Tag: John Herdman

NYCFC coach Cushing denies allegation he punched Toronto FC player

TFC head coach John Herdman has leveled a very serious charge against the NYCFC boss

New York City FC head coach Nick Cushing has “categorically” denied an allegation that he punched a Toronto FC player at halftime of a game in March.

NYCFC and TFC played out a contentious match on Saturday night, with players and coaches alike involved in a heated on-field scuffle after the game at BMO Field.

After the match, which NYCFC won 3-2, TFC head coach John Herdman and captain Jonathan Osorio said the altercation was partially due to an incident that had taken place two months earlier.

“Their coach talks and says things to certain players that crosses the line,” Osorio said in a post-game press conference. “When we hear their coach and three players cornered a 19-year-old of ours by himself, that’s going to be a problem. We were just letting them know we didn’t forget about that.”

Herdman was later asked directly about Cushing’s behavior during the March 16 match at Yankee Stadium.

“That was the off-record report that came into the dressing room at halftime from a 19-year-old who said he got cornered and punched in the face,” Herdman said.

Neither Herdman nor Osorio mentioned the TFC player in question, but the only 19-year-old on the team’s senior roster is Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty.

On Monday, Cushing spoke to the press and denied the charges made by Toronto’s coach and captain.

“I categorically deny any involvement or any incident where I have punched or assaulted any Toronto FC player or staff,” Cushing said.

“I am shocked, personally. I’m upset by the allegation.”

Cushing added that he was not aware of the allegation until after TFC’s post-game press conference on Saturday.

The MLS Disciplinary Committee is set to examine footage of the most recent altercation between NYCFC and TFC, and will hand out any punishment later this week.

No punishments were given after the March game at Yankee Stadium.

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Herdman leaves Canada men’s national team to take over Toronto FC

The coach has left Canada Soccer after more than a decade to take over MLS’s worst team

John Herdman has departed his role as Canada men’s national team head coach to take the same position at Toronto FC.

Herdman spent more than a decade with Canada Soccer, first as women’s national team head coach and then coaching the men, leading both teams to major achievements along the way.

“John Herdman is the most successful head coach in the history of Canada Soccer,” said Canada Soccer president Charmaine Crooks in a federation release.

“From leading the women’s national team to back-to-back Olympic bronze medals, paving the way for their gold medal in 2020, and to leading the men’s national team back to the FIFA World Cup, John’s contribution to the game in Canada is unmatched.”

Herdman will stay in Canada and transition to the club game, where he’ll take over a TFC side that has the worst record in MLS. The club fired Bob Bradley as head coach in June and has been coached by Terry Dunfield on an interim basis since then.

Herdman will stay with Canada Soccer to help with the transition to a new coach before taking over Toronto FC on October 1.

“I am keen to start this new opportunity with Toronto FC,” Herdman said in a TFC release. “Personally, it’s the right time for me to step into a new challenge in my career, and the structure of a club environment is a context I’ve aspired to operate in. Having access to connect and collaborate with the staff and players daily allows for a different depth of development and connection, both on and off the pitch.”

Herdman clashes with Canada Soccer

Herdman had been with Canada Soccer since 2011 and took the men’s national team to its first World Cup since 1986 last year, so moving to a new opportunity makes sense at this stage of his career.

Still, his departure at this stage is notable — and it’s not a good sign for Canada Soccer.

Herdman has opted to skip the opportunity to coach Canada in a World Cup on home soil in 2026, and his words following June’s Nations League final defeat to the United States are likely a big reason he’s chosen to leave.

The 48-year-old did not hold back on criticizing his own federation amid a funding crisis, saying: “We brought a World Cup to our country and we’re not serious about winning it.”

Canada’s men’s and women’s national teams have been in open conflict with their federation, with the women moving to strike during February’s SheBelieves Cup over cuts to funding.

In June, Canada Soccer’s interim general secretary Jason deVos admitted the federation was nearing bankruptcy, and may not have the financial ability to schedule fall friendlies for either of its senior national teams.

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Herdman calls out Canada Soccer: ‘We’re not serious about winning a World Cup’

The coach is fed up with his federation’s lack of investment

Canada men’s national team head coach John Herdman has called out Canada Soccer for its lack of investment, saying the federation is “not serious” about winning a World Cup.

Herdman’s side fell 2-0 to the United States in Sunday’s CONCACAF Nations League final, failing to win its first trophy since 2000.

Part of the reason for Canada’s loss, in Herdman’s eyes, was an inadequate amount of time spent preparing for the game. In contrast to the USMNT, Herdman said his side was only given the funds for four days of preparation — three of which were spent on semifinal opponent Panama.

“There’s no time,” Herdman said at his post-game press conference. “We need the resources where we can actually put a camp together, where I can work for six days on the things that will make the biggest difference moving forward.”

“You could see the preparation the U.S. have had, those set pieces made a big difference. Those extra five, six, seven days they had makes a difference.”

Canada Soccer’s financial troubles have been well documented. The Olympic champion women’s team moved to strike during February’s SheBelieves Cup over cuts to funding, only to be forced onto the field after being threatened with a lawsuit by its own federation.

Amid the turmoil, Canada Soccer president Nick Bontis was forced out and replaced on an interim basis by Charmaine Crooks.

But the federation’s financial problems are still very much an issue. Herdman challenged Canada Soccer to do more ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which it will co-host.

“I think it’s not a secret the organization has been suffering financially even through the [2022] World Cup qualification. You had coaches raising money to make sure we’ve got charter flights, security on those charter flights.

“We’ve got the best generation of players we’ve had. And there’s more coming, you can see it. [Ismaël] Koné just dropped out the sky. Tajon Buchanan just dropped out the sky, Alistair Johnson, like it’s coming,” he said.

“We’ve got to figure this out financially. We’ve got to get serious about winning a World Cup. When you play at home, you get a chance to win it. You get a chance to get to a quarterfinal, a semifinal, and then get on that roll to win it. And we’re not serious,” the coach added.

“We brought a World Cup to our country and we’re not serious about winning it.”

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Canada coach Herdman on Morris: His heart is with the USMNT

Herdman expects Morris to be cap-tied to the USMNT at the Gold Cup

Canada men’s national team head coach John Herdman has said he believes Aidan Morris is leaning toward continuing on with the United States.

The U.S. and Canada each called the Columbus Crew midfielder into their preliminary squads for both the Gold Cup and Nations League.

Morris has been capped two times by the USMNT, but remains eligible for Canada through his father. Last month, the 21-year-old admitted he was unsure which country he would represent long term.

Ahead of a CONCACAF Nations League semifinal against Panama on June 15, Canada named its final roster on Wednesday, which did not include Morris.

Speaking on a conference call with reporters, Herdman admitted he did not expect the highly regarded central midfielder to play for Canada.

“It’s a tough one because I think the young lad understands the opportunity here in Canada, but his heart is with the U.S. and on the last conversation, he’s not quite ready to make a commitment to Canada,” the coach said.

“This is the big challenge we face,” he added. “The other challenge is we aren’t creating enough youth opportunities to ensure players fall in love with playing for Canada. We have to start competing in this area.”

Herdman added that he expected Morris to be called up by the USMNT for the Gold Cup and play in the tournament, which would cap-tie him.

Callaghan: We think really highly of Morris

Morris did not make the cut for the USMNT’s Nations League roster but speaking to reporters last week, interim head coach B.J. Callaghan said he believes the midfielder has a bright future with the national team.

“Aidan is a young players having a great season, he really had a breakout season last year,” Callaghan said. “He’s someone that we’re super familiar with and we think really, really highly of.

“He was in our January camp and he was in our April camp. We put him into a big game versus Mexico, so that’s a signal that we think very highly of Aidan.

“Us and the staff have had conversations with Aidan, so he’s always a player that we’ll keep in consideration as we look to build out our Gold Cup roster and rosters beyond.”

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Andrej Kramarić, Croatia make John Herdman eat his words in Canada rout

Herdman might want to consider what he says on camera in the future

Canada head coach John Herdman will probably take one big lesson away from this World Cup: watch your mouth.

Herdman shared the details of his post-game speech to Canada after they played well in a 1-0 loss to Belgium, saying that his remarks could be boiled down to telling his players that they would “F Croatia” in their next match.

Herdman said this in a post-game, televised interview during a World Cup, and so this extremely normal and predictable attempt to motivate a team followed an extremely normal and predictable path to going viral. Herdman was eventually mocked by Croatian tabloids, and his opposite number Zlatko Dalić told reporters ahead of the game that his team — the overwhelming favorites in Sunday’s Group B clash — deserves respect.

Andrej Kramarić and Croatia were listening, in other words, and after some ruthless finishing saw them beat Canada 4-1, the Hoffenheim striker let everyone know what he thought of Herdman’s motivational strategy.

“These are words that have motivated the whole of Croatia,” said Kramarić, who had a brace on the night, to reporters after the match. “I want to thank the coach of Canada for the motivation. He could have chosen better words. He could have formulated it a bit differently. In the end Croatia demonstrated who F’d whom.”

Herdman’s speech wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, and every coach in this tournament has probably struck a similar note at some point in their careers. Kramarić, in saying that the message could have simply been slightly refined, even acknowledged that the language and bluntness were far more the problem than anything else.

However, that’s the lesson here. If Herdman had told the world that his message to his squad was merely one about believing they could beat Croatia, no one would have batted an eye. Instead, it became a rallying cry for a Croatian team that hardly needed one, and the letter “F” will probably follow Herdman for a long time to come.

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In stunner, Croatia objects to Canada coach Herdman’s ‘F Croatia’ speech

Things are heating up ahead of Croatia vs. Canada

Croatia is not happy with Canada coach John Herdman ahead of Sunday’s potentially decisive Group F meeting.

The reasons are pretty straightforward: Herdman was interviewed on the field after Canada’s narrow loss to Belgium — a defeat that saw Canada draw praise for largely outplaying the favored Belgians — and admitted that his post-game speech to the team was not exactly deferential to Croatia.

“I told them they belong here, and we’re gonna go and ‘F’ Croatia,” said Herdman with a laugh. “That’s as simple as it gets.”

As far as speeches to a huddle of players go, it’s pretty tame stuff. Coaches and players have been talking themselves up by saying whatever the equivalent of “F Croatia” is for their situation for as long as there have been competitive sports.

Unfortunately for Herdman, the global nature of the World Cup means that his speech aimed at a group of a couple dozen Canada players and staffers has made its way to a team that apparently didn’t enjoy it as much: Croatia.

“The Croatian national team deserves respect from everyone. We’ve earned it with our performances, behavior and results,” Zlatko Dalić, Croatia’s head coach, told reporters on Thursday. “Each of us has our own way of communication, he expressed himself like that, I don’t know how nice that is. I will not look back on it, we have to show on the field that we are a better team.

“We have to and we will certainly talk about it. It can only motivate us. We must not accept any negativity, we are worthy when we play and it is crucial that we focus on our football.”

If Dalić was mildly put-off by Herdman’s quote, the Croatian tabloids were ready to take things to the next level. The outlet 24sata put a nearly naked rendering of Herdman, with two strategically-placed maple leaves, on its cover, an extremely unsubtle hint that they believe the Canada manager has more of a big mouth than he can back up.

Herdman explains his remarks

Herdman was somewhat bemused that this became anything of a controversy, telling reporters that he didn’t see it as particularly abnormal.

“You say those things in an impassioned moment trying to inspire your team in a huddle,” said Herdman. “When you’re asked the question ‘What did you say in that huddle?,’ yeah, it’s what I said.”

Herdman added that for him at least, the statement was “not massively respectful to Croatian people and the Croatian national team.”

However, if Croatia was hoping to hear an apology, it wasn’t coming.

“I mean no disrespect to the Croatian team and Croatian people, but at the end of the day it’s a mindset that Canada is going to have if we’re going to have three points against one of the top teams in the world,” said Herdman. “It’s the mindset we took to Belgium. We have to, it’s part of ‘New Canada.'”

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Alphonso Davies is ready, says Canada coach: ‘Fonzie’s fit now … the dark clouds have shifted’

With Davies clearing fitness tests, Herdman says he can select his best 11 vs. Belgium

AL-RAYYAN, Qatar — For two weeks, the state of Alphonso Davies’ hamstring has been the biggest issue around the Canadian national team camp, the health of their most talented player looming over their first men’s World Cup since 1986.

If you take the words of Canada head coach John Herdman at face value, the Bayern Munich superstar is ready and raring to go for their Qatar 2022 opener vs. Belgium at Ahmed bin Ali Stadium on Wednesday despite the strain he picked up in club play on Nov. 5.

“Fonzie’s fit now. He’s hit his markers. He’s ready to go,” said Herdman, who was initially cagey about his fleet-footed wide man to start of his pre-match press conference only to later effectively confirm Davies’ own enthusiastic proclamations of fitness the previous day. “He was flying in training yesterday, enjoying himself. Canada, we’re in a position now where we can field our strongest team. Everyone’s came through well.”

Herdman added that goalkeeper Milan Borjan has worked through an abdominal issue and should be ready to start.

“It’s exciting times for us now, the dark clouds have shifted and this will be our last training session together where we’ll be all 100%,” said the English coach, after explaining the tenuous wait for Davies to pass the performance staff’s benchmarks.

“I don’t think there was any doubt we’d be starting him. But you’ve got to follow the medical advice. I mean, that’s always part of this,” said Herdman. “Our goal first and foremost is always the safety of the players, that’s paramount, so we’ve had to manage that process.

“I think as a coach, you’re always sitting frustrated when you get the reports in and all the algorithms on return to play and what they can and can’t do and their loadings, etc. But when you speak to the player, you have to be able to look into their eyes and get a sense of what they want and how far they’re willing to push. And you’ve got to ask the questions: first game, what’s the risk? What’s the second game risk?

“We’ve all been willing for him to be ready to go. He’s just starting to hit his top speed, that last sort of full-on sprint. And I think positive psychology always helps injuries heal a little bit quicker. So yeah, I mean, it was good. He’s clear that he wanted to play, I think our medical team, we wanted him to play as well. but you’ve just got to go through the mathematical algorithms that they put in front of you, progress him to top speed, and he hit that.”

‘We don’t have a great amount to lose’

If Herdman holds to his word and gives a start to Davies, the standard-bearer of Les Rouges‘ dramatic resurgence on both the regional and global soccer scenes, it’s the best news imaginable for Canada supporters, especially considering Belgium’s talent-laden squad.

In one sense, anything they can conjure up from here on out is a bonus for Canada. Herdman vowed that his team would play without pressure — “we don’t have a great amount of lose, just a genuine opportunity to make it our cup final” — and veteran captain Atiba Hutchinson spoke of the transformative effect their run to the tournament has already had back home.

“I’ve already seen it sparking a lot of interest in younger players, seven-, eight-year-olds, some in my family, teammates, children and just the interest that it’s brought to our country is really special to see. I’ve been with the national team a very long time and I’ve never seen it get to this level. So it’s great to see and I think it’s going to continue to get bigger and bigger from here on out,” said the 39-year-old, who plays for Turkish power Beşiktaş.

“We’ve got a very strong team with a lot of good players. And we’re going to just do what we’ve been doing. It’s going to be a battle in every game we play. We’re going to fight, we’re going to show our brotherhood. We want to put Canada on the map. So our intention is just to enjoy the moment. We’ve worked a very long time to get here.”

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