Steve Cherundolo may be one of the leading candidates for the U.S. men’s national team coaching job, but his longtime teammate and former USMNT general manager Brian McBride thinks it’s not quite his time yet.
Cherundolo has earned plaudits for his work with LAFC, which he led to a MLS Cup and Supporters’ Shield double in 2022 — his first season as head coach.
The 45-year-old was also a stalwart at right back for the USMNT during his playing career, featuring alongside McBride with the national team for several years in the early to mid 2000s.
Speaking on the CBS Sports “Call It What You Want” podcast, McBride said the qualities that made Cherundolo such a successful player have translated well to his coaching career.
“As a player, he was always a thinker, just this quiet, thoughtful, hardworking, extremely good soccer player,” McBride said. “When you transfer that onto the coaching side, it works. That part, I think, has shown through with what he’s done with LAFC.”
Though he praised Cherundolo’s work in MLS, McBride still took issue with the longtime Hannover 96 right back being mentioned as a candidate to take the USMNT into the 2026 World Cup.
“The one issue I would have is I think he’s still too green,” McBride said.
“I mean that in the nicest way. Steve’s going to be a good coach for a long period of time but I don’t think he’s ready for the U.S. men’s national team at this time.”
Cherundolo took on his first head coaching role in 2021 with the Las Vegas Lights in the USL Championship. He is now in the middle of his third campaign with LAFC, which is near the top of the Western Conference standings.
When asked over the weekend if he intended to stay at LAFC for the remainder of the 2024 MLS season, Cherundolo demurred.
“I am LAFC head coach right now and that is my job, what I do every single day,” he said. “Tomorrow morning training is at 11:15 and I will be there for that.”
Gregg Berhalter, who played alongside both McBride and Cherundolo with the USMNT, was fired as head coach last week after the team’s group-stage exit at the Copa América.
The LAFC coach couldn’t guarantee he’d be sticking around for the entire season
Steve Cherundolo seems to be aware he is a legitimate candidate for the vacant U.S. men’s national team coaching job.
U.S. Soccer dismissed Gregg Berhalter on Wednesday, with sporting director Matt Crocker saying that a search for a new USMNT boss is already underway.
One of the leading candidates appears to be LAFC head coach Cherundolo, who has developed a strong reputation since taking over the MLS side in 2022.
The 45-year-old won MLS Cup and the Supporters’ Shield in his first season in charge, and has LAFC at the top of the Western Conference this season as well.
Cherundolo was a stalwart at right back for the USMNT for more than a decade and played his entire club career with German side Hannover 96, where he also began his coaching career.
Coincidentally, Cherundolo found himself speaking to the press on Wednesday just hours after Berhalter was fired, as LAFC defeated New Mexico United 3-1 in a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal match.
In his post-game press conference, Cherundolo was asked about the now-vacant USMNT job, and opted to keep his answer vague.
“I think it wouldn’t be the right time to speak about other things,” he said. “I’m LAFC coach, and I am very proud to be LAFC’s coach and we have something really good going here, and we’re excited to be in the semifinals. So I understand the ask but I am going to talk about LAFC tonight.”
But when a reporter followed up by asking if Cherundolo intended to be LAFC coach for the remainder of the season, the coach let his guard slip.
“I am LAFC head coach right now and that is my job, what I do every single day,” he said, clearly fighting hard to suppress more information.
“Tomorrow morning training is at 11:15 and I will be there for that.”
Steve Cherundolo wants you to know he’s not in the running to be the U.S. men’s national team head coach.
The Los Angeles FC boss dismissed rumors linking him to the open USMNT position during a Tuesday press conference ahead of his side’s game against the Houston Dynamo.
“The reports are completely fabricated and false. That’s all I can say about that,” said Cherundolo. “I’m committed to LAFC and I plan on being here a long time.”
Cherundolo’s 13-year career as a widely respected USMNT player, combined with LAFC’s instant success after hiring the 44-year-old, had been factors fostering a certain amount of buzz around him as U.S. Soccer entered its sixth month without a permanent head coach.
His first year with LAFC saw his side win MLS Cup and the Supporters’ Shield, while they went to the most recent CONCACAF Champions League final before falling to Club León. Cherundolo’s competitive record with the club stands at an impressive 36W-13D-16L.
That buzz took on a new form after two different reports on Tuesday. Another former USMNT defender, Heath Pearce, said Cherundolo was on the list of interviewees on an episode of the In Soccer We Trust podcast. Meanwhile, Fox Sports reported that U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker had already interviewed “more than 10” candidates, including multiple domestic options.
Cherundolo removes himself from contention
Cherundolo’s flat denial that he is in the mix to take over the USMNT still leaves a long list of candidates with a more tangible link to the position.
Hoffenheim manager and New Jersey native Pellegrino Matarazzo has expressed interest in taking the job some day, while France legend Thierry Henry openly mused on the prospect of being the USMNT’s next head coach. Gregg Berhalter’s return remains on the table, with Christian Pulisic among the players backing a continuation of his tenure.
There has been plenty of speculation linking Jesse Marsch to the job, given that the ex-Leeds coach is unemployed and has had serious talks with Crocker over a head coaching job in the past, but if U.S. Soccer wants to go that route, they better move quickly. Marsch has been linked with the manager positions at both Celtic and Monaco, and in general seems to be an in-demand coach who will have plenty of options throughout the summer.
In the meantime, the U.S. will head into Thursday’s CONCACAF Nations League semifinal with interim boss B.J. Callaghan in charge, and figures to play the upcoming Gold Cup under his stewardship. Callaghan is the second interim head coach to hold the job since Berhalter’s contract ran out, with Anthony Hudson’s term lasting a few months before he was hired by Qatari club Al Markhiya.
Things couldn’t have gone better for the LAFC coach in year one. Year two may not be so easy
It would have been hard for anybody to predict how well Steve Cherundolo’s first season as Los Angeles FC head coach would go. Least of all, Steve Cherundolo himself.
“I’d be lying to say that’s how I envisioned it,” Cherundolo told Pro SoccerWire of a season that saw LAFC win both the Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup. “I don’t think anybody envisions that.”
But 2022 brought instant success for the longtime U.S. national team right back in his first season as a MLS head coach, and just his second season as a head coach anywhere.
Ahead of last season, there were questions over how an inexperienced head coach would handle the pressure of taking over one of the league’s glamor teams coming off a season where it failed to reach the playoffs.
Those have been replaced by new questions ahead of the 2023 season. Can LAFC still be elite both in domestic and international competition? And if they are, how high will Cherundolo’s coaching stock rise?
To be sure, 2023 is looking like a much bigger challenge for Cherundolo and his staff than 2022.
LAFC’s success last season saw them qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League. The early-season competition presents a paradox for MLS teams: As desirable as a deep run is, it stretches teams thin as fixtures pile up quickly ahead of a long grind of a MLS season.
Many a MLS team has been felled by such fixture congestion. One need look no farther than last season’s Seattle Sounders, who broke the MLS curse by winning CCL but suffered so greatly in the league that their 13-year playoff streak come to an end.
Cherundolo and his team are trying to embrace the challenge as they near a last-16 tie against Alajuelense that starts March 9. But the coach is also aware that the limitations of his squad, as well as MLS salary rules, could both be a headache.
“Playing in the Champions League is the result of a very good season, so we get an opportunity and we want to seize that opportunity,” he said. “It’s not a burden. We’re not afraid of challenge. We respect it, but we’re certainly not afraid of it and we see it as a very big opportunity.”
(Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports)
Depth is the key for any team balancing CCL and MLS and as it so happens, that is a particular concern for Cherundolo going into the season.
“The biggest difference between this current roster and the roster from last season is depth, and now speaking about the lack thereof,” the coach admitted. “We aren’t as deep as we were last year at this moment in time. That could change but at the moment we are not, and so we will have to be smart about our rotations.”
LAFC lost the insanely productive Cristian Arango and the insanely talented but oft-injured Gareth Bale. Also leaving were defensive regulars Sebastien Ibeagha and Franco Escobar, though the club did make a major free agent signing in the form of USMNT center back Aaron Long.
Cherundolo is keen to look outside the organization for answers, but said he feels somewhat hamstrung by MLS salary rules. LAFC somehow found a way to squeeze Bale and Giorgio Chiellini in under budget last season — which Philadelphia Union sporting director Ernst Tanner somewhat infamously called into question.
This season, though, the club may not be so fortunate. Cherundolo is clearly irked by restrictions which include, but by no means are limited to, a salary cap and a senior roster that is capped at just 20 players.
“It has to financially be doable for us,” he said of new signings. “There are challenges in this league of staying within the means and the budget and the rules. That challenge is not [present] in any of the other leagues within CONCACAF Champions League. So it is a challenge for us and for any MLS team in the Champions League.”
That may be why LAFC has not yet been able to lock down a much-rumored deal for Chelsea’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, which Cherundolo would not be drawn on when asked (“I won’t comment on names or rumors”).
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
It all makes 2023 look like the biggest challenge yet in Cherundolo’s brief coaching career. Should he guide LAFC to success this year, the speculation around his own future will undoubtedly grow.
Cherundolo is one of the more intriguing candidates to be linked with the vacant USMNT coaching job. His resume has almost everything you’d want: a lengthy playing career in Germany and with the USMNT, experience as a Bundesliga assistant and in the Germany youth national team setup, and now head coaching success domestically. The only thing it lacks, for now, is a sustained record of success.
Though he’s quick to say he’s happy with LAFC, Cherundolo isn’t against the idea of one day coaching the team he played for at two World Cups.
“I thoroughly enjoyed every single minute I was able to play with the U.S. men’s national team and spend with that organization,” Cherundolo said. “If that time [coaching the USMNT] comes around at some point in my career, then I’ll hopefully be able to say the same thing about it. But at the moment, I’m very happy here at LAFC and we have a lot of work to do.”
One of the heroes of MLS Cup got one over on his old club
You couldn’t script it any better for John McCarthy.
LAFC won their first-ever championship in no small part thanks to the former Philadelphia Union goalkeeper, who came off the bench in the 117th minute of MLS Cup. He would go on to stop spot kicks from José Martínez and Kai Wagner, setting the stage for LAFC to take the wildest MLS Cup of all time by converting three of their four penalty attempts after a 3-3 extra time draw.
“We know what he can do on penalties. We’ve seen it, we train them,” LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo told reporters after the match, indicating that the team at least considered sending McCarthy in for Maxime Crépeau even if the Canadian had not been both injured and sent off in a late collision.
“Couldn’t happen to a better guy. John is one of the heartbeats of this team,” added Cherundolo, who later referred to McCarthy as “the best number two in the league.”
A Philadelphia native who stayed close to home to attend La Salle University, McCarthy made his pro debut for the Rochester Rhinos, only to parlay that into a deal with the Union in 2015. He spent four seasons with Philadelphia, and while he generally backed up Andre Blake, he did develop cult hero status at Subaru Park for his penalty kick expertise during the club’s U.S. Open Cup runs.
However, the Union let McCarthy walk after the end of the 2018 season, and he had to dip back down into the USL Championship to find the right landing spot. He parlayed a strong season with the Tampa Bay Rowdies into a return to MLS with Inter Miami.
While he picked up a decent number of starts under Phil Neville, he never quite took hold of the job, and he joined LAFC as a free agent in January 2022. Before stepping into MLS Cup and becoming a hero, he hadn’t played a match since an August Leagues Cup Showcase match against Club América. His last competitive minutes, and only official LAFC appearance before Saturday, came nearly six months earlier.
Maybe the Union should have seen what was coming. After all, while playing for Philadelphia, McCarthy found himself in a penalty tiebreaker against his old club, Rochester. The result? McCarthy saved three penalties in a round of 16 match that the Union would win.
Later in that same Open Cup run, Jim Curtin was brave enough to bring McCarthy in as a last-second sub for Blake during the final against Sporting Kansas City. McCarthy did stop a Krisztián Németh penalty, but as was the case at the Banc of California Stadium, the Union would come up short.
“Look, soccer gods have a funny way of working,” said Union head coach Jim Curtin with a reluctant chuckle. “We didn’t have Johnny and Gareth Bale being the ones that did us in today. But again, soccer is a funny sport that way. And then, those are the guys that stepped up in a big spot.”
It was a stunning but appropriate end to a completely wild game. Maxime Crépeau’s stomach-turning injury brought McCarthy, one of the substitutes least likely to play on the day, into a match that had been unhinged from the jump. That’s not a recipe for a goalkeeper to have a great day at the office, given how much the position is about poise and composure.
The former USMNT right back has been tipped as a future national team head coach
Los Angeles FC head coach Steve Cherundolo has attempted to distance himself from speculation over the U.S. national team job, saying “this is a business that’s not plan-able.”
Cherundolo has impressed in his first MLS season, leading LAFC to the Supporters’ Shield as well as the MLS Cup final, where his side will take on the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.
The 43-year-old served as an assistant coach in Germany after his playing career ended before taking on his first head coaching role with USL Championship side Las Vegas Lights in 2021.
Cherundolo’s rapid ascent through the coaching ranks combined with his long and successful career in the Bundesliga and with the USMNT has led to talk he could be a future head coach for the national team.
But Cherundolo aimed to downplay that speculation at Friday’s pre-match press conference ahead of MLS Cup.
“I’m really focused on LAFC right now,” Cherundolo said. “This is a business where it’s not plan-able, it really isn’t. I wouldn’t have thought I’d be sitting here. Two years ago I was just outside Hannover, mowing my lawn. So it’s really difficult to plan things in this industry.
“What comes next will come next, but right now, myself and the rest of the staff is laser focused on winning the game tomorrow.”
Curtin has claimed the award for the second time in three years
Jim Curtin is the 2022 Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year, but only took the prize by the narrowest of margins.
The Philadelphia Union boss, for the second time in three seasons, was the winner in polling involving players, media, and club general managers. He’s the fifth coach to win the award multiple times, and at 43 is the youngest to do so.
Curtin guided the Union to the top of the Eastern Conference, with his side picking up 67 points and missing out on the Supporters’ Shield only via the games-won tiebreaker. Philadelphia finished the year with by far the best goal difference in the league, a +46 mark resulting from setting club records in goals scored (72) and fewest goals conceded (26). Both marks were best in MLS this season.
He also seemed to find a new gear this year for the Union, who had previously been characterized purely by their pressing tactics and defensive organization. In 2022, those aspects remained intact, and were augmented by a far more dangerous attack that saw Dániel Gazdag, Julián Carranza, and Mikael Uhre each manage to produce at least 19 combined goals and assists.
Despite all that, Curtin won the award by just 0.1% of the vote. While the player and GM votes both leaned towards him, the media ballots broke heavily towards CF Montréal coach Wilfried Nancy. LAFC’s Steve Cherundolo (who won that aforementioned Shield) also ran Curtin close in all three categories. The breakdown gave Curtin 23.57% of the total vote, besting Nancy’s 23.47% mark by less than one percentage point.
Curtin and the Union will be busy this weekend, as they host the Eastern Conference final on Sunday night against NYCFC (8:00pm Eastern, FS1/Fox Deportes).
