COPA AMÉRICA
Will Gregg Berhalter be fired as USMNT coach after going out of Copa América?
The USA failed to get past the first phase of the Copa América after yet another sub-par performance.
It may have been controversial, but was it really ever good enough? The USMNT crashed out of the Copa América at the first hurdle, losing two out of three of their Group C games and picking up just 3 points from a possible 9.
The final game of the group, against leaders Uruguay, needed the US to find a spark that they had thus far not managed to do: against a poor Bolivia side the win was convincing but a high-spirited Panama proved too much and multiplying their energy and fizz by fifteen - the only accurate formula when comparing statistics of a Marcelo Bielsa side - things were always going to be tough at Arrowhead Stadium.
Alas, Bielsa’s side got past the US with a controversial goal that should have been ruled out - but were things ever good enough to begin with? Why couldn’t the US, a team with the arrogance to say that this tournament was merely a springboard for a World Cup two years away, beat Panama in game 2?
Will Gregg Berhalter lose his job?
It’s the obvious question after such a huge failure: managers are the expendable option in football teams and more so in the national game, where talent pools are limited - 165.28 million adult males live in the States while just under 2 million live in Uruguay - things are not as simple as buying Lionel Messi a passport and a plane ticket.
As such, Berhalter is obviously set to feel the pressure from the media as his return to the top of the game in the US has not had the desired effect; whether it is too much to say that have regressed under him is an open question, but the performances have simply not been there and the squad of players, on paper, should be showing more.
Could Jürgen Klopp take over as USMNT manager?
If Klopp is the one being suggested as the fan favourite for the job of USMNT manager, then I would like free air travel for the rest of my life, a 24-hour Toys ‘R’ Us to be built next to my house and unlimited fish & chips imported directly from Harry Ramsden’s Fisheries, the one next to Leeds Airport, that closed 15 years ago.
It seems like a pipe dream and a request to the heavens that simply, at this point in time, looks as unlikely as my above wishes to the imaginary genie. Klopp’s not on his way, I’m sorry. He might, if things change, but right now it’s the dreams of some very wishful Twitter accounts who are currently requesting Elon Musk add more characters to Twitter premium so they can furiously scrape their teeth across the keyboards for longer.
As for the USMNT’s more realistic choices, we’ll have to wait and see what they do with Berhalter, who is still manager. If he goes, then the doors swing open for someone who can flip the script and get the cogs turning in a side who look rusty and out of ideas on the pitch.