Yep. Let the team decide if they want to keep him around or not. They'll know better than anyone else if it will cause issues with their chemistry.
World Cup thread
- Thread starter Catman100
- Start date
Yep. Let the team decide if they want to keep him around or not. They'll know better than anyone else if it will cause issues with their chemistry.
That's a tougher one. If the team doesn't respect the coach then I don't see how you keep him. But, you don't want them to be able to just fire them if they don't like the situation they'll be in, i.e. Reyna being told he won't play much.
They need a natural leader that can earn their respect without pulling I'm the coach and you're not card.
If true, and it seems like it is, hard to put aside what Berhalter did.
You have no idea what is going to happen after the first half of game one at the WC, let alone 2 games in. Might be a bunch of yellow/red cards, pre-game illnesses, injuries.
A coach knows his players, and there is no way in hell Berhalter didn't know telling Reyna he would be barely used wasn't going to affect his attitude. Berhalter put a black cloud over Reyna for no reason at all. Even if you don't plan on using the kid, why the hell tell him that? Things might change once the competition begins, and you damn sure might need him. Telling him you are not going to use him kinda helps him check out from the competition, and why would a coach take a risk of any of his players checking out?
Unforgivable if you ask me. You are a 20 year old kid who plays in the friggin Bundesliga and your coach just told you he wasn't going to use you in the biggest tournament in the world. Not to mention you might actually be the most talented kid on the team.
I will be shocked if Berhalter is coach for WC 2026.
Berhalter shouldn't be retained. And I think the way he handled this after the fact has probably sealed his fate.
As far as what he told Gio before the WC, I guess it depends on exactly what he said and how he said it. It makes sense that he would tell Gio that he was not going to be a starter - better to be told than to see your name omitted form the lineup card. If he told him "I'm barely going to play you at all", then of course that's a different story.
As far as what he told Gio before the WC, I guess it depends on exactly what he said and how he said it. It makes sense that he would tell Gio that he was not going to be a starter - better to be told than to see your name omitted form the lineup card. If he told him "I'm barely going to play you at all", then of course that's a different story.
Berhalter screwed this up on multiple front but talking about it publicly was a fatal mistake for him. He’s done as a coach for us soccer if they have any ethics left. Also wtf with berhalter telling Reyna he would have a “limited role”. That was the first bad move
You want soccer drama? Take this with a grain of salt but the politics of appointing Berhalter are explained in this thread. Had no idea much of the background.
I had commented that this particular thread on Twitter is the consummate USMNT Twitterati thread; with the USMNT Twitter community--of which Grant Wahl was truly the Moses or Abraham of soccer communication for US Soccer--there are clear agendas and you can't talk anybody off their position. Wynalda is also much like many of his 90's USMNT not the least of which is Lalas...a complete attention *****. What I really didn't like about this particular effort was it gave you the background of Berhalter was hired, groomed or whatever your vernacular...but completely ignores or disregards what he did after and when he got the job.
We went from not making a World Cup in the prior cycle with an old roster playing against what really was a weaker pool of countries to bypassing the clear best soccer country on our Continent in a tougher pool. You could argue that Canada was better than any of the CONCACAF teams that qualified in 2018 and quite a few would go along with that. 4 games in a year and all Mexico could manage was a tie at Azteca in a game they should count their pesos not to have lost 2-0 thanks in large part to a gaffe by Pefok that Gyasi Zardes proudly didn't have to call his own. By the way...we also clobbered Morocco and got their coach fired in the leadup to the World Cup 3-0. Pushed around Uruguay for the better part of 75 minutes. That crowd will say it was done IN SPITE of Berhalter; I say it tacitly ignores what was accomplished.
...I also think there is something to the MLS Quota on the USMNT roster and that probably is out of his hands. Of course Morris shouldn't play over Reyna and the one big roster mistake I think likely was Ferreira instead of Pepi but understood his reasons for not bring Pepi (WC pool and Knockout play is more physical and goals are at a premium and more often on set pieces; Pepi still is fairly weak as a late teen). De la Torre's skill set was needed but he clearly wasn't match fit and I think they were trying to wait that out. There will be pressure on the next USMNT coach that will be a little different because we obviously don't have to go through qualification and one of the clear agendas of the USSF--as well as a beleagured Mexican Federation that has lost ground on the US in developing youth players domestically and has made the decade long mistake of putting barriers up to players out of their Academies going to Europe--is the promotion of MLS and Liga MX. The next ten years will see the same kind of exponential growth that we have seen the last five with MLS; hosting the World Cup in 2026 is meant to feed that. The question will be can USSF and the Mexican Federation get out of their own way and not botch their National Team's performance with those type of background agendas to promote their domestic leagues.
An aortic aneurysm killed Wahl. Man those things are scary at how quickly they can kill an otherwise healthy human.
This is about the most I've seen France play and just tuned in about 15 mins ago. They're good but also a little c-wordy.
More exciting than watching a UK basketball game and I not a soccer fan
Like I said I not a soccer fan but I know those are 2 amazing teams playing
Congrats Messi and Argentina. Glad France did not win.