ADVERTISEMENT

Beer?halter to be re-hired?

quincy101

I.T.S. Position Coach
Nov 4, 2007
1,793
1,094
113
77
Ol' Gregg is out of contract as of today, 01/01/2023. We'll see soon if the dim bulbs at the USSF rehire the guy. I won't be the only one wishing he won't be. However, he's perfect for the current USSF leadership. Can coach a little bit, has pretty much lost the team (Gio Reyna situation...but who cares) and politically speaking, he marches to their tune.
 
Tab Ramos has been asked (by reporters) about the position and if he is interested. He would be my choice (was my choice when they ousted Klinsmann). Tab's response was essentially he wasn't going to talk about his interest in a position that wasn't open b/c Berhalter was still the coach unless he hadn't heard something. He also said the reporters should talk to Cindy (Parlow-Cone) and Earnie (Stewart) before coming to him because it was really their decision.

Now is the time to make that change though. This team won't have the benefit of a qualifying cycle to gauge how well they're playing in the lead up so every friendly they schedule will need to be played with that focus and desire to win. The Gold Cups and Copa America between now and 2026will need to be where the US finds out what they have, which pieces they need to identify, etc. Not sure what you do with Ream who is more likely to be retired than a key cog by 2026. Do you include him in the up coming fixtures or do you start working on figuring out who takes his place?
 
Ream will get a run out/tribute to sell tickets. But not during a January camp where there is no mandatory release.

Gregg is done with these 30 year old marital issues in public. The call came from inside the house.

Ramos would be a catastrophic error, especially if Martinez is finally willing to take the job though he would not be my first choice.
 
I’m not going to defend violence of any kind. But after reading the ESPN article, who gives a rat’s patootie? If we’re going to start punishing every stupid thing people did in college, most of us will be taking the bus to work.

If you don’t want him to be the coach, fire his ass. But don’t act like that means anything. The article slides to something else, but it made no sense. I think Beerhalter underachieved in the end, but he’s not bad. Who would make us great?
 
I’m not going to defend violence of any kind. But after reading the ESPN article, who gives a rat’s patootie? If we’re going to start punishing every stupid thing people did in college, most of us will be taking the bus to work.

If you don’t want him to be the coach, fire his ass. But don’t act like that means anything. The article slides to something else, but it made no sense. I think Beerhalter underachieved in the end, but he’s not bad. Who would make us great?
Like I said, the call came from inside the house.

We need a coach with elite level experience and cachet but with some inkling of the CONCACAF challenges and USSF bush league circus. Jesse says he doesn’t want the gig. And I doubt Aaronson and Adams will be with him in 3 years anyway. We need a Martinez, a Capello, a Mancini. There’s some guy in the Dutch league lobbying hard for the job, I forget his name, and that could be a very very good thing.
 
I’m not going to defend violence of any kind. But after reading the ESPN article, who gives a rat’s patootie? If we’re going to start punishing every stupid thing people did in college, most of us will be taking the bus to work.

If you don’t want him to be the coach, fire his ass. But don’t act like that means anything. The article slides to something else, but it made no sense. I think Beerhalter underachieved in the end, but he’s not bad. Who would make us great?
Agreed, if they found out my girlfriend slapped the crap out of me at a college party, and years later we were married and had kids, & they wanted to can her because she was coaching women's soccer? That would hack me off to no end. That's not the kind of thing to end a career over. If they are wanting an excuse, then come up with something professional, whether it's justified or not, and move on. Don't sully his name to give you justification for firing him.
 
Yurgen Klensmin. Has a funny mustache but can’t place him.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: TU_BLA
Unfortunately, in todays world people try to ruin careers for stupid things we did as drunk teenagers. I was in the replace Beer?halter camp. Now I see him as a sympathetic figure being unjustly attacked……who I still want replaced :).
 
It’s not so much what he did it’s the lack of judgment and awareness. He shared things about Gio at a leadership camp that should never leave the lockerroom then claimed he thought it was confidential. A few weeks later he gets on Twitter and claims he didn’t think it could be traced back to him. It’s hard to trust someone with that mindset.
 
It’s not so much what he did it’s the lack of judgment and awareness. He shared things about Gio at a leadership camp that should never leave the lockerroom then claimed he thought it was confidential. A few weeks later he gets on Twitter and claims he didn’t think it could be traced back to him. It’s hard to trust someone with that mindset.
That's a much more justifiable reason to can him, more than kicking his wife years ago. Just say you wanted to go in a different direction. Pay him whatever you have to for severance and be done with it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: drboobay
That's a much more justifiable reason to can him, more than kicking his wife years ago.
Amen, and it's the last 3 years of hacking around as coach of our MNT. Here are a couple guys that I would love to be considered: Thiery Henri-a legend with ties to MLS; as Huffy suggests-Roberto Martinez-big time here as former coach of Belgium MNT; an American with successful coaching experience in the Bundesliga-P. Matazzaro, but don't know much about him; and don't spew coffee all over your computer screen when I suggest this guy-"The Special One"-Jose Mourhino who is reported to be interested in coaching a MNT. Although I doubt he would want anything to do with our "leadership" at the USSF.

Having suggested those above, my guess is that if Beer?halter is sacked, the new coach will come from MLS. UGH!
 
Yurgen Klensmin. Has a funny mustache but can’t place him.
Speaking of German Yurgen's, here's another looking for a job: Yurgi Low. All this dude did was lead the German MNT to victory in the 2014 WC.
 
  • Like
Reactions: drboobay
Like I said, the call came from inside the house.

We need a coach with elite level experience and cachet but with some inkling of the CONCACAF challenges and USSF bush league circus. Jesse says he doesn’t want the gig. And I doubt Aaronson and Adams will be with him in 3 years anyway. We need a Martinez, a Capello, a Mancini. There’s some guy in the Dutch league lobbying hard for the job, I forget his name, and that could be a very very good thing.
I'm thinking the call at least originated from Claudio and got conveniently placed with someone at USSF
 
Amen, and it's the last 3 years of hacking around as coach of our MNT. Here are a couple guys that I would love to be considered: Thiery Henri-a legend with ties to MLS; as Huffy suggests-Roberto Martinez-big time here as former coach of Belgium MNT; an American with successful coaching experience in the Bundesliga-P. Matazzaro, but don't know much about him; and don't spew coffee all over your computer screen when I suggest this guy-"The Special One"-Jose Mourhino who is reported to be interested in coaching a MNT. Although I doubt he would want anything to do with our "leadership" at the USSF.

Having suggested those above, my guess is that if Beer?halter is sacked, the new coach will come from MLS. UGH!
USSF is going to feed their money maker, SUM, and give them whoever they want. This probably rules out guys like Martinez, Mourinho, or even Pep because none of those guys are going to bow to SUM pressure and populate their roster with even 1 MLS player if that player isn't among the best at their position out of all the players in the US pool. Pep has said he wants to coach a national team after accomplishing pretty much everything in the world of club soccer that you can. I mean he's won domestic league titles in Spain, Germany, and England. He's won league cup titles in Spain, Germany, and England. He's won a couple UEFA Champions League titles with Barcelona and guided Bayern and City to UCL Finals appearances. There is not much more for him to accomplish in club football. I think the US would be a longshot to get him but I can see England, Germany, or Spain coming for him. (Not sure what England or Germany have in place as far as requiring a native son to coach the national team but seriously, England could not have found a coach who did so little with so much talent than Southgate).
 
I'm thinking the call at least originated from Claudio and got conveniently placed with someone at USSF
Crap, I was just speculating and throwing something insane out there. Well, ESPN is now reporting that Claudio Reyna was indeed the source of the Berhalter information to USSF. Wonder if that hit before Gio got benched or after...this is like daytime soap opera drama...the kind the football players at TU used to watch in the cafeteria at lunchtime.
 
Crap, I was just speculating and throwing something insane out there. Well, ESPN is now reporting that Claudio Reyna was indeed the source of the Berhalter information to USSF. Wonder if that hit before Gio got benched or after...this is like daytime soap opera drama...the kind the football players at TU used to watch in the cafeteria at lunchtime.
You read it here first, you did.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gold*
Good thinking there. A broken clock is right twice a day.😉

What a wild turn of events. If I’m Reyna, I’m so embarrassed. He played like crap in the tournament. He needs to be concerned about that and not blame the coach. I feel like it’s a joke if Beerhalter doesn’t come back now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HuffyCane
Can you think of anything more fitting for US Soccer than to have a parent throwing a fit (and perhaps committing a felony) over her son’s playing time? Still doesn’t excuse his comments in “public” and on Twitter. The only thing missing from this story is Hope Solo getting drunk, crashing the team van (again) then telling Grant Wahl that it’s US Soccer’s fault she acts that way.

There’s more here but I can’t type it.
 
Can you think of anything more fitting for US Soccer than to have a parent throwing a fit about her son’s playing time?
Going to the press and accusing the coach of domestic violence is a little more than just throwing a fit :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: HuffyCane
Good thinking there. A broken clock is right twice a day.😉

What a wild turn of events. If I’m Reyna, I’m so embarrassed. He played like crap in the tournament. He needs to be concerned about that and not blame the coach. I feel like it’s a joke if Beerhalter doesn’t come back now.
Reyna hardly played in the World Cup and certainly not enough minutes in any given stretch to have an impact really.
If it comes out that his benching was in retaliation for the attempted blackmail by Claudio, Gregggggg needs to go. He should go anyway as his stint is technically over and he hasn't been given a new contract.

And the juicier news...it wasn't Claudio that told Earnie Stewart...it was Gio's mom, Danielle. Well, this is becoming USMNT Days of Our Lives right now
 
  • Like
Reactions: quincy101
Reyna hardly played in the World Cup and certainly not enough minutes in any given stretch to have an impact really.
If it comes out that his benching was in retaliation for the attempted blackmail by Claudio, Gregggggg needs to go. He should go anyway as his stint is technically over and he hasn't been given a new contract.

And the juicier news...it wasn't Claudio that told Earnie Stewart...it was Gio's mom, Danielle. Well, this is becoming USMNT Days of Our Lives right now

He got more time than he deserved apparently. He did nothing, I think he’s a great player, but the coach is in the right here. Huffy said it well— of course a parent did this.
 
Is it too harsh for me to hope that Reyna never wears a USMNT jersey again ? I obviously believe he knew exactly what was going on with his parents behind the scenes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: quincy101
Is it too harsh for me to hope that Reyna never wears a USMNT jersey again ? I obviously believe he knew exactly what was going on with his parents behind the scenes.
If he was colluding with his parents then I agree he needs a lengthy banishment.
 
No TV or streaming service for the upcoming friendlies?
 
No TV or streaming service for the upcoming friendlies?
Things shifted after November when ESPN aired their last USSF matches. Apparently HBO now owns the rights and most games will be streamed on HBO Max as I understand and some higher level matches will be aired on TNT I believe. This is for both the men and women.
 
The rights to domestic matches and the SheBelieves Cup are now owned by Turner, who will air all of the matches on HBO Max in a deal that involves ATT sponsorship who wants to direct users to their unlimited data mobile phone plan which includes HBO Max “for free.”

Select home matches will be televised on Turner properties such as TBS and TNT in the same manner and format as their NBA, NHL, and lowest tier MLB broadcasts.

Away match broadcast rights are controlled by the home team’s contract.

The deal is worth approximately $200 million. SUM previously guaranteed $300 million for the right to negotiate bundled deals with MLS and the major networks. Nobody is answering questions on where or how the budget shortfall will be made up.

So the deal dissolves SUM. Good.

And the negotiating comes in house. Good.

And we are negotiating both men’s and women’s rights together. Could be good. Could be bad. Too soon to tell long term. Short term it appears to be a $100 million haircut in the name of settling endless lawsuits by the female players.

The trouble is no major network will/would guarantee womens broadcasts at all and wouldn’t guarantee the men friendly times. Only TNT would agree to certain non-starters put forth by USSF.

A cynic will tell you that’s how MLS ended up on Apple. That ESPN and Fox did not want to upset the NFL or the NFL told them, depending on your perspective, not to guarantee time slots that compete with NFL products in the same time slot. And MLS wanted permanent time slots at times people watch sports and their season necessarily must overlap with the NFL. So they are now exiled to an obscure platform that few people will pay to watch , but more people might watch if they already own it. Time will tell.

TU did the same thing with their uniform and shoe deal. More money from a less connected and prestigious property in exchange for more actual product guaranteed and better variety.

I’m not sure any of these three decisions make good sense long term. It certainly doesn’t grow the game, but ESPN and Fox only seem to want to grow the game to a certain point and only want to air the women’s WC semi final and final since every other broadcast is a net loss.

For us old timers, we remember the historic announcement of live soccer being removed from TNT and moved on to ESPN live and no longer tape delayed. It was heralded as ground breaking. Now we are going back to TNT. For you youngin’s, qualifier matches, home and away, used to be aired via tape delay in the middle of the night when USSF essentially bought two hours of ESPN time and aired the show, I say show because it was heavily edited and not always the full game, as a disguised infomercial. Budweiser paid for it. We are headed back that way.

I will say an NFL Redzone format for a revamped NWSL on TNT could help that product. Wouldn’t surprise me if saving the NWSL later is part of this deal in an effort to stop the traumatic bleeding of sponsorship and talent to Europe because Americans simply do not want to pay to watch the product live in large numbers.
 
Last edited:
Since we are not in a qualifying cycle there is no way I pay for HBO max subscription to watch friendlies.

Might occasionally take a month to watch particular matches. Sort of like ppv.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HuffyCane
The rights to domestic matches and the SheBelieves Cup are now owned by Turner, who will air all of the matches on HBO Max in a deal that involves ATT sponsorship who wants to direct users to their unlimited data mobile phone plan which includes HBO Max “for free.”

Select home matches will be televised on Turner properties such as TBS and TNT in the same manner and format as their NBA, NHL, and lowest tier MLB broadcasts.

Away match broadcast rights are controlled by the home team’s contract.

The deal is worth approximately $200 million. SUM previously guaranteed $300 million for the right to negotiate bundled deals with MLS and the major networks. Nobody is answering questions on where or how the budget shortfall will be made up.

So the deal dissolves SUM. Good.

And the negotiating comes in house. Good.

And we are negotiating both men’s and women’s rights together. Could be good. Could be bad. Too soon to tell long term. Short term it appears to be a $100 million haircut in the name of settling endless lawsuits by the female players.

The trouble is no major network will/would guarantee womens broadcasts at all and wouldn’t guarantee the men friendly times. Only TNT would agree to certain non-starters put forth by USSF.

A cynic will tell you that’s how MLS ended up on Apple. That ESPN and Fox did not want to upset the NFL or the NFL told them, depending on your perspective, not to guarantee time slots that compete with NFL products in the same time slot. And MLS wanted permanent time slots. So they are no exiled to an obscure platform that few people will pay to watch , but more people might watch if they already own it. Time will tell.

TU did the same thing with their uniform and shoe deal. More money from a less connected and prestigious property in exchange for more actual product guaranteed and better variety.

I’m not sure any of these three decisions make good sense long term. It certainly doesn’t grow the game, but ESPN and Fox only seem to want to grow the game to a certain point and only want to air the women’s WC semi final and final since every other broadcast is a net loss.
Almost all of the away US games can be viewed on Fubo or Paramount+. I don't have Fubo but I do have Paramount+ and found their production from the 3rd world CONCACAF nations to actually be pretty good.

MLS is going to absolutely hate the Apple deal in 3-4 years as will the USSF. MLS had gotten to the point on Fox and ESPN that I knew I could find a game on Saturday or Sunday and especially a later evening one from the west coast on Sunday to get my soccer fix in for the day (I can't watch baseball on TV unless it's the Red Sox or Cardinals and then I usually only tune in when those teams are up to bat). The ESPN+ games for pretty much any match was a great way to catch games and a lot more people probably have that platform than they do Apple. Like the NHL, I could always find a game on if I wanted to find a game. I have Apple but will probably drop it once the last season of Ted Lasso drops. I've found a few movies that I have liked on there but not enough content to justify keeping it long term. Greyhound was good, Finch was good, Coda was excellent (if you haven't seen Coda, try to find it somewhere and watch it...superb). In addition, the lack of US soccer on over the air channels is going to be seen with a wane in interest in soccer at the youth levels and at a time when we absolutely shouldn't be discouraging that with the World Cup coming here in 4 years.
 
Since we are not in a qualifying cycle there is no way I pay for HBO max subscription to watch friendlies.

Might occasionally take a month to watch particular matches. Sort of like ppv.
HBO Max is one of the streaming services I don't mind paying for as there is a ton of great content on there. I'm a big fan of The West Wing and HBO Max is the only place to stream it if you hadn't purchased the CD or Blu Ray series.
 
HBO Max is one of the streaming services I don't mind paying for as there is a ton of great content on there. I'm a big fan of The West Wing and HBO Max is the only place to stream it if you hadn't purchased the CD or Blu Ray series.
It is pretty good and I have taken a month here and there. But expensive.
 
So the Berhalter/Reyna drama is so weird. Here's a Twitter thread documenting the long personal history of being friends and teammates from an extremely young age of Claudio and Gregg AND Rosalind Berhalter and Danielle Reyna. In a nutshell, Claudio and Gregg played for the same youth soccer team in New Jersey, went to HS together and then reconnected for the USMNT. Claudio went to UVA for college while Gregg played at UNC.

Rosalind Berhalter and Danielle Reyna were essentially best friends growing up...played for the same youth soccer team and went to UNC to play soccer where they were apparently roommates (by the way, the team photo of the UNC soccer team from their years there is essentially a who's who of US women's soccer).

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Gregg and Claudio grew up together playing youth soccer in Northern New Jersey in the early 1980s. <a href="https://t.co/JAcWS4p0yr">pic.twitter.com/JAcWS4p0yr</a></p>&mdash; Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) <a href="">January 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Since we are not in a qualifying cycle there is no way I pay for HBO max subscription to watch friendlies.

Might occasionally take a month to watch particular matches. Sort of like ppv.
Like I said. People wont pay to watch, but more people may watch who are already paying.
 
MLS is going to absolutely hate the Apple deal in 3-4 years as will the USSF. MLS had gotten to the point on Fox and ESPN that I knew I could find a game on Saturday or Sunday and especially a later evening one from the west coast on Sunday to get my soccer fix in for the day
And that's the thing right? You knew you could find a game on one of those days but it was at different times. And it was maddening. How many times have you looked at ESPN at 5pm on a Saturday and said to yourself, I wouldn't have watched that Timbers game if I knew it was at 2pm. Or tuned in at 4pm on a Saturday and realized it was 4pm on Sunday. It always varied based on what the network wanted. And the network wanted what its biggest customer wanted. Back in 2007 when the league was days away from folding and owned mostly by NFL owners, they didn't mind MLS. It was a way to fill up unused stadiums and excess broadcasting inventory. One NFL owner even attempted to merger his NFL team with his MLS team so he could take the MLS losses off his NFL earned taxes. Things are different now that those guys have sold multi billion dollar shares in the league to non NFL guys.

You know that the NFL will always be on Sundays at noon, 3pm and 7:20, Mondays at 7pm and some Thursdays at 7:20.

MLS wanted the same thing. They see that as a key to growth. Destination viewing for all those kids you are talking about.

But to do that, you have to directly compete with the NFL part of the year. And the networks are unwilling to allow that for what ever reason. And the revolving door of network execs, league officials, soccer marketing people, and the NFL allows the NFL to stay on top and call the shots.

Im not worried about your concern that kids wont be watching it on Apple TV. There's more soccer on TV than anywhere else in the world. Kids will find it. Kids not watching soccer isn't what is holding the sport back in America today. Its that nearly none of them play it as a way to escape poverty.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TU_BLA
And that's the thing right? You knew you could find a game on one of those days but it was at different times. And it was maddening. How many times have you looked at ESPN at 5pm on a Saturday and said to yourself, I wouldn't have watched that Timbers game if I knew it was at 2pm. Or tuned in at 4pm on a Saturday and realized it was 4pm on Sunday. It always varied based on what the network wanted. And the network wanted what its biggest customer wanted. Back in 2007 when the league was days away from folding and owned mostly by NFL owners, they didn't mind MLS. It was a way to fill up unused stadiums and excess broadcasting inventory. One NFL owner even attempted to merger his NFL team with his MLS team so he could take the MLS losses off his NFL earned taxes. Things are different now that those guys have sold multi billion dollar shares in the league to non NFL guys.

You know that the NFL will always be on Sundays at noon, 3pm and 7:20, Mondays at 7pm and some Thursdays at 7:20.

MLS wanted the same thing. They see that as a key to growth. Destination viewing for all those kids you are talking about.

But to do that, you have to directly compete with the NFL part of the year. And the networks are unwilling to allow that for what ever reason. And the revolving door of network execs, league officials, soccer marketing people, and the NFL allows the NFL to stay on top and call the shots.

Im not worried about your concern that kids wont be watching it on Apple TV. There's more soccer on TV than anywhere else in the world. Kids will find it. Kids not watching soccer isn't what is holding the sport back in America today. Its that nearly none of them play it as a way to escape poverty.
That was frustrating, I'll admit, not knowing what time the games were on each weekend. But that Sunday night 9pm slot with Seattle or LAFC playing was always a great way to wind down a Sunday. I get the NFL thing...Fox even acquiesced to the NFL schedule in getting the World Cup final to be played at the 10AM EST/9AM CST time in the US while the other key games were played in that 1pm CST (10PM Qatar time) slot...all to avoid the NFL afternoon games. ESPN could have maintained the MLS stuff and easily avoided the NFL problem as they only have 1 game a week on Monday nights during the year. And the NFL never has to worry that they're going to lose enough viewers to impact their numbers or ad dollars, but having an MLS game on FS1 or ESPN2 on a Sunday night could be a good option for the dog games we seem to get when the seasons are overlapping. For me, getting to Apple means having to navigate to my streaming which we do through an Xbox so it can be cumbersome at times.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HuffyCane
Since we are not in a qualifying cycle there is no way I pay for HBO max subscription to watch friendlies.

Might occasionally take a month to watch particular matches. Sort of like ppv.
But you get the whole Friends catalog!!!1
 
Is it too harsh for me to hope that Reyna never wears a USMNT jersey again ? I obviously believe he knew exactly what was going on with his parents behind the scenes.
Yes. For me, it's a timing thing. Beer?halter calls him up for WC camp. And promptly tells Gio that he will be little used in the dream of every soccer player who ever lived. At age 19, would you sulk and dog it around at practice? Very possibly. And then he formally apologizes to the team, including the coaches.

Are people saying he was an active participant in a conspiracy to damage Gregg's reputation during contract talks? He had to know about some of the going's on between his parents & the Berhalters. But if somebody can prove that he participated, I'll be instantly down on Gio. 'till then, I choose to give this kid a break.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HuffyCane
I was unaware of the media deals but I do have HBO Max so I’ll be able to watch. In the past the USSF website had date, time and broadcast on their list of upcoming matches but they no longer list broadcast information. That was my go to spot to figure out how to watch. Next up are two women's friendlies in NZ January 17 and 20. It will be interesting to see if broadcast information shows up closer to the date.

I‘m assuming Fox has broadcast rights to the 2023 women’s WC.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT