FanPost

(Quick Hit) Let's not forget: Gregg Berhalter needs a job after this debacle ends

For those (of us?) USMNT fans that believed -- or at least hoped -- that the Gregg Berhalter tenure in charge of USMNT would be transformational, innovative, and compelling, the reality of a charmless landscape has us agonizingly underwhelmed.

I personally had expressed hope -- I was on Twitter as @DisgruntleUSMNT, joined The Underdog Soccer Podcast as a guest multiple times -- that has since evaporated. (If I am being completely transparent, I am actually hoping for a 1-point performance in the October Cuba/Canada matches, as I think USSF will have to fire Bert at that point. I am hoping for these results because I am confident that Jordan Morris will be on the roster over Tyler Boyd, Walker Zimmerman will be starting over Matt Miazga, Daniel Lovitz will make late-game cameos instead of Richie Ledezma, etc....everything that has continued to infuriate me about this regime, which will probably be remembered posthumously as "The Reign of The COO's Brother.")

But just like my acceptance that the players who do not belong on this roster are not to blame, I have now conceded that Gregg Berhalter will do nothing for a very meaningful reason: he will need a job after this is all over. As a career MLS/SUM stooge, as Arena was before him and is now once again, he will not publicly thumb his nose at the mediocre talent in our domestic league or proclaim that our youth players should get to better leagues in Europe (even though he played in them himself), which -- I would argue -- is his duty our USMNT Manager.

It's all for good reason, though. Unlike Klinsmann before him -- the only USMNT Manager to take these kinds of provocative steps -- he is not set for life financially. He does not and will not have coaching options outside the US. If he criticizes the MLS, he alienates everyone at USSF, and he has nowhere to go for the rest of his career.



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