Soccer Thread

[BJJ34]

Pathetic by Tim Weah.

[Ken]

Berhalter's sell by date expire like 3 years ago. Dude is a middle school coach at best.

[BJJ34]

Berhalter's sell by date expire like 3 years ago. Dude is a middle school coach at best.

I don't think it's Berhalter's problem.

When you have a talented player take a red 18 minutes into a must needed win, it's gotta be recognized.

[Ken]

Berhalter's sell by date expire like 3 years ago. Dude is a middle school coach at best.

I don't think it's Berhalter's problem.

When you have a talented player take a red 18 minutes into a must needed win, it's gotta be recognized.

Berhalter's problem was he decided to bunker against a vastly inferior opponent and take off our best creator for a crap centerback who almost cost us 2 penalties and was ball watching on the winning goal. Berhalter's problem was also starting Tyler Adams on a minutes restriction, which bit him in the ass when we went down a man and our goalkeeper was hurt. Berhalter's problem is that he has yet again had a player petulantly sent off against an inferior opponent because he tries to be the players' friend instead of holding them accountable.

I guarantee you Tim Weah would never ever get that red card playing for Allegri at Juventus, because he knows he would ride the bench the rest of the season or be sold.

[SaggyBallZ]

ya, i'd be ok if Berhalter was done after this tournament

[SaggyBallZ]

bored at lunch so watched 4 minute highlight replays of the 5 WC2002 team.

Boy were they fun to watch -- attack, attack, attack.

Tony Sanneh is one of the most criminally underrated USMNT players....the dude was awesome all tournament.


(we got absolutely hosed on the no called handball against Frings in the Germany game)

[BJJ34]

bored at lunch so watched 4 minute highlight replays of the 5 WC2002 team.

Boy were they fun to watch -- attack, attack, attack.

Tony Sanneh is one of the most criminally underrated USMNT players....the dude was awesome all tournament.


(we got absolutely hosed on the no called handball against Frings in the Germany game)

Imagine telling players of that era while they were playing that we would have VAR.

[Phantom]

Breaking: United States men's national team coach Gregg Berhalter has been fired, according to multiple reports.

BJ Callahan

[SaggyBallZ]

A year too late

I want Steve Cherundolo next or Mauricio Pochettino

[BJJ34]

A year too late

I want Steve Cherundolo next or Mauricio Pochettino

I don’t care who they get as long as he can handle the pressures of a veteran team in 2026.

[Ken]

A year too late

I want Steve Cherundolo next or Mauricio Pochettino

Why Cherundolo? I have no interest in a guy who has never coached an international team or at a top 5 league. Give me Klopp (best hire), Herve Renard (solid hire) or Hugo Perez (safety hire). Someone who has coached top talent and gotten more out of them than the last coach, or coached teams that punch above their weight.

[SaggyBallZ]

No chance we get Klopp…id love it, but no chance

I honestly dont care about national team coaching experience though Cherundolo does have some with the German youth programs … in fact, I would probably prefer someone who hasn’t coach national teams before

The biggest reasons are

1. We need someone who can bring out American tenacity and grit - Berhalter couldnt. I think Cherundolo could. We play best when we play hard, gritty, working class soccer

2. I love his philosophy of attacking football - direct, not possession based

3. With his reputation in Europe, particularly Germany, I think a name like him helps us get dual nationals

[Ken]

To me, the ideal hire is someone for the next 18 months. A top coach who can bring the juice and tactical mind to navigate a knockout tournament and have us play pragmatic soccer.

I don't think there is anything particularly American about tenacity and grit. Watching the Uruguay-Columbia game last night, you saw every guy out there, including guys who play at the tippity top of Europe, playing aggressive, hard hitting and absolutely brutal soccer. Anyone can play that way, we've just gotten a comfortable group that thinks playing technically is virtuous. Any coach can bring grit.

Definitely need to play a transition/counterattacking style in international soccer. You don't have the prep time to play a possession system without world class players at every position like the 2008-2011 Spanish team, and even they scored a bunch off set pieces.

I know Cherundolo played like a million years in the Bundesliga, but his lack of experience coaching at a high level or coaching high level talent concerns me for the WC. I would be fine with him after 2026, but to me it's too much of an unknown to trust the most important tournament since 1994 to an unproven coach.

My quick plugs:

Klopp - He might not take the job but... he has been in extremely high intensity environments for the past 15 years or so at Dortmund and Liverpool. The USMNT job represents a much smaller time commitment and a chance to do something new. When you have a guy who has accomplished essentially everything and needed a break, a national team appointment might actually make sense. His brand of football is also I think well suited to this team. It's high energy, high aggression, high press, and it has been the system in England that has done the most with the least in terms of spending. I also think he is a genius talent evaluator who can see the best traits in a player and figure out how to maximize them. Obviously, a dream hire, we can both agree.

Renard - He has proven successful with underdog teams time and time again. Winning the AFCON with two nations (Zambia and Ivory Coast). He took the arguably worst team at the 2022 WC and was the only team to beat Argentina. Obviously the didn't get out of the group, but he also had that team playing well with Saudi Pro league guys against some of the best in the world. He has not had great success at the club level, so I'm not totally in love with him, but his style and his ability to motivate players is something I believe in.

Wilfried Nancy - If we have to go with an MLS coach, why not Nancy? He's had success in MLS at two locations and Montreal was a dumpster fire both before he started and after he left. He's won MLS Cup and got to the finals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Much more managerial success in a shorter time frame, and his brand of attack is also attractive and I think would fit our attacking core player base of CP10, Reyna and Balogun very well.

[Snake]

America’s best athletes don’t play soccer. End of story.

[SaggyBallZ]

I don't think there is anything particularly American about tenacity and grit.

There absolutely is a unique way we have shown these things in the past. Some of it stems from American Culture but some of it stems from historical disrespect as well. The team grit we showed in from 2001 to 2006 was special. our results during that period were far better than they "should" have been because when they played it seemed like a "war" out there.

We recaptured a bit of it from 2012 to 2015 when we played with a chip on our shoulders again.

For example, I would take a Landon Donovan over a Gio Reyna any day because of Donovan's tenacity. No doubt Reyna is more skilled, but I want Donovan. Likewise, I would take a Jermaine Jones or Brian McBride or Cobi Jones over more talented players we have had recently.

A few of our current players seems to have the attitude I'm talking about including a couple of our better players - Pulisic and McKennie in particular and maybe Tyler Adams if he can stay healthy. I think Balogun might have some of it too.

I think we need a coach who emphasizes fearlessness. Not someone who wants to play soft possession stuff b(like Berhalter did). We can't win that game against more skilled teams.

[Snake]

My buddy is 42 and a USMNT diehard. He absolutely talks about the grit of those 2000s teams like it’s mythical.

“If we could pair the talent we have today with the grit of that era…”

[Ken]

America’s best athletes don’t play soccer. End of story.

And yet nations like Croatia and Uruguay exist, where they have like 4 million people total and still produce world class players. We can produce enough quality players to make a run at a WC or Copa America.

[Snake]

Imagine Kyrie Irving, Steph Curry, Lebron James, Reggie Bush, Lamar Jackson playing soccer from their wee years instead. Incredible.

[Ken]

I don't think there is anything particularly American about tenacity and grit.

There absolutely is a unique way we have shown these things in the past. Some of it stems from American Culture but some of it stems from historical disrespect as well. The team grit we showed in from 2001 to 2006 was special. our results during that period were far better than they "should" have been because when they played it seemed like a "war" out there.

We recaptured a bit of it from 2012 to 2015 when we played with a chip on our shoulders again.

For example, I would take a Landon Donovan over a Gio Reyna any day because of Donovan's tenacity. No doubt Reyna is more skilled, but I want Donovan. Likewise, I would take a Jermaine Jones or Brian McBride or Cobi Jones over more talented players we have had recently.

A few of our current players seems to have the attitude I'm talking about including a couple of our better players - Pulisic and McKennie in particular and maybe Tyler Adams if he can stay healthy. I think Balogun might have some of it too.

I think we need a coach who emphasizes fearlessness. Not someone who wants to play soft possession stuff b(like Berhalter did). We can't win that game against more skilled teams.

I agree that we played with grit and toughness during those eras and we have lost that now. But again, I don't agree that it was anything specifically American. The Serbian team is gritty as fuck, those Eastern European bastards. Any team in COMENBOL is capable of turning a game into a barfight and winning the attrition war.

FWIW, I think our soccer culture at the time did make it so that a lot more Americans just always played that way. The early 2000s squad was full of guys who were the only American in their dressing room and had to fight an uphill battle literally every training session. McBride, Reyna, JoB, Cherundolo, Hedjuk, Sanneh, Friedel, Keller and hell, even Berhalter... all playing in Europe as the only American their club had ever had basically. Putting on the jersey and going against Figo and Co was the chance to prove everything they'd worked their whole lives for. Problem is that nowadays, our players don't have that and you NEED a manager to help motivate them.

[SaggyBallZ]

My buddy is 42 and a USMNT diehard. He absolutely talks about the grit of those 2000s teams like it’s mythical.

“If we could pair the talent we have today with the grit of that era…”

Every so often you get special teams that you will always remember....for me its

2001 to 2006 USMNT
Current Guardians squad the last couple years (even over those monster Indians' teams I loved in the 90s)
Late 80's Browns
Early 90's Cavs


You just love the way they play

[Navybuc]

My buddy is 42 and a USMNT diehard. He absolutely talks about the grit of those 2000s teams like it’s mythical.

“If we could pair the talent we have today with the grit of that era…”

The '02 team was as close as we ever got to the World Cup. Lost that quarterfinal 1-0 to Germany in a game where we had a lot of chances. If we could have gotten past that game, we would have gotten South Korea in the semis, a very winnable game. Still would have probably gotten spanked by Brazil in final, but at least we would have been there.

[SaggyBallZ]

My buddy is 42 and a USMNT diehard. He absolutely talks about the grit of those 2000s teams like it’s mythical.

“If we could pair the talent we have today with the grit of that era…”

The '02 team was as close as we ever got to the World Cup. Lost that quarterfinal 1-0 to Germany in a game where we had a lot of chances. If we could have gotten past that game, we would have gotten South Korea in the semis, a very winnable game. Still would have probably gotten spanked by Brazil in final, but at least we would have been there.

The South Korea game would have been awesome. They played just like we did in that game...direct, counter-attacking soccer



The no call handball still pisses me off....

5:55 in the video

[Ken]

That no call hand ball made me laugh about their no call against Spain in the Euro.

[BJJ34]

Did I tell you guys I am a referee?

[SaggyBallZ]

Did I tell you guys I am a referee?

no what ages do you do?

[BJJ34]

Did I tell you guys I am a referee?

no what ages do you do?

Junior High, Varsity/Junior Varsity.

Considering I’ve been good at that; we’re expanding it to USSF and all kinds of ages as well considering my friend is our local area scheduler and we are in desperate need of refs.

[Ken]

Spain coach Luis De La Fuente, who just led his team to a dominant showing in Euro 2024 that culminated in a title, is interested in coaching the United States men's national team, according to the Washington Post.

De La Fuente's representatives have emailed the U.S. Soccer Federation about the coach's interest in the position, they confirmed to the Post. The job opened up when USSF sporting director Matt Crocker dismissed Gregg Berhalter on Wednesday's after the USMNT's disastrous Copa América group stage exit on home soil.

Probably a play to get a raise as the coach of Spain, but the way he got the most out of his young players... dare to dream.

[Central_Buc]

My buddy is 42 and a USMNT diehard. He absolutely talks about the grit of those 2000s teams like it’s mythical.

“If we could pair the talent we have today with the grit of that era…”

I'm the same age as your pal. He probably got into the game in the summer of 94 like I did, when we hosted (the 94 US team was a great cast, unforgettable if you're old enough to remember)...but I agree with him, we were in a good state then but it went to shit because the higher ups choose to be a big fish in a small pond if you get what I mean.

Right now US Soccer/Football is corrupt and needs a house cleaning.

[SaggyBallZ]

My buddy is 42 and a USMNT diehard. He absolutely talks about the grit of those 2000s teams like it’s mythical.

“If we could pair the talent we have today with the grit of that era…”

I'm the same age as your pal. He probably got into the game in the summer of 94 like I did, when we hosted (the 94 US team was a great cast, unforgettable if you're old enough to remember)...but I agree with him, we were in a good state then but it went to shit because the higher ups choose to be a big fish in a small pond if you get what I mean.

Right now US Soccer/Football is corrupt and needs a house cleaning.

I think one of our biggest issues is we basically have a pay to play philosophy in club ball. Soccer, like all youth sports, has been overtaken by monetary interest. And fees are absurd

[Ken]

Got spanked by Morocco today in the Olympics which is U23 tournament. And Morocco's team looks STACKED. Wow.

[BJJ34]

How about that hire.

[SaggyBallZ]

How about that hire.

Hopefully it injects some passion and aggression into this team.

[Phantom]

This marks a significant advancement in his professional journey. We are now poised to observe his coaching prowess. Chelsea loss

[Ken]

Pochettino is far better of a hire than I could have ever expected. We got a coup, probably for 2 years.

[BJJ34]

Some of these games in the WC are within 6 hours of me. Trying to make it to at least one or two and hopefully to see the USMNT. I got a really cheap authentic jersey so I can rep.

Praying we can get it done in the group play to give us a shot.