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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Sport
Eric Wynalda

From coaches to pushy parents, US men’s soccer is married to mediocrity

The Berhalter-Reyna fiasco encapsulated what many believe is wrong with soccer in the US
The Berhalter-Reyna fiasco encapsulated what many believe is wrong with soccer in the US. Photograph: ANP/Getty Images

The American soccer community is still reeling from the fallout between former USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter and the Reyna family. It left the men’s soccer program in an absolute shambles – without a head coach, sporting director, or general manager. The whole thing is a mess, and yet we see similar things in soccer across the US every day. It’s a product of the industry we’ve created. Parents feel entitled because they hand over big money for their child to play – they effectively pay to have an opinion.

As the men’s game in America continues to stall – the women’s game is still thriving after two successive World Cup victories – the rest of the world looks at us and wonders why we can’t figure it out. Why is US soccer still a laughing stock?

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