Matt Crocker has a major choice to make as new USMNT Sporting Director — who the next head coach will be to guide the team through the next World Cup cycle. Many names have been linked from Jose Mourinho to Jesse Marsch, and more recently, LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo — though, in a press availability on Tuesday, Cherundolo declared reports about him being considered for the post “fabricated and false," articulating that he's "committed to LAFC" and plans to be with the club "a long time."
Cherundolo’s remarks are particularly intriguing given the source of the original report. On the “In Soccer We Trust” podcast, former U.S. international Heath Pearce broke the news, stating that “Cherundolo, by the way, is being interviewed for [the USMNT head coach] job as well.” Pearce played with Cherundolo during their shared time with the national team in the early 2000s.
Upon the report hitting Twitter, Pearce quickly questioned his own words.
Perhaps Pearce made a mistake. Maybe he was corrected by his former teammate. Conceivably, Cherundolo was in fact interviewed for the head coaching job. Pearce followed up in a tweet Tuesday declaring it to be "good news for LAFC."
Cherundolo has only been a first-division head coach for one full season, though he's experienced great success in that time, lifting both the MLS Cup and Supporters’ Shield in the 2022 season. In the process, Dolo, as he is affectionately known, recorded the most wins ever for a first-year MLS head coach with 21. As he entered his second season, Cherundolo broke the record for the fastest MLS coach to reach 25 wins in the non-shootout era (40 games) before quickly becoming the winningest coach through 50 games in MLS history with 28 wins — a record he could still improve on in the next two matches.
B.J. Callaghan is serving as interim head coach for the USMNT — the second such fill-in this calendar year. The team faces Mexico on Thursday night in Las Vegas (7 p.m. PT) in the Concacaf Nations League semifinals, with the chance to advance to Sunday's final against the Canada-Panama winner.
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