The next U.S. men’s national team head coach could reportedly come from the German Bundesliga.
Pellegrino Matarazzo has reportedly been offered the position by U.S. Soccer, multiple reports confirmed Saturday. German outlet Kicker reported that Matarazzo is still undecided while Bild stated that he has already informed his current club Hoffenheim that he wants to leave for the position.
The news comes recently after Hoffenheim parted ways with sporting director Alexander Rosen.
The 46-year-old is currently on his third managerial position at club level with Hoffenheim. Matarazzo joined the Bundesliga club in February, taking over for the fired Andre Breitenreiter.
He has won 20 of his 52 matches in charge of Hoffenheim.
Prior to his move there Matarazzo managed Stuttgart from December 2019 to October 2022. He helped the club fight off relegation in Spring of 22′.
The New Jersey-born Matarazzo played collegiately at Columbia University before embarking to Germany in 2000.
Matarazzo would take over for Gregg Berhalter, who was relieved of his duties in July after the USMNT’s group stage exit from the Copa America.
Pellegrino saying today he is not leaving Hoffenheim. We’ve seen coaches in sport say that and then leave within 48 hrs but this seems over. Last time Jesse made a statement right before the Berhalter return news.
Matarazzo checks many of the boxes that USSF want…. A US Coach, an understanding of the US Soccer pyramid, Has some name recognition among the Fan base.
From my point of view there are still questions (holes) that need to be addressed:
His lack of international coaching experience…
His ability to stand up to USSF/MLS backroom BS…..
His ability to get the players who backed GGG (Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, etc…) on board w/ his approach….
His ability to select a formation and tactics that get the most out of the players available; not come in with a predetermined formation/strategy that doesn’t fit our player pool.
While Matarazzo wasn’t on a lot of people’s radar, I felt he or Cherundolo were the best probable candidates, and am thrilled he is offered the position. Sorry, but he was my top choice. The reason is everywhere he has gone have been Bundesliga teams with low budgets and he has figured out how to make them competitive. That is the type of coaching talent the US men need right now if we are honest with ourselves. Let’s hope he accepts the role.
The reality is the USSF just isn’t going to be able to attract a lot of famous names on everyone’s list at this point. That has come abundantly clear. Maybe after 2026, but not today.
Nope. We don’t need a guy to make us competitive. We need a serial winner who will inspire our players and show them the way.
This guy was 20-32 last season.
Terrible.
Serial winner?
Would you take a guy with an international record of 44 wins, 13 draws and 17 losses, with a winning % of 55.8?
That is Gregg’s record.
SBIMO,
Serial winner?
Would you take a guy with an international record of 44 wins, 13 draws and 17 losses, with a winning % of 55.8?
That is Gregg’s record.
Matarazzo prefers a high-press style that relies heavily on counterattacking, but his time working under the possession-oriented Nagelsmann (the current Germany National team coach) has influenced the way he sees the game according to a lot of sources.
I like the fact that he is a USA-born, Germany-based manager, who has experience at the highest level. He also tends to favor a formation that is centered around the strength of our US player pool……the midfield, as his preferred formation seems to be the 3-5-2.
Also, Matarazzo has historically coached teams considered to be underdogs (up our alley), as well as created valued players who have previously been overlooked (exactly what we need) and that particular profile fits the USMNT very well, since at this moment this team needs structure in development, exposure and a high level approach, both mentally and physically, to the game in a manner that can boast or elevate several young talented players in our pool.
I don’t know what to think but this might not be a bad choice
if we are going to continue on the jedi/dest train then they are poor choices for highly responsible two way wing jobs in a 352. they like to cheat up. 352 you have no built in wing help. it’s a more calculated wing job.
to me we have struggled with who covers whom in a 3 man back situation.
They don’t like to cheat up, they’re told to move up. In the final third the USA like many teams runs a 2-3-5 with the FBs getting into the wide areas with Wings in the half spaces and the CF, well central. The 8s cover wide and the 6 screens the CBs. It’s a pretty common tactic among teams all over the world. Many teams that run a three man backline will use a 3-2-5 in the final third but the FBs are still pushed in line with the attackers. These formations create a numerical advantage going 5 on 4 against a 4back formation or by pinning the opponents wingbacks in their own end against a 5back. Columbus of late has been bringing their weak side WB to the penalty spot looking for the cutback as the attackers run to the endline. So pushing them high and central.
JR: dude, don’t play, dest could not defend a wingback position to save his life — with the formational help a 433 (shifting to 442) offers — much less handle a wing all by himself like a 352 or whatever variant (3421/3412) pellegrino uses.
and you seem to be splitting hairs on jedi. every team i have seen him with, they push him high. he then gets beat either on counters or back-doored on set pieces. in a 352 if you cheat up you get burned for goals as you have little wide help. and if he sits back do we still get the attacking upside. he unlike dest is capable of defending, he is just rarely used that way. even when he’s back he often goes to sleep on his blindside.
no, on further thought, weah is the one the formation would be made for. speed, endurance, but more calculated as opposed to cheating up to the point of risk.
and you are missing my point on the 3 back schemes. i can’t point to US-specifics but games i have seen it’s like 3 men playing zone around the striker, while the wings mark their wings, i found it inefficient and vulnerable as no one in particular seemed to be marking in the middle and the one person i want draped is the freaking striker. last thing you need is a committee vaguely responsible for someone watching the 9 but no one actually is. kind of like the U23s not quite covering france on their first 2 goals even though we had numbers back.
i prefer 3 backs (a) as sort of “graduate” study when the defense has aced its “undergraduate” work and can get away with 1 fewer defender and (b) when we have a couple central strikers to mark such that it’s not a lot of standing around marking air in a zone. do we seem like a team with a “graduate” level straight-As defense? exactly. and i haven’t seen a lot of 442 or 352 type formations where we can keep a few central marking backs fairly busy. i see a lot of 451 or 433 variants with a single striker. i don’t need 3 guys to mark 1 striker but i could use someone responsible for that person. and 3 to mark 3 based on our quality of defense is suicidal.
Again you’re making comparisons to how they played under Gregg. Who never really used a 3 CB set enough for anyone to know what to do. Gregg is gone. The new person, will have different tactics and they’ll have results based on their own ability to communicate and implement those ideas.
I actually have a schelke career mode with him on fifa 2016 i have Lennard Maloney, Jermaine Jones, Joe Gyau, and Obed Vargas American version( before he switched to Mexico). Would love to see him as coach.
-Is JJ in his 40s or are you using 10 yr old Obed Vargas?
-What might have been had Joe Gyau not destroyed his knee on a terrible pitch in Connecticut!
I don’t know all that much about Matarazzo, but I have the same feeling about him that I had when we first hired Berhalter. He’s not a bad coach, but I think we could do a lot better. At the time Berhalter was hired, David Moyes was available and stated his interest, but apparently wasn’t given serious consideration. He then did well at West Ham, saving them from relegation and then qualifying them for Europe for the first time in forever a couple of years ago. Now he has walked away and said he would be interested in a job overseas. Now, I’m not lobbying for him, but he checks the boxes I think we should be looking for. That’s the kind of manager we need, someone who does more than expected with what he has to work with. Also, because Mexico fired him quickly (like they have every other coach for the last half dozen years or so), people tend to overlook Tata Martino. When he was the national team coach of Paraguay, they did better than they ever had done before or have done since. A lot of US fans seem to forget that in qualifying for the last WC, Mexico finished ahead of the US even though I think this is a down period for Mexican talent. That Mexico did not make the knockout rounds didn’t surprise me at all. They just aren’t that good right now. Matarazzo is going a little outside of the usual boxes, but we need to look even further than that.
You can’t give Tata a complete pass either. Mexico was very good the first half of his run, then collapsed as he was unable to break in younger players to replace the aging group. He also wasn’t able to smooth over issues with guys like Chicharito and Carlos Vela who could possibly have helped. Mexico had gotten out of the group in 7 straight WCs, but really his contract was up and by most reports he wasn’t interested in staying on either. Truly any other El Tri manager would have been fired for losing three straight competitive matches to the US so they gave him enough time.
Tata really didn’t have any talent with El Tri, though. It’s a little shocking how bad their national talent pool has gotten. His team was getting old fast as he took over, and there’s just not much in the pipeline, like, at all. I’ve been watching the Leagues Cup the last week and the Liga MX sides are looking bad compared to MLS, and it’s not “form”, it’s plain old-fashioned talent. The Mexican sides just don’t have much, their athleticism is worse, and while there are some good players on some of those teams, particularly Tigres and Monterrey, most of those players are also foreign. And Monterrey got thumped good and proper by Austin to open the tournament and then lost in a PK shootout last night to UANL, and that’s it, Monterrey is one of the first teams out. Tigres did beat Miami in what amounted to a home game in Houston last night…but Miami was missing Messi, Suarez, and Cremaschi, and still easily could have won; it came down to the very end and a bricked clearance from a CB cold off the bench for Tigres to win the game. Vancouver also ran Tijuana off the field last night and Tijuana is now out with zero points as well. I’d expect the majority of the rest of the Liga MX to fall the next couple days; the majority of the Mexican sides remaining are in last place in their groups with zero points along with Tijuana and need minor miracles to survive and advance.
I genuinely don’t know what happened to soccer in Mexico, but it goes way deeper than any coach.
Q: they won the bronze in Tokyo so there was some talent coming up. Maybe too early for Qatar but they also got what second in the U17 WC when we couldn’t get out of our group with Gio, Pepi, Scalley, and Busio.
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MLS was 2-5-10 vs Liga Mx in Champions Cup and Pachuca handled my Crew pretty easily in the final. Outscoring them 38-15. Take out Columbus and MLS was 0-3-9 8-31. MLS was 1-1-7 on the road in that competition. Leagues Cup is basically at the same point in Liga Mx season as the Champions Cup is to MLS. I’m not an expert on Liga Mx squads but it looks like they are resting a little bit in the tournament. There are some 3 digit number guys on most of the teams which means they’re youth players. “most of those players are also foreign.”
Let’s also be honest if you took the foreign players off MLS those teams would be pretty poor too. The “story” in Mexico is that Liga Mx are over valuing their young talent and not selling them to Europe and then those players become comfortable playing in Mexico and don’t push themselves to get better. Not unlike MLS six or seven years ago.
I don’t take this last Champions Cup seriously when reports state most of the Ctew team literally got food poisoning before the game. I knew something was off when watching that game.
2tone: I’m not going to sound like a sore loser and makes excuses for my team. Pachuca was able to isolate Rodon on Camacho and we had no answer for his size and strength. Fully fit I think we would have been more of a threat offensively but I think they had the advantage and were at home. Could be a rematch in Columbus in the Rnd of 16 so we might see them. All the other MLS teams got blasted by Liga Mx this year though.
2tone: and then Pachuca plays a bunch of reserves and doesn’t get out of their group losing to Toronto. Did you see Columbus traded for Dejuan Jones so Arfsten doesn’t have to play LWB anymore?
If true I like it. US soccer isn’t going to release anything. They will hold a press conference and unveiling.
US Soccer couldn’t keep a secret, if this happens we’ll hear about it from Bogart, Tenario, Goff, or Carlisle before any press conference is scheduled.
That’s really, really interesting if true.
He’s usually a 3-man-backline guy, at least they’ve been every time I watched his teams. I also know he doesn’t dick around much with possession, it’s quick transitions and go.
Sort of the polar opposite of Berhalter…and IMHO probably a better fit for the athleticism and skill level of our pool. I was pretty jealous last cycle, watching Canada have great success with the style I personally thought we should have been playing with…and with only a fraction of our talent.
And yeah, if he gets in there, welcome back John Brooks, for sure.
And I agree a 3-5-2 does suit our current pool. Get Pulisic partnered with Balogun and experiment with Musah, Mckennie, Adams, Cardoso, Reyna. and Tillman in a 3 man midfield.experiment with Scally at RCB which I think suits him and have Weah and Dest as your RWB’s. Robinson and Lund at LWB. Will Brooks come back in? Matrazzo left him.out plenty of times at Hoffenheim.
The Dest and Weah dilemma would be a problem in a 3-5-2. You’d also get into which of MMA+MJ get cut out. Depending on where you see Pulisic, it could be a Reyna vs CP at the 10. Limits Haji’s role as well to striker since it doesn’t use wingers.
I see Pulisic partnered at striker. Get that cat closer to goal because he is our leading goal scorer. It also allows him freedom to express himself. Teams having to worry about both Balogun and Pulisics ability to combine and their pace makes me smile.
Not worried about a weah / dest problem. Weah will be the guy until Dest gets back healthy and then it’s Dest. Dest is far more superior with the ball at his feet. Also you could experiment with Weah as a second striker. We really don’t know what his role with Mottas Juve will be yet.
Inevitably there will be some good players not in the 11. Which makes our bench stronger.
Realistically who would you see as the back 3? I also mentioned a few weeks back I could see Scally as a RCB in a back 3, are we looking at Richards and Ream/Zim/ fill in the blank?
I can’t see CCV, I still haven’t seen much of McKenzie to put any serious stock in him, I wish EPB would have developed like I thought he would (I had high expectations for him)
And I think the Weah/Dest issue could beome a net positive as a Dest / Weah / Jedi rotation since Dest can play both sides.
I could even see a potential move for Weston to become a CB in a back 3 (like when JK experimented with Jermaine Jones)
It’s an interesting thought process for sure
Bac: I’ve suggested Wes as a CB if Nancy was hired. I’m not very familiar with Pellegrino’s tactics but from what I’ve read and he’s from the Nagelsman coaching tree so I could see that. I’m not sure how accepting of that Wes would be though. JJ was pretty bad at CB so I’m not sure it’d be successful for Wes if he wasn’t getting reps at CB for his club too.
I’m not seeing it from any US reporters yet so not sure it’s real. If the big names said no, I think he’s had more success than Henry or Viera. Welcome back John Brooks?
JR,
The knock on him would be he has no international experience and no time to develop it for himself.
The counter to that would be that he knows about successfully fighting off relegation. In theory that means he knows how to quickly evaluate a roster, bring them together, and instill a sense of urgency in them in order to get results.
Avoiding relegation is about quickly figuring out how to get results.
If true, it means that New Jersey would have given the USMNT 3 managers, Bob, Gregg and Pellegrino.
if you make the truly right moves in november-february while struggling, you finish 12th, not 17th. you finish 17th because your coach just barely did enough. last EPL guy to squeak a close one was dyche for everton in 22-23. he coached 18 league games, won 5, tied 6, lost 7. it would be charitable to call that getting results. lost more often than he won, tied more than he won. essentially they got midtable results which pulls them off a bottom occupied by teams that can barely beat anyone getting less than a point a game.
the fact they cannot explode away from the bottom 3 suggests other than their brilliance.
this was a developmental job years ago. even an intricate system would take too long. we will run our usual schedule and most of the time he will have 1-2 weeks with the team. we have one tournament left which the rumor is the next gold cup will have a bunch of invited teams. think more “copa” and less your usual “gold cup.”
what we need is an adult pro coach with proven success, an eye for talent, and either tactical flexibility or an effective but not overblown scheme he can tweak situationally.
people keep throwing around development. this is not college. this is not age group ball. this is not a bradenton U17 or U20 residency team you coach all school year. this is a men’s pro job where they meet 6 or 7 times a year, maybe 1-2 tournaments a year, 15-20 games a year, ending in the world cup. if people don’t fit a scheme or misbehave, they get “cut” or “benched,” not “taught.” people wonder why i keep suggesting new names but for a team like this, you call and cut a unit suited to your scheme, until you are happy. you don’t take a losing unit and try and coach a set of players you want to go with. which is then my response to relegation. the idea here with our team is to run the table at tournaments. you need a run the table coach, who knows how to beat good teams and win the tough ones, not one used to midtable return on investment, where people make excuses that leverkusen owned you, or that your old “relegation fighter” team suddenly finished 2nd after you left.
IV,
” you make the truly right moves in november-february while struggling, you finish 12th, not 17th. you finish 17th because your coach just barely did enough. last EPL guy to squeak a close one was dyche for everton in 22-23. he coached 18 league games, won 5, tied 6, lost 7. it would be charitable to call that getting results. lost more often than he won, tied more than he won. essentially they got midtable results which pulls them off a bottom occupied by teams that can barely beat anyone getting less than a point a game.”
Bullshit .
Avoiding relegation, whether by one point or 10 points, is getting results.
“this was a developmental job years ago. even an intricate system would take too long. we will run our usual schedule and most of the time he will have 1-2 weeks with the team. we have one tournament left which the rumor is the next gold cup will have a bunch of invited teams. think more “copa” and less your usual “gold cup.” what we need is an adult pro coach with proven success, an eye for talent, and either tactical flexibility or an effective but not overblown scheme he can tweak situationally. “”people keep throwing around development. this is not college. this is not age group ball. this is not a bradenton U17 or U20 residency team you coach all school year. this is a men’s pro job where they meet 6 or 7 times a year, maybe 1-2 tournaments a year, 15-20 games a year, ending in the world cup. if people don’t fit a scheme or misbehave, they get “cut” or “benched,” not “taught.””
No shit, IV.
Tell us something that we don’t all already know, something everyone else has not been saying for a few months if not years now.
“people wonder why i keep suggesting new names but for a team like this, you call and cut a unit suited to your scheme, until you are happy. you don’t take a losing unit and try and coach a set of players you want to go with. which is then my response to relegation.”
People don’t wonder. They realize that you can’t add.
The USMNT has a finite number of “new names” it can call upon for 2026 WC, especially given how little time ,comparatively, there is left.
At some point very soon you’re going to run out of names, time or both. If they haven’t already.
The only reason for mentioning Materazzo’s relegation experience is that it shows he understands the importance of a sense of urgency since, at some point, the manager is going to have to go with what they have. So they are going to have to be good enough to make that work.
If this report is true, he’s going to need to get going right away.
“the idea here with our team is to run the table at tournaments. you need a run the table coach, who knows how to beat good teams and win the tough ones,”
Again, no shit. All we need is a guy who knows how to get the USMNT out of their group and then win the next 4 World Cup games. Easy peazie.
Got any suggestions for a manager who can guarantee that?
“not one used to midtable return on investment, where people make excuses that leverkusen owned you, or that your old “relegation fighter” team suddenly finished 2nd after you left.”
Yeah? Really? You don’t know shit about Matarazzo. Maybe he can succeed , maybe he can’t, but none of the candidates, reasonable of otherwise, I’ve heard mentioned by you or anyone can guarantee the results the USMNT needs given the player pool and the organization they will inherit from Gregg. Not Pep, Klopp, Ancellotti, Martinez, etc., etc., .
setting aside my sense of the wisdom of the choice………if you think about it, we would not announce this as it would only drive our salary up without a deal done. rosen left hoffenheim this week, he may be out of work there, and it would be in his interests to publicize an offer and try and get a new job and drive his price up. if we just had a list of names i think we’d be hearing other names. if he was just interviewed not offered he would be poisoning his own well to exaggerate where he sits. if you have 5 guys in and no decision yet and someone goes to the media and tries to force your hand, you cross them off for being a fibber and doing this flex.
so i think it’s real.
without getting into what i think, our pattern would be fairly clear. we are always fighting the last war. i think berhalter got hired because people wanted him instead of arena back in 2016, and when arena blew it, it was like, “see?” then arena and berhalter assistants as interims, we double down. so it sounds like marsch and matarazzo went deep this last time. marsch is otherwise obligated. instead of best available it’s “i told you so” and internal fed politics. i cannot believe this choice is we in a fresh sense explored our options and hired the best guy with no expense spared. there was chatter about a big name and about we’d get a sponsor involved if that’s what it took. i don’t think you need a sponsor for $3m for matarazzo.
I remember a report out of Miami I think maybe from a Univision or Telemundo that Tab Ramos had been hired in 2018 so who knows.
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Paul Tenario doesn’t think it’s true, sighted his own sources inside US soccer and Sky Sports Germany says it’s not at an offer point yet. He’s a top candidate but no offer has been made. Sounds like it could happen but not at the point that Bild/Kicker have said.
IV
“without getting into what i think, our pattern would be fairly clear. we are always fighting the last war.”
Fighting the last war is your trademark. You keep talking about what Gregg and the players did wrong as if you have some unique insight only you were aware off. Gregg’s tactics and the players he used? That was the last war.
Just in case you were not aware, Gregg was fired so he and his tactics are not around anymore. And we have no idea how the new person will see the current player pool and if or how they will expand on it. And we don’t know how our regulars will react to possibly having their roles changed. It is a mediocre group of players and has some serious holes in the mix. The new person will have their work cut out for them in terms of turning this group into a serious contender.
“i think berhalter got hired because people wanted him instead of arena back in 2016, and when arena blew it, it was like, “see?” then arena and berhalter assistants as interims, we double down. ”
?? Yeah right. That’s pretty fractured reasoning. When Bruce replaced JK the idea was that they needed an experienced vet to step into the midst of qualifying and save the WC campaign. At least that was the story. Gregg was just a year or two into his Crew job. It would have been a pretty hard choice to justify using Gregg to replace JK, even for those shameless corrupt clowns. And Sarachan being the interim? Couva caught them off guard. Dave happened to be available and it shows you how unprofessional and unprepared for the whole thing the USSF was. Dave wound being in place for 12 games, which was ridiculous. Sometimes rather than assuming your poorly reasoned conspiracy theories apply it is best to assume incompetence and stupidity especially with these clowns.
“so it sounds like marsch and matarazzo went deep this last time. marsch is otherwise obligated. instead of best available it’s “i told you so” and internal fed politics. i cannot believe this choice is we in a fresh sense explored our options and hired the best guy with no expense spared.”
No shit. Tell us something no one has heard before.
“there was chatter about a big name and about we’d get a sponsor involved if that’s what it took. i don’t think you need a sponsor for $3m for matarazzo.”
Things could change but it seems as if the “big guns” don’t want the job, for a variety of reasons. Big money does not appear to be the issue. I’m assuming that because if Klopp. for example. had said, ” I’ll do it for 12 million per” I’m sure we would have heard something by now.
Herve Renard, one of the names out there makes between 500K and 1 million. You and everyone seem to forget that one thing that endeared Gregg to the USSF was that he was a “company guy” that they had by the short hairs.
I can see how an innovative, flexible independent thinker like a lot of the desirable managers we want out there, might have a hard time working for this good old boy semipro culture.
On the other hand the USSF hired Hayes. But it is a different level of expectations with the women. They are at and demand a higher standard than your risk averse, mediocre USMNT.