Evaluating Renard as Next USMNT Coach
A look at his offensive game organization and implications if hired
This has been an emotional week for USMNT fans. We waited with baited breath for news that the program would move on from Gregg Berhalter in the wake of a poor Copa America performance. When confirmation of Berhalter’s exit was announced Wednesday, it immediately opened the door to a host of other questions:
who appears to be in consideration for the job?
how will a new coach change the tactics?
what players will be most affected by a coaching change?
what potential lineups would be worth testing?
While most who read this are likely aware of the names being touted in the media, I’ve included a short description of the ones I believe are probably most likely. If I’m being honest I have concerns that we’ll ‘promote’ an MLS coach. My fears are only heightened by Steve Cherundolo’s recent press conference when asked about his future at LAFC. While he could end up performing sufficiently well given the job, a nation that has aspirations of improving upon a Round of 16 appearance in 2026 should prioritize an experienced manager.
WHO APPEARS BE IN CONSIDERATION FOR THE JOB?
JURGEN KLOPP - Jurgen Klopp seemed to be everyone’s preferred choice (mine included) due to his combination of personality, success at club level, and style of play. However, given he had already announced that the wanted to take a break from coaching as a reason for leaving Liverpool at the conclusion of their season, his hiring always seemed the longest shot. And indeed, he has rebuffed the US’ approach. I won’t go into any detail since this seems dead in the water, but I would have loved to see how much performance a top coach could get out of our players.
HERVÉ RENARD - I was pleased to see Renard linked to the post and the number of fans on Twitter who seem to favor him as the next best choice. Having gotten the likes of Zambia and Saudi Arabia to punch above their weight, he appears to excel at working with minimal resources. He also has demonstrated extreme flexibility, having spent time coaching in France, England, Vietnam, Zambia, Ivory Coast, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia. It’s also notable that he’s one of only two managers to have coached at both the men’s and women’s World Cups, having led France to the quarterfinals of the 2023 women’s World Cup (where they lost in penalties to eventual 4th place finisher Australia).
JOSÉ PEKERMAN - Pekerman’s 2006 Argentina was one of my favorite teams as he harnessed the mercurial talent of Juan Roman Riquelme to fashion a team in the traditional style. In the quarterfinals, he became infamous for his decision to sub Riquelme for the defensive midfielder Esteban Cambiasso with less than 20 minutes remaining. That sub completely changed the game and allowed Germany to assert themselves. After scoring a late equalizer, Germany ended up winning on penalties. In another timeline, Argentina win their third World Cup that year. He would later have success with Colombia, leading them to the 2014 World Cup to end a 16 year absence from the event. After reaching the quarters in 2014, he would bring Colombia back in 2018 where they lost to England in penalties in the Round of 16. Boasting a 54.6% win rate with Colombia over 77 games is an impressive return. At 74 years old, he may not be interested in taking over the USMNT, but he is arguably the most experienced international manager mentioned.
STEVE CHERUNDOLO - Should Cherundolo be in contention for the job? He has (from my quick Wikipedia checking) the best win % all time in MLS at 56%. This is better than the likes of Bruce Arena and Bob Bradley, even compared against their best stints in charge of a single team (Arena at DC and Bradley at Chicago). In addition, he did the domestic double in his first season, winning both the Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup. He broke the record for most wins as a first year head coach, achieving one more than Bob Bradley did 24 years prior. Despite dropping off slightly in 2023, he still took LAFC back to MLS Cup, this time losing 2-1 to Wilfried Nancy’s Columbus Crew. Despite his success, this is his first top division head coaching gig. This relative inexperience is a major concern going into the last two years of a World Cup cycle with a team that needs some overhaul if they are to meet expectations come 2026.
HUGO PEREZ - Perez is a very interesting case. Having won 73 caps for the USMNT in the 80s and 90s, he seemingly stayed involved coaching in the San Francisco Bay Area before becoming coach of the US U14 and U15 National Teams in 2012. His tenure ended in 2014 under somewhat mysterious circumstances. His teams performed well but he appeared to be too much of an outlier in terms of how he identified and coached talent. The rumor is that he appreciated technical and tactical ability over raw athleticism and this put him at odds with others at US Soccer, ultimately leading to his being pushed out. He called a lot of Latino players into his camps and this was possibly a shift that made some uncomfortable. Put simply, it’s long been suspected that he was a victim of internal politics, but he himself seems to have too much class to say anything negative about his time involved. He then returned to his native El Salvador where he was U23 coach before assuming the senior national team job in 2021. In this role he most notably led El Salvador to the quarterfinals of the 2021 Gold Cup where they lost 3-2 to Qatar.
DAVID WAGNER - The German-born coach earned 8 caps with the USMNT in the mid-90s and has spent his entire coaching career in Europe, having coached in the English Championship with both Huddersfield Town - who he impressively not only got promoted to the Premier League but managed to avoid relegation the following season - and Norwich City. He also spent a year each with Schalke, in the Bundesliga, and Young Boys, in the Swiss Super League. Norwich was his most recent job, having been sacked after failing to achieve promotion to the Premier League this May. Wagner’s main attraction is his experience in two of the toughest leagues in the world. Coaching in the Premier League and Bundesliga is no mean feat. While he has seemingly struggled for tangible success after performing miracles with Huddersfield, these experiences combined with the fact that he is a former USMNT player could be the perfect formula going into 2026.
MARCELO GALLARDO- I really enjoyed Gallardo’s River Plate teams, who he coached from 2014-2022, quite a long spell to survive a notoriously passionate fan base that demands success. But success is what Gallardo delivered, winning the Copa Sudamericana before building on that by winning the Copa Libertadores twice. He would later win the Argentine Primera División. He left River to take a short break before signing for Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia. Things didn’t go that well and he left the club earlier this month. I have no idea what his plans are, if he’d be interested, or if he would be a good fit. He played 15 games for DC United in 2008 so he has some familiarity with the US. He certainly has top level experience and has helped develop young players, but I feel there are too many unknowns for Gallardo to feel like a top choice.
PATRICK VIEIRA - As a diehard Arsenal fan, I can only have good things to say about Vieira, who won three EPL titles and four FA Cups in his time at Arsenal. Not to mention the fact that he captained The Invincibles who went an entire season undefeated. His coaching acumen has yet to match his playing ability however. His first job in management was New York City FC, who he coached from January 2016 to June 2018. He’s familiar with the US and the American player from this time, which some other names on this list are not. He then coached Nice for two years, Crystal Palace for two years, and has been manager at Strasbourg since July of 2023. Despite his wealth of experience, he has yet to achieve any signature results as a coach. I’m not sure if he has any interest in the job or not, but I’m not convinced he’s stronger than others on this list.
*On Friday Vieira reiterated his commitment to Strasbourg
PELLEGRINO MATARAZZO - The New Jersey-born coach has spent his playing and coaching career in Germany, having been hired as the coach of Stuttgart in December of 2019. While he did well to get them promoted back to the Bundesliga that season, I would assume they were relatively strong for the 2nd division seeing as they’ve only spent a total of four seasons there since the Bundesliga era began in the 1963-64 season. In that context, promotion seems expected. His win rate, considering only Bundesliga games, was a paltry 26% during his time in charge. In the 2021-22 season they finished in 15th, avoiding a relegation playoff by superior goal difference. His first season in the Bundesliga was better, with a comfortable mid table finish (9th), so its possible key players were sold or other challenges presented that contribute to the lack of on-field success.
I’m more than happy to see an American coaching in a top league and I wish Matarazzo success in his current gig, at Hoffenheim. To be fair he has steered Hoffenheim into the Europa league in his first season there and this will provide more experience. Personally I’d love to see him continue to gain experience at the club level and be a stronger option for the job in the future.
HOW WILL A NEW COACH CHANGE THE TACTICS?
While there are some unanswered questions as to how talented the current crop truly is, I’m unequivocal in my belief that Berhalter was unable to maximize the players. The Copa America games displayed an uneven mentality and predictable tactics that created as many problems as they solved. There is no doubt that a new coach will bring something different to the table.
Personally I enjoy attacking soccer. Defense is only necessary so much as it allows you to attack some more ;). For that reason, combined with the time constraints of a full time job and family, I’ve focused on who I feel is the probably the best option given the names listed and their stated/probable interest in the job.
HERVÉ RENARD
With Saudi Arabia (SA) he displayed an offensive philosophy. Using a 4231 game system, the team made use of wingers who could come inside and full backs that were a threat going forward. In that way he would be ready to make use of some of our best talents, such as Pulisic, Reyna, Jedi, and Dest.
Generally speaking the team was well balanced, with players taking clearly defined positions. They were rarely found to be unbalanced in the offensive phase, which automatically provides a degree of protection against counters. Attacks were mostly constructed on the sides, similar to Berhalter. However, a major difference is that Renard’s SA team showed much greater tactical variety in the way they both built and attempted to finish attacks.
Even simply putting our best players in to this exact same system would probably yield much better results than what we’ve seen recently. And if he’s sophisticated enough to shape the tactics around our best talents, I believe we would see a team that would allow us to dream of another run like in 2002.
BUILD UP
In situations where the opponent presses well and is able to apply pressure to the back line while marking short pass options, SA played high passes directly to the front players in the same channel. The striker and midfielder look to combine with one winning the long pass and the other moving in support. When successful the team can continue the attack. There is even some value when unsuccessful, because the team is able to move forward and reestablish their defense in the middle third instead of the final third.
In the below clip you see an example of this with the striker and winger coming together with the intention of securing the long ball and continuing the attack. Here it’s unsuccessful, but the team is now defending further from their goal.
Against teams that defended in a mid block, SA used a variety of solutions, primarily focused on playing wide on one side before switching to the other side. In the below clip you can see Oman in a mid block. The SA right center back plays the wide pass to the opposite side and from here the team has some clear options. The full back plays to the winger and runs diagonally inside. Since this run is tracked, it can’t be played right away. Winger instead tries a different combination, playing inside to the 10 and moving diagonally for a back pass to set himself up to play the full back’s run. Unfortunately the angles are tight and the forward pass is narrowly intercepted.
In this example, the full back switches to his counterpart on the opposite side to break the pressure. When the attack is stalled, SA plays back uses this same pass to quickly switch back to the first side. These two direct switches were too much for Oman’s defense to handle and SA gets a chance to attack the defensive line.
*I’ll also note that Berhalter’s circulation often felt relatively predictable as well. The team rarely skipped from one center back to the opposite side, which contributed to the difficulty in creating an initial advantage. The team would then use the two center mids to help create this advantage, which meant the team lacked playing options centrally as the attack progressed.
LONG GOAL KICKS
Another tool in build up is the long goal kick. Similarly to when a defensive line player uses the high pass to break the opponent’s press, SA used a long goal kick with the intention of creating situations where they could win the ball and quickly look to attack the defensive line.
In the below clip we see two players again position to win and secure the long pass. After this they use a third man action (up pass, back pass) to break the midfield before playing wide to prepare for a cross. The crosser chooses to play to the free player coming from behind the play on the opposite side but Mexico does well to shift and apply pressure, preventing a good shot.
Something that I like about Renard’s SA is that all phases of the attack show well coordinated movements. In this clip, after playing the ball wide, the passer immediately runs behind the defensive line. This action alone creates multiple possibilities that aren’t chosen.
In this case the run took the Mexican midfielder into the defensive line, opening a passing lane inside to the striker. The receiving player could have played a 2 man game with the striker, passing and running into space (probably a 1-2 behind the defense).
Had the midfield player not tracked the original passer, he could have been played behind the defense. This more than likely would have created a crossing situation from inside the box, which would have been more dangerous.
ATTACKING THE REAR BLOCK
Renard’s SA did well breaking the midfield from the wide channels with a variety of combinations. Against Mexico this relatively simple attack was ultimately misplayed but created multiple threats.
In the clip you can see that after winning a free kick (from a long goal kick), they play back to a safe player. The full back times his run really well, waiting until the Mexico midfielder is focused on the ball. The opposite movements of the winger and the full back force the Mexico full back into a decision and he stays back to prevent a long pass to the full back potentially running behind him. This allows the winger to receive a deep pass between the lines and turn. Once turned, SA is now attacking the defensive line with two potential receivers. The Mexico full back reads the situation really well and once the attacker turns his body away from his wide teammate, he pounces to break up the play.
However, if the winger with the ball had played this better, there were a few options. One would be to play the deep pass to his full back running behind the defense. The angles weren’t ideal and there was probably some risk of the GK reacting quickly to get the ball.
The striker initially attempts to offer a run behind the defense but it’s well defended so he changes direction to position himself for a pass to feet. Here the ball carrier could have used a vertical 1-2 to get behind the center back or play the horizontal 1-2 to attack the large space between the weak side center back and full back.
Here is another good attack. This time the team regains possession on the edge of the final third, but Mexico has the back line and center mids intact, so there isn’t an opportunity to counterattack. Instead, players around the ball immediately offer width and depth passing options, with the ball shifted wide. Like earlier, the inside player making the wide pass makes a forward run to try and remove the opposition midfielder (who this time stays in place). With options around the ball defended, they switch to the opposite side. Options again closed down, but the team continues to reorganize to sustain the attack, which eventually results in a shot off the cross.
One of my main complaints with Berhalter in recent times was an inability to sustain attacks. If the team was unable to find the space behind the defensive line from wide, the attacks quickly become improvised. Savvy teams sat deep, denying this space, and the team never showed an improvement in their ability to attack these deep defenses. Renard’s Saudi Arabia repeatedly demonstrated clear ideas to attack in these situations and keep the attack going when the primary option was denied.
CONCLUSION
Despite being outmatched for talent in all three group games, Saudi Arabia competed well. Although they finished bottom of their group as expected, they took an historic win off eventual champions Argentina and were competitive against Poland (0-2 L) and Mexico (1-2 L).
World Cup 2022 Group C Rankings
Argentina #3
Mexico #13
Poland #26
SA #50
During his time in charge, he took the team from a ranking of #68 in July 2019 to #49 by the end of the World Cup. For perspective, the team is currently #56 today. Raising the team 20 places in FIFA ranking is a more than respectable feat. In comparison, Berhalter took USMNT from #25 to #13 from start December 2018 to the end of the World Cup and the team currently sits at #11 at the end of Berhalter’s second stint.
The USMNT demonstrated a lot of tactical issues at Copa America, with the midfield players moving too freely. That freedom of movement combined with lack of variety in circulation and break through solutions led to predictable attacks as well as compactness issues in defense. Combining this with a mentality of pressuring the ball at all costs resulted in chaotic games where the team alternated between controlling the ball in non-threatening situations and individual improvisation when the team attacking ideas were easily defended.
Renard would likely solve these connected issues through clearer positioning and attacking ideas. Saudi Arabia was rarely caught in situations with large distances between the lines after losing the ball. There was enough variety in their attacking solutions that they were able to consistently create threatening situations regardless of opponent. While he has lacked success at club level, he’s a highly experienced manager who seems well suited to the international game. With a much better quality of player compared to Saudi Arabia, I believe he would substantially improve the team’s play in all areas.
Given his experience and the quality of his team’s organization, I think he would be an excellent choice to usher in a new era for the USMNT.