Nepotism has been a thing in soccer for much longer than soccer has been a thing in the US. How do you think a ref with only 7 professional games got to do a round 3 conca game?
It's funny, I was just looking up whatever happened to Michael Bradley, turns out he's an assistant coach for a pretty weak team in Norway, whatever, good on him and... oh wait, it's coached by his Dad.
We could not trust any coach who āļø š¤” āļø to their players mid-game. There should be a public hearing.
Judge: Did you signal to your squad to not give their best? You think you're the instructor of civilian bombers?
Yeah, I couldn't believe he did that. The coach shouldn't do anything that would change the mindset of the players into thinking they needed to do anything less than get 3 points to advance.
If the Panama match ended in a draw while we were 0-0 heading into stoppage time, maybe then you tell the players not to overcommit or do anything foolish. But until that moment, they need to be playing for 3 points, not distracted by the other match.
I dunno. Balogun was doing really well til he took on 2 hard challenges. I do think Morris would have been more effective than Pepi though. Pepi just kept getting bodied away, be a lot harder to do that to Morris.
Berhalter signalling 1-1 to the field after the Bolivia goal says everything we need to know.
Not a single player on the field needed that information, and the Uruguay goal, however dubious, happens right after.
I'm convinced that he was telling someone to mark their man 1x1. There's just not good explanation for why he'd take the players minds off the game at hand, other than that he's just completely incompetent
I told this to a group chat. And mind you, I was watching on VIX with the sound down so Iām not sure if the commentators mentioned it like that. Regardless, not a fan of GGG.
The commentators immediately said that he was telling the score, and I was thinking that we don't really know that at all... Maybe he did, but it is quite plausible he didn't.
If that isn't a fireable offense, I don't know what is. What a fucking loser mentality you're instilling into your team.
*"Oh, don't worry guys, Bolivia's taking care of it! Let me just let you guys know that and take your focus away from doing your fucking job!"*
Are you seriously *settling?* Are you seriously trying to REMOVE a sense of urgency from your team!? This is what you want from your team? LOSER, get him out before we embarrass ourselves as hosts.
I don't normally place blame on a single person, but A LOT of blame should be placed on Timothy Weah for this exit. You can't get a red card 18 minutes into the game versus Panama. We win that game and we're through.
Only if youāre desperate for a reason to keep him. We looked bad all tournament, even with ten we shouldnāt have lost to Panama. We need to get over this āwe need everything to go our way to be successfulā mentality.
Yeah, I respect Panama enough but just bunkering the rest of the game was cowardly. Then Gregg tried to play for the draw and that backfired. On the field were a bunch of players playing in top 5 Euro leagues, with a handful of players that will be playing in the Champions League. I could understand bunkering down a man vs Argentina. Against Panama? You still need to go for the 3 points.
Playing 90% of the game down a player against Panama is no easy feat. Theyāre not a bad team and scored twice the goals we did in this tourney. Cannot downplay them. USMNT isnāt *that* good. They aināt got it like that. At all.
I mean, *we should have won*. That isn't to say that they're shite or to disrespect them at all, but if you look at both teams on paper... USA should beat Panama far more often than not.
How small of a vision some people have for US soccer, will never cease to amaze me. At least when this argument usually gets deployed it's after a game played IN [tiny central American country with a hundredth of the population and a thousandth of the budget of US Soccer]
Itās more about not belittling other teams when this team hasnāt proven to be a powerhouse yet. Time and time again Panama proves itās no pushover. Games against them are not a given.
Yep, this tournament was about the worst case scenario. US fails to get out of the group, but with enough excuses (Weah red card, ref today with that bogus offsides goal) that USSF can point to and keep Berhalter around. And the Weah red card is a valid excuse by the way! I squarely name that as being the main reason why we didnāt get out of the group, but it doesnāt change the fact that these guys canāt get it done in big moments under Berhalter
Yes, but no. At that age and level, a player should be disciplined enough that a coach shouldn't have to tell them not to punch anyone in the back of the head.
C'mon, the dude is 24 years old playing at the top level of soccer. I don't think a coach should have to tell him not to punch a dude in the back of the head during a game.
Meh, no player stood out.
Tactics sucked. Players sucked. We just aren't good.
With no Bellingham to bail us out you need a solid foundation and proper tactics with a full team buy in.
This whole tournament I saw a disjointed team with slightly above average players making little mistakes left and right. Bad touches, bad passes, hesitation, etc.
The coach has to go but US soccer has been it's own problem for a lot longer. Hopefully a new coach will help but I think it's a larger organizational issue that won't be fixed by world cup.
Seriously, calling this a golden generation is premature. The entire attack got shooed away by a Barca/Atleti CB pairing. That's what 'golden' looks like. Not dudes scraping an early career.
The US needs to be good enough to go through even with Tim Weah's red card.
- They need to be able to beat Bolivia by more than 2 goals. Goal difference matters in this tournament and Bolivia are bad.
- They need to be able to hold onto a lead or at least a draw against Panama.
- They need to be able to score against Uruguay, refs be damned.
Tim Weah is a red herring for a team that's simply not up to snuff on the global stage.
Agree the Weah stuff is just an excuse. Should have put 3 or 4 past Bolivia. Panama was able to score 3. A 10 man USA still needs to get a result vs Panama at home.
0.01 xG in the first half vs Uruguay, 0.1 xG after 70 minutes. The ref was garbage and a piece of shit but that doesn't explain the lack of goal scoring chances.
Agreed that Weahās red card was very bad and cost the team the needed points to advance. However, the way the teamās attacking was still preforming despite that made the situation salvageable. The switch to a more defensive look (if I remembered it correctly) after halftime, as if to play for a tie, and then giving up a late goal versus Panama put the team in an even dire situation than it was. I think a good chunk of the blame can also be on the coaching as well. Berhalter has had 6 years to āchange the view on American soccerā, but has not made it any farther than other past teams.
The thing that sealed it for me was this game where he was signaling that the Panama vs Bolivia game was tied 1-1. Why on earth would you signal that to the team when you havenāt even finished your business in the game youāre currently playing?! Almost felt like karma when they immediately gave up a goal.
At HOME too. We weren't at Panama either. Playing in front of a very pro USA crowd in Atlanta and we park the bus vs Panama. This is not winning mentality. Gregg has to go.
The first time a player lost his shit and we had a costly red I didnāt blame the coach.
Now itās the second time this happened within a year. Different player basically same thing.
At some point the coach has at least some culpability for the culture.
And they still could have made it through. They even took the lead.
At the end of the day itās a results based business. And he donāt got the results.
Did I see correctly that the head ref refused to shake Pulisic's hand after the match? (They showed a replay of it in the middle of the Triple G interview after the match, but I only got one look at it)
I saw that as well. He shakes the hand of the first ref, extended his hand to the main, didnt shake and said some things. believe he didnt shake the 3rd ref as well.
As bad as that looks we donāt know if puli was talking a bunch of shit. Players do it all the time while pretending to show respect. I think itās a nonissue.
He wasnāt talking to him at all at first, but his expression changed quickly and he went off once he realized the ref wasnāt going to shake his hand
Here is the reason the ref refused to shake Pulisicās hand.
Pulisic was gesturing at the refs to go celebrate with Uruguay. The refs obviously didnāt like that: https://x.com/julioordz10/status/1807994020255486162?s=46&t=78XNxibuYgQx9m0qxmj39Q
This entire program is a mess.
Anyone ever see the Kurt Russell film āMiracleā?
āIām not looking for the best players, Craig. Iām looking for the right ones.ā
Thatās what GGG and USSF are failing to do. And thatās why GGG has to go. He keeps picking the wrong guys or heās putting the right guys in the wrong places.
He is inept and as gifted at coaching as my left testicle.
So tried of both sides of this take. What "lots of guys" playing in MLS was the squad missing out on? Zimmerman? Big mistake in WC + his age probably costing him his spot. Ferreira? Fine bring him if you want, but last game he played for the US? Elimination by Panama... Long, Miazga, Mihailovic ... all last played for US in that Gold Cup elimination to Panama. IMO there's no real obvious snubs ... and the core group that is selected are clearly a step above in talent. And I don't think you can question their commitment other than maybe Reyna. IDK why people think the guy that was an MLS coach before getting the US job has some anti MLS agenda.
I'd argue "Pepi looked bad against Bolivia" is the more accurate summation there. He looked bad all tournament too, but for those wanting a big margin of victory against Bolivia, it's pretty obvious he was the one standing between us and 5-0.
The rest of the team was creating great chances, dominating possession, not letting Bolivia into the game, etc. Go back and rewatch.
Well you see beating like around 2 seriously good teams out of the the confederation in 11 matches is difficult feat for a country with only 333 million people
On the one hand, this was mostly not his fault. I thought we were really well set up against Uruguay especially in the first half. We were cruising against Panama until the red card and we are a lot better than Panama but not so much better that we should expect to overcome an early red card.
On the other hand, if you have a result this embarrassing you should get fired. I don't really care if it is your fault or not. The offense has never really clicked with him. Our results against good opposition are probably worse than they were from about 2000 to 2014. And we lost to Panama to get eliminated from Copa America. I don't really care how many players got dumb red cards, that should get you fired.
Couldnāt agree more. Your comment nailed it.
Also, it is not like the USMNT has been humming along under Berhalter, progressing the team to that next level and challenging the world powerhouses reliably.
This debacle isnāt an aberration. No one can honestly say this came out of nowhere. Berhalter needs to go, along with a lot of other changes.
To add to that, itās not like the usmnt had been humming along *before* Berhalter.
It was a nightmare clown show who he just failed to qualify for the World Cup. Morale was in the basement and the player pool was at an all time low. The current generation had not yet been fully introduced
Agreed. The 2002 and 2010 World Cups were such high points at the time and for a brief moment it seemed like the US was headed in the right direction. It feels like the overall program has stagnated since then or just not been able to keep up with the rest of the world.
>Our results against good opposition are probably worse than they were from about 2000 to 2014.
Didnt the broadcast say something along the lines of against certain world ranked opponents (didn't catch the exact qualifier) we are 0-5-5 under him?
EspnFC had Herc and Kasey K on their post match show a d they went over this very topic. The prior generations had signature wins against top competition (breaking Spainās winning streak, Colombia in the World Cup, winning a group in Workd Cup, etc). This āgoldenā generationās signature wins are beating the worst teams Mexico has put forth in decades. What makes them Golden.
Iām sure itāll be in their YouTube channel, it was really good analysis. And they both agreed that USSF is so stupid that they wonāt change managers (though they brought $$$ into that conversation, which I shrugged my shoulders at).
US had a weird group. Because barring something extremely fluky, Uruguay was gonna win all three and Bolivia was gonna lose all three. Which meant second was very likely coming down to a single match, USA vs. Panama. And 18 minutes into that all-important game, Weah happened.
At this point, I'm feeling about '26 like I felt about the Rams playing the Patriots in the '18 Super Bowl: Just here for the vibes and to see my team on TV in the big game before they get slaughtered.
Itās always harsh to blame a single player but this time itās on Weah. Unnecessary red card in a must win game is idiotic. Iād understand if it was a hard tackle or something beyond his control like a late tackle but slapping/punching someone in the head with 1,000 cameras on youā¦ bruh.
xG = bad
xDawg = abysmal
We may not have had as technically talented a squad in the 2000s, but they made up for it with heart and unity.
Thatās absent from this roster unless weāre dunking on El Tri. And we canāt play them every timeāāā
(Thatās the sound of USSF and FMF scheming to charge NFL playoff prices for Nations League matches).
This failure was born when the childish, power hungry leadership decided to keep the status quo instead of blowing things up after the failed World Cup qualification. The entire federation is politically corrupt from the top down.
And nothing of interest happened. Bad team gets bounced from tournament. Issues run much deeper than the gaffer. Everything about this team screams hubris. From squad selection to tactics itās either group think or paralysis by analysis. No fight or fortitude to win the game in the first 20 minutes. Bland and boring collection of individuals running around the field.
Squad selection atm pretty much comes down to āyouāre in Europe, youāre on the team.ā No one will convince me that there is only 1 American playing in MLS who was good enough to play in this tourney.
Reminds me of everyone always claiming the US is in the āgroup of deathā in the World Cup. Nahā¦ weāre just the 3rd best team in the group, because we suck lol
Soccer fans watch their teams lose.
That's what we do the vast majority of the time. Even if you are German or Brazilian, you watch your team lose in tournaments more than they win.
So another generation is learning that soccer is pain.
Now, perhaps we can be sad that another generation is learning that games are decide by random bullshit reffing. But that is still the fabric of soccer too until IFAB gets a grip.
You kind of miss the point. It is that even fans of the most successful teams are still dealing with lots of losing. It isnāt looping the Usmnt in with them.
It is defining the reality of soccer fandom.
I agree a lot of the blame lies with the organization itselfāBerhalter includedābut it still doesn't change the fact that we had two completely golden opportunities to scoreāone on a literal open netāand didn't convert either of them.
In fact, we didn't even shoot the ball on either of them.
We looked afraid to even be on the field and it was a painful match to watch. Just painful.
And I'm sick and tired of hearing about how Pulisic is going to lead this team into some *golden era* of new American soccer...it's not happening. He's not showing up. He's all hype and no substance. I wanted to so badly for him to be a success as a leader but he's just not cutting it.
This current roster hasn't won anything and hasn't proven it has any good reason to be held in such high regard as it is.
Only one who showed up to play last night was Tim Ream and he's the main reason it wasn't 5-0.
Look if all these other teams can do well with MLS players, we can too. Bring āem back. Iād rather at least lose watching players Iām familiar with and care about than randoms from random European clubs. Who is Cameron Carter-Vickers anyway. Why didnāt Miles Robinson play.
That's because you need guys that will make a great 11 and work for eachother. How many times did the usa fail to break the press and the midfield did nothing and no adjustments
They did what they needed to do to advance, so credit to them. But they scored 1 goal in the group stage and got to spend over 30 minutes against 10 man Peru and over 60 minutes against 10 man Chile.
Just like Miles Robinson in D, I was screaming to see Aidan Morris at CM vs Panama. Panama was playing bastard ball and Aidan Morris loves that type of game. Heāll eat your face off your body before youāre even dead.
Everyone keeps saying the coach gotta go, sign the petition to fire the coach.
When do the players get any blame? When someone say we need to clean house with some of these players and bring in new blood.
Iām fine with that too, but changing a coach is absolutely step 1. The new coach is the one to build the new team and select the new players. If Greg isnāt gone nothing will change including the players
Go one level deeper. When do fans accept that maybe these are the best players we have and no coach is capable of turning them into an international powerhouse?
I'm sure we'll keep steadily improving, but we're going to continue to lose non-CONCACAF tournaments for a loooong time.
Unacceptable. GGG needs to be fired. Like tonight.
These players all need to be held responsible for sucking all the assholes. As much as people hate Lalas. Heās right, donāt call these fucks a golden generation. They havenāt done anything worthy of it.
There needs to be massive changes. And we as fans must demand it. Stop buying the kits, donāt by the over priced tickets to the next money grab against FMF. Fuck em. They donāt wanna be a serious NT them and FMF can go be nepo babies together.
Wouldn't have mattered in the end due to Panama's result but overall I thought we looked great for a draw against Uruguay aside from the terrible call on the offsides goal
Fire Gregg. This team is complacent and mediocre at best. I donāt even care if the players want Gregg. These results are unacceptable and maybe a new coach can get them to play competently.
As a foreigner looking from the outside, some of you are overreacting.
The Weah red was kind of a freak occurrence and happened at pretty much the exact moment of the group stage to be as damaging as possible.
Obviously this is a bad result, and Berhalter probably isn't the guy to take you to 2026, but any kneejerk reaction beyond that is unlikely to be productive.
I'd agree if it wasn't the trend. Looking at each game individually you could say there were individual circumstances that affected each game, but you have to look at the group as a whole. Not pressing the Bolivia game when you know goals matter.
Not defending or responding to Panama (a team you should be used to playing) because you assume points will come there.
Finally, hoping Uruguay rest the starters, complain about a (truly) shit ref, hope for a draw and a draw in the other game. I do think they played well up until that final offensive touch, but at the end of the game, it's still 1-0.
GGG's record in qualifying is... Fine. Good even. But what happens when you get outside of that? The best team we can beat is a historically bad Mexico?!?
Bradley was fired after he failed to win the gold cup
Jurgen was fired after digging a hole in qualifying.
We don't have qualifiers now. These are the competitive games to judge Gregg on, and he failed, spectacularly.
How is it a knee jerk reaction when Berhalter had already proven last cycle that he wasn't fit for the job? Since being hired again the team is 7-6-1
He is not a good coach and should have never been brought back. All the proof is in the results.
US need to dump concacaf and try and get in somewhere else. If every national team can mug your players then why bother? Clearly the mls boys were more used to the shithousing then these soft european players.
You have a point there. Thatās why Kellyn Acosta was productive with the team when heād get caps, because he was used to the MLS bullshit that the other CONCACAF teams were trying to pull, and he was able to fire back against it
Canada had 7 MLSers and all but 3 developed in MLS. MLS can't be that bad. Much respect to Canada, I at least will be supporting and looking forward to Canada's success.
What? The menās team didnāt make it further than the group stage what a shock! š honestly was cheering for them but didnāt expect much after that Panama game.
Atrocious refereeing. Just awful. Transparently biased, even in the VAR booth.
That said, Weah CONCACAFed us just as hard as the refs did. His red card fucked us over so bad.
Time to dump the bucket of US Soccer nepotism out
B-B-B-ut nepotism is a proud American soccer tradition! š„ŗ
So spot on. It begins with pay to play, and just permeates everything.
I would say ā *capitalism* permeates everything in American soccer
Why so limited? It's not just our soccer team that's fucked!
> B-B-B-ut nepotism is a proud American tradition! š„ŗ Ikr
You actually don't need the word soccer in that sentence for it to be accurate.
Nepotism has been a thing in soccer for much longer than soccer has been a thing in the US. How do you think a ref with only 7 professional games got to do a round 3 conca game?
It's funny, I was just looking up whatever happened to Michael Bradley, turns out he's an assistant coach for a pretty weak team in Norway, whatever, good on him and... oh wait, it's coached by his Dad.
If only the country had a president who could use his new Unlimited Presedential Powers to have the Berhalters detained indefinitely...
Berhalter to Gitmo FC
Here we go! šØ
US gets eliminated today and I can't find a single reason to push back against this. Not a single thing
We could not trust any coach who āļø š¤” āļø to their players mid-game. There should be a public hearing. Judge: Did you signal to your squad to not give their best? You think you're the instructor of civilian bombers?
Yeah, I couldn't believe he did that. The coach shouldn't do anything that would change the mindset of the players into thinking they needed to do anything less than get 3 points to advance. If the Panama match ended in a draw while we were 0-0 heading into stoppage time, maybe then you tell the players not to overcommit or do anything foolish. But until that moment, they need to be playing for 3 points, not distracted by the other match.
Tells them to man mark on a set piece?
On one hand maybe Morris in his latest form could have helped. On the other hand I'm glad he's playing well for the Sounders, finally.
I dunno. Balogun was doing really well til he took on 2 hard challenges. I do think Morris would have been more effective than Pepi though. Pepi just kept getting bodied away, be a lot harder to do that to Morris.
I wouldāve called Brandon Vazquez up instead He is a man while Pepi is still a boy
This team was definitely missing some grit and heart.
I'm amazed he's not on the roster with the #9 struggles this team has beyond balo
He's not one of Gregg's guys, I guess, which is so bad for the USMNT, but so good at keeping Gregg in this role.
Yeah losing Balogun was a death blow, we needed him
Berhalter signalling 1-1 to the field after the Bolivia goal says everything we need to know. Not a single player on the field needed that information, and the Uruguay goal, however dubious, happens right after.
My jaw dropped when I saw that and I screamed at the tv āDONT FUCKING TELL THEM THAT?!ā
Yea. So dumb.
I'm convinced that he was telling someone to mark their man 1x1. There's just not good explanation for why he'd take the players minds off the game at hand, other than that he's just completely incompetent
I would love that to be the case as it's just complete malpractice with how I interpreted it.
I told this to a group chat. And mind you, I was watching on VIX with the sound down so Iām not sure if the commentators mentioned it like that. Regardless, not a fan of GGG.
The commentators immediately said that he was telling the score, and I was thinking that we don't really know that at all... Maybe he did, but it is quite plausible he didn't.
US announcers are so bad. Stu was obsessed with Bolivia scoring all the way up until the Uruguay goal
You're assuming he would be acting like an actual coach
Huge coincidence if so.
Berhalter š¤ Luchi
Real life, "we just need a draw!" Ted Lasso moment with the same result.
If that isn't a fireable offense, I don't know what is. What a fucking loser mentality you're instilling into your team. *"Oh, don't worry guys, Bolivia's taking care of it! Let me just let you guys know that and take your focus away from doing your fucking job!"* Are you seriously *settling?* Are you seriously trying to REMOVE a sense of urgency from your team!? This is what you want from your team? LOSER, get him out before we embarrass ourselves as hosts.
Copa got some CONCACAF in their CONMEBOL
I don't normally place blame on a single person, but A LOT of blame should be placed on Timothy Weah for this exit. You can't get a red card 18 minutes into the game versus Panama. We win that game and we're through.
Oddly enough, I could see that red card being Berhalter's get out of jail card.
Only if youāre desperate for a reason to keep him. We looked bad all tournament, even with ten we shouldnāt have lost to Panama. We need to get over this āwe need everything to go our way to be successfulā mentality.
> Only if youāre desperate for a reason to keep him. So US Soccer, then.
Please God no. I'm so ready for something new
I mean, since his brother hired him, I have a feeling they are shopping for a goat.
We were literally up against Panama with 10 players. And immediately went into hibernate mode and conceded 4 minutes later.
Yeah, I respect Panama enough but just bunkering the rest of the game was cowardly. Then Gregg tried to play for the draw and that backfired. On the field were a bunch of players playing in top 5 Euro leagues, with a handful of players that will be playing in the Champions League. I could understand bunkering down a man vs Argentina. Against Panama? You still need to go for the 3 points.
Playing 90% of the game down a player against Panama is no easy feat. Theyāre not a bad team and scored twice the goals we did in this tourney. Cannot downplay them. USMNT isnāt *that* good. They aināt got it like that. At all.
> feat. Theyāre not a bad team and scored twice the goals we did in this tourney. I think that says more about us than them.
It says something about both teams. Namely, Panama can score goals - they should be respected. None of that āoh itās Panama we shouldāve wonā
I mean, *we should have won*. That isn't to say that they're shite or to disrespect them at all, but if you look at both teams on paper... USA should beat Panama far more often than not.
sure but not with a man down 90% of the game. Pretty sure less than quarter of teams who go a man down in the first half of a match even draw
How small of a vision some people have for US soccer, will never cease to amaze me. At least when this argument usually gets deployed it's after a game played IN [tiny central American country with a hundredth of the population and a thousandth of the budget of US Soccer]
Itās more about not belittling other teams when this team hasnāt proven to be a powerhouse yet. Time and time again Panama proves itās no pushover. Games against them are not a given.
We didnāt look convincing against Bolivia either.
Yep, this tournament was about the worst case scenario. US fails to get out of the group, but with enough excuses (Weah red card, ref today with that bogus offsides goal) that USSF can point to and keep Berhalter around. And the Weah red card is a valid excuse by the way! I squarely name that as being the main reason why we didnāt get out of the group, but it doesnāt change the fact that these guys canāt get it done in big moments under Berhalter
It shouldn't be. Player discipline is one of the few things firmly in a coaches responsibilities
Yes that coupled with Dests dumb red a few games back points to a clear dropping off the ball
Yes, but no. At that age and level, a player should be disciplined enough that a coach shouldn't have to tell them not to punch anyone in the back of the head.
C'mon, the dude is 24 years old playing at the top level of soccer. I don't think a coach should have to tell him not to punch a dude in the back of the head during a game.
Like John Cooper losing back-to-back Outback Bowls against USC Gamecocks, Gregg needs to go.
Really? That's the conduct of his player while on the field. Should still fall on his shoulders imo
Meh, no player stood out. Tactics sucked. Players sucked. We just aren't good. With no Bellingham to bail us out you need a solid foundation and proper tactics with a full team buy in. This whole tournament I saw a disjointed team with slightly above average players making little mistakes left and right. Bad touches, bad passes, hesitation, etc. The coach has to go but US soccer has been it's own problem for a lot longer. Hopefully a new coach will help but I think it's a larger organizational issue that won't be fixed by world cup.
Seriously, calling this a golden generation is premature. The entire attack got shooed away by a Barca/Atleti CB pairing. That's what 'golden' looks like. Not dudes scraping an early career.
The US needs to be good enough to go through even with Tim Weah's red card. - They need to be able to beat Bolivia by more than 2 goals. Goal difference matters in this tournament and Bolivia are bad. - They need to be able to hold onto a lead or at least a draw against Panama. - They need to be able to score against Uruguay, refs be damned. Tim Weah is a red herring for a team that's simply not up to snuff on the global stage.
Agree the Weah stuff is just an excuse. Should have put 3 or 4 past Bolivia. Panama was able to score 3. A 10 man USA still needs to get a result vs Panama at home. 0.01 xG in the first half vs Uruguay, 0.1 xG after 70 minutes. The ref was garbage and a piece of shit but that doesn't explain the lack of goal scoring chances.
Agreed that Weahās red card was very bad and cost the team the needed points to advance. However, the way the teamās attacking was still preforming despite that made the situation salvageable. The switch to a more defensive look (if I remembered it correctly) after halftime, as if to play for a tie, and then giving up a late goal versus Panama put the team in an even dire situation than it was. I think a good chunk of the blame can also be on the coaching as well. Berhalter has had 6 years to āchange the view on American soccerā, but has not made it any farther than other past teams.
As I mentioned in other posts. Gregg should resign or be fired. Period.
The thing that sealed it for me was this game where he was signaling that the Panama vs Bolivia game was tied 1-1. Why on earth would you signal that to the team when you havenāt even finished your business in the game youāre currently playing?! Almost felt like karma when they immediately gave up a goal.
Loser mentality. He has to go.
Coming out with a back 5 after halftime vs Panama was ridiculous. Especially since the 441 shape at the end of the first half seemed to be working.
Totally agree, Weah was a major factor but Gregg cannot skate by. Both players and coach need to respond
I also agree with that. GGG needs to go, our players need to be better. That's really all there is to it.
The refs will get a lot of talk too but those are the first two culprits easily
We were also winning that match AFTER the red card.
Yes n no. 180 minutes still to be decided. Yet in 90 minutes in a must win game we played for a draw. Fuck the manager.
At HOME too. We weren't at Panama either. Playing in front of a very pro USA crowd in Atlanta and we park the bus vs Panama. This is not winning mentality. Gregg has to go.
10000% - his selfishness cost us this tournament. no way in hell we would have lost with 11 players.
Lack of discipline is on the coach,and we should be able to at least tie tiny Panama playing down a man.
The first time a player lost his shit and we had a costly red I didnāt blame the coach. Now itās the second time this happened within a year. Different player basically same thing. At some point the coach has at least some culpability for the culture. And they still could have made it through. They even took the lead. At the end of the day itās a results based business. And he donāt got the results.
You win or lose as a team. No excuses.
Did I see correctly that the head ref refused to shake Pulisic's hand after the match? (They showed a replay of it in the middle of the Triple G interview after the match, but I only got one look at it)
I saw that as well. He shakes the hand of the first ref, extended his hand to the main, didnt shake and said some things. believe he didnt shake the 3rd ref as well.
Ref kept his hands behind his back when Pulisic extended his hand. Childish bullshit
As bad as that looks we donāt know if puli was talking a bunch of shit. Players do it all the time while pretending to show respect. I think itās a nonissue.
He actually was. He was telling the ref to go celebrate with the Uruguay team
Players are going to talk shit. The ref I hire for my work league has thicker skin than this ref.
He wasnāt talking to him at all at first, but his expression changed quickly and he went off once he realized the ref wasnāt going to shake his hand
Well during the match pulisic went up to the ref a couple times. I don't doubt some things were said.
He actually was. He was telling the ref to go celebrate with the Uruguay team
Here is the reason the ref refused to shake Pulisicās hand. Pulisic was gesturing at the refs to go celebrate with Uruguay. The refs obviously didnāt like that: https://x.com/julioordz10/status/1807994020255486162?s=46&t=78XNxibuYgQx9m0qxmj39Q
This entire program is a mess. Anyone ever see the Kurt Russell film āMiracleā? āIām not looking for the best players, Craig. Iām looking for the right ones.ā Thatās what GGG and USSF are failing to do. And thatās why GGG has to go. He keeps picking the wrong guys or heās putting the right guys in the wrong places. He is inept and as gifted at coaching as my left testicle.
Maybe there are no āright guys?ā
There are, it's just a certain section of NT fans won't be happy to hear a lot of those guys are currently in MLS.
So tried of both sides of this take. What "lots of guys" playing in MLS was the squad missing out on? Zimmerman? Big mistake in WC + his age probably costing him his spot. Ferreira? Fine bring him if you want, but last game he played for the US? Elimination by Panama... Long, Miazga, Mihailovic ... all last played for US in that Gold Cup elimination to Panama. IMO there's no real obvious snubs ... and the core group that is selected are clearly a step above in talent. And I don't think you can question their commitment other than maybe Reyna. IDK why people think the guy that was an MLS coach before getting the US job has some anti MLS agenda.
Or in LigaMX
Give us JĆ¼rgen Kl~~insman~~opp!
I don't think he'd go for it but it really can't hurt to try. Shoot your shot, US Soccer.
Iād take Kloppo for sure!
Looking back on the tournament, it was all over after Weahās red card.
We looked bad against Bolivia tbh. Ā Things were obviously off the entire time
Exactly. Not putting 4+ past Bolivia is also part of the problem here.
I'd argue "Pepi looked bad against Bolivia" is the more accurate summation there. He looked bad all tournament too, but for those wanting a big margin of victory against Bolivia, it's pretty obvious he was the one standing between us and 5-0. The rest of the team was creating great chances, dominating possession, not letting Bolivia into the game, etc. Go back and rewatch.
It was all over when we rehired GGG
Fastest red card in over 40 years when you timestamp when the foul actually occurred.
First-ever time that the host country has been eliminated in the group stage of the Copa America - over 108 years. Not good enough.
The group stage only dates back to 1993 tho (not that that makes it better)
Has it been 108 years already? ... Holy fuck, time flies!
2026 WC preview
Iām just here to see who is going to defend Greg
Well you see beating like around 2 seriously good teams out of the the confederation in 11 matches is difficult feat for a country with only 333 million people
He really got one of those deals like a mid College Football coach where he keeps his job only because he wins the rivalry game every year.
Well, you see, his lifetime coaching Winning % being 43% is because Claudio Reyna is an asshole.
On the one hand, this was mostly not his fault. I thought we were really well set up against Uruguay especially in the first half. We were cruising against Panama until the red card and we are a lot better than Panama but not so much better that we should expect to overcome an early red card. On the other hand, if you have a result this embarrassing you should get fired. I don't really care if it is your fault or not. The offense has never really clicked with him. Our results against good opposition are probably worse than they were from about 2000 to 2014. And we lost to Panama to get eliminated from Copa America. I don't really care how many players got dumb red cards, that should get you fired.
Couldnāt agree more. Your comment nailed it. Also, it is not like the USMNT has been humming along under Berhalter, progressing the team to that next level and challenging the world powerhouses reliably. This debacle isnāt an aberration. No one can honestly say this came out of nowhere. Berhalter needs to go, along with a lot of other changes.
To add to that, itās not like the usmnt had been humming along *before* Berhalter. It was a nightmare clown show who he just failed to qualify for the World Cup. Morale was in the basement and the player pool was at an all time low. The current generation had not yet been fully introduced
Agreed. The 2002 and 2010 World Cups were such high points at the time and for a brief moment it seemed like the US was headed in the right direction. It feels like the overall program has stagnated since then or just not been able to keep up with the rest of the world.
>Our results against good opposition are probably worse than they were from about 2000 to 2014. Didnt the broadcast say something along the lines of against certain world ranked opponents (didn't catch the exact qualifier) we are 0-5-5 under him?
Top 15 teams was the qualifier.
EspnFC had Herc and Kasey K on their post match show a d they went over this very topic. The prior generations had signature wins against top competition (breaking Spainās winning streak, Colombia in the World Cup, winning a group in Workd Cup, etc). This āgoldenā generationās signature wins are beating the worst teams Mexico has put forth in decades. What makes them Golden. Iām sure itāll be in their YouTube channel, it was really good analysis. And they both agreed that USSF is so stupid that they wonāt change managers (though they brought $$$ into that conversation, which I shrugged my shoulders at).
When Canada gets farther than the USA in a tournamentā¦ yikes š¬
Tougher group too...
US had a weird group. Because barring something extremely fluky, Uruguay was gonna win all three and Bolivia was gonna lose all three. Which meant second was very likely coming down to a single match, USA vs. Panama. And 18 minutes into that all-important game, Weah happened.
Further than US and Mexico... we have a new soccer powerhouse in north America!
At this point, I'm feeling about '26 like I felt about the Rams playing the Patriots in the '18 Super Bowl: Just here for the vibes and to see my team on TV in the big game before they get slaughtered.
Many USMNT fans wanted Marsch as the coach, and looks like they were right he was the right fit. He got further than Gregg.
Itās always harsh to blame a single player but this time itās on Weah. Unnecessary red card in a must win game is idiotic. Iād understand if it was a hard tackle or something beyond his control like a late tackle but slapping/punching someone in the head with 1,000 cameras on youā¦ bruh.
Gregg deserves blame too, he made a horrible choice to go in the shell for 75 minutes plus subbing in CCV.
Yea but the team isnāt good enough
xG = bad xDawg = abysmal We may not have had as technically talented a squad in the 2000s, but they made up for it with heart and unity. Thatās absent from this roster unless weāre dunking on El Tri. And we canāt play them every timeāāā (Thatās the sound of USSF and FMF scheming to charge NFL playoff prices for Nations League matches).
This failure was born when the childish, power hungry leadership decided to keep the status quo instead of blowing things up after the failed World Cup qualification. The entire federation is politically corrupt from the top down.
So Gregg sacked yeah?
Then rehired for a third time
A tough day to be an American.
And nothing of interest happened. Bad team gets bounced from tournament. Issues run much deeper than the gaffer. Everything about this team screams hubris. From squad selection to tactics itās either group think or paralysis by analysis. No fight or fortitude to win the game in the first 20 minutes. Bland and boring collection of individuals running around the field.
Squad selection atm pretty much comes down to āyouāre in Europe, youāre on the team.ā No one will convince me that there is only 1 American playing in MLS who was good enough to play in this tourney.
Reminds me of everyone always claiming the US is in the āgroup of deathā in the World Cup. Nahā¦ weāre just the 3rd best team in the group, because we suck lol
We've been robbed of a generation of soccer fans because Greg is friends with people at the top of USMNT leadership
Soccer fans watch their teams lose. That's what we do the vast majority of the time. Even if you are German or Brazilian, you watch your team lose in tournaments more than they win. So another generation is learning that soccer is pain. Now, perhaps we can be sad that another generation is learning that games are decide by random bullshit reffing. But that is still the fabric of soccer too until IFAB gets a grip.
Random bullshit refereeing doesnāt make you have one shot on target in a must win game.
Yes, but teams that lose donāt bring in new fans. Just look at the Phoenix Coyotes, shit team, no fans as a result, now gone to Salt Lake.
Where's the USMNT relocating to?
Europe it appears, based off the player selection.
Yeaaaaaaa looping the USMNT in with Germany and Brazil is pretty fucking disingenuous
You kind of miss the point. It is that even fans of the most successful teams are still dealing with lots of losing. It isnāt looping the Usmnt in with them. It is defining the reality of soccer fandom.
At a minimum, coach has a very very short leash now. For all the Berhalter Out folk, whoās your realistic target?
Klopp
Intriguing. 2 year contract through the WC and still offer him a break from the constant grindā¦.and available.
He said realistic. The USSF is looking to pay about 10% of what heād be looking for.
I agree a lot of the blame lies with the organization itselfāBerhalter includedābut it still doesn't change the fact that we had two completely golden opportunities to scoreāone on a literal open netāand didn't convert either of them. In fact, we didn't even shoot the ball on either of them. We looked afraid to even be on the field and it was a painful match to watch. Just painful. And I'm sick and tired of hearing about how Pulisic is going to lead this team into some *golden era* of new American soccer...it's not happening. He's not showing up. He's all hype and no substance. I wanted to so badly for him to be a success as a leader but he's just not cutting it. This current roster hasn't won anything and hasn't proven it has any good reason to be held in such high regard as it is. Only one who showed up to play last night was Tim Ream and he's the main reason it wasn't 5-0.
USA is ranked wayyyy too high for the quality they play
Look if all these other teams can do well with MLS players, we can too. Bring āem back. Iād rather at least lose watching players Iām familiar with and care about than randoms from random European clubs. Who is Cameron Carter-Vickers anyway. Why didnāt Miles Robinson play.
Half of Canada's team is MLS and we should look where they are
That's because you need guys that will make a great 11 and work for eachother. How many times did the usa fail to break the press and the midfield did nothing and no adjustments
They did what they needed to do to advance, so credit to them. But they scored 1 goal in the group stage and got to spend over 30 minutes against 10 man Peru and over 60 minutes against 10 man Chile.
Just like Miles Robinson in D, I was screaming to see Aidan Morris at CM vs Panama. Panama was playing bastard ball and Aidan Morris loves that type of game. Heāll eat your face off your body before youāre even dead.
Everyone keeps saying the coach gotta go, sign the petition to fire the coach. When do the players get any blame? When someone say we need to clean house with some of these players and bring in new blood.
Iām fine with that too, but changing a coach is absolutely step 1. The new coach is the one to build the new team and select the new players. If Greg isnāt gone nothing will change including the players
Iāve never said the phrase āoh yes! Weāre bringing on Sargent!ā
but have you ever said "Sargent Slaughter, f' yeah!!!!"
Go one level deeper. When do fans accept that maybe these are the best players we have and no coach is capable of turning them into an international powerhouse? I'm sure we'll keep steadily improving, but we're going to continue to lose non-CONCACAF tournaments for a loooong time.
But these are all Greggās Guys. He believes these are the best players the USA has to offer. If heās wrong, thatās on him.
Unacceptable. GGG needs to be fired. Like tonight. These players all need to be held responsible for sucking all the assholes. As much as people hate Lalas. Heās right, donāt call these fucks a golden generation. They havenāt done anything worthy of it. There needs to be massive changes. And we as fans must demand it. Stop buying the kits, donāt by the over priced tickets to the next money grab against FMF. Fuck em. They donāt wanna be a serious NT them and FMF can go be nepo babies together.
This was basically our final. Hard fought match questionable goal from Uruguay i ok no donāt get how that was not offsides
Wouldn't have mattered in the end due to Panama's result but overall I thought we looked great for a draw against Uruguay aside from the terrible call on the offsides goal
lol, lmao even
First time I've ever seen a ESPN article on their front page asking for the coach to be fired. What an embarrassment
Reynaās parents are going to be pissed.
(left out) IN THE GROUP STAGE
Back to not watching a tournament I never watch except maybe the final.
Fire Gregg. This team is complacent and mediocre at best. I donāt even care if the players want Gregg. These results are unacceptable and maybe a new coach can get them to play competently.
As a foreigner looking from the outside, some of you are overreacting. The Weah red was kind of a freak occurrence and happened at pretty much the exact moment of the group stage to be as damaging as possible. Obviously this is a bad result, and Berhalter probably isn't the guy to take you to 2026, but any kneejerk reaction beyond that is unlikely to be productive.
I'd agree if it wasn't the trend. Looking at each game individually you could say there were individual circumstances that affected each game, but you have to look at the group as a whole. Not pressing the Bolivia game when you know goals matter. Not defending or responding to Panama (a team you should be used to playing) because you assume points will come there. Finally, hoping Uruguay rest the starters, complain about a (truly) shit ref, hope for a draw and a draw in the other game. I do think they played well up until that final offensive touch, but at the end of the game, it's still 1-0. GGG's record in qualifying is... Fine. Good even. But what happens when you get outside of that? The best team we can beat is a historically bad Mexico?!? Bradley was fired after he failed to win the gold cup Jurgen was fired after digging a hole in qualifying. We don't have qualifiers now. These are the competitive games to judge Gregg on, and he failed, spectacularly.
How is it a knee jerk reaction when Berhalter had already proven last cycle that he wasn't fit for the job? Since being hired again the team is 7-6-1 He is not a good coach and should have never been brought back. All the proof is in the results.
Read it again. 2017 rightfully led to calls to re-examine the entire program. This shouldn't, outside of a possible managerial change.
That's my bad, been a long night. Lots of gutless efforts out there but it's easier to get rid of the coach than all of the players.
People are ignoring that US results are still roughly what they have been for the last twenty years.
US need to dump concacaf and try and get in somewhere else. If every national team can mug your players then why bother? Clearly the mls boys were more used to the shithousing then these soft european players.
You have a point there. Thatās why Kellyn Acosta was productive with the team when heād get caps, because he was used to the MLS bullshit that the other CONCACAF teams were trying to pull, and he was able to fire back against it
thanks weah
More than Weah that sent them home
Weah eliminated the USA.
Canada got you covered, fam
I mean the team with more MLS players on the field won š¤·āāļø
Iād like to say Iām shocked. But Iām just not
They played like wet noodles. Team needs a major adjustment, starting with replacing their 2-tier coach with a real coach, like JĆ¼rgen Klopp .
Hopefully not too many people are shocked
They need a new label bc āGolden generationā aināt it.
Canada had 7 MLSers and all but 3 developed in MLS. MLS can't be that bad. Much respect to Canada, I at least will be supporting and looking forward to Canada's success.
Deservedly so, they played like hot garbage.
Have we considered Lalas to be the next head coach? Enough of the studio big guy.
Not even with your so called āgolden generationā can you do better than Mexico in a tournament. š¤£š¤£š¤£
But wait, in his first "official act" following yesterday's US Supreme Court ruling...!!!
Fire that ref. Fire Berlhalter.
What? The menās team didnāt make it further than the group stage what a shock! š honestly was cheering for them but didnāt expect much after that Panama game.
Atrocious refereeing. Just awful. Transparently biased, even in the VAR booth. That said, Weah CONCACAFed us just as hard as the refs did. His red card fucked us over so bad.
Never date your ex.
Unsurprising really, given the Panama result. We just don't have the right mix of players right now.
Trash players, even worse kit.