Forget Klopp; US should go big-game hunting and target the biggest buck

The United States men’s national team is in disarray. Their group-stage exit from the Copa America on home soil this month has thrown their planning for the 2026 World Cup they will co-host into turmoil.

There is recalibration to be done, a deep clean to be completed and dust to settle. But once the emotions sparked by the embarrassing Copa America campaign have cooled and a dispassionate review can commence, the United States Soccer Federation should get ambitious in search of their next manager.

Forget Jurgen Klopp, who has already reportedly turned down the job in favour of a full year’s rest after leaving Liverpool. Swerve Gareth Southgate, who is available after stepping down as England manager.

If you’re big-game hunting, you might as well take aim at the biggest buck of them all; the USMNT should go for Pep Guardiola.

The last time the US had to replace their manager, a little over a year ago, they utterly bungled it. When his contract expired after the 2022 World Cup, Gregg Berhalter left his post. But then, after a six-month search for a successor, the USSF decided the best man for the job was the last man in the job.

Berhalter was rehired in June last year with the intention he’d lead the USMNT into the next World Cup, which they will host jointly with Mexico and Canada. Little more than a year later, Berhalter has been given the boot after the Copa America calamity.

This time, the USSF have to show more foresight and ambition in their managerial search as 2026 draws near. Boasting arguably the most talent-rich collection of players in the nation’s history, it is imperative they find as high a calibre of coach as possible to maximise that group’s potential and, at the very least, avoid a Copa-esque embarrassment at the next major tournament in which they’ll compete.

Guardiola is, of course, the most ambitious possible target. He has won the Champions League twice, as well as 12 league titles across the three countries in which he has managed, and he’s the most influential tactician of his – perhaps of any – generation. What’s more, he is also currently in charge of probably the best club side in world football, in an environment shaped to his specifications and with an almost endless supply of funds. He will not be an easy get.

There are reasons to believe that Guardiola could be tempted by the USMNT job, though.

Firstly, he has long been open about his ambition to someday coach at the international level, most specifically with the romantic ideal of managing Brazil.

“A national team,” Guardiola said when asked by ESPN Brasil what is left for him to achieve in the game. “I would like to train a national team for a World Cup or a European Championship. I would like that.

“I don’t know who would want me. To work for a national team they have to want you, just like a club.

“I would like to have the experience of living through a World Cup, or a Euro or a Copa America, or whatever it is. I would like that.

“I don’t know when that would be, if that is five, 10, 15 years from now, but I would like to have the experience of being a manager in a World Cup.”

How about a World Cup on home soil, Josep? Sure, the United States are not a traditional football power to match Brazil, but they can offer the opportunity for Guardiola to make an indelible imprint on a still-developing soccer culture, to shape a lasting legacy by inspiring a best-ever tournament run that would appear modest by the standards of Brazil and other leading football nations.

Guardiola clearly has an affection for the old US of A, too. When he took a year out of management after four glory-filled seasons in charge of Barcelona, he and his family relocated to New York for the entirety of his sabbatical. His kids played football in a youth league on the Upper East Side. He even once filled in as a referee, only to be banished at half-time by other parents angry at how he was simultaneously coaching his son’s team during the game.

The soon-to-be Bayern Munich manager hung out with chess champion Gary Kasparov and attended economics lectures and Columbia University. He and his family, by all accounts, were very happy in the Big Apple.

One complicating factor in any USMNT move for Guardiola is that he is not immediately available. They wouldn’t have to wait long for him, though, with his City contract expiring at the end of next season and recent reports suggesting 2023/24 might be his final campaign at the Etihad. And if any manager is worth waiting for, it’s the best in the world.

When the US women’s team needed a new boss last year, they went and hired the best manager from England’s top female division, plucking Emma Hayes away from Chelsea. They waited for her, too, installing Twila Kilgore as the interim head coach while Hayes saw out her obligations with Chelsea.

In their search for the next manager of the men’s team, US Soccer must be just as ambitious. With the right financial package, with an attractive project and with patience, Pep can be persuaded.