USMNT
Marsch criticizes Berhalter: “We’re trying to be Spain 2010 and we just don’t have the players”
The former Leeds head coach criticized the United States’ performance and Berhalter’s approach against Slovenia.
The United States began the year with a 1-0 defeat to Slovenia in a friendly match on Saturday that was played with MLS players. The match gave Gregg Berhalter a chance to watch young and fringe players, however, former Leeds United head coach Jesse Marsch has criticized Berhalter’s approach.
“When I watch a game like this, I think we’re trying to be Spain 2010 and we just don’t have the players to do that and we don’t have the time with these small groups to execute what you want that to become,” said Marsch on the Call It What You Want podcast.
Marsch, who was one of the favourites to succeed Berhalter in the US national team, believes that Berhalter has a possession-based style of play, but that it doesn’t fit the characteristics of the US players.
“When I watch this game, the clear emphasis is build-up play, position play, passing the ball around,” Marsch added. “This is what Gregg Berhalter is and this is what he wants. For me, it doesn’t really access the qualities of the players that we have and now the players are, some of them, in for the first time, their first cap. They don’t want to make mistakes. They want to make the coach happy but it doesn’t represent a team that, I think, goes out there to play the match, to go after the game, to try to now win the game. It represents a team that is so focused on where their positioning is every time the ball moves that they’re almost not free to go into the game.”
USA in 2024
Despite this being a friendly match, Berhalter has lost three of his last five games, two of them friendly matches and the other one away to Trinidad and Tobago, a game they had already settled after a 3-0 win in the first leg.
This year is a major one for the USMNT and Gregg Berhalter, as in addition to the CONCACAF Nations League, where they will defend their title, they will also have the Copa América, which they will host once again and where patience could run out if they do not perform well.