USMNT Soccer Brouhaha: Berhalter blackmailed during World Cup...
- Thread starter Maroon Eagle
- Start date
When he gave her the kick to the shins, do we know if she fell down like she needed her legs amputated only to get up 10 seconds later and run around like nothing happened?
a big nothing burger....and if this is what gets him fired that's ridiculous, but on par for USSF
I'm thinking that too.
That said, he's no longer under contract (it expired at the end of 2022).
US Soccer would have to re-appoint him which is why I found that second tweet I posted to be interesting...
While i haven't been the biggest fan of Greg, that is no reason to fire him. The play on the pitch is what should get him canned.....
We weren't "underwhelming" at all. This is what people who know nothing about soccer will tell you and it drives me crazy. In fact, this it the FIRST World Cup that proved that the USMNT can at least go "toe-to-toe" with the big boys. People who know soccer saw that. Sure, we lack a #9 and a few positions are a little tight, but this team was overwhelmingly better than World Cup teams in years past. This is the first team where all of our starters are major players in the big European leagues. Our players are young and will be around for another World Cup.
Future is bright. This Coaching situation is strange but certainly doesn't make me feel any different about Coach and his family. I respect him more for getting in front of it and changing his life around. My wife would kick the **** out of me if I did that to her by the way.
Future is bright. This Coaching situation is strange but certainly doesn't make me feel any different about Coach and his family. I respect him more for getting in front of it and changing his life around. My wife would kick the **** out of me if I did that to her by the way.
We were pretty underwhelming. Yes, we tied England (we also tied them in 2010). But we went 1-0-1 vs pretty weak Wales and Iran teams (somewhat unlucky to only get a draw vs Wales, but also somewhat lucky to get the win vs Iran). Then were completely outclassed by Netherlands. Berhalter made his usual mystifying lineup and roster decisions. The future is bright, but Berhalter isn't the best coach for us.
You think Iran and Wales are weak teams? We controlled the entire game against the Netherlands and most of the game against England. We just couldn't finish.
Let me guess, you're one of the "we should have played GR more" guys? He was a cancer in the locker room....
Controlled the game against the Dutch? No, their game plan worked to perfection. They surrounded our midfield and forced us to attack with Dest and Robinson. Then they absorbed the pressure and countered with precision. Forcing Dest and Robinson to completely give out by the end. You saw in that game the deficiency in the 4-3-3 without world class players running it and the 3-5-2 smother it.
ELO rankings of teams in our group: England- 8, USA - 23, Iran - 27, Wales - 39. That's about as easy a draw as we could have hoped for. And as Forbin says, Netherlands controlled that game from the beginning. We never came close to scoring except for the one fluke accidental goal we did get.
This sounds pretty ****** on the surface for Claudio. Whining and threatening for his son more playing time?
Wow! Just like that the Reyna's lost any possible high ground they might have had. I said before Berhalter should have played Gio more, but after this he should have sent his *** home in the middle of the World Cup.
This is about the lowest of the low. Revealing a 31-year old one-time incident which both Berhalter and his wife have moved on from and put behind them as blackmail is just vile. Mrs. Berhalter forgave Gregg, married him and had four children with him. This attempt to embarrass him and his family and get him fired is pathetic. The Reyna parents should be banned from anything US Soccer for a long time.
There has to be something more to this than we know right now. This seems like an extreme overreaction from 2 parents who should know better. Claudio knows the realities of being a professional and national team player and should know that coaching decisions, while disappointing, in the end are up to the coach. Even the excuse of, "Berhalters not-off-the-record comments after the WC," doesn't seem enough to instigate this level of pettiness.
I won't be surprised if we find out there was a lot more that occurred around Reyna's playing time during the WC.
What a shitshow. Complicated by the fact the Reynas and Berhalters were best friends for years. And Danielle is also a former US Womens team player. Really shocking they've stooped this low.
For what it's worth, Berhalter won't be coaching the team for the upcoming January camp and friendlies.
Top shelf from Claire there on the tweet. I think I recall reading that it wasn't just the coach that wasn't happy with Gio's effort and attitude, it was the other veterans as well. The hope was he'd grow up and move on from it and it's not tally wrong from Greg to explain to everyone why he didn't play much. Accepting criticism comes with playing at the top level.
Coach was being railed for not playing him so explaining briefly why is totally fair. And it's not dragging Gio through the mud if it was true and there is no indication that it wasn't a true statement.
He may no have been retained on his own merits. Personally he seems like a decent, but not great coach. We met expectations in the WC overall but we weren't without issues and some of that is roster, but some seems to be tactical.
These just seem like low blows and interestingly enough, seems most of the media is siding with the coach on this one.
Coach was being railed for not playing him so explaining briefly why is totally fair. And it's not dragging Gio through the mud if it was true and there is no indication that it wasn't a true statement.
He may no have been retained on his own merits. Personally he seems like a decent, but not great coach. We met expectations in the WC overall but we weren't without issues and some of that is roster, but some seems to be tactical.
These just seem like low blows and interestingly enough, seems most of the media is siding with the coach on this one.
We barely met the minimum expectations for this team and van Gaal made Berhalter look like a 12-year-old who'd just gotten his first copy of Football Manager. "Controlled the game". Wow.
The guy had 6 or 7 of the best American players EVER, and is being measured against a history of teams that were lucky to have 2 or 3 starters at marginal european clubs.
He needs to go and I have no doubt that all of this drama is mostly his fault. The Reynas don't look great but their explanation is at least plausible for now. Maybe they did blackmail him but I would also not put it past the Ted Lasso wannabe to exaggerate even that.
The guy had 6 or 7 of the best American players EVER, and is being measured against a history of teams that were lucky to have 2 or 3 starters at marginal european clubs.
He needs to go and I have no doubt that all of this drama is mostly his fault. The Reynas don't look great but their explanation is at least plausible for now. Maybe they did blackmail him but I would also not put it past the Ted Lasso wannabe to exaggerate even that.
All these USWNT players are annoying as ****. It doesn't surprise me one bit that they are acting like moms from the Dixie Youth baseball field complaining to admin when their little Johnny doesn't get enough playing time. It's embarrassing to US soccer to have these players from the women's team screwing it up for everyone else. Nobody watches them anyway, and they all feel like they are entitled to something they don't deserve.
No different in this situation. The fact that she tried to stir drama in the MIDDLE of the World Cup is mind boggling.
No different in this situation. The fact that she tried to stir drama in the MIDDLE of the World Cup is mind boggling.
Absolutely it worked to perfection, which is obviously why we lost. But it's a fact that we controlled possession in that game and if we had 1-2 guys who were a little more creative in our attacking third we would have drawn with them. They were lethal on the counter no doubt, but we went toe to toe with them for 90 minutes. This is the best US performance in the World Cup despite not making it out of the round of 16. Not to mention, we left all three of their guys wide open which is out of character for us.
We are closer than we have ever been to the big boys. US soccer fans (the wanna-be's) remind me of State football fans. They are never happy.
Possession does not always equal domination or winning. See Sir Alex’s time at Man U, he lived off the counter. Worked out pretty well. We have a system based coach trying to make players fit a certain formation and it’s being pushed all the way down to the youth clubs by the federation. You cannot do that internationally. You have to be willing to adapt and change. Argentina changed formations 4-5 different times during the course of the tournament as well as France in the second half.
BTW, the “we controlled possession” argument makes you sound like one of these wanna be or unknowledgeable soccer fans you speak of
We controlled time of possession because they wanted us to. They knew we couldn’t hit them with the ball & it would open the counter attack up for them. That entire game went exactly the way the Netherlands wanted it to.
"It took me a long time to forgive Gregg, which I did until he didn't play my son in the World Cup." Oh boy. Finally some excitement with the U.S. National Team. But this doesn't look good. Time to move on from Gregg and let Reyna sit a while before letting him back on the team.
Gio’s days with the national team may be over. And Berhalter’s are for sure. This is a very bad look by everyone involved. But par for the course by the clown show that US Soccer Federation is.
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@patdog & @Col. Forbin already mentioned it:
Many world class clubs and national teams like to make the other side work themselves into making mistakes.
Classic jujitsu, essentially.
The USSF is in desperate need of an enema.
I didn’t realize how interconnected everyone in US Soccer is. “I called my friend Earnie because my other friend was abused by someone else I call my friend who happens to be the national team manager. Also, my kid didn’t play enough and people think he’s a brat.”
They’re contemporaries.
Claudio Reyna, Greg Berhalter, and Stewart were on the USMNT during the same time period. All were on the 2002 World Cup team.
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It appears he showed up at camp just expecting a starting position and wasn't working as hard as the other players. So Berhalter told him he wasn't going to play much and this whole thing started.
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