Daily News | Roundtable: Was Matt Crocker the right hire as U.S. Soccer sporting director?
U.S. Soccer still hasn’t chosen a coach for the men’s national team, but the person who will play the largest role in that choice has been appointed —As I would with any hire who’s a genuine outsider, I’m willing to give Crocker some benefit of the doubt at first. There are some things I like, especially the fact that he’s got experience with men’s and women’s soccer. That is crucial, because the sporting director oversees the men’s and women’s national team programs.
That person might not take the title “general manager” like Kate Markgraf has on the women’s side, but it’s why I’m not quite on board with a potential elimination of the men’s team GM job. That’s been proposed, and I’ve heard it’s likely.» READ MORE:Andrea Canales, soccer editor There’s also a bit of an American soccer joke at play here that goes roughly like, “In soccer administration roles, they’ll interview a bunch of options, then hire the guy with the British accent.” It’s a cliché because it’s a common occurrence that folks from the British Isles are very well-represented in USA soccer management across the board in youth clubs, pro clubs, national team posts.
Maybe the best thing about Matt Crocker is that he isn’t one of the old USMNT retreads that tend to occupy this role with U.S. Soccer. In an organization where nepotism and remaining anchored to the past is only rivaled by the Philadelphia Flyers, it is refreshing to see the U.S. venture outside of their circle of familiarity and bring in someone with fresh ideas and perspective.
Crocker’s No. 1 directive will be hiring a new manager to oversee the men’s senior team. Getting that hire right is absolutely critical head of a World Cup cycle where most of the team’s best players will hit their primes, not to mention the World Cup being on home soil. I have advocated for the U.S. to cast a wide net with its head-coaching search and Crocker should be able to lean on his European connections here to bring in some different candidates than under previous regimes.
Which by the way, man, would I love to be in the room when he gets to dig deep into America’s pay-to-play model, but that’s a story for another day.
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