Props to you Jake for not following everyone else on the GB re-hiring. I'm probably even a little more down on Berhalter than you are, but at the end of the day I love my national team and I hope he does very well and improves as a coach tremendously.
Going into hysterics about Gregg being hired doesn't do anyone any good, there are plenty of legitimate and nuanced criticisms we can have with him and the federation, so we don't need to invent any.
Sorry for rambling, I just wanted to let you know that even when you get hate for this, that there are lots of people out there who share a similar viewpoint with you.
Thanks very much for this. To be honest when I first started covering this team seriously in 2021 I was worried that all my opinions, or my voice, or my looks would be picked apart. I am at the point where I am comfortable and confident in the space, and the above article is how I actually feel. If people resonate with it then that is amazing. If they don't, then oh well!
You got it Jacob. I know it was a horrible business strategy but I deleted my Twitter ages ago. My sanity thanks me every single day. Thankfully I have Tom to run the podcast account!
This comment encapsulates why I follow you and have abandoned 4 other channels. Thank you for your passion and rationality- the two are not actually mutually exclusive.
No relation that I know of, though I’m aware there are Macalusos in N.J. My husband’s progenitor entered the U.S. at New Orleans during the Civil War, and as a Non-English-speaker was impressed into service digging ditches for the Confederacy. It’d be cool if that’s John’s history also.
We all live in a world where we don't like certain aspects of it. Even if those aspects allow us to be a voice. I enjoy your level-headedness, but complaining about a platform that actually gave you your voice is a bit ironic.
I don't either hate or love or even like the 3G hire, but I am cautiously happy and optimistic. For me, it is all about listening to what is said, not what I want to hear. You're a CFP, that is #1 as a planner. Listen to what is said not what I want to hear. In the presser that the 4 or 5 or 50 of them did, Crocker kept saying one thing over and over again. I have yet to hear a single person mention it. Is it because they don't want to actually listen?
He kept mentioning LEGACY. Even when he mentioned about speaking with other candidates, he used that term LEGACY and how they either shied away or he shied away based on their conversations. This is a huge reason why I listen. My best analogy (it probably isn't that good) I can come up with is Crocker wants a men's CEO and the fans and pundits want a the men's project manager. Whilst I can somewhat agree with the detractors I get a bit giddy with this idea.
The reasons I get giddy is simple, "those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it". Anyone who revisits soccer history will know that what the fan based and the pundits are screaming loudly for has already been tried, England 2010. At that time they had one of their best ever talented group and they went out and hired a top level manager only to find out that they failed. It was such a failure that it began a large holistic change to the FA. Part of that change was Matt Crocker. Now they have a manager that many would consider "terrible" manager, yet he has had them in the final 4 of a world cup and in the final of a euro cup. That gets me excited, because a person who was part of the change in England, is now helping us. In my 30ish years of American soccer, this is the second time I can see real positive change, the first being Earnie Stewart.
Finally I will say this, a "hit man" type manager with all the nuanced tactics and such. Or as the fans would say K.I.S.S. manager only need be there for a year. We will see after 2024 Copa whether we need that "hit man". Keep in mind, Scaloni had never coached a top level side nor won a domestic trophy before winning the WC. In the same vein Enrique and Flick didn't surpass 3G in the WC and both had better squads.
You're absolutely right on all things. And to be completely honest with you I really don't like social platforms even if I benefit from it. I didn't really start all this to benefit, it was just to share with like minded people who hopefully wanted to go a level deeper than was normal for most social platforms. Sorry if that part of the article missed the mark, and there was a danger in writing this that I come off high and mighty. I'm not trying to be.
I know you didn't. Also, i appreciate you for that very reason. It didn't miss the mark, but it is an example of those that listen and those that don't. Keep being you my man, and I will always be here even if I don't agree.
All I have to say is that I have seen way more "the fans are terrible" hot takes than irrational anti-Berhalter hot takes. It has become cheap and easy for people with platforms and microphones to try to shame and humiliate passionate fans for having opinions that disagree with the people in power at the soccer federation. Shame on all of you, too.
Sorry you feel that way. If you read the above article you would see that I think the USSF made this entire situation way worse and that I did not want Gregg to be rehired.
Props to you Jake for not following everyone else on the GB re-hiring. I'm probably even a little more down on Berhalter than you are, but at the end of the day I love my national team and I hope he does very well and improves as a coach tremendously.
Going into hysterics about Gregg being hired doesn't do anyone any good, there are plenty of legitimate and nuanced criticisms we can have with him and the federation, so we don't need to invent any.
Sorry for rambling, I just wanted to let you know that even when you get hate for this, that there are lots of people out there who share a similar viewpoint with you.
Thanks very much for this. To be honest when I first started covering this team seriously in 2021 I was worried that all my opinions, or my voice, or my looks would be picked apart. I am at the point where I am comfortable and confident in the space, and the above article is how I actually feel. If people resonate with it then that is amazing. If they don't, then oh well!
Thanks for this. USMNT twitter is becoming unbearable with the groupthink around this topic.
You got it Jacob. I know it was a horrible business strategy but I deleted my Twitter ages ago. My sanity thanks me every single day. Thankfully I have Tom to run the podcast account!
This comment encapsulates why I follow you and have abandoned 4 other channels. Thank you for your passion and rationality- the two are not actually mutually exclusive.
Thank you Judith. I appreciate that - and you're right about the passion and rationality. More people need to hear that.
I knew a John Macaluso from where I grew up in central NJ. Any relation?
No relation that I know of, though I’m aware there are Macalusos in N.J. My husband’s progenitor entered the U.S. at New Orleans during the Civil War, and as a Non-English-speaker was impressed into service digging ditches for the Confederacy. It’d be cool if that’s John’s history also.
We all live in a world where we don't like certain aspects of it. Even if those aspects allow us to be a voice. I enjoy your level-headedness, but complaining about a platform that actually gave you your voice is a bit ironic.
I don't either hate or love or even like the 3G hire, but I am cautiously happy and optimistic. For me, it is all about listening to what is said, not what I want to hear. You're a CFP, that is #1 as a planner. Listen to what is said not what I want to hear. In the presser that the 4 or 5 or 50 of them did, Crocker kept saying one thing over and over again. I have yet to hear a single person mention it. Is it because they don't want to actually listen?
He kept mentioning LEGACY. Even when he mentioned about speaking with other candidates, he used that term LEGACY and how they either shied away or he shied away based on their conversations. This is a huge reason why I listen. My best analogy (it probably isn't that good) I can come up with is Crocker wants a men's CEO and the fans and pundits want a the men's project manager. Whilst I can somewhat agree with the detractors I get a bit giddy with this idea.
The reasons I get giddy is simple, "those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it". Anyone who revisits soccer history will know that what the fan based and the pundits are screaming loudly for has already been tried, England 2010. At that time they had one of their best ever talented group and they went out and hired a top level manager only to find out that they failed. It was such a failure that it began a large holistic change to the FA. Part of that change was Matt Crocker. Now they have a manager that many would consider "terrible" manager, yet he has had them in the final 4 of a world cup and in the final of a euro cup. That gets me excited, because a person who was part of the change in England, is now helping us. In my 30ish years of American soccer, this is the second time I can see real positive change, the first being Earnie Stewart.
Finally I will say this, a "hit man" type manager with all the nuanced tactics and such. Or as the fans would say K.I.S.S. manager only need be there for a year. We will see after 2024 Copa whether we need that "hit man". Keep in mind, Scaloni had never coached a top level side nor won a domestic trophy before winning the WC. In the same vein Enrique and Flick didn't surpass 3G in the WC and both had better squads.
You're absolutely right on all things. And to be completely honest with you I really don't like social platforms even if I benefit from it. I didn't really start all this to benefit, it was just to share with like minded people who hopefully wanted to go a level deeper than was normal for most social platforms. Sorry if that part of the article missed the mark, and there was a danger in writing this that I come off high and mighty. I'm not trying to be.
I know you didn't. Also, i appreciate you for that very reason. It didn't miss the mark, but it is an example of those that listen and those that don't. Keep being you my man, and I will always be here even if I don't agree.
All I have to say is that I have seen way more "the fans are terrible" hot takes than irrational anti-Berhalter hot takes. It has become cheap and easy for people with platforms and microphones to try to shame and humiliate passionate fans for having opinions that disagree with the people in power at the soccer federation. Shame on all of you, too.
Sorry you feel that way. If you read the above article you would see that I think the USSF made this entire situation way worse and that I did not want Gregg to be rehired.