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2021-22-23-24 News Thread

andyt said:
Supposedly, Marcelo Bielsa had agreed to coach thr Mexican National Team. But a consortium of LigaMX owners from America, Tijuana, Chivas and Santos killed it.

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The problem with the Mexican Federation in a nutshell. After being basically at war with Tata for several years, they simply will not tolerate another respected manager who they can't control. So they'll end up with a Liga MX vet like Miguel Herrera or Manuel Lapuente again. And the results will be utterly predictable ... again. The fact that they're contemplating recycling Herrera is absolutely hilarious.
 
Good. I thought Stewart was a bad idea from the start and he proved it right away when he made a farce out of the coaching search that landed Berhalter. Too chummy with the old boys, and all of his post playing background was in and player personnel recruitment and development. How that EVER fit as Sporting Director of a National program was never made clear.

I know fans are online bitching about chaos at Soccer House, but Stewart and McBride never did a single positive thing for the Men's program that anyone can point out with a straight face. They HAD to go for the program to move forward in a better direction.
 
jeffbear said:
Good. I thought Stewart was a bad idea from the start and he proved it right away when he made a farce out of the coaching search that landed Berhalter. Too chummy with the old boys, and all of his post playing background was in and player personnel recruitment and development. How that EVER fit as Sporting Director of a National program was never made clear.

I know fans are online bitching about chaos at Soccer House, but Stewart and McBride never did a single positive thing for the Men's program that anyone can point out with a straight face. They HAD to go for the program to move forward in a better direction.
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And all of that pretty much seals Berhalter’s fate. His 2 immediate bosses are gone, his brother is long gone from Soccer House too. But they better fill either Stewart’s or McBride’s job fast, they can’t let the decision fester.
 
I read a few more reports on both openings and it sounds like they're probably not filling McBride's GM position at all unless they hire a coach who wants one. There's some speculation that US Soccer only went with a team GM for the men to give Berhalter a layer of insulation in response to how the hiring played out. Most reporters never have been able to work out exactly what McBride did and by US Soccer's standards he got paid pauper's wages. Just another reason that this current barn burning 100% couldn't have come sooner. Everybody at Soccer House seems to have been so invested in making Berhalter work out that they bent themselves into absolute pretzels making it happen ... only to have it all blow up because his ego couldn't handle a couple of helicopter parents.

The women need a GM to keep the bumbling idiots at Soccer House out of their business as much as possible. The men? Meh. Hire an adult coach and you probably don't need one. So, Sporting Director ... Technical Director ... whatever ... is all they need to fill. And apparently they've been reaching out to people behind the scenes since December. My take - find an experienced MLS general manager and get on with it. Competence is what you're looking for, not name recognition.
 
jeffbear said:
Competence is what you're looking for, not name recognition.
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I just won't bet on that being the result :( But I concur.
Edit: In ref comment below That's not the USNT way!. Once more I think it can and should be done.. shouldn't even be hard.
 
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Tryamw said:
I just won't bet on that being the result :( But I concur.
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Look, I'd hate to limit my options this much but if they asked me for my guidance I'd 100% tell them to avoid former national team players when hiring leadership positions for the next cycle.
 
The 2024 Copa America will be played in the US. It includes all 10 CONMEBOL nations and 6 guest teams. The US, Canada and Mexico should be 3 of the teams, as hosts of the 2026 World Cup, they don’t have to go through qualifying and will have scant opportunities for high profile games before then.
 
andyt said:
The 2024 Copa America will be played in the US. It includes all 10 CONMEBOL nations and 6 guest teams. The US, Canada and Mexico should be 3 of the teams, as hosts of the 2026 World Cup, they don’t have to go through qualifying and will have scant opportunities for high profile games before then.
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Yup. That's been strongly rumored and makes sense of the otherwise insanely thin slate of games the US has booked. They're likely to blow this Gold Cup cycle on coaching and management changes, so that Copa is going to matter a LOT when it comes to prep.
 
Men In Blazers reminds us that striker Folarin Balogun is the leading scorer in Ligue 1 after an hat trick for Reims today and that he was born in the US. He played for the US U18s and England’s U17s, 18s, 20s and 21s, but he’s not cap tied at the senior level. He’s also eligible to play for Nigeria, his parents were born there..

 
They know he exists, despite what soccer twitter would tell you, and not having a manager doesn't mean no one is talking to the guy ... and to several Mexican/American dual nationals. Apparently Balogun is taking his time with his decision, and seems to be hoping for some serious interest (promises) from England before he makes a call.
 
Just when you thought it was safe, the European Super Leafue has raised its ugly head again. This proposal would be open competition and involve 60-80 teams. Each team would be guaranteed 14 matches. They’d also play in their domestic leagues.

I’m not sure how this differs from the Champions League or any of the other European competitions. The UCL started with 77 teams.

 
Well, make no mistake ... Juve getting hammered (again) for financial malfeasance and Man City facing the similar charges illustrates just how uncomfortable the well financed clubs (the ones with ambitions of world domination at least) are in their own domestic leagues. This restructuring, tweaking and jiggering is nothing more than the same financial free for all dressed up in different clothes and I suspect they're going to keep visiting tailors until they find a suit that fits their purpose. The big boys are dead set on figuring out a way to create some sort of structure where they can strip down to their bank statements and duke it out for all the marbles without all the pesky plebes getting in their way. The fact that they're likely to kill the sport in the process really doesn't seem to concern them.

This whole thing is inevitably going to end up as a battle of the giant oil funds and sports mad kleptocrats set on repeat. It will amuse the masses for a while, but there is an obvious point of diminishing returns eventually.
 
jeffbear said:
Well, make no mistake ... Juve getting hammered (again) for financial malfeasance and Man City facing the similar charges illustrates just how uncomfortable the well financed clubs (the ones with ambitions of world domination at least) are in their own domestic leagues. This restructuring, tweaking and jiggering is nothing more than the same financial free for all dressed up in different clothes and I suspect they're going to keep visiting tailors until they find a suit that fits their purpose. The big boys are dead set on figuring out a way to create some sort of structure where they can strip down to their bank statements and duke it out for all the marbles without all the pesky plebes getting in their way. The fact that they're likely to kill the sport in the process really doesn't seem to concern them.

This whole thing is inevitably going to end up as a battle of the giant oil funds and sports mad kleptocrats set on repeat. It will amuse the masses for a while, but there is an obvious point of diminishing returns eventually.
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Barca, Real Madrid and Juve never gave up on the super league. But, unless a new competition is sanctioned by UEFA, I can’t see the Premier League going through this again, unless they're going to break away from the FA once and for all. They got hit with fines and face a £25 million fine (which is chump change) and 30 point deduction if they try it again. A 30 point deduction could be a problem for some of the Big 6. At this point, Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool are on pace for less than 68 points and 38 is usually the magic number to avoid relegation.
 
andyt said:
Barca, Real Madrid and Juve never gave up on the super league. But, unless a new competition is sanctioned by UEFA, I can’t see the Premier League going through this again, unless they're going to break away from the FA once and for all. They got hit with fines and face a £25 million fine (which is chump change) and 30 point deduction if they try it again. A 30 point deduction could be a problem for some of the Big 6. At this point, Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool are on pace for less than 68 points and 38 is usually the magic number to avoid relegation.
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I present LIV Tour for an example of just how little sense any of this has to make so long as there are big enough piles of cash to be handed out. I see this disaster as 100% inevitable in some form or another, with the only question being how many clubs are going to be willing to cut all ties with their history to make it happen. Because that's what it will take for some of them ... if not all of them.
 
Surprised there's been no chatter on here about the possible Man U sale. Sure, it's probably going to be Qatar, but there's still the possibility that it's Elon Musk buying a second thing that he doesn't find out is actually not at all profitable until after purchase and the comedy in that would just be priceless. Either way, I can continue to hate Man U even moreso, so it's win win for me.
 
It would be more interesting if Man United somehow got dragged into Musk's inevitable flameout ... but yeah, it's gonna be Qatar.
 
Iranian-American billionaire Jahm Najafi is set to launch a $3.75 billion bid for Tottenham Hotspur. He’s working with a consortium of investors and values the club at $3 billion with $750 million of assumed debt. He and his partners will put up 70% with the remainder coming primarily from Abu Dhabi.

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andyt said:
Iranian-American billionaire Jahm Najafi is set to launch a $3.75 billion bid for Tottenham Hotspur. He’s working with a consortium of investors and values the club at $3 billion with $750 million of assumed debt. He and his partners will put up 70% with the remainder coming primarily from Abu Dhabi.

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www.ft.com www.ft.com
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He's the private equity ghoul who bought the Phoenix Suns, right? Good luck with that.
 
jeffbear said:
He's the private equity ghoul who bought the Phoenix Suns, right? Good luck with that.
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He is a private equity ghoul but didn’t buy the Suns. He’s a minority owner and kept his stake when the Ishbia brothers bought the team, which closed last week. He’s listed as an alternate governor.
 
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