To suggest that US Soccer has any sort of rules and protocols in place would be to suggest that they have a lot of work to do. It doesn't feel like they do and they just make stuff up as they go. It is possible for Berhalter to become the head coach without interviewing anyone else. It contributes to angering and poisoning the atmosphere around the women's team for a long time. Carlos Cordeiro is in charge of that and he can try and run for president again.
US Soccer was already weird this month, as Berhalter's contract ran out and there had been no announcement that he was moving on, or that there was an extension, or that anyone had thought of either. MLS players will have a training camp in January, but the national team didn't have a manager. Maybe we know why now.
Yesterday, Berhalter and his wife released a statement accusing someone of trying to blackmail him, and then coming clean with the story about what he would have done. He and his wife had a drunken argument when they were teenagers and he kicked her in the legs. He and his wife have come to terms with it, moved past it, and gone on to live happily ever after, despite this being one of the many Shades of Domestic Abuse.
US Soccer claimed that they became aware of this story a month ago and that there were potential inappropriate behavior towards multiple members of their staff by people outside of their organization. Berhalter is on ice for a bit while US soccer completes their investigation. Berhalter is frozen out from the job he may or may not want to hold onto, even though he tried to head off any blackmail attempt. He didn't pay this person anything. It's possible we guess.
It is years before the USMNT has anything to do that matters, so there is a lot of time for this to blow over. The men's team won't be in the spotlight until at least the summer of 2024. It is not easy with these men. US Soccer is promising total transparency, and they would be better off if the reports went well. Nothing is the same with US Soccer, where people throw ducks at balloons.
We are doing Jim Harbaugh back to the football thing. Maybe Michigan was blown away by their inability to deal with a quarterback who could run or their innovative defensive tactic of laying off in coverage, creating a bubble of space that TCU threw for 891 yards through.
Harbaugh has taken Michigan as far as it will go with back-to-back appearances in the playoffs. Everyone in Ann Arbor is certain that anything less than eight national titles in a row is failure. They have never won a real one.
Harbaugh wins wherever he goes. I think it's an improvement on where the Panther are.
Chris Kreider introduced the world to "The Indiana" last night, if you hold the puck off the ice on your stick and then deposit it in the net from behind.
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