For anyone following soccer in the United States, July 10 was a big day. Gregg Berhalter was relieved of his job as head coach of the U.S. Men's National Team. Six years of mediocre soccer are now a thing of the past.
The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) must look to the future, and some prominent names have been floated around the internet, including Jurgen Klopp, Hugo Pérez and Wilfried Nancy.
But only one soccer coach can save America: Erica Dumbacher, head coach of the Penn State women's soccer team.
Dambach is the right person for the job. She coached at Penn State for 17 seasons, compiling a record of 274 wins, 92 losses and 29 ties. She won a national title in 2015, has never missed the NCAA Tournament, coached and developed some of the best players in college women's soccer, and has many other accomplishments at Penn State alone. She also won a gold medal as an assistant coach with the U.S. Women's National Team and has won several more medals with the national team throughout the World Cup and Olympic cycles.
This is an abbreviated version of her resume.
Dambach acknowledges she doesn't have the same credentials in men's soccer — she's coached women's soccer at the highest level but doesn't have much experience with the USSF men's team — but that doesn't matter. Coaching is coaching, and Dambach knows coaching.
Dambach has no experience with the U.S. men's national team, but being a Penn State alumnus gives him an advantage in joining the team. U.S. captain and midfielder Christian Pulisic said: It could have been the Nittany Lions.All Dambach needs is the common bond of wearing the blue and white with America's best players.
Matt Crocker, do the right thing. Erica Dumbacher is your coach.
Certainly, Penn State's players would lose a quality coach if Dambach were to take over as varsity coach, and she would not have led the Nittany Lions to success during her nearly two-decade tenure.
But country always comes before club. I love seeing Ohio State walk off the field dejected, but hate even more seeing England walk off the field satisfied. I still get worked up about the War of 1812.
There's an argument to be made that the college game isn't comparable to the international stage, and that could hold Dambach back. His lack of ball knowledge could lead uneducated football fans to believe that coaching in the Big Ten wouldn't give Dambach the experience he needs to lead the U.S. forward.
But the U.S. is playing in CONCACAF, a team that will cut through El Salvador like a knife through soft butter, and Dambach is more than ready.
The United States is at a critical juncture in its soccer development as a nation. With the World Cup coming up on affluent American soil in two years, and some of the country's best talent developing overseas, the federation cannot afford to make a mistake in hiring its next coach.
That's why hiring Dambach is the right way to go. U.S. Soccer, please do the right thing, keep the beautiful game alive in America, and let Erica Dambach coach the U.S. Men's National Team.
