Martino Puccio breaks down who the USMNT should hire as their next coach
Trysta Krick and Rob Brown are joined by Martino Puccio to discuss what the USMNT should do with Gregg Berhalter and what comes next with the World Cup on the horizon
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00:00Martino Puccio joining us here on the show. Martino, Que Pasa, man. How we doing, brother?
00:07Not too great, not too great.
00:10Unfortunately, I was accurate in my prediction as Trista was mentioning prior to starting this segment here.
00:16But yeah, all great as these finals are set to be played on Sunday.
00:21I like you, man. I like it.
00:23Let's get into a couple of things that I do want to ask because you and I talked about it last time.
00:27I was filling in last week with PJ Glasser and we talked a little bit about it.
00:31Now that we've had some time to sit, and then I want to talk Euro and Copa in a moment,
00:35but after we've had some time to sit with the early elimination of the United States,
00:39there is, Eric Winalda told us yesterday, going to be an update tomorrow from U.S. Soccer and
00:45potentially a decision on Greg Berhalter.
00:48He said news probably coming sometime tomorrow afternoon with a week and a half worth of rearview mirror time behind us now.
00:55Where have you fallen on the U.S. Soccer-Greg Berhalter circumstances?
01:00It's just dragging out far too much.
01:03Most people just make a swift decision on this, right?
01:06Like Italy with Luciano Spalletti, they confirmed that he was coming back, at least for the World Cup.
01:11So at least you know the fate of the Federation and what's going to happen.
01:15To allow this to linger, to announce some poor woman's job announcement on the U.S. Men's National Team page,
01:23just for her to get like set on fire by the entire fan base just because they're upset about a lack of decision,
01:30with Berhalter is incredible.
01:32I also think when you see Bruce Arena go on and discuss how they lost in the qualifiers against Trinidad and Tobago in 2018,
01:41that he just resigned.
01:42He knew that his job was over, he failed.
01:44Whereas Greg Berhalter kind of seems like he is willing to stay if they're allowing him to.
01:50And the fact that there hasn't been a clear decision on one of the biggest failures in recent history in men's national team soccer,
01:57is a disgrace in my opinion.
02:00And the fact that they're dragging this out, they made that announcement on Fox like,
02:03hey we're going to make a decision on this.
02:06It's just lame, it's silly.
02:08I think it's insulting to the entire fan base on what they're doing.
02:12And especially if they don't actually part ways with him tomorrow.
02:15Because if he stays, then there's going to be a lot bigger issues to come.
02:20Oh yeah, I'm sure the fan base, aka Rob Brown, will riot if we find out that Berhalter is staying.
02:30In terms of a replacement,
02:32what style of a manager do you think would help turn our country's fate around in international soccer?
02:40Turning our fate around is a really difficult one.
02:43I see names tossed out like Jurgen Klopp,
02:45which was always just very funny because he literally left one of the biggest jobs in the world,
02:50to take a break.
02:51So I highly doubt he wants to come over here,
02:53and listen to every American complaining in his ear on how to do his job.
02:57I would have loved B.J. Callahan, who took over for the team when Berhalter was,
03:02I don't know, basically out of a job for a moment there.
03:06He had them playing fantastic, and then he ends up taking a job with Nashville and MLS.
03:11The options seem to be few and far between at this moment in time.
03:14I would have preferred someone with European experience,
03:17maybe Didier Deschamps, who just got eliminated with France today,
03:20could be on the table for them.
03:22You just have to get someone that has a winning pedigree,
03:25and not one of the bottom tier managers that has ever managed for this national team.
03:30I say that unapologetically because he is just a complete disaster.
03:34The same exact team that we saw play in the Nations League,
03:37it was the same talent, and they were playing 10 times better.
03:40Even allowing a guy like Jesse Marsh to go and coach Canada was a disaster.
03:45Marcelo Bielsa was another one you had there as well.
03:49I just think that you have to go big here,
03:51and not in the sense of the biggest and sexiest name,
03:54but someone with big pedigree,
03:56someone that has managed the team deep into tournaments,
04:00or just have them overachieve.
04:02The same Saudi Arabia manager who helped them beat Argentina in the World Cup
04:07that we just saw in 2022.
04:09That's like a perfect example of somebody that you want in there.
04:12I'm drawing a blank on his name.
04:13Great job.
04:15But that's the overall point.
04:16You don't want to be grabbing this sort of pragmatic manager
04:21that doesn't have a great ideology.
04:24Greg is just plugging and playing his guys.
04:26He's not even reprimanding any of them.
04:29If you're on his side, then you're able to play.
04:32You kind of hear it with Jonathan Brooks when he was outspoken against him.
04:35We haven't seen him since,
04:36and that's one of the better defenders that the country has to offer,
04:39and he's just nowhere to be found
04:41just because he was sort of outspoken against this manager.
04:44So they have to change almost every single aspect of that
04:47and do it in under two years.