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US Men's National Team (5 Viewers)

Awful lot of transfer rumors out there for our youth players

Josh Wynder (05) -> Brighton (he doesn't turn 18 til this summer so it's likely then when he moves)
Jack McGlynn (03) -> Leverkusen
Reed Baker-Whiting (05) -> Freiburg (also likely a summer move)
Esmir Bajraktarevic (05) -> unclear he's been on trial at AZ. He's also linked to a lot of clubs and apparently has a passport so he can move now
Benji Kikanovic (00) -> AEK Athens

I particularly love the Wynder link. Brighton has been finding a lot of elite talents and developing them the last few years.

RBW has trained with Freiburg in the past and apparently they like him as a right back (he's mostly played as a central mid for Seattle)

I also think it's good for Kikanovic to move on. SJ has a ton of young talent and they need to start selling to make room and show a pathway. He's not a top tier prospect but he's really not that old so he could still come NT good at some point. He's 3-years older, but he outperformed Cowell (and ate into his minutes) this past year although their underlying metrics weren't all that different.
 
Perked up a bit when I saw ’Berhalter’ trending on Twitter. Turns out its just a ton of people who don’t understand how professional contracts work.
 
NewlyRetired said:
He is 15

========

[Fabrizio Romano] NYCFC talent Christian McFarlane has signed new long term contract, it’s now done after he rejected German clubs approaches to stay at City Group #NYCFC Bayern and Borussia Dortmund, among clubs monitoring McFarlane for the future.​

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McFarlane accepted a U17 call for the January camp. Most of the roster (all?) are 06's and he's an 07. He was with England's U16s in the fall so it's good to get him in camp but my guess is he's still shopping. He's a left back that is supposedly Pulisic level good at his age. Will be 19 at 2026 World Cup.

An interesting note though...they are going to have an annual U17 World Cup starting this year. Playing in this will provisionally cap tie players and so some of these international recruiting battles are going to happen stupid young.

The CONCACAF U17 championship is in February but I have no idea the cap tying implications. But this January camp is likely going to be our team for that.
 
prefontaine said:
NewlyRetired said:
He is 15

========

[Fabrizio Romano] NYCFC talent Christian McFarlane has signed new long term contract, it’s now done after he rejected German clubs approaches to stay at City Group #NYCFC Bayern and Borussia Dortmund, among clubs monitoring McFarlane for the future.​

Click to expand...
McFarlane accepted a U17 call for the January camp. Most of the roster (all?) are 06's and he's an 07. He was with England's U16s in the fall so it's good to get him in camp but my guess is he's still shopping. He's a left back that is supposedly Pulisic level good at his age. Will be 19 at 2026 World Cup.

An interesting note though...they are going to have an annual U17 World Cup starting this year. Playing in this will provisionally cap tie players and so some of these international recruiting battles are going to happen stupid young.

The CONCACAF U17 championship is in February but I have no idea the cap tying implications. But this January camp is likely going to be our team for that.
Click to expand...
Huh...thought he was as good as gone once he went to that England camp. If there is one thing NYCFC can produce its outside backs (which I find terribly ironic given the narrow field).
 
This berhalter story.....insane.

Cliffs notes version.....18 year old GGG kicked his then girlfriend (now wife) during a drunken argument 30 years ago. Someone contacted US soccer during the tournament and tried to use it as leverage to get him fired.

It's on Twitter. Us soccer just released a statement acknowledging it
 
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TLEF316 said:
This berhalter story.....insane.

Cliffs notes version.....18 year old GGG kicked his wife during a drunken argument 30 years ago. Someone contacted US soccer during the tournament and tried to use it as leverage to get him fired.

It's on Twitter. Us soccer just released a statement acknowledging it
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jesus, I am offline for 30 minutes and everything goes to hell.

Reading between the lines, the fact the US Soccer is now hiring people to go after the person who blackmailed GGG tells me they were maybe originally interested in rehiring him.

I am sickened to think this is one of twitter idiots.....
 
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well I guess some of this is why everything has been so quiet on the coach front. All the parties were trying to figure out the legalities I bet.
 
Nico Cantor says the timing was during the WC but after the US was eliminated so at least this crap was not going on while the US was playing.
 
I did not read close enough, I thought this was just GGG but US Soccer's state sounds like multiple people were targeted. I would rather suck as a soccer nation than if this is what we are turning into as a fan base.

=============================

“about potential inappropriate behavior towards multiple members of our staff by individuals outside of our organization.”
 
No offense to Berhalter as I'm sure this was not a pleasant experience to go through, especially at one of the most stressful moments in his life, but I'm not sure how much I care about this. Not even sure why a statement needed to be issued here.
 
One more important line from US Soccer

=============================

"will announce who will lead the January national team camp in the coming days."
 
prefontaine said:
No offense to Berhalter as I'm sure this was not a pleasant experience to go through, especially at one of the most stressful moments in his life, but I'm not sure how much I care about this. Not even sure why a statement needed to be issued here.
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For US Soccer's part, I don't think US Soccer wants any part of letting the general public think it can be open season on their employees for black mail.

As for GGG, him making his statement up front likely blocks a TMZ like scandal if the black mailer went through with it with what I would expect would be a much uglier version.

I am 99% sure both statements were written with the knowledge and understanding of the timing and content of each other.
 
NewlyRetired said:
Reading between the lines, the fact the US Soccer is now hiring people to go after the person who blackmailed GGG
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Hopefully they end up in the same place David Letterman's blackmailer did.

I'm all-in on Berhalter now. I'm on the fence, or leaning slightly favorable, on the merits, but I want him back just to make sure the Twitter terrorists and other folks who can't get the basic facts right spend the next four years seething and miserable and swallowing their bile.
 
NewlyRetired said:
prefontaine said:
No offense to Berhalter as I'm sure this was not a pleasant experience to go through, especially at one of the most stressful moments in his life, but I'm not sure how much I care about this. Not even sure why a statement needed to be issued here.
Click to expand...

For US Soccer's part, I don't think US Soccer wants any part of letting the general public think it can be open season on their employees for black mail.

As for GGG, him making his statement up front likely blocks a TMZ like scandal if the black mailer went through with it with what I would expect would be a much uglier version.

I am 99% sure both statements were written with the knowledge and understanding of the timing and content of each other.
Click to expand...

I should also add US Soccer needed to make a clear statement because even if they wanted a new coach, they have to demonstrate to any perspective new coach's they are willing to protect them if this is the way things are trending.
 
TLEF316 said:
Yeah....I don't love Greg as a manager and don't want him back....but this is the work of a crazy person for sure.
Click to expand...

I would actually be fine if it was just one crazy person but I can't help but think there are a ton of "fans" who are cheering this development.
 
Oh, and I can't help but think back to last week's interview with Tab and both :lmao: and 😥 at this statement, which comes true yet again

==================

" I want to hear the president of the federation say something and you don’t hear it, unless it’s about a lawsuit, you don’t really hear anything."
 
Not for nothing, but Reyna's mom was on the same UNC team as Rosalind and presumably they both would have been on the same hall (ie living together in close proximity) in Granville Tower as freshman (ie I highly doubt this wasn't common knowledge within the UNC soccer community in the 90s...this would when have been the UNC woman's team basically ran the US woman's soccer).
 
NewlyRetired said:
I wonder what targeting the other employees was hoping to accomplish...
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I wouldn't put total faith in the wording of the USSoccer press release or the term blackmail. As I referenced above, I doubt the '91 incident wasn't well known in certain circles and the date it got reported to USSoccer lines up too perfectly with the Atlantic story through Reyna the younger under the bus. Blackmail/targeting other employees to one person, may be reporting previous improprieties to others.

Throwing Reyna under the bus may have ripped the bandaid off a whole bunch of behind scene things that have been bottled up by 90's era USMNT players...cough cough Harkes. None of those 80-90's ACC guys were exactly virtuous lives back then (when I went to Duke in the mid-90s, I tangentially knew the soccer guys as I was a freshman athletic dorm, I was much closer with the basketball/football guys, but all these guys travelled in the same circle and partied frequently and hard, so I'm speaking from some experience).
 
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NewlyRetired said:
Makes me sad to think I always hoped the sport would grow as popular as it is today in our country and now the way things are trending with the fan base the past 5 or so years, I almost regret it.
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100%

Except, as you might have figured out, I'm way past "almost". There are good Twitter follows on the USMNT, but an awful lot of it is indistinguishable from any other sports-team fanbase, and that didn't used to be true.
 
Sammy3469 said:
Not for nothing, but Reyna's mom was on the same UNC team as Rosalind and presumably they both would have been on the same hall (ie living together in close proximity) in Granville Tower as freshman (ie I highly doubt this wasn't common knowledge within the UNC soccer community in the 90s...this would when have been the UNC woman's team basically ran the US woman's soccer).
Click to expand...

This is some pretty tasty fodder for a conspiracy lover. I was kind of expecting to be able to ignore US Soccer for a while after a coach is named, but this could be entertaining.
 
@MenInBlazers

"Tomorrow, U.S. Soccer will announce who's going to run the USMNT January Camp ... I've been told that it'll be an assistant who's under contract. ... I was told it does NOT negate the possibility of Gregg being handed a new contract." -

===============

Tom Bogert

@tombogert

Well, Luchi Gonzalez left to take over the San Jose Earthquakes so that leaves Anthony Hudson and B.J. Callaghan as assistants on Berhalter's staff at the World Cup.
 
Fulham's win today gives them 9 points from 9 since the WC restart.

Leeds had a great day for not even playing. Leicester, Everton and Bornemouth all lost today and these are all teams they are battling just above the relegation zone.

Leeds also has 2 games in hand on all 3 of those teams. They need to get some points soon though to get some separation from the group.
 
NewlyRetired said:
Sammy3469 said:
I wouldn't put total faith in the wording of the USSoccer press release or the term blackmail.
Click to expand...

So this means you don't believe GGG's story at all then because as he explained it, it was 100% blackmail. I wonder if we will ever know the complete truth...
Click to expand...
I mean could I see a Reyna or someone within Reyna’s sphere telling him his laundry is going to be aired unless he walks off into the sunset after the Atlantic story….yup. Would I necessarily call that blackmail…no.
 
Sammy3469 said:
NewlyRetired said:
Sammy3469 said:
I wouldn't put total faith in the wording of the USSoccer press release or the term blackmail.
Click to expand...

So this means you don't believe GGG's story at all then because as he explained it, it was 100% blackmail. I wonder if we will ever know the complete truth...
Click to expand...
I mean could I see a Reyna or someone within Reyna’s sphere telling him his laundry is going to be aired unless he walks off into the sunset after the Atlantic story….yup. Would I necessarily call that blackmail…no.
Click to expand...

I guess I don't understand what blackmail is then.
 
NewlyRetired said:
Sammy3469 said:
I wouldn't put total faith in the wording of the USSoccer press release or the term blackmail.
Click to expand...

So this means you don't believe GGG's story at all then because as he explained it, it was 100% blackmail. I wonder if we will ever know the complete truth...
Click to expand...
It seems Berhalter's story is a bit of spin. He started his whole story with a half-truth that this came up during the World Cup. While technically the World Cup was still ongoing, per USSF's timeline of learning of it on 12/11, the US had been out for 8 days.

Berhalter also explicitly calls it blackmail but Steven Goff is reporting that

Berhalter learned of the allegation several weeks ago during a meeting about his future with USSF sporting director Earnie Stewart, said people close to the situation who didn’t want to be identified because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter.
Click to expand...

So that doesn't exactly sound like blackmail so much as someone reported him. What USSF stated on the matter however

US Soccer has learned about potential inappropriate behavior towards multiple members of our staff by individuals outside our organization
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Well, that just confused the issue.

My gut tells me this had leaked and it was about to be published so these statements were rushed to get ahead of it which is why it's a jumbled mess.
 
prefontaine said:
Benji Kikanovic (00) -> AEK Athens
Click to expand...

I had forgotten that Almeyda is the coach of AEK. That makes the rumor have more bite for me.

=================

[Favian Renkel] RUMOR: Word around town is that Benji Kikanovic is on his way to #AEK Athens for around $2,000,000. Announcement should be coming soon. Matias Almeyda gets his guy while AEK is currently 2nd in the #SuperLeague.​

 
Sammy3469 said:
NewlyRetired said:
Sammy3469 said:
I wouldn't put total faith in the wording of the USSoccer press release or the term blackmail.
Click to expand...

So this means you don't believe GGG's story at all then because as he explained it, it was 100% blackmail. I wonder if we will ever know the complete truth...
Click to expand...
I mean could I see a Reyna or someone within Reyna’s sphere telling him his laundry is going to be aired unless he walks off into the sunset after the Atlantic story….yup. Would I necessarily call that blackmail…no.
Click to expand...
NewlyRetired said:
Sammy3469 said:
NewlyRetired said:
Sammy3469 said:
I wouldn't put total faith in the wording of the USSoccer press release or the term blackmail.
Click to expand...

So this means you don't believe GGG's story at all then because as he explained it, it was 100% blackmail. I wonder if we will ever know the complete truth...
Click to expand...
I mean could I see a Reyna or someone within Reyna’s sphere telling him his laundry is going to be aired unless he walks off into the sunset after the Atlantic story….yup. Would I necessarily call that blackmail…no.
Click to expand...

I guess I don't understand what blackmail is then.
Click to expand...
@prefontaine covers it, but it certainly seems like someone reported it to US Soccer to preempt GGG being reupped on or before the 11th. It’s entirely possible that person did so without telling GGG or simply telling GGG that he was doing so without a threat attached. Those scenarios aren’t blackmail even though I’m sure they’d feel like it to GGG.

Point being is that it certainly seems like the Reyna-GGG fallout was much deeper than either side really wants to admit and as we all know the current USSoccer setup is deeply incestous.
 
NewlyRetired said:
prefontaine said:
Benji Kikanovic (00) -> AEK Athens
Click to expand...

I had forgotten that Almeyda is the coach of AEK. That makes the rumor have more bite for me.

=================

[Favian Renkel] RUMOR: Word around town is that Benji Kikanovic is on his way to #AEK Athens for around $2,000,000. Announcement should be coming soon. Matias Almeyda gets his guy while AEK is currently 2nd in the #SuperLeague.​

Click to expand...

Kikanovic is on a wonderful upward trajectory.

2018 College Soccer
2019 NPSL
2020 USL
2021 MLS
2023 One of the best teams in Greece with a chance at Champions League, if it all works out

He will turn 23 this week.
 
FWIW, Gregg's statement never uses the word "blackmail." He says that it was an apparent attempt to leverage personal information from a long time ago to bring about an end to Gregg's relationship with US soccer. And it's true that the facts as we know them do not meet the crime of blackmail, no matter how fun it is to make Benzema jokes. So, sorry about that. This isn't really a Letterman situation.
 
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