Tag: Patrick Vieira

Rumored USMNT coaching candidate Vieira leaves Strasbourg

The timing of the Frenchman’s departure raised some eyebrows

Patrick Vieira has departed RC Strasbourg by mutual consent, the Ligue 1 side announced on Thursday.

Vieira served one season as Strasbourg head coach, leading the club to a 13th-place finish in 2023-24.

The timing of Vieira’s departure has raised some eyebrows, as the 48-year-old Arsenal legend has recently been mentioned as a candidate for the vacant U.S. men’s national team position.

Earlier this week, former USMNT striker Taylor Twellman said that Vieira was interested in job.

“There’s one name that I’ve said from the beginning that has a real interest in this, and that’s Patrick Vieira,” Twellman said on the Rich Eisen Show.

“He won a World Cup as a player. He loves the American player. But he also walks into that room and every single player’s tail is going to be between their legs because he doesn’t hold back on anyone.”

After Vieira left Strasbourg on Thursday, reporter Fabrizio Romano added that the Frenchman was “under consideration” for the USMNT job.

TUDN, meanwhile, went one step further and said that U.S. Soccer and Vieira were in talks over the role.

Though Strasbourg framed Vieira’s departure as mutual, L’Equipe reported that the club actually sacked the coach for not being in accordance with its project.

Vieira is seen as a strong candidate for the USMNT position because of his sterling playing career, which included a World Cup win with France and several league titles with Arsenal and Inter, as well as his coaching experience in the U.S. and abroad.

The Frenchman began his coaching career in Manchester City’s academy, and his first senior role was with New York City FC, giving him a window into the American game. Vieira departed NYCFC in 2018 and has gone on to coach Nice and Crystal Palace.

The USMNT position has been vacant since Gregg Berhalter was dismissed last week in the wake of the team’s stunning group-stage exit at the Copa América.

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USMNT’s Chris Richards is running out of time to get fit before the World Cup

It’s time to start nervously tugging on some shirt collars

The U.S. men’s national team will reveal its World Cup roster next week, and that tight timeline is not looking good for Chris Richards.

The Crystal Palace center back has been out for over a month with a hamstring injury, and according to his boss at club level, he’s only just begun workouts separate from the team.

“Chris has started doing some work outside but he didn’t do any kind of training with the team yet,” said Patrick Vieira in quotes published by The Athletic. “What is important is about him physically, there is a step he has to go through and at the moment he hasn’t done any kind of training with the squad.”

Vieira added that he is following guidance from club doctors, giving them the final say on whether Richards is cleared to train or not.

“The decision is not going to be mine but with the doctor we have to decide as a club what is best for the club,” said the former Arsenal and France midfielder, who reportedly indicated that he plans to speak with USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter in the near future.

Richards the latest concern

As is the case with many national teams, injuries are starting to pose more and more of a conundrum for the USMNT.

A healthy Richards seems like a strong bet to make Berhalter’s 26-man squad, and possibly even start in Qatar. However, it’s not known how severe his hamstring issue is, and the USMNT is 17 days away from kicking off against Wales.

Given that center backs are generally counted on to play the full 90 minutes if at all possible, Richards likely needs to go beyond being fit enough to play some minutes, and get to a place where he can reliably play a full match.

If Richards were the only concern, the situation wouldn’t be ideal for the USMNT. Instead, the list long enough that we need to break out the bullet points:

That list doesn’t include the long-term injury Miles Robinson suffered a few months ago, and it doesn’t account for any of the bad news to come between today and the final two rounds of club matches before players report to the USMNT.

In other words, it’s gonna be a long, nervous couple of weeks before that flight to Qatar lifts off.

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