The Soccer Thread (Version 13) — Winter World Cup Edition

One European coach now at liberty is Pochettino. Again as a Spurs fan, US could do worse I think.

 

Poch I could buy. Mou would be bad news on so many levels.

 

Bale hanging them up. Just an electrifying player at his peak. Plus him holding up Welsh flag after they qualified for the Euros with “Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that Order” was an awesome troll move.

Gareth Bale announces retirement from football: ‘I have realised my dream’

 

Men in Blazers has speculated that they're covering the Berhalter/Reyna issue more closely than anyone, and I've listened to all the podcasts they've recorded since the news broke. Beyond some banal stuff any soccer fan could see and some painful stuff about domestic abuse, here's what I've gleaned/decided:

- While I think it's ridiculous that Berhalter's employer even bothered to retain counsel to investigate whether or not one drunk 18-year-old might have kicked another drunk 18-year-old in 1991 (leaving aside the possibility that the issue was a lot worse) I had forgotten about the Yates Report. It's nowhere near as bad as what USA Gymnastics, for example, has dealt with, but it does validate "allegations of past abusive behavior and sexual misconduct in women's professional soccer," so U.S. Soccer is compelled to investigate what is fundamentally an allegation of abuse of (at the time) one U.S. Soccer developmental player by another, irrespective of Berhalter's current situation.
- Once you get past the gross stuff, it's hilarious that U.S. Soccer is involved in a dramatic argument between the parents of a player we all think should have been playing ahead of the likes of Jordan Morris and his coach, while the player himself is silent. Youth sports in America!
- Captain Obvious here: U.S. Soccer is way too fucking incestuous, which is why they have to swing big and keep swinging to get a big-name coach from Europe who can tell every former player with a Jersey accent to fuck off. Klinsmann tried, but was hamstrung by being Jurgen Klinsmann.
- That said: The new coach has to be able to speak English, which (to pick a recent name in the news) Zinedine Zidane does not. He has admitted that he would need to improve his English to coach in England, but he's probably holding out for the France job.
- Something I had missed: I thought that Berhalter had dropped the hint about the player with an attitude problem in an interview, but that wasn't the case. Gregg was on a panel at something called the HOW Institute for Society's Summit on Moral Leadership, at which he decided to describe one of his best young players as an immature bitch as an example of his own leadership qualities. And the one interview that Berhalter has done on the subject since then was a video for Harvard Business Review. I can think of few more damning statements about business academics than the fact that they take cues from people like Gregg Berhalter.
- Meanwhile, Earnie Stewart has been conducting a review of Berhalter's performance, which we are to believe is independent of the gross stuff. Earnie is apparently still trying to figure out whether or not Gregg's contract should be renewed based solely on soccer reasons, more than a week after said contract expired. Has he considered asking Joe-Max Moore and Steve Cherundolo for their assessment?

 

The Reynas can't have been stupid enough to think US Soccer would fire (or non-renew) Berhalter over this. But what they could (and possibly did) do by putting this into the news cycle when they did (as opposed during the tournament or sooner after) is give the impression that Berhalter has "lost the locker room," which I kind of agree with, but not because of that but because of stories like Ricardo Pepi hanging up on him when Berhalter called to tell him he wasn't going to Qatar.

The Stewart thing is silly but low stakes. I suspect the delay is in determining whether or not they could actually get someone better. As mentioned, the Zidane thing was never going to happen (he also said he would only coach in a French- or Spanish-speaking country) but I guess it's worth trying. He may be dragging his feet to see if Leeds will fire Jesse Marsch in the next month or two (though Marsch doesn't seem particularly interested in the gig).

 

Doing an investigation is a nice way to cover yourself. Pay a law firm a bunch of cash and pat yourself on the back. Trust me, I’ve been involved in plenty where the only purpose was to show that you are being responsive. That being said, it seems pretty silly here.

I know that Gio is a talent, but can we let the coach decide his team? Gio hadn’t played much and has not really ever done the dirty work to secure a game. For me, he’s a guy you bring in for instant offense. He did play 45 against the Netherlands and was meh, but that is where you expect to see him.

The Reynas appear to have done this purely out of spite. It sounds like Claudio was already bitching about his kid’s PT and his wife just wanted to bury GGG.

 

Pulisic out at least two months with a knee injury.

 

We saw that movie before with Klinsmann. He seemed the perfect candidate with a foot in SoCal and a foot in Europe where football is king. But he just couldn't adjust to the U.S. structure.

 

Where do you go for a coach then? There is no American with any international experience and no MLS coach who seems like an obvious hire. If you are going non-US, you have to hire someone with either a good international record or a veteran club coach making the transition to a less busy workload. That coach has to speak English as well. A slightly younger Van Gaal would fit the profile, but not at one who will be 75 with his health issues. Martinez has already committed to Portugal and it seems like Southgate is staying in England. I know there was some chatter of Mou to Brazil and I know people here don’t like him, but I think he’s be perfect for one WC cycle.

 

Maybe it’s the structure that’s broken. But we don’t do introspection in this country.

 

Our best athletes don’t play the sport and for the most part, it is a middle class and up pool whose parents can afford the pay to play system. The MLS academies have done a really good job developing the 12-18 year olds, but they typically pluck players from the existing structure. Given the size of the country, I’m not sure how we can do a more coherent job tapping the populations where the sport is played by less well off kids, but it needs to be a priority.

 

I meant the organizational structure of US Soccer.