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US Men's National Team (6 Viewers)

That doesn't bother me much.
Me either. It might even help.

I think between the high(ish) profile "no thanks" from other candidates, the investigative report, and now CP's comments today the odds Berhalter comes back have to be up pretty dramatically.

Will be interesting what other USMNTers say when someone sticks a mic in front of them and asks them what they thought about Pulisic's take.
 
Really seemed like that, otherwise why go there? Think I'll go scroll through USMNT Twitter to see the carnage. [ETA: disappointing -- may need to give it a day or two.]

Did the interview seem like he was calling Gio out some too? When I saw the clip someone posted earlier it felt like it hit much closer to Gio than I expected (i.e. it wasn't obviously *just* directed at the parents).
I think it's hard to argue that Gio is completely spared when CP says that whining about playing time is "youth soccer" stuff. Yeah, he's mostly talking about Gio's parents, but it has to hit on Gio a bit too. That doesn't bother me much. I've never been a professional athlete, but I would have understood that I'd need to eat a little **** with the team after something like this when I played travel soccer and high school football. It's not as if Gio will be able to recruit a bunch of Team Gio teammates if CP's comments offend him. I imagine most will follow CP's (and Ream's as Tyler isn't in this camp) lead. They all know he's talented. He just has to play his part by keeping his head down, working hard, and being as good as he is.
Strongly disagree. Pulisic isn't wrong in his opinion at all. But if I was captain I'd tear him a new ******* for these comments. It serves no purpose but to create disharmony. Talk within the team. Speak your mind. All's fair and Gio should eat ****. But leave it there, not in the press.

I know they are very young and there is no real coach, but this team needs leadership.
 
Ben Lederman got called up to the Polish National team.

This is so odd. I look at Poland as roughly equivalent to the US talent wise and Lederman is so far down our depth chart no one even thinks of cap tying him. He must be playing fairly well in Poland obviously.
 
Viera sacked by Palace. I'm ready to have a permanent coach.
Ok, now we seem to have at least 4 3 choices if we want.

GGG, Viera, Marsch and Henry
🎶One of these is not like the others, one of these just doesn't belong......🎶


(and yes, we don't know if any of the other 3 will succeed and the national team level, but still....)

from a purely unbiased point of view:


Henry failed at club level
Viera is, at best, a mixed bag at club level (more bad than good)
Marsch is, at best, is a mixed bag at club level (more bad than good)
GGG was a modest success at club level (more good than bad)
GGG is the only one with National team experience with overall ok international results

All 4 coached in MLS. On paper, and ignoring the drama, I don't see how GGG does not at least belong in the group. If anything it is Henry whose resume is by far the weakest.
 
here is the U20 roster for the final camp before the WC. Friendly games against England, France and Serbia should provide excellent opponents.

======

U-20 MYNT ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB; HOMETOWN) - MARCH TRAINING CAMP

GOALKEEPERS (2): Antonio Carrera (FC Dallas; Frisco, Texas), Gaga Slonina (Chelsea/ENG; Addison, Illinois)

DEFENDERS (7): Brandan Craig (Philadelphia Union; Philadelphia, Pa.), Mauricio Cuevas (Club Brugge/BEL; Los Angeles, Calif.), Marcus Ferkranus (Los Angeles Galaxy; Santa Clarita, Calif.), Jonathan Gomez (Real Sociedad/ESP; Keller, Texas), Michael Halliday (Orlando City SC; Apopka, Fla.), Thomas Williams (Orlando City SC; Titusville, Fla.), Joshua Wynder (Louisville City FC; Louisville, Ken.)

MIDFIELDERS (5): Alejandro Alvarado Jr. (Vizela/POR; Los Angeles, Calif.), Jack McGlynn (Philadelphia Union; Middle Village, N.Y.), Rokas Pukstas (Hajduk Split/CRO; Stillwater, Oklahoma), Obed Vargas (Seattle Sounders FC; Anchorage, Alaska), Owen Wolff (Austin FC; Austin, Texas)

FORWARDS (5): Paxten Aaronson (Eintracht Frankfurt/GER; Medford, N.J.), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake; Sunnyvale, Calif.), Kevin Paredes (Wolfsburg/GER; South Riding, Va.), Quinn Sullivan (Philadelphia Union; Philadelphia, Pa.), Darren Yapi (Colorado Rapids; Denver, Colo.)
 
good to see Paredes was released. I was not sure that was going to happen. If this same group all gets released for the WC, it should be a decent squad.
 
Note that both England and France qualified for the WC. England won last years U19 Euro championship and France made the semi finals. Both teams are expected to go very far in the U20 WC.
 
Viera sacked by Palace. I'm ready to have a permanent coach.
Ok, now we seem to have at least 4 3 choices if we want.

GGG, Viera, Marsch and Henry
🎶One of these is not like the others, one of these just doesn't belong......🎶


(and yes, we don't know if any of the other 3 will succeed and the national team level, but still....)

from a purely unbiased point of view:


Henry failed at club level
Viera is, at best, a mixed bag at club level (more bad than good)
Marsch is, at best, is a mixed bag at club level (more bad than good)
GGG was a modest success at club level (more good than bad)
GGG is the only one with National team experience with overall ok international results

All 4 coached in MLS. On paper, and ignoring the drama, I don't see how GGG does not at least belong in the group. If anything it is Henry whose resume is by far the weakest.
Yes but my point was more that we already know what GGG can't do at the NT level. To me he shouldn't even be a candidate (and not because of the elder Reyna's drama).

Will any of those others be better? Don't know.
Would any other candidate be better? Don't know.

Do you stick with GGG's limitations or risk hiring someone that could end up being worse?
 


Do you stick with GGG's limitations or risk hiring someone that could end up being worse?

I have always been on the side of wanting a new coach because I don't like two cycle coaches.

But I can't intellectually dismiss GGG out of hand because he did everything possible with what is a fairly mediocre squad (none of our players are really killing it and many face relegation right now). If our squad was full of top 100 level talent, then yeah, I think GGG did meh at best, but when you consider we probably don't have more than a single player in the top 200 right now, his results don't seem terrible to me.

And with Balogun being close to having to decide on his future, we already know GGG is good at landing dual nats, which is becoming a critical skill to have.

Lets hope the new sporting director gets it right. This may be our last WC hosting for a long time and a good cycle could set the sport up for generations to come in this country
 
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Definitely agree that Pulisic would like t
Viera sacked by Palace. I'm ready to have a permanent coach.
Ok, now we seem to have at least 4 3 choices if we want.

GGG, Viera, Marsch and Henry
🎶One of these is not like the others, one of these just doesn't belong......🎶


(and yes, we don't know if any of the other 3 will succeed and the national team level, but still....)

from a purely unbiased point of view:


Henry failed at club level
Viera is, at best, a mixed bag at club level (more bad than good)
Marsch is, at best, is a mixed bag at club level (more bad than good)
GGG was a modest success at club level (more good than bad)
GGG is the only one with National team experience with overall ok international results

All 4 coached in MLS. On paper, and ignoring the drama, I don't see how GGG does not at least belong in the group. If anything it is Henry whose resume is by far the weakest.
Yes but my point was more that we already know what GGG can't do at the NT level. To me he shouldn't even be a candidate (and not because of the elder Reyna's drama).

Will any of those others be better? Don't know.
Would any other candidate be better? Don't know.

Do you stick with GGG's limitations or risk hiring someone that could end up being worse?
I'm extremely against keeping GGG, but would still lean towards keeping him over anyone else there.

Ideal profile who we replace him with: someone who has coached a national team to more success than you'd expect from the talent available to the team

Not ideal, but acceptable profile: someone who has EXCELLED at club level (even down to MLS quality leagues) and has shown themselves to be very adaptable tactically.
 
Even more from Pulisic

==========

USMNT Only

@usmntonly


"Berhalter is someone who has grown on me a lot over the years. I've learned a lot from him. It's underappreciated what he's done to create that environment. I think he created a team that was probably the best brotherhood, or unit, that I've been a part of." - Pulisic
 
someone who has coached a national team to more success than you'd expect from the talent available to the team
But that's just so so hard to judge. International games and results (and lineups) are just so fickle and sporadic. It's not like a league where you know at the end of 38 games who the best team is.

And so much of a national team is managing the group dynamic -- that doesn't automatically port from one country to another. Or even one group of players to another in the same country.

We played 5 or 6 really nice halfs (out of 8) at the World Cup. The only games I can think of that were comparable to most of those 5 or 6 were the Germany game in 2002 and the WCQ games vs Mexico (esp home but we dominated Mexico away as well -- both GGG productions) this last cycle. This team played GREAT -- everywhere except #9. Go back and watch how fluid we were with the ball. How easily we carved apart some veteran, experienced teams.

If we get a real #9 and that person still can't score? OK, maybe it's the system. But IMO right now you can look at the level of competition our #9s are playing against week to week and get a pretty good idea that none of them would be expected to light up the stage at the international level.

I think he got just about as much out of this team as he could have, and if they'd had a few breaks or converted chances better that same team could have made a run.
 
Viera sacked by Palace. I'm ready to have a permanent coach.
Ok, now we seem to have at least 4 3 choices if we want.

GGG, Viera, Marsch and Henry
🎶One of these is not like the others, one of these just doesn't belong......🎶


(and yes, we don't know if any of the other 3 will succeed and the national team level, but still....)

from a purely unbiased point of view:


Henry failed at club level
Viera is, at best, a mixed bag at club level (more bad than good)
Marsch is, at best, is a mixed bag at club level (more bad than good)
GGG was a modest success at club level (more good than bad)
GGG is the only one with National team experience with overall ok international results

All 4 coached in MLS. On paper, and ignoring the drama, I don't see how GGG does not at least belong in the group. If anything it is Henry whose resume is by far the weakest.
Henry is the only one who wasn't a good manager in MLS.

I do think it's hard to say that Berhalter is a modest success if Marsch isn't. Both were good in MLS. Marsch was good in Austria (with all the advantages Salzburg gave him). Berhalter was not a success in Sweden. But I agree that its hard to say that this group, at least, outclasses Berhalter (or Schmetzer or Curtin for that matter). I have no idea if Viera is even on the radar. The only person I've ever seen mention him was me.
 


Do you stick with GGG's limitations or risk hiring someone that could end up being worse?

I have always been on the side of wanting a new coach because I don't like two cycle coaches.

But I can't intellectually dismiss GGG out of hand because he did everything possible with what is a fairly mediocre squad (none of our players are really killing it and many face relegation right now). If our squad was full of top 100 level talent, then yeah, I think GGG did meh at best, but when you consider we probably don't have more than a single player in the top 200 right now, his results don't seem terrible to me.

And with Balogun being close to having to decide on his future, we already know GGG is good at landing dual nats, which is becoming a critical skill to have.

Lets hope the new sporting director gets it right. This may be our last WC hosting for a long time and a good cycle could set the sport up for generations to come in this country
Imo GGG showed he isn't up to the task with his inability to make in game adjustments and make impacts with his subs. With the talent level we do have, any coach should be able to get us qualified through Concacaf and a good coach would have navigated us better through the WC games. The Wales game w/ Morris and his tactics vs an England squad that didn't care where atrocious.

I know you watch more of the players in their club teams then I do, so our overall evals on them will differ, I grant you that.

And I wholeheartedly agree with the bolded.
 
I feel compelled to point out that the reigning World Cup winning manager's head coaching experience before getting the job was 6 games in charge of the Argentina U20s. He was essentially a less experienced Argentinian Anthony Hudson. A caretaker manager who nobody trusted who eventually won enough that they never bothered to replace him.
 
I feel compelled to point out that the reigning World Cup winning manager's head coaching experience before getting the job was 6 games in charge of the Argentina U20s. He was essentially a less experienced Argentinian Anthony Hudson. A caretaker manager who nobody trusted who eventually won enough that they never bothered to replace him.
To bad we don't have a head coach that can bring in Messi and some dubious referee decisions to help us win..... :boxing:
 
Imo GGG showed he isn't up to the task with his inability to make in game adjustments and make impacts with his subs. With the talent level we do have, any coach should be able to get us qualified through Concacaf and a good coach would have navigated us better through the WC games. The Wales game w/ Morris and his tactics vs an England squad that didn't care where atrocious.

I know you watch more of the players in their club teams then I do, so our overall evals on them will differ, I grant you that.

I agree that GGG's weakness on making in game decisions.

I agree with Wales and Morris. Terrible decision (although we learned later there were extenuating circumstances). I would argue rostering Morris was the wrong decision to begin with, that should have been Nips.

I could not disagree more about England. We played one of the best teams in the world on equal footing and I think it is incorrect to say they did not care. That was the second game of the group stage, there was nothing decided at that point and they played what Southgate felt was their best lineup. Southgate may be an even less quality coach than GGG though to be fair.

Out of curiosity, which US players do you think are top professionals right now in a good league? Outside of Ream, I can't think of even one.

Gio is a sub. Pulisic is a sub. Turner is a sub. Dest barely gets to dress. MMA are all looking to be relegated. Aaronson is completely out of his depth. Weah has been moved to LB due to being in effective up front. Jedi is a solid pro, but I don't think anyone would ever consider him a world class player. It is not pretty and no one IMO should confuse our current base of players as having the make up of a top 10 team in the world internationally.
 
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I do think it's hard to say that Berhalter is a modest success if Marsch isn't. Both were good in MLS.
the way I differentiated was:

1) Marsch coached two MLS teams, he struggled in Montreal but had good success in NY

2) GGG only coached one MLS team, and it was at a time that the owner was spending ZERO money on the team so they were one of the lowest spending teams in the league and he still took them to the finals.
 
Ideal profile who we replace him with: someone who has coached a national team to more success than you'd expect from the talent available to the team
Sure. But there are very few guys like that. Even defining over-achieving can be difficult. Roberto Martinez could be seen as overachieving in Belgium's history the third place finish in 2018 is their best ever. But in the context of the roster, maybe less impressive.

But that's always subjective because you get one shot with a roster and there is no alternate universe to compare what a nation should have done. We debate endlessly in this thread the job Berhalter did for the same reason. Objectively, his results were 4th out of 4 first cycle coaches this century. But none of the others came off a cycle we missed the world cup. None of the others had such a young squad. And the quality of that squad vis a vis others is quite subjective.

So some posters in this thread say he overachieved. Others say he underachieved. And that's with our OWN national team coach.
 
here is the U20 roster for the final camp before the WC. Friendly games against England, France and Serbia should provide excellent opponents.

======

U-20 MYNT ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB; HOMETOWN) - MARCH TRAINING CAMP

GOALKEEPERS (2): Antonio Carrera (FC Dallas; Frisco, Texas), Gaga Slonina (Chelsea/ENG; Addison, Illinois)

DEFENDERS (7): Brandan Craig (Philadelphia Union; Philadelphia, Pa.), Mauricio Cuevas (Club Brugge/BEL; Los Angeles, Calif.), Marcus Ferkranus (Los Angeles Galaxy; Santa Clarita, Calif.), Jonathan Gomez (Real Sociedad/ESP; Keller, Texas), Michael Halliday (Orlando City SC; Apopka, Fla.), Thomas Williams (Orlando City SC; Titusville, Fla.), Joshua Wynder (Louisville City FC; Louisville, Ken.)

MIDFIELDERS (5): Alejandro Alvarado Jr. (Vizela/POR; Los Angeles, Calif.), Jack McGlynn (Philadelphia Union; Middle Village, N.Y.), Rokas Pukstas (Hajduk Split/CRO; Stillwater, Oklahoma), Obed Vargas (Seattle Sounders FC; Anchorage, Alaska), Owen Wolff (Austin FC; Austin, Texas)

FORWARDS (5): Paxten Aaronson (Eintracht Frankfurt/GER; Medford, N.J.), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake; Sunnyvale, Calif.), Kevin Paredes (Wolfsburg/GER; South Riding, Va.), Quinn Sullivan (Philadelphia Union; Philadelphia, Pa.), Darren Yapi (Colorado Rapids; Denver, Colo.)
Interesting roster. There seems to be some deference to MLS clubs as they play during this window (no Cowell, Neal, Wiley, Brady). My guess is we might see these four in the non-FIFA window. Mostly it's guys that are on the fringes of their clubs or in Europe. Really only Halliday, Wolff, and Yapi are regulars that got called and for Yapi this is his first look.

Little surprised no Buck or Cremashi. Oh and Caden Clark.
 
Do you guys think that if US Soccer decides to rehire GGG, that it will come with the stipulation that he has to give Gio a clean slate at least at the start?
 
Objectively, his results were 4th out of 4 first cycle coaches this century.
Need to see the math on this one.
2002 WC Quarters, is there really a question?
2010 won qualifying, finished 2nd in Confed Cup beating Spain first team on a 30+ game unbeaten streak, won Group at WC for only time ever (easy group, save England), lost in knockouts in extra time
2014 won qualifying going away, beat Mexico at Azteca (first time ever), beat Italy at Italy, beat Germany, advanced from group of death, lost in knockouts in extra time
2022 finished tied for 3rd in qualifying and advanced on GD, no wins of note (COVID obviously impacted), advanced from easy group, lost 3-1 in first knockout

We can make all sorts of qualifiers around it, but objectively it's the worst first cycle.
 
Do you guys think that if US Soccer decides to rehire GGG, that it will come with the stipulation that he has to give Gio a clean slate at least at the start?

I don’t think any self respecting coach would accept hard player stipulations and no reasonable Director would require one. But they probably would want to talk about the 2000 lb gorilla in the room before hiring him and he’d better have good answers to those questions.
 
Objectively, his results were 4th out of 4 first cycle coaches this century.
Need to see the math on this one.
2002 WC Quarters, is there really a question?
2010 won qualifying, finished 2nd in Confed Cup beating Spain first team on a 30+ game unbeaten streak, won Group at WC for only time ever (easy group, save England), lost in knockouts in extra time
2014 won qualifying going away, beat Mexico at Azteca (first time ever), beat Italy at Italy, beat Germany, advanced from group of death, lost in knockouts in extra time
2022 finished tied for 3rd in qualifying and advanced on GD, no wins of note (COVID obviously impacted), advanced from easy group, lost 3-1 in first knockout

We can make all sorts of qualifiers around it, but objectively it's the worst first cycle.

I just had a long post I was going to finish but now I won't bother. I was going into more detail on Gold Cup results, WCing results (some of the semi final rounds were down right scary back in the day how close we were to not even making it to the hex), etc, but you are correct in that the amount of variables that can be attached is too large and every one will have their own opinion.

For example, I personally ignore every friendly result, I only look at competative games when making these evaluations. Others like yourself value friendly wins. Much of it is in the eye of the beholder.
 
Leeds are cruising 3-0 today. Looks like it should be a very much needed 3 points. The live standings have them jumping up to 14th from the relegation zone (same amount of games played).
 
Objectively, his results were 4th out of 4 first cycle coaches this century.
Need to see the math on this one.
2002 WC Quarters, is there really a question?
2010 won qualifying, finished 2nd in Confed Cup beating Spain first team on a 30+ game unbeaten streak, won Group at WC for only time ever (easy group, save England), lost in knockouts in extra time
2014 won qualifying going away, beat Mexico at Azteca (first time ever), beat Italy at Italy, beat Germany, advanced from group of death, lost in knockouts in extra time
2022 finished tied for 3rd in qualifying and advanced on GD, no wins of note (COVID obviously impacted), advanced from easy group, lost 3-1 in first knockout

We can make all sorts of qualifiers around it, but objectively it's the worst first cycle.

The subjective part is the specific data points you choose as metrics to support your objective conclusion.
 
Objectively, his results were 4th out of 4 first cycle coaches this century.
Need to see the math on this one.
2002 WC Quarters, is there really a question?
2010 won qualifying, finished 2nd in Confed Cup beating Spain first team on a 30+ game unbeaten streak, won Group at WC for only time ever (easy group, save England), lost in knockouts in extra time
2014 won qualifying going away, beat Mexico at Azteca (first time ever), beat Italy at Italy, beat Germany, advanced from group of death, lost in knockouts in extra time
2022 finished tied for 3rd in qualifying and advanced on GD, no wins of note (COVID obviously impacted), advanced from easy group, lost 3-1 in first knockout

We can make all sorts of qualifiers around it, but objectively it's the worst first cycle.

The subjective part is the specific data points you choose as metrics to support your objective conclusion.
yeah, this is exactly why I decided to ditch my post. Disappointed because I put in a lot of research but in the end it does not really bring anything new to the table.
 
Objectively, his results were 4th out of 4 first cycle coaches this century.
Need to see the math on this one.
2002 WC Quarters, is there really a question?
2010 won qualifying, finished 2nd in Confed Cup beating Spain first team on a 30+ game unbeaten streak, won Group at WC for only time ever (easy group, save England), lost in knockouts in extra time
2014 won qualifying going away, beat Mexico at Azteca (first time ever), beat Italy at Italy, beat Germany, advanced from group of death, lost in knockouts in extra time
2022 finished tied for 3rd in qualifying and advanced on GD, no wins of note (COVID obviously impacted), advanced from easy group, lost 3-1 in first knockout

We can make all sorts of qualifiers around it, but objectively it's the worst first cycle.

The subjective part is the specific data points you choose as metrics to support your objective conclusion.
Feel free to pick what you like. I'd say WCQ and WC results is what we are after. But fair play if you would rather focus on other things.
 
Leeds are cruising 3-0 today. Looks like it should be a very much needed 3 points. The live standings have them jumping up to 14th from the relegation zone (same amount of games played).
Huge win for Hoffenheim too over relegation rivals Hertha. FIrst win in forever it seems and much needed for Pellegrino Matarazzo who's already facing questions.
 
Leeds are cruising 3-0 today. Looks like it should be a very much needed 3 points. The live standings have them jumping up to 14th from the relegation zone (same amount of games played).
well Leeds going to Leeds it seems. Quickly back to 3-2 with plenty of time left. This is going to be hard to recover from if they cough up a 3 goal lead and lose these 3 points.
 
It is tough watching Aaronson out here. Nothing is working for the poor guy. He went 80 minutes and was subbed after completely whiffing on a decent chance to seal the game.
 
Objectively, his results were 4th out of 4 first cycle coaches this century.
Need to see the math on this one.
2002 WC Quarters, is there really a question?
2010 won qualifying, finished 2nd in Confed Cup beating Spain first team on a 30+ game unbeaten streak, won Group at WC for only time ever (easy group, save England), lost in knockouts in extra time
2014 won qualifying going away, beat Mexico at Azteca (first time ever), beat Italy at Italy, beat Germany, advanced from group of death, lost in knockouts in extra time
2022 finished tied for 3rd in qualifying and advanced on GD, no wins of note (COVID obviously impacted), advanced from easy group, lost 3-1 in first knockout

We can make all sorts of qualifiers around it, but objectively it's the worst first cycle.

The subjective part is the specific data points you choose as metrics to support your objective conclusion.
yeah, this is exactly why I decided to ditch my post. Disappointed because I put in a lot of research but in the end it does not really bring anything new to the table.

It’s a fun and interesting topic to discuss at this point in the process and I really think 90% of us here are 90% on the same page. The hard part for everyone is having very little idea what the options are. If Yogi Low or Luis Enrique are actually viable options, that improbable circumstance dramatically changes the conversation. Also, we all talk about factors like knowledge of the US system and international v club coaching experience but there’s really no hard historical evidence any of that matters. I’ve been discussing it with a German friend for a couple months now and his perspective is completely different. In my personal case I don’t feel remotely qualified to watch a soccer tournament and then opine as to the job one coach did as compared to another, much less have an opinion as to different historical coaching performances over different tournaments with different players in different eras.

Also - post your research if you did the work! it’s all interesting and worthwhile to me.
 
Impossible to overstate how much I would love to see a great performance from Pulisic today. I find it embarrassingly fun to point out that Chelsea’s nosedive in results corresponded directly with his injury and that they are now undefeated since his return.
 

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