Sunday Cup-o-American Soccer: Doctors, dual-nats, and lawsuits

The week in US Soccer is once again coming to an end. Grab something full of caffeine, warm up by the nearest screen, and scroll and bantz about the news in American soccer this week.

The USWNT Olympic Medalist fighting Covid

After turning old jerseys into masks US Soccer is still making news in the fight against Covid. This time, it’s former USWNT player Rachel Buehler Van Hollebeke stepping up to stop the virus. Kevin Baxter of the LA Times caught up with her to talk about her time as a doctor in residence at a pair of California hospitals. The former defender discussed how her career in soccer prepared her for her work in medicine and her role in the game as part owner of Angel City.

An American coach moves on

After a highly successful run with Toronto FC, Greg Vanney stepped down as manager of the team this week. The American led TFC to three MLS Cup appearances, winning the title once and coming close to bringing home the Concacaf Champions League title. Along the way, Vanney managed to completely turn the team around and TFC is now a top franchise in MLS. He did this while playing a fun, attacking style while never really receiving the recognition for his tactical acumen that he probably deserved. Where he goes from here isn’t certain, though his name has been mentioned in relation to the LA Galaxy job, but nothing is concrete on that end.

Let’s hear from Gregg

US Soccer released a Q&A with Gregg Berhalter ahead of the USMNT December camp. The manager discussed the players called into camp, dual nationals, and a key position for the team - centerback. On that second point, Berhalter has been particularly successful at bringing players who have options of representing other countries to the US. Obviously, Sergino Dest is the biggest name to have committed to the team when he could have represented a different country. Berhalter noted, “They still have the world in front of them and all we want to do is bring them into our environment and show them what our environment’s about.” He deserves a huge amount of credit for creating an atmosphere that is welcoming and enticing to players with dual national status and this will serve the US well into the future.

A change at Soccer House

Things had really not seemed great at Soccer House to begin the year. As in most years, the federation was embroiled in lawsuits with everyone imaginable for reasons that didn’t seem all that worth fighting over. The federation was also making headlines for having a toxic work environment and it did not seem like anything would be changing anytime soon. Then Carlos Codiero resigned and Cindy Parlow Cone took over. This week, the federation and the USWNT reached a partial agreement on equal pay. Seth Vertelney of Goal discussed the changes that the new leadership has undertaken and what it means for the federation. However, don’t get too used to it. There will be, I can’t believe this is what we have to deal with twice in the next two years, two - TWO - US Soccer Federation President elections in the next two years. I already can’t stand it.