The USMNT job is now open as Gregg Berhalter has been sacked. Will wild eyed USMNT fans want whatever sexy foreign name has coached a big European club team they can think of first, we need a coach that understands the American player, has spent time in MLS, has scouted USL AND most importantly isn’t going protect star players just because they say nice things about him in the media.
That man is Peter Vermes the Head Coach and Technical Director for the last 15 years at Sporting Kansas City. Vermes was a captain of the USMNT in his playing days.
For those who don’t know, in 2018, I shot the below tweet at Alexi Lalas saying there should be only one man on the USMNT interview list when Gregg Berhlater was hired - Jesse Marsch.
I believe the last six years have vindicated this belief of mine.
Why do I favor Vermes now?
I don’t believe Marsch is an option as the only viable way to pry him loose from a good situation with Canada is to offer him a big European club job. So scratch that obvious logical hire for me.
The USMNT plainly needs someone who isn’t a USSF company man and is a strong enough personality to stand up to those in the building at Soccer House or in Atlanta or wherever he/she will be based. Yet they need someone who knows the program, its players and the politics of the game in this country.
Vermes has a track record of standing up to star players and with his own pedigree as a title winning & Open Cup champion MLS coach and former USMNT playing captain, he is a natural fit IF the federation is willing to loosen the strings a bit.
Deepening the playing pool and ending the policy of sacred cows and preference for European-based players MUST MUST MUST happen if we are to evolve this program beyond the same level it’s been quite frankly now for 30 years. The USMNT at this point is no better than it was in 2010 or 1995 despite tens of millions spent on various player development efforts and a roster full of players at top European clubs. In fact, i’d argue the high-water marks for this program, the 1995 Copa America semifinal run, the 2009 Confederations Cup final run and the 2002 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal run now look more distant in the rear view mirror than ever.
Picking a national team is NOT about picking your best eleven or twenty three players. It is about picking the set of players that fits best together as a group on AND OFF the pitch. Vermes has shown he can mold squads with personalities in them and create a platform for top US players to succeed.
Given his coaching and playing track record his authority would be unimpeachable in the same US Soccer circles where either Berhlater was excessively protected and promoted or in those where he was seen as an average player and low-end manager.
You need someone who is willing to take the toughest decisions possible. (The following are hypothetical) Dropping Tyler Adams because he can’t get a game at Bournemouth or can’t stay fit. Telling Gio Reyna to call us in two years when he’s proven he can be physically and mentally fit for more than week at a time and his attitude is better. Etc, etc, etc.
All of this having been argued, much like the case of Marsch in 2018, I don’t think the USSF wants its closed-shop altered or exposed. Vermes isn’t the type to cede control or decision making to those like Matt Crocker who seem more like small time political-operators protecting their own territory than qualified individual to dictate technical direction for a major footballing nation’s men’s program.
Additionally, USSF President Cindy Cone has been dealt a very bad hand from the US Open Cup situation to a deteriorating Women’s National Team to ongoing lawsuits and now this men’s mess. Is she really willing to empower a men’s coach that’s going to question to decisions and the process by which those decisions are taken in the building? I doubt she will.
I don’t know if he would enable the star player that ate coming from Europe who often times need to be dropped or put on notice. That’s my concern. That’s part of the reason I prefer Vermes. He would be super strong personality wise.
Dolo Is one of the greatest players we’ve ever ever produced as a nation so in a sense it would be a great story if you were our manager, but I’m not sure if he’s the right guys
There's rocking the boat, and there's being a realist about Reyna. Someone needs to come in who can handle situations just like that one, and coach.