The Daily Berhalter: Quiz Edition
Morning. The wheels are coming off the good ship Berhalter, and just like that mixed metaphor, we've mixed some polls into today's newsletter for you to answer. Go on, you know you want to...
"If [the USMNT] does not go through, Gregg Berhalter is going to lose his job, and rightfully and fairly so. But this is a situation that this team, including Gregg Berhalter, have created for themselves." - Alexi Lalas, obviously
Should he Stay or Should he Go?
There are bad days at the office, and then there are bad days at the office where the gods conspire against you. Going down to ten men after 18 minutes, and having to switch keepers at half-time would hint at the latter. But, conceding 74% of possession and only holding onto the lead for four minutes would hint at the former.
Bringing on Cameron Carter-Vickers for Gio Reyna at half-time?
God only knows. Match report and highlight clips here.
Uruguay Will Take it Easy Against the US
While it was only Bolivia, Uruguay literally ran rings around them in their 5-0 win. Bielsa-ball is the kind of high-intensity soccer the US thought they were referring to before their own 2-0 win against Bolivia. High-intensity does not mean passing the ball like a baby exocet at a teammate. That’s just intense for the teammate as it balloons off their shin. It’s this:
And Bielsa’s thoughts after the game?
"Without underestimating the strengths of the two teams we faced, those teams are not among the main competitors for the title. Respectfully, I think that there are some very significant steps to be taken.”
"Winning two games without facing the best teams in the competition does not allow us to define ourselves as one of the most important teams…"
"In the previous [Panama] match we had 15 minutes of the second half with a different performance than the rest of the match, today there was also a similar period where the production was different, for a certain time we stopped creating danger for the opponents."
Yeah, Bielsa isn’t resting anybody.
How Good is this US Team?
A Golden Generation is a group of genuinely talented players all of a similar age that have a decent chance of bringing something home. In the past twenty-five years, besides 2006-2014 Spain and France, they tend to be a bunch of disjointed prima-donnas who stink up tournaments such as Belgium over the last decade, England under Southgate and the early 2000’s, and Portugal (the irony being they won the Euros when Ronaldo got injured in the final and had to watch from the sidelines).
While this young crop of American players have talent, and a core of them play in the best European leagues, they still haven’t beaten a non-Concacaf nation in the top 25 of Fifa’s rankings.
Will Changing Berhalter Fix the Problem?
We’ll resist the urge to boil down any broader issues with US Soccer such as youth development, Matt Crocker, and the MLS to a poll. It’s obviously more nuanced than that. After all, we could point the finger at fans and US Soccer for treating the USMNT like a club side.
Also, our recent podcast with Jonathan Tannewald and Simon Evans spent most of it discussing Berhalter - and it’s definitely worth a listen:
Who or What Next?
Before throwing names around willy nilly - that’ll be next week - let’s establish some ground rules as to what kind of coach is required. If those are terrible options, hop on over and vent share your thoughts in the comments:
I was there at the Benz for the infuriating defeat. Everyone I spoke to the next few days that was also there had the same feeling as me. If this is it, I don’t want to shell out a fortune to watch USMNT play in the World Cup. I’ll go see some other teams, but this hurts too bad. I was too angry, it was the wrong vibe, it was awful, and I won’t subject myself or kids to it again. We’ve been squirreling away money for World Cup, and we’ll still enjoy somebody playing it in our fair city. It won’t be USMNT unless we can fix it.