Could Sam Allardyce be the next manager of the U.S. Men’s National Team?
After the disaster that was the 2018 World Cup Qualifying campaign, US Soccer has fired Bruce Arena as manager of the Men’s National Team. This wasn’t unexpected, as Arena’s sole task from the beginning was to lead the US to the World Cup. Now, however, US Soccer has a chance to bring in new ideas, and start fresh with a new manager. Two well-known managers have already made themselves available for the position, as Sam Allardyce and Laurent Blanc have stated their desire for the job this week. Both highly-regarded managers with impressive resumes, either one would be an impressive hire by US Soccer.
“Big Sam” Allardyce is known as an escape artist, with his claim to fame being that he has rescued several Premier League clubs from relegation. Now, this may not seem like it would correlate at all to being the U.S. manager, but it does. When you think about it, he’s taken less talented teams and gotten players to rally around each other and get results against more talented opposition when it mattered most. That’s honestly exactly what the U.S. needs from their next manager, and really, who better to lead them through qualification for 2022, and hopefully the World Cup in Qatar?
Laurent Blanc, on the other hand, has the better resume, but is he a better fit? The 51-year-old Frenchman has managed at Bordeaux and PSG and even had a stint as the manager of the French national team. However, does the fact that Blanc’s only managerial experience has been with very talented teams actually work against him? Maybe. This may seem like an odd thing to say, but it makes sense to a degree. Yeah, he has the resume, but could he manage a less talented team like the U.S.? How will he respond when the team and struggling, and he doesn’t have world-class players like Zlatan, Cavani, Griezmann, and Ribery to bail him out? How will he react when Christian Pulisic has to come off and his best option on the bench is Alejandro Bedoya. He may have the resume, but that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily the right fit.
It will be interesting to see if US Soccer goes with Allardyce or Blanc, or if they choose to go in another direction with the next hire.
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