Alexander: Who does U.S. Soccer turn to next?
Former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp declines an offer to replace the fired Gregg Berhalter, so now what?
The world according to Jim:
• Jürgen Klopp told the U.S. Soccer Federation no this week, and I suppose it shouldn’t be a surprise.
For those who somehow missed it, the federation is again in the market for a new coach. This time it’s for the men’s national team, after Gregg Berhalter’s expected sacking – as they call it in England’s tabloids – became official on Wednesday. From this vantage point, that means it’s time to think big and to get away from the insular culture of a federation that, on the men’s side, more often than not has gone for the same old, same old.
So give sporting director Matt Crockett credit for at least trying for Klopp, who stepped away from managing Liverpool after a successful nine-year run because he needed a break. For now, Klopp has accepted a role as “honorary ambassador of the LFC Foundation,” the club’s charitable arm, but he’ll be running a team again somewhere, for sure. It just won’t be this one. …
• In the meantime, there are 23 months before the U.S., Mexico and Canada host the World Cup. That has long been considered an opportunity for the U.S. to show some progress on the world stage. Will it instead be the point where we see firsthand how the federation wasted an extra two years hitching its wagon to Berhalter. …
• It might be time to again go outside the U.S. soccer establishment to find a leader for Our Boys. The federation has done so twice: Bora Milutinovic in 1994 raised the bar with a group of college players the last time the U.S. hosted the world, as noted in This Space last week. Jürgen Klinsmann (2011-2016) shook things up, and in fact still holds the second-best winning percentage among USMNT coaches (behind Bruce Arena), but he alienated too many stakeholders and was sacked – er, fired – after an 0-2 start in qualifying for 2018. Arena took over and the U.S. failed to qualify anyway. …
• What we need, ideally, is someone who has a more realistic view of the talent level in the U.S. player pool – the characterization of the current group as the “Golden Generation” seems way, way off the mark – and an awareness of what it takes to make this country a realistic World Cup contender, understanding that it’s not likely to happen in 2026 even with home-pitch advantage. …
• Steve Cherundolo, who has taken LAFC to two MLS Cup finals and a championship in his first two seasons, has been mentioned as a potential USMNT candidate. When asked about his interest after Wednesday night’s U.S. Open Cup victory he said, “I am LAFC’s coach right now … I think it wouldn’t be the right time to speak about other things.”
Sounds mildly evasive to me. …
• Sudden thought: Dodgers pitcher James Paxton, the starting rotation’s only survivor as the team reaches the All-Star break, is known as the Big Maple to honor his Canadian roots. Given his reduced velocity, should we even try to resist the temptation to say he’s throwing sap?
(Or do we risk a sticky stuff suspension if we do?) …
• You might have noticed that UCLA dropped nonconference football home-and-homes with Georgia and Auburn in upcoming years, and instead has added a home-and-home against Utah and a four-year series with Cal. Would that series, plus two games with FCS program UC Davis, help satisfy UCLA’s Calimony obligation? …
• This will be worth monitoring. USC’s Lincoln Riley is on the preseason watch list for the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Trophy. Meanwhile, ESPN’s in-house SEC honk, Paul Finebaum, predicts that Riley will be gone at the end of the season, citing the number of players transferring out: “It’s a matter of whether he crashes and burns or whether he decides he has got to seek elsewhere. But I don’t think there is any way he is going to be successful out there. I think that train has left the station.”
As noted, Finebaum sees all of college football through an SEC prism. Remember, however, he predicted the demise of the Pac-12 more than a month before the breakup actually occurred last Aug. 4. …
• Meanwhile, the courts continue to hammer the NCAA’s business model, and the day that college athletes are considered employees – i.e., an acknowledgment of reality – seems to be moving closer. …
• Breaking All-Star Game news (and no, it’s not the development you were expecting): Houston’s Jose Altuve is bowing out of Tuesday’s Midsummer Classic in Arlington, Texas, this time with a sore hand. You’re not surprised, are you?
Altuve last actually played in the game in 2018, before the Astros’ sign-stealing shenanigans were revealed. He skipped Denver in 2021 and, naturally, L.A. in ’22, wasn’t selected last year, and will avoid being booed by Rangers fans this year. Hometown guy Marcus Semien takes his place in the starting lineup, so does that make it a win-win? …
• Meanwhile, Paul Skenes, El Toro High’s own, will start Tuesday night for the National League after just 11 career starts, the fewest appearances ever for a player who actually appears in the All-Star Game according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Meteoric doesn’t begin to describe his ascent.
And El Toro coach Mike Gonzales said this to The Athletic a year ago, even before Skenes pitched in the College World Series for LSU and was the subsequent No. 1 pick in the draft by the Pirates: “He’s very mature beyond his years to where the club isn’t gonna have to worry about any off-the-field stuff. They know he’s gonna get his work done, and they’re gonna have a guy that’s gonna go out there every five days and have success.”
He called it.
jalexander@scng.com