USMNT: Soccer's Coming Home

InstaFace

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I only watch the team and have no clue about their finances. It seams very odd to me that they don’t make a lot of money given that every game is televised to a large audience and there seems to be a ton of sponsors. Is there somewhere I can see the finances?
Yes, you can pull up US Soccer's 990 forms (for the salaries) and annual reports (for the financial statements) on their website, as they are a public charity and are required to file them, and they're public record.

I make a point to read them every year, as they're short and sometimes there's interesting nuggets in there that the soccer press miss. However, while they will cover sponsorship revenue, they probably won't cover TV audience, nor break it down. Also, remember that a club plays 50-60 matches a year, whereas national teams play 15-20, with maybe half of those being competitive and the other half being friendlies. So in terms of gate revenue and value of their media exposure, it's smaller than that of most decent size clubs.
 

Cellar-Door

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I only watch the team and have no clue about their finances. It seams very odd to me that they don’t make a lot of money given that every game is televised to a large audience and there seems to be a ton of sponsors. Is there somewhere I can see the finances?
no clue, but $3.3M is near the top, think it would have been like 5th or 6th highest in the world. Berhalter was 13th among the WC managers.
Really only England and Germany were paying top salaries.

USSF could hypothetically pay that kind of money if they wanted, but it would raise some real questions given their non-profit status, and the history of investing far more in the Men's side than the Women's. I assume the next manager will get between 1.3 and 2.2M but it's just a guess.
 

67YAZ

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FIFA announced today that the US, Mexico, & Canada automatically qualify for the 2026 WC. Everyone already assumed this would be the case, but confirmed now.
 

ThePrideofShiner

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FIFA announced today that the US, Mexico, & Canada automatically qualify for the 2026 WC. Everyone already assumed this would be the case, but confirmed now.
Time to re-up Berhalter. Not a lot of managers in our history have qualified for two World Cups.
 

nayrbrey

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Thierry Henry?
View: https://twitter.com/CBSSportsGolazo/status/1625994945122418688?s=20


Also article in the Athletic this morning.
https://theathletic.com/4211087/2023/02/16/thierry-henry-usmnt-head-coach/?source=user_shared_article
“Do I know the players? Yeah, I do know the players. Do I know the league (MLS)? Yeah, I do know the league.
“What’s the plan (for the USMNT)? What’s the philosophy? What do you want to be? When you ask yourself these questions, you are going to find out eventually these answers. And it’s not because you’re going to host the competition (2026 World Cup) that you’re going to go far automatically. We’ve seen that it’s not easy to do that. We’ve seen some big teams (struggle) at home.”
 

Bozo Texino

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67YAZ

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We read anything into Marsch turning down Soton?
It sounds like the contract he as offered was basically a 6 month deal - if Marsch kept the club up, the team would pick up the option. If the club got relegated, Marsch was out.

I can see why he’d walk away from that. It’s only 4 points, but 3 clubs to climb over. And getting fired twice in a year is tough on a career.

I think Marsch engaging a bottom-table EPL club instead of stumping for the USMNT means he prefers club gigs right now.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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Can someone help me understand why our crack consulting firm is apparently reaching out to MLS lifers while there is no upper management in place?

And yes, I know this doesn’t mean anything and due diligence with a variety of candidates is valuable. Just hard to trust USSF to follow a good process here.
 
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Titans Bastard

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Can someone help me understand why our crack consulting firm is apparently reaching out to MLS lifers while there is no upper management in place?

And yes, I know this doesn’t mean anything and due diligence with a variety of candidates is valuable. Just hard to trust USSF to follow a good process here.
I'm glad that they are doing preliminary work to reach out to candidates now, rather than dither and wait until they hire a sporting director to do anything. Let's get a manager in place before Nations League and Gold Cup this summer.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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I'm glad that they are doing preliminary work to reach out to candidates now, rather than dither and wait until they hire a sporting director to do anything. Let's get a manager in place before Nations League and Gold Cup this summer.
Yeah, I guess I am just assuming maximum dysfunction and we'll hire a manager and then hire upper management that doesn't like the manager we hired.
 

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I wouldn't have a problem with a Belichick-style situation, where the President / senior execs hire the Head Coach, and then the Head Coach hires or strongly influences the Sporting Director hire, and explicitly hires the MNT GM who then reports to him. Earnie Stewart had like 19 different departments reporting to him, so it was essentially management by benign neglect for him (especially wrt the MNT). There's not a lot of need to shop for groceries with a country federation - you just need a GM to manage logistics, scheduling, and player-pool relations. The Sporting Director should be a peer, not a boss, of the MNT and WNT coaches. If the MNT Coach has a particular tactical vision that they want to be trained into prospects from the youth ranks, the Sporting Director should be directing the YNT staff under him or her accordingly - it shouldn't be coming top-down to the coach, or else it's a recipe for anyone competent to immediately be infuriated by the bureaucracy. So, the SD should be a peer.

Tell Cindy to PM me where I can send the consulting bill to. I bet I'm a lot cheaper than Sportsology.
 

InstaFace

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Maaaaaaybe we should hire someone who's run an organization more complicated than a lemonade stand, when trying to fill the most complex and demanding role in our federation. The President has most of the media appearances but Earnie had 19 direct reports, he had to be the image of productivity, time management, delegation and leadership.

Gooch is great on TV but has no relevant qualifications, if this happens it'll be a travesty worse than any managerial choice the USSF has ever made. Which is why I assume it won't happen. Would make a total mockery of Sportsology, too.
 

Cellar-Door

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Maaaaaaybe we should hire someone who's run an organization more complicated than a lemonade stand, when trying to fill the most complex and demanding role in our federation. The President has most of the media appearances but Earnie had 19 direct reports, he had to be the image of productivity, time management, delegation and leadership.

Gooch is great on TV but has no relevant qualifications, if this happens it'll be a travesty worse than any managerial choice the USSF has ever made. Which is why I assume it won't happen. Would make a total mockery of Sportsology, too.
He's pretty inexperienced for the post, but you're underselling him some...
1. He's been on the board a while.
2. He was the Sporting Director for Orlando B when it was in the USL
3. He was also Secretary General for Royal Excelsior Virton in the Belgian League for 1.5 years until this WC.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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He's pretty inexperienced for the post, but you're underselling him some...
1. He's been on the board a while.
2. He was the Sporting Director for Orlando B when it was in the USL
3. He was also Secretary General for Royal Excelsior Virton in the Belgian League for 1.5 years until this WC.
That's more experience than I was aware of, which is good, but also a pretty thin resume for federation sporting director I think, compared at least to Earnie SDtewart. That said, I have no real comparables to what sporting directors look like in other federations generally, so he might be more in line than I'd imagine.
 

Titans Bastard

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He's pretty inexperienced for the post, but you're underselling him some...
1. He's been on the board a while.
2. He was the Sporting Director for Orlando B when it was in the USL
3. He was also Secretary General for Royal Excelsior Virton in the Belgian League for 1.5 years until this WC.
Yeah, this is where I am. Onyewu's resumé makes him a bit of a lightweight (only time Gooch has ever been described as such) but it's not totally out of the question.

The best hire for the job is probably going to be some faceless technocrat who none of us have ever heard of. The sporting director job is fairly well compensated (Earnie made $800k, I think?) but good MLS general manager types don't want it — it's a tedious job filled with lots of duties that are pretty far removed from the USMNT.

I'm having a hard time gauging what the quality of the applicant pool is going to be. Just like the managerial hiring process, they need to fit the budget and be interested in the job, and that rules a lot of people out.
 

Cellar-Door

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Yeah, this is where I am. Onyewu's resumé makes him a bit of a lightweight (only time Gooch has ever been described as such) but it's not totally out of the question.

The best hire for the job is probably going to be some faceless technocrat who none of us have ever heard of. The sporting director job is fairly well compensated (Earnie made $800k, I think?) but good MLS general manager types don't want it — it's a tedious job filled with lots of duties that are pretty far removed from the USMNT.

I'm having a hard time gauging what the quality of the applicant pool is going to be. Just like the managerial hiring process, they need to fit the budget and be interested in the job, and that rules a lot of people out.
I also have no idea exactly what they want out of the Sporting Director.
I look at the FA:
they have a Technical Director... who is someone with long time coaching and development experience who ran Spurs' academy for years (and Watford before that)
They also have a Director of Football Development whose background is as a long time consultant, working with UEFA and other sporting groups on Grassroots projects, he also worked for SkySports, Volvo and other corporations.

Which of those jobs is our sporting director, or is it a combination of both?
 

InstaFace

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That's more experience than I was aware of, which is good, but also a pretty thin resume for federation sporting director I think, compared at least to Earnie SDtewart. That said, I have no real comparables to what sporting directors look like in other federations generally, so he might be more in line than I'd imagine.
Let's survey a few from Proper Footballing Nations then, shall we?

Netherlands:
- Nigel de Jong kicked the door down to be appointed Technical Director back in January. His player career ended in 2021 after several years in the middle east. He does not appear to have any club management, coaching or executive experience.
- however, he's probably just a public face, and the important guy is probably Nico-Jan Hoogma, Director of Top-Level Football, who after a high-level playing career became general / technical director at Heracles from 2006-2018.

England:
- TD John McDermott started in 2021 after assisting for a year; was a coach for 15 years at Spurs, prior to that at Watford where he became Academy Manager; he also coached the national teams in the 2000s. He oversees grassroots development but also the senior NTs.

Brazil:
- After the 2014 WC disaster, Gilmar Rinaldi was appointed; he was Superintendent of Football at Flamengo from 1999-2001, became an agent for a while, and held the "General Coordinator" role (sometimes called TD) until 2016 when he was fired after exiting Copa America Centenario.
- From 2016-2019 the GC / TD was Edu Gaspar, who then left for a TD role at Arsenal in 2019. He was Director of Football at Corinthians from 2011-2016, and assisted the Iranian NT in the 2014 World Cup.
- I can absolutely not make heads or tails of the CBF's current structure, couldn't even tell you who has the role today.

Italy:
- The FIGC's MNT Coordinator / GM was Gabriele Oriali from 2014-2019. After a playing career in the 1970s, he was Solbiatese's Sporting Director in Serie C, Bologna's from 1994-1997? (promoting from Serie C to Serie A), then TD/SD at Parma till 1999 when he returned to Inter and was TD from 1999-2010. In 2019, he returned to Inter as TD again, although he also stayed as Azzurri GM through Euro 2020 and apparently is still there now.

Mexico:
- Apparently Miguel Herrera is TD right now? He of course was a coach from 2002-present, including coaching El Tri from 2013-2015. It's very unclear.
- He maybe was an interim appointment because they fired General Sporting Director Gerardo Torrado in summer 2022, or maybe it was Sporting Director of National Teams Ignacio Hierro, also fired at the same time. I can't keep it straight, but anyway:
- Torrado had a distinguished playing career that ended at Indy Eleven in 2017, whereupon he was appointed, before being fired last summer. No managerial or director qualifications.
- Hierro had a playing career cut short by injury, but prior to his appointment as SD in 2019, he was SD at Club Atlas, at Everton (Chile), some sort of director at Pachuca, and SD at Atlante in the Ascenso.
- Torrado was succeeded last year by Jaime Ordiales, who had been Cruz Azul's SD since 2020; prior to that he had 4 other Mexican managerial stints from 2008-2017.

Japan:
- TD Yasuharu Sorimachi had a playing career in the 80s and 90s, followed by managerial jobs from 2001-2019 (including assistant with Japan from 2006-2007, and running Japan's U23s from 2006-2008), before being appointed as TD for JFA in 2020.
- "Chairman of the International Committee" is Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, who played until 2011 (including captaining Japan in the 2002 WC), then coached at Gamba Osaka from 2015-2021 (the last 3 years as Manager). He might be some other sort of executive, it's not clear.

---

Conclusions:
- Most FAs' Technical Directors or Sporting Directors have experience being such, or at least being club managers or NT managers before taking the role.
- Every FA seemingly allocates the responsibilities and titles differently, there's not some common formula that USSF is either following or defying.
- To the extent that some FAs divide it into more of an Earnie / McBride sort of setup, the McBride / GM role can be filled by a famous player with not much other experience, as with Gerardo Torrado in Mexico or Nigel De Jong in the Netherlands.
- However, the Earnie / senior SD/TD role is universally filled with someone with a lot of experience, sometimes decades, of management or executive roles.
 

67YAZ

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Don’t know if the Barhalter-Reyna family BBQ is happening this summer.

 

67YAZ

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More seriously, US Soccer’s independent investigation report is out. The key take away an appear to be that Gregg’s version of his past abusive behavior is true - the investigators confirmed the story outlined the Berhalter’s public statement and find no other instances of abusive behavior by Gregg. The investigators also don’t find that the Reynas did anything illegal (blackmail) or even breaking US Soccer policies. Unseemly all the way around, but nothing that bears liability.
 

ThePrideofShiner

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Man, the Reynas look fucking awful.

A few highlights:

Some sexism from Claudio to kick things off:

Mr. Reyna sent a follow-up email that stated:
“And in all honest [sic] can we get real and have male refs for a game like this. Its embarrassing guys. What are we trying to prove? A game like this deserves bett[e]r attention.”
This was a pattern:
Mr. Berhalter said that what occurred at the 2022 FIFA World Cup was similar to what occurred at the U-17 World Cup. Mr. Berhalter provided text messages to us that he received from Mr. Reyna in 2019 and 2020 complaining about Gio Reyna’s treatment, travel arrangements, and coaches.
I think this narrative is different than what we heard in December, mainly that it wasn't just at the one scrimmage that Gio was lolly-gagging around. It was over the course of multiple days and multiple internal competitions. Seems like a good reason for someone to be benched:

During our investigation, Mr. Stewart described to us concerns related to Gio Reyna’s performance during training in the days leading up the 2022 World Cup games. Mr. Stewart explained that coaches had concerns about Gio Reyna’s level of fitness for the first game because he was recovering from an injury. In addition, Mr. Stewart told us that Gio Reyna’s performance was poor during a scrimmage game because he “walk[ed] around, and mope[d] around the whole time.” Mr. Stewart said although it looked like he might still be injured, he mostly “seemed ticked off” and “did not appear to be trying at all.” Mr. Stewart told us that Mr. Berhalter talked to Gio Reyna after that scrimmage to inform him that his effort was not satisfactory, and he needed to “adjust his mentality.” However, Mr. Stewart said that Gio Reyna’s behavior continued for a couple of days of training even after the scrimmage and discussion with Mr. Berhalter. For example, Mr. Stewart said players were required to do sprints on training days after a scrimmage and “other guys were busting their tails doing the sprints” while “Gio didn’t do anything.” Mr. Stewart said this behavior continued after U.S. played in their first game at the 2022 World Cup.
The Reynas were being so disruptive that Stewart and McBride had a sitdown with them the day before the England match:

Specifically, Mr. McBride shared with us a text message he received from Mr. Reyna on November 21, 2022, after the USMNT’s World Cup match against Wales, that said: “Our entire family is disgusted, angry, and done with you guys. Don’t expect nice comments from anyone in our family about US Soccer. I’m being transparent to you not like the political clown show of the federation.”
Mr. McBride also explained that he and Mr. Stewart met with the Reynas on November 24, 2022, a day before the USMNT’s World Cup match against England. Mr. McBride said that the purpose of the meeting was to help the Reynas understand the decision about Gio Reyna’s playing time. Mr. McBride commented that such a meeting would not typically occur with parents of 29 players, but they agreed to it as a courtesy to Mr. Reyna given their long friendship and history as former teammates. Mr. McBride informed us that, during the meeting, Mr. Reyna stated, “you guys don’t even know what we know about Gregg,” but offered no additional details.
 

dirtynine

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I’m imagining Paul Arriola reading about Gio in training and just popping a blood vessel. He would have run sprints at top speed all day long just to have been the last guy on the bench.
 

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Berhalter actually looks worse after the official investigative report. After he was hit in the face by (now) Mrs Berhalter, “Mr. Berhalter pushed her to the ground and kicked her twice; Mr. Berhalter was tackled by a passerby not known to either of the Berhalters; and Mrs. Berhalter got up and left." So the initial kicked her in the leg (from his statement) sounds like it was much worse and was maybe only stopped by the passerby intervening.

US Soccer really needs to move on. While I don’t think much of the Reyna’s, Gio is going to be part of the team and they can’t have this feud hanging over every camp moving forward. It’s not like Gregg is Carlo Ancelotti or anything.
 

DJnVa

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The Athletic's take: U.S. Soccer Gregg Berhalter investigation: What was found, Reynas’ involvement and what’s next - The Athletic

Could still be issues for Claudio:

but did not determine whether it violated the FIFA Code of Ethics – a violation potentially in play because Reyna was an official with NYCFC and Austin FC at the time of the communications.

Claudio is the worst of the travel club parents:

In Feb. 2016, Claudio Reyna made complaints about his son and tried to overturn a red card that Gio Reyna got in a USSDA match.
Earnie Stewart said Claudio began making complaints to him as early as Nov. 2019 during the FIFA U-17 World Cup about lack of playing time for Gio Reyna, inadequate travel arrangements (not flying business class) and other issues. Stewart told investigators he had not dealt with that type of behavior from any other parents in his 20 years in the business.
Another witness whose name was redacted said that the Reynas declined to get back on a bus in the family program at the 2022 World Cup after the Wales game because the Berhalter family was also on the bus.

Danielle Reyna told Stewart about the incident, saying "Gregg beat the shit out of Rosalind". US Soccer called Gregg and his wife and without saying where they got the info and both gave similar stories. Danielle Reyna then denied she told anyone anything.

When investigators initially reached out to Danielle Reyna to interview her for the investigation and asked if she had a phone conversation with Stewart on Dec. 11, Danielle Reyna stated, “I will not confirm anything.” She said she would not get involved because “I have cleaned my mind.”

Asked again if she had that call with Stewart: “I’m not saying I did that. I am not saying anything. I won’t confirm or deny that I made that allegation to Earnie.” Investigators then asked again if she was on the phone with Stewart in December and she said, “I deny we were on a phone call.” When asked again about the call, Reyna said, “Yes, I am denying this whole thing.” According to the investigators, Reyna said she didn’t speak to Stewart about anything and she did not remember and that there is nothing else she can share with us. Said she had nothing left to say and “if you want to close it, you can close it.”
 
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InstaFace

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Dunno how much A-team playing time he's going to get, but good depth for us, especially with some B-team tournaments coming up.

What I want is some Miles Robinson news. He's back, but I don't know how he looks, or whether the UEFA opportunities he was getting when he blew his ACL might come calling again. Can take a while to get back to 100%, even if he's good enough to get back on the field.
 

Titans Bastard

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Dunno how much A-team playing time he's going to get, but good depth for us, especially with some B-team tournaments coming up.

What I want is some Miles Robinson news. He's back, but I don't know how he looks, or whether the UEFA opportunities he was getting when he blew his ACL might come calling again. Can take a while to get back to 100%, even if he's good enough to get back on the field.
Robinson has looked good early on in MLS so far (small sample size) and he's refusing to sign a new contract so that he'll be able to test the waters in Europe next winter completely unencumbered.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Dunno how much A-team playing time he's going to get, but good depth for us, especially with some B-team tournaments coming up.
On one hand, I agree, but on the other hand, you look at our winger depth chart and while it is deep, we have:
  1. Pulisic - often injured
  2. Reyna - coming off of massive injury issues, still well in process on that
  3. Weah - being turned into a fullback at club level possibly
  4. Aaronson - struggling, albeit the EPL is an impressive spot in which to be struggling. Also maybe not a winger depending what system is happening
Beyond that, we get to our prospects and our good-to-solid MLS performers. I could see Zendejas looking at that list, applying a healthy dose of the arrogance and power of positive thinking stuff elite athletes tend to have, and seeing himself as high as third behind two injury prone guys.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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On one hand, I agree, but on the other hand, you look at our winger depth chart and while it is deep, we have:
  1. Pulisic - often injured
  2. Reyna - coming off of massive injury issues, still well in process on that
  3. Weah - being turned into a fullback at club level possibly
  4. Aaronson - struggling, albeit the EPL is an impressive spot in which to be struggling. Also maybe not a winger depending what system is happening
Beyond that, we get to our prospects and our good-to-solid MLS performers. I could see Zendejas looking at that list, applying a healthy dose of the arrogance and power of positive thinking stuff elite athletes tend to have, and seeing himself as high as third behind two injury prone guys.
From the smallest of viewing samples (basically just the January camp + some clips), I'd add that Zendejas brings a different look than the guys on that list. Looked to me like a guy who could handle possession, do some shifty stuff 1v1 but also find good crosses from a standstill and that sort of thing. Felt like more of a calm, less chaotic presence on the ball. Whether or not he becomes anything, you definitely want a mix of guys who are talented but can bring some different things to the table, especially given how straight-line happy we historically tend to be in the attack.
 
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JayMags71

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US Soccer really needs to move on. While I don’t think much of the Reyna’s, Gio is going to be part of the team and they can’t have this feud hanging over every camp moving forward. It’s not like Gregg is Carlo Ancelotti or anything.
Nah, fuck that. Gio isn’t Philipp Lahm, either. I say shitcan them both. Make it clear that Gio isn’t welcome until he makes major changes.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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Nah, fuck that. Gio isn’t Philipp Lahm, either. I say shitcan them both. Make it clear that Gio isn’t welcome until he makes major changes.
And we aren't Germany. He was an entitled teenager being managed by insane and overbearing parents. Kick the parents to the curb and everybody moves on.
 

InstaFace

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Yeah, Gio can (and probably will) grow past those insane overbearing parents, just as Lonzo and LaMelo Ball did, just as Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi did (gee I wonder if they bonded over that), or Roy Jones Jr, or just because I like posting it, Gloria James. Cesc Fabregas had to tell his dad to cool it. Can we pin anything on Jonathan Klinsmann's dad?
 

67YAZ

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This is a fun roster:

Goalkeepers: Ethan Horvath (Luton, England), Zack Steffen (Middlesbrough, England), Matt Turner (Arsenal, England)

Defenders: Sergiño Dest (AC Milan, Italy), Mark McKenzie (Genk, Belgium), Tim Ream (Fulham, England), Bryan Reynolds (Westerlo, Belgium), Antonee Robinson (Fulham, England), Miles Robinson (Atlanta), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach, Germany), Auston Trusty (Birmingham, England)

Midfielders: Brenden Aaronson (Leeds, England), Johnny Cardoso (Internacional, Brazil), Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo, Spain), Weston McKennie (Leeds, England), Yunus Musah (Valencia, Spain), Alan Soñora (Juárez, Mexico)

Forwards: Taylor Booth (Utrecht, Netherlands), Daryl Dike (West Bromwich Albion, England), Ricardo Pepi (Groningen, Netherlands), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea, England), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund, Germany), Tim Weah (Lille, France), Alex Zendejas (América, Mexico)
 

InstaFace

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yeah that is remarkably close to a full-strength roster, or our World Cup roster.

- We get Miles back, plus McKenzie
- Steffen replaces Sean Johson
- Only notable absences are Tyler Adams and Walker Zimmerman (arguably CCV, Sargent and/or Acosta)
- New-ish arrivals: Trusty at CB (!), Sonora at CM, Johnny Soccer at DM, Booth at CM/WG (!), Zendejas at WG, Reynolds at RB (!!)
- Happy trails to: CB Aaron Long, RB Shaq Moore, RB Yedlin, CM/WG Roldan, RW Jordan Morris, CF Ferreira (?!)
 

Jimy Hendrix

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yeah that is remarkably close to a full-strength roster, or our World Cup roster.

- We get Miles back, plus McKenzie
- Steffen replaces Sean Johson
- Only notable absences are Tyler Adams and Walker Zimmerman (arguably CCV, Sargent and/or Acosta)
- New-ish arrivals: Trusty at CB (!), Sonora at CM, Johnny Soccer at DM, Booth at CM/WG (!), Zendejas at WG, Reynolds at RB (!!)
- Happy trails to: CB Aaron Long, RB Shaq Moore, RB Yedlin, CM/WG Roldan, RW Jordan Morris, CF Ferreira (?!)
We're gonna see a bunch of your Happy Trails guys at that non-FIFA window Mexico friendly in April, for whatever its worth. Maybe all of them.
 

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Even though the MLS season will be in full swing? I'd have thought otherwise.
I’m told that the USSF cut a deal with a bunch of MLS clubs to get their players in April if they don’t call them now.
 

rguilmar

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I was under the impression that the US- Mexico game would be all MLS and Liga MX players.
 

InstaFace

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So basically just a league-vs-league all star game, except we don't get any foreign ringers? That's kinda funny.

"It's a battle of the best players both countries can put together... except for those who were good enough to play in Europe!"

(Yes, I'll be watching, but I'll probably poke fun, too)
 

Titans Bastard

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We're gonna see a bunch of your Happy Trails guys at that non-FIFA window Mexico friendly in April, for whatever its worth. Maybe all of them.
I think we're also going to see a bunch of them in the summer at the Gold Cup, since there will likely be a split squad situation with our strongest squad going to Nations League and a secondary squad at the GC.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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I was under the impression that the US- Mexico game would be all MLS and Liga MX players.
Logistics almost demands it, as a midweek in-season think nobody’s flying in all the way from Europe for it, plus no clubs would okay it.
 

Titans Bastard

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Pulisic on Berhalter. It certainly highlights that "Berhalter has lost the locker room" or the "MLS vs. Euro player split" were always fan fiction. I read this as a lament about the way things have unfolded and a general defense of Berhalter, but not really as a call to bring Berhalter back.

Pulisic said Berhalter has been "extremely unfortunate" to no longer be the U.S. head coach after his contract was not renewed after the 2022 World Cup.

"I'm not here to appoint the next manager -- it's not my job -- and whoever it is I'm going to play and give it 100%," Pulisic told ESPN's Graham Hunter in a wide-ranging interview at his home in London.

"Everything that happened with Gregg, first of all, has been handled in an extremely childish manner. I think we've seen what's been going on. I think it's childish, it's youth soccer, people complaining about playing time. I don't want to go too far into that, but I think Gregg has been extremely unfortunate to get into the position he is in now."
He's frustrated at the slow pace the USSF is moving to put a manager in place, which I think is something most would agree with:

"Do I feel like we should just wait and wait? I don't think it's necessary, because we are not in a phase like we were after not qualifying [for the 2018 World Cup] where we needed a complete rebuild," Pulisic said.

"We don't need a bunch of new guys coming in. We have a strong core in my opinion -- people have seen that and we need to carry on with that. It's a tough one for me because we should continue that as soon as we can and build off this World Cup, which I think had a lot of positives in it. We want to get going with that as soon as we can."

The video of these comments is worth watching. It's the same as the quoted text above, but his body language and tone of voice conveys a lot.

View: https://twitter.com/amcalabrese12/status/1636354617817673733
 

Jed Zeppelin

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Aug 23, 2008
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Balogun’s IG following the announcement of England’s squad:


The reading too much into things part of my brain is loving it.