of sarachan but he’d won a SS and a couple USOC, and had slightly more clue on personnel. standards have slipped.
you can even question bringing arena back, whether that was serious or just lazy.
at which point, you need to be aware of the political dynamics. if you were around US soccer c. 2010-2011, you remember that at that time there was criticism of not just bradley’s terminal clark screwup, but the way we played. some of the fans and fed wanted prettier soccer and argued it was how to push past the results plateau.
there is an argument to be had that beginning c. 2011-2016 part of the fed wanted this team to be prettier even at risk of some turbulence on results.
that roughly as of GB the snob fed faction won out. that belief in that faction was so strong that results be darned and even callaghan and hudson with zero resume got to run this thing for half a year “because continuity.” when, to me, we had only done ok at qatar, why did we need more of the same????
the question, to me, is does the cult win and we hire a better version of the same ideas — or does the cult lose hold and this pushes back in the pragmatic direction. to me you will get a hint from the coach’s philosophy and how much winning they have done. if they sound a little like GB or have weaker CVs, the cult is in control. if they offer new ideas and have actually won someplace, we’re swinging back to practical.
first off, world cup qualifying used to be quicker. home and away, but maybe knockout, or maybe 3-4 team groups.
second, we used to average like 4-5 games a year back in the 70s and 80s, so a 9 game tenure is 2 years. and that 4-5 game stuff reflected an uncompetitive team run more as an amateur, olympic-style operation like track and field or gymnastics. kind of like the smaller teams in concacaf or oceania that play games once in a while. like american samoa in the movie. they get together. they try to qualify. they largely vaporize for 4 years. even canada right now plays a lot less than we do. we are kind of spoiled with 20 game years.
cause it’s misleading to be like dude only ever coached 10 games or 30 games. back then 10 games might be a year, or 30 games might be a full cycle. you really have to go back to about 1976 to find iterative coaches with negligible tenures. after then, they are coaching the team for years, just not well, and the NT is just not very busy, like a small potatoes island team. that’s not the same meaning as when hudson gets 5 games in 1 calendar year and is fired for suckage.
personally i think this whole discussion is a fighter plane throwing off flak to distract the missiles chasing it. the basic fact is we had 1 level of hire from 1991-2017, and then we got cute, and the quality of hires dropped back down to IMO the level of people this had in the 1980s when this was uncompetitive. the development apparatus and pro leagues are too good for the results to go back there, but the coaching for years now has been trash.
they got cute, it’s time to hire serious people again.
just like i think US men have forgotten tactics are about winning soccer games and not aesthetics. and the aesthetics have generally not actually been good during the supposed art soccer period. hmmm
IV: whether you call it being pragmatic, conservative, bunkering, ugly soccer, it’s not a tournament winning strategy. I put out the stats last week. The team with more possession in the Euros and Copa were 3 to 1 more likely to win. Possession doesn’t automatically lead to goals (see US under Berhalter many nights) but it does give you a better chance to win. Teams that play without the ball can win, but over the course of 3-5 knockout rounds of a tournament it won’t get it done. Let’s say Wondo scores against Belgium. That would have been amazing but the likelihood that the US could have given up that much of the ball to Argentina and then Netherlands and eventually Germany and won each time is next zero. It’s not about being prettier or being Euro fanboys. It’s about winning. So if the US goes with say Rafa Benitez or another coach that plays long balls and gets everyone back behind the ball it might scrape out a quarterfinal appearance, but it will also signal we don’t actually ever want to win the whole thing.
IO2T,
“We as a country need to start a trend of American coaches coaching Americans. USSF has not shown any effort since 1930 to get the American collective/citizenry to enjoy the US national team. We need Americans coaching this sport, for Americans who play this sport, in order for more Americans to watch this sport. Anything else is non-American.”
You’re not the first person to say this.
You’re also ignoring the fact that there are an awful lot of American coaches that have been coaching Americans for a long time up until right now.
They have immigrant sounding names like Sigi Schmid ( Paul Caligiuri, Cobi Jones, Brad Friedel, David Vanole, Frankie Hejduk, Carlos Bocanegra, Eddie Lewis, Joe-Max Moore, Chris Henderson and Nick Rimando., just at UCLA) , Schellas Hyndman and my favorite Sacha Cirovski. Okay, he’s a Canadian citizen but has been coaching Americans for over 30 years so I figure he gets grandfathered in. Sacha is the guy who gave us players like Taylor Twellman, Maurice Edu, Robbie Rogers, Clarence Goodson, Omar Gonzalez. Zack Steffen and Graham Zusi. And I would argue CP , Gio and Brenden were/are primarily coached by their dads who have that immigrant sounding background.
But if people with immigrant sounding names are not to your taste, there were/are Americans with American sounding names who speak American sounding english like Jim Curtin, Garth Lagerway, Josh Wolfe, and Ben Olsen.
Now before you object and say all these guys coach/coached in America, well yeah what did you expect?
Who coaches in Europe? Mostly, it is Europeans and South Americans
(who get a pass because so many of their countrymen are playing there).
As more American players turn up in Europe eventually we’ll see more American coaches. We have Pellegrini, had Bob and Jesse, eventually Dolo will probably head back to Germany. That’s a respectable number.
After all how many South Korean head coaches do you see in Europe? They have a lot of good players there. Japanese coaches? Again, a lot of good Japanese players in Europe.
Do you really mean World Cup level coaches?
Because there aren’t too many Americans out there that fit that bill.
However, we’re not alone. England doesn’t have one. Germany had a lot of confusion before they finally nailed down Nagelsmann. Every country would prefer to have a native manager. But there aren’t a lot of good ones available of any nationality.
I came to the conclusion that I really don’t care whom the next coach is. I hope the next coach instills a bit of discipline and a hard working mentality. Two traits this current generation of players seem to lack.
2tone,
Parents are supposed to do that.
It’s a little late in the game for national team managers to be trying to instill that.
Not really. Discipline on the pitch. Not in life. And yes managers absolutely can instill a more disciplined and hard working team mentality.
here’s my deal. the current discipline problem is out of control and not to any tactical end. we have had physical teams before. we have gotten red cards. but the reds were usually executing the game plan. and thus we can get a tie from italy with 9 guys because there is a game plan working underneath, and the reds were in service of that. hard tackles, etc.
a guy who can’t be stopped from yelling at the ref is not game plan. i have literally never seen a player unable to stop shouting at the ref when carded. that is completely out of control. that is the team has not been coached to stop this. that is nuts.
likewise, on what planet does one elbow in the head opposing players off the ball twice? and i am sure we expected a heated game. but that is not game plan. that’s not a soccer play. that’s complete loss of control.
i am genuinely curious where this comes from. this is stuff you would yell at a U12 for doing. these are not soccer plays. is it that they were frustrated with the coach but wouldn’t say it? what is the reasoning? i think the new coach needs to ask and get answers. or he needs to send people to therapy or something.
Heard / read, that Rafa Benitez is also interested.
rafa has coached a bunch of big teams and done some stuff, so he’s above some of the crowd, but most of it was like a decade ago. given where klopp took his liverpool squad it also feels like leftovers. personally i’d want more current success. you don’t want stale tactics or a burnout.
but it’d be better than some of these former french player-mediocre MLS coach types, matarazzo, wagner.
A great player, but not an outstanding record as a coach.
I agree Gary! Similar take on Wagner. Great resume as an assistant but mediocre as a head coach. I understand international coaches have different requirements but still need to be a massive culture impact from day. Demanding each individual has expectations and individual goals to achieve.
ditto matarazzo, ditto henry. if we’re hiring foreign, don’t eff around with value guys or fanboy types, hire like we mean it. ie they should have a CV better than dolo/nancy/noonan. international experience, domestic trophies, or at least elite jobs.
agree Gary Page
Mistake. We need someone to create an aggressive, hungry atmosphere. This is not Vieira’s mode of operation. I would recommend we find a hockey coach that can learn a few soccer terms.
Like Herdman then. Has some real talent and added a SA/hockey/chippy dirty style.
Please give him the job he will do great and the players like Weah and Dest won’t do bone head moves and assault players and get stupid reds. Gregg lost the locker room people are delusional. If players are getting sent off for dumb reds obviously they don’t respect the coach and team. I won’t say they don’t respect the crest cause it’s a temporary situation they make that decision.
Something I haven’t heard anyone really say – so the build up to the Panama game (and even afterwards) the pundits were talking about how teams like Argentina have the ability to toggle between technical play and being physical and that’s what the US needs to be able to do. Go out and show some bite. Especially when it comes to teams like Panama and Bolivia. Then Weah goes out and tries to establish he wasn’t going to take any crap. His little shove slips off the shoulder and into the guys face. Suddenly the entire team has a discipline problem. What? Until then the team has had one red card when Dest lost his mind (not super surprising – he’s a bit of a reactionary hot head). People were complaining the team is soft after Bolivia. Suddenly due to a misplaced shove the team has a discipline problem. I call BS. There was pressure on the team to not be soft and play with bite. When you do that you run the risk of red cards. But yeah, sure, Gregg’s fault. Whatever. I can agree he wasn’t able to get the guys up for games or maybe his tactics were too much for international games but a discipline problem? Just stop.
After our loss to Holland in the WC, that was my observation. They out toughed us. If one of our players would start a break away, they would immediately chop him down and take the card. We would let them go. At least one of the Dutch goals was because we didn’t take a card to stop an attack. I know Klinsmann is passe, but he diagnosed that a long time ago when he said we had to be more nasty. In fact, I think that is probably why we let Portugal get the draw in that WC. As soon as we turned it over we should have fouled and stopped the counterattack. Instead, most recently, we have Weah getting a stupid red card.
MoO,
“But yeah, sure, Gregg’s fault. Whatever. I can agree he wasn’t able to get the guys up for games or maybe his tactics were too much for international games but a discipline problem? Just stop.”
Team discipline isn’t necessarily just about cards.
The red cards by Dest and Weah are not really about the USMNT’s lack of team discipline.
Team discipline is about mental strength and focus under pressure. Red cards are usually either about a moment of insanity and/ or the bad luck to get caught for that moment. In Weah’s case for example, he just lost his mind. It happens and it can’t be explained.
But because this team has poor team discipline and is poorly coached, they did not respond as well to a crisis as they were capable of.
That is on Gregg.
Even down a man, the USMNT are still a better team than Panama and should have held on to that 1-0 lead Flo gave them. And they certainly should not have lost 2-1.
Disciplined teams remain focused on the task at hand. When Flo scored, they were already down a man so Gregg and all the players knew instantly that they were probably going to have to make that goal stand up. I don’t know if Gregg had them practice how to play a man down but he should have, especially given their recent experience with Sergino. Defense is mostly about very hard work and retaining your focus on the task at hand, in this case for about 68 minutes.
If you watched Argentina and Colombia in the final you saw two teams who knew how to play disciplined defense under enormous pressure. It was refreshing to see two teams who knew how to do that.
The USMNT doesn’t know how to.
It was Gregg’s job to fix that but he never did. Instead they seemed rattled and unsure.
It has been a trademark of Gregg’s teams that when things went bad, they usually did not respond well. That’s all well and good when you’re playing CONCACAF or friendlies. But in Qatar they gave up a cheap penalty to Wales and dropped 2 points. Bale suckered Walker on that one. That altered the entire direction of that campaign.
Against Bolivia, arguably the worst team at Copa America, scoring a few more goals could have been very useful in a situation where goal difference was a factor.
So yeah, after 5.5 years and about 70 games, this sloppiness, this lack of discipline eventually got them knocked out and Gregg fired. His fault, no one else.
Vacqui – I’ve typed and deleted a couple long diatribes that would make IV envious. I’ll just say this. The fans of the USMNT has unrealistic expectations of the players and coach of this team. I don’t anticipate this changing no matter who the coach becomes.
MoO,
I agree `100% with you that the fans have “unrealistic expectations of the players and coach of this team. I don’t anticipate this changing no matter who the coach becomes.”
But that is a function of what the USMNT is.
It is supposed to be the best that the USA have to offer.
We are Americans; we are mostly going expect that what they put out there should be something we can be proud of and at least somewhat competitive.
Gregg had a chance to do something really special. He had a blank slate. He started out with the program at an all time low.
He then immediately raised expectations about how he was going to change how the world looked at American soccer.
So don’t blame the fans who took him at his word.
Don’t get mad at people who think that over the course of 5.5 years and 70 some games he could at least have upset ONE team.
Again, you’re right, people expected too much of what , in international terms, was a bunch of rookie players led by a rookie manager. It was/is a program with a lot of flaws that preceded Gregg’s tenure. And it’s not just Gregg’s failure.
But, for better or worse he was paid to be the face of the program
So he may not be at fault but he is paid to be responsible.
And unfair or not, managers, like the next one, will get most of the blame or most of the credit.
That’s why they pay you that money. It’s the job.
Since Gregg came back this team has seemed listless and directionless, not unlike Gregg himself.
One reason there are so many one cycle manager advocates is that it very clearly takes a lot out of you. Gregg never struck me as a dynamic, high energy kind of manager, but even by his standards, his second go round he looked beaten down to me. And , as has been pointed out, a lot of our players also were not at their best.
If nothing else this group has the classic look of guys who need a change of scenery
You’re right about saying it’s not an on field discipline problem but feel good videos about team camaraderie seem to suggest Gregg ran a feel good camp with no real pushing players. Discipline is formed in practice and honestly the team does seem to lack bite like Dempsey had. You can’t change these guys at this age. They either are a tad nasty or not.
If De La Fuente is interested great take a serious look at him. No need to worry about language as plenty of Nats speak Spanish. Think outside the box and dream big instead of safe. Let the blanket go Linus.
Thats your opinion MOO, the dude even lost the locker room with the Gio situation. The proof is in the pudding It cost a rift and you can tell it was never really healed they just played in our faces that Gio would be a starter again and everything back to normal and well. Again the team is not disciplined under Gregg, players were even questioning his tactics at the WC that’s why Gio was pissed about his playing time and that situation cost a rift. So we have three incidents of the players not being disciplined under Gregg.
Euro 2024-winning Spain coach Luis de la Fuente interested in USMNT job
Mauricio Pochettino linked with USMNT head coach vacancy
Patrick Vieira in talks for USMNT head coaching vacancy
Lol, looks like we have good to quality coaches interested in the position at least. That’s a start. Let’s go!!!!
Viera is hardly proven but we could do worse. If we went French I would rather roll the dice w Nancy TBH.
Yup. Agree.
We’ve seen Nancy dramatically improve two squads now, pretty much overnight, and then play some of the most fun and expansive soccer we’ve ever seen played in MLS. Paper resumes are just that, I want to know what guys do when they get the gig and Nancy has shown that now.
the first two are serious candidates. the last got canned off getting a team relegated and hasn’t really won anywhere.
Who did Viera get relegated?
When I heard Twellman glossing him up I figured he must be high up on US Soccer’s list.