Berhalter finally gets fired!
Will Klopp take the USA job?
The Euro final is set
Derrick White gets called up
Team USA Basketball exhibition game 1
Mac on sports
Berhalter gets fired. Team USA Basketball
On today's episode of Macon Sports, Greg Berhalter finally gets fired a right decision by the United States Men National Confederation to do that. It needed to happen and it has been done as they prepare for the 2026 World Cup on their home soil. Team USA basketball played their first exhibition against Canada out in Las Vegas. We break that down and we talk about a potential controversy decision to bring Derek White on over some others. I love it but we're going to break into that and why it could be potentially an interesting move on the USA's part. We talk about the Euros, absolute unbelievable finish in the Netherlands England game which sets up for an unbelievable final between the two. It is going to be a good one. Sit back and enjoy. Let's ride. [Music] [Music] What is going on guys? Happy July the 11th and yes Greg Berhalter has finally been fired. We can all take a deep breath. We can all exhale because it has finally came to a decision that Greg Berhalter will not be returning to be the USA manager for the coming years for the 2025 Gold Cup and the 2026 World Cup. Thank the Lord. This is a decision that needed to happen. A decision that should have happened a long time ago. A guy in Greg Berhalter that never really had the dressing room that never really had all of his players respect and if he did have his players respect it was because of his lack of ability to go hard coaching on them and give them the easy way out. The United States national team is considered to be part of their golden generation right now. This is the team for years to come to have the ability to potentially get to a World Cup quarter finals. Maybe push for a semi-finals. You never know it's on your home's toil but they have the talent to do it. They have the players to do it but they never had the coaching to do it and Greg Berhalter felt he fell this team short. He came up short with this team time after time after time and was an absolute disappointment every single big tournament that this team had. As I alluded to last episode when Greg Berhalter got suspended for two months for an altercation with Geo Rainier one of the United States national teams players. They brought him BJ Callahan and it was the best two months of US soccer that they have had in years and that is not a coincidence. I really don't believe I just truly find it to believe that Greg Berhalter was not a good manager. When he took this job he didn't have any of the resume to even be able to get this job. He didn't have the DNA to get this job. He got it because Matt Crocker the hiring official for US soccer is a good friend of his and that is what a big problem is. That is what a big problem is and he paid his dues. He sucked and now he's gone. So now the United States turn on their rotating brains and they got to figure out what are we going to do. You have a 2026 World Cup on your home soil. You have to rotate away from Berhalter. You have to come in with a big time replacement. Who is that big time replacement going to be? I truly believe it's going, you know, I don't think it's going to be Jurgen Klopp but early reports late Tuesday night or Wednesday night early Thursday morning. Jurgen Klopp has been reached out by the United States. The US have reached out to Klopp and look he's left Liverpool because he was fatigued. The Premier League is a daunting league. You are playing matches every weekend. Basically every midweek once you're at top four club in England and you have Champions League, the Carabero Cup, the FA Cup, you have everything going on, right? You're going to play about two to three matches per week and it does get daunting and it does get physically draining of course. Being an international manager doesn't. It's got a lot of high expectations but the ones that matters is every summer. You go about a month and a half out of your year that really matters. Now yes, you have your international friendlies and you have all these things where you have to watch these guys on their club to see who's going to be the guy that gets picked for your 26-man roster. I get that but compared to the Premier League, oh my gosh, this is a breeze. Do I think Klopp will take the job I don't? Would I love it too? Of course that would be a home run higher. Home run higher for the United States national team. When I look at Jurgen Klopp though and I do believe here is the potential thing that could happen. If he was to ever come to international management, I do believe it would be Germany and maybe the United States can swim. Especially being the host country. That is a very attractive job. That is a very attractive job. America is a beautiful country. It's a beautiful place to live for a bunch of international people. They love it as well and to have the 2026 World Cup on your home soil, it has some certain perks to the job. I definitely think Klopp is a guy that could potentially consider it. If you go from Greg Berhalter to Jurgen Klopp, oh my god. That's a night and day difference that puts the United States national team in an ability to compete at the highest level because they have the talent to do it. Like I said, they have the talent to do it. They just haven't had the management. And I think Greg Berhalter was absolutely horrific. I think Greg Berhalter was absolutely awful. And I think this is a United States national team that knows what is at stake. They know the potential ability to find a way to make a run into the 2026 World Cup. But you need to rejuvenate the fan base because they've been held down by Greg Berhalter's horrific style play. And Jurgen Klopp's a guy that can really juvenileize a fan base and get them back on their feet and excited for the 2026 World Cup. So that would be an awesome, awesome thing if they find a way to do that. If not Klopp, maybe there's a couple other guys that can look around. But the search should be interesting. The shirts should be interesting. It should be a good one. Now we move on to the Euros though. How about it? I talked about it last episode. I said it was absolutely awesome. And it has been the Tuesday game between France and Spain was awesome. That first half was ridiculous. Yumal. He is a 16 year old phenom scored a ridiculous goal for Spain in the first half to I believe that actually took the lead to one for Spain. And they didn't look back and ended up closing out France. Ridiculous, ridiculous. I think Spain has been the best team in the entire tournament. I think Spain has been the most cohesive team. They've played the cleanest tournament so far. I think their possession based suits them well, where all it takes is one or two goals and they're going to that's enough to beat them. You know, it's tough to beat Spain in a shootout because they are so smart. They are so fundamental. And that is a very tough thing to do in beating this Spain team, especially when you have Roger in the holding midfield. I think he's the best defensive midfielder in the entire world. Yumal, the 16 year old winger. That kid is an up and coming star. He is ridiculous. Spain also has some veteran presence too. Yeah, they lost Pedry. Losing Pedry is a huge loss for Spain. That one hurts Maratha up top. He has a little bit of an injury. Is he going to be okay for the final? I don't know. He ended up getting hurt by a security guard. Yeah, you heard that right. In celebration, a security guard was trying to catch a streaker slipped and fell and came right into Maratha's leg and hurt Maratha's leg. That's a big deal. But I do believe what at the end of the day, Spain is going to be perfectly fine. And I think they're going to match up well with England. England versus the Netherlands was a unbelievable game. It started off hot. The Netherlands got on the board first eight minutes into the game and then Phil Foden took over that first half. I thought Phil Foden was great. Harry Kane ended up getting a penalty, tucked it away, bottom left corner, unbelievable pen from Harry, tied it at one. And as it looked like England was on their way once again to finding themselves in another, yes, another extra time game as they played Slovenia in the first round of the knockouts and it ended up going to penalty kicks or it went to extra time. Harry Kane's going the 91st minute, but extra time. And then in the quarters, they played Switzerland and that went to penalty kicks. And then it looked like in the semis against the Netherlands that was suited for another penalty kicks game until Ali Watkins scored in the 90th minute to send the Netherlands home. Now listen, I hear a lot of Gareth Southgate criticism and sure Gareth Gareth Southgate probably deserves a lot of criticism. But you know what, he also does some praise as well. He also deserves some praise as well because it's kind of like for England's sake. Gareth Southgate is the Jason Tatum. Jason Tatum gets criticized every single potential chance possible by American basketball fans and by the media and TV industries, all that, right? But at the end of the day, Jason Tatum is a champion and Jason Tatum is a hell of a player and Jason Tatum is a top five player in the NBA. Pretty good, right? So what does that leave out Gareth Southgate? This is a guy in Gareth Southgate that in the Qatar World Cup, he took England to a semis. Fair enough, fair enough, right? He got he has been to a World Cup semi-final. Now that might have been Russia. Regardless, it doesn't matter. Whether it was the Russia World Cup or the Qatar World Cup, he got England to a semi-finals. Fair play. You tip the cap there, that's respectable. He got in 2020 in the Euro championships, took England to a final and should have beaten Italy but came up short. But he had it. He was there. That's not a fireable offense yet. He got him to a final. That's better than what England soccer has been able to do for years. And now when you look at this euros in Germany, he's got an England back to another finals and a capability of bringing soccer, you know, bringing it home. It could be coming home to England for the first time since what? 1986. I don't know. It's been forever whenever it was. But I'm saying there's a pedigree here. Former England manager should have not been able to get England this far in these recent tournaments. Southgate has a World Cup semi-final under his belt. Now he has two European Championship finals under his belt. And it's all about getting a win here. It's all about getting a win. And if you're if Gareth Southgate can get England to take down Spain on Sunday, all of a sudden Gareth Southgate becomes Jason Tatum. All the haters shut up. All you have to do is win. And once you win, haters can't say shit. But I think Gareth Southgate deserves praise. You look at what he did against Switzerland in the quarterfinals. He brought on Ivan Tony because he's a great penalty kicktaker. Tucked away his penalty on a no look pen. Phenomenal job there. Brought on Trent Alexander Arnold for Phil Foden. Trent Alexander Arnold puts in the game winning penalty against Switzerland to get England to the semi-finals. He has used his 26-man roster to perfection. And that deserves praise. That deserves praise. It deserves praise. It does. Instead of criticism. Because we are in a world, we are in the 21st century in 2024 where everything has to be so negative. We never get to see the positive side of things. Everybody always has to rip others down. Well, we need to pick people up here too. And as much criticism that Gareth Southgate has got and has some of it been warranted? Sure. But not all of it. It sounds like he can never do anything right in these the worst manager ever. And that is not the case. Because when you look at his 26-man roster, he has hit it right on the nail. Because you look at the Switzerland game, the penalty kicks was perfect. Fast forward to the semi-finals. And the absolute perfection tactics was used again in his subs again. Brought on Cole Palmer, who's had a phenomenal tournament off the bench. Brought on Ollie Watkins. Instead of Ivan Tony, a lot of people were kind of questioning that if it was the right decision. It was. Cole Palmer links up with Watkins for a 90th minute goal. Every person on this 26-man roster plays a role differently. And Gareth Southgate has nailed it right on the head. It has been phenomenal job by Gareth Southgate. The media won't tell you that because they won't call him the worst man during the world and this and that. But at the end of the day, he has gotten England back to another European championship final. And he is trying to rewrite his story and bring it home on Sunday. It is going to be an unbelievable game for Spain versus England. This is as good as a final. I think you could potentially ask for this is going to be a ridiculously good game. And oh my god, I mean, it's going to be an awesome game. Seriously, no, it's going to be a really, really good game. Because you have, I think, two of the best teams in the world. Like the entire country, I think Spain and England are definitely both top three. I think this is going to be a lot of high, high stakes, high intensity. Now, look, Spain is the early favorite and they are pretty hefty favorite. England to plus 250 on the money line compared to Spain plus 140. I am surprised about that. I am. But Spain has been the best team all tournament. I can't say, you know, I did say that and I stick with that. I do think Spain is a slight favorite. In my opinion, I wouldn't go that much on the money line, but I do think we are going to get a really, really good game here. And both teams are possession based wise. High level, high level soccer on Sunday afternoon for the European champions in Berlin. It is going to be an unbelievable game. So that is talking soccer. Let's shift gears into some basketball talk as team USA took down Canada and game one of their first exhibition in Las Vegas. Now look, are we going to say this was pretty? It was that the USA came out and they gave up an 11 one start to start the game against Canada. It was awful. It was awful. It was really bad. It was really bad. They needed a spark. Who were the two guys that I thought had a very good spark? I thought Jason Tatum. No figure, right? Well, no, I thought Tatum was great. He had eight first half points. The most points in the first half out of anybody came off the bench, created a spark when it was needed. I thought Anthony Edwards was awesome too. I thought Edwards played phenomenal. I thought Anthony just picked himself up. I thought it was a slow start, but I do think he ended up playing great. He had 10 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks and two steals for Mr. Anthony Davis. Look, when the United States want to play, when they want to play at their highest level, they're fun. Yeah, because they came out and they struggled early and it is an exhibition and it's all about getting, it's all about getting rhythms. It's all about, you know, just finding themselves fun, chemistry and just trying to get comfortable with one another. And yeah, look, it's going to take a little time and that's why you do these exhibition games before you get to Paris. You want to play at your best level. You want to be comfortable. You want to, you know, be as highly competitive and as cohesion as possible or cohesive. And we're going to see that. It's going to take time. This is a group of 12 new guys that some of them played together, but most of them have not and they were short handed. They didn't even have Derek White, which leads us into that controversy. So early Wednesday, Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers decided they were going to pull them from the Olympics. Look, I understand Kawhi has not ever had the best of health. I do. And for franchises, your franchise comes first before anything else, including USA basketball. I get that. But it is what it is. I think it's kind of a bad look to do it this late. I think it's a bad look to have him go through the training camp. And I think it's a bad look to have him on the day of the first exhibition to decide to pull them out. It is what it is, whatever. You can't expect anything from Kawhi Leonard anyway nowadays because he's injury prone, whatever. But to USA, Grant Hill, who's the leader of USA basketball, who makes the roster decisions, called up Derek White. Now, as a guy who gets to watch Derek White on a night in night out basis, I get to see Derek White all the time. You know, I watch every game possible. He is an awesome player. He is a guy that's going to give you 110% energy. He is a guy that's going to bust his ass and do anything he can to win. Those are the guys that you want on your roster. No doubt about it. But yes, are there guys that did not get selected that are better than Derek White? Yes. Kyrie Irving, you know, Jason Tatum, or not Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, Tyrese Maxie. There's a Damian Lillard. There's a lot you can go down in the list and name. But this is about building the best team possible. And when you build that best team possible, you find yourself who is a perfect fit. I think Grant Hill did a phenomenal decision here. Is there politics involved on why Jalen Brown may have not gotten picked? Yes. Just Jalen Brown, you know, hate Nike and not respect Nike at all. Yes. I understand that. Jalen Brown is a guy who will speak his mind. He has been that way ever since he has gotten to the league. I stand with Jalen on that. Speak your mind. That's what makes Jalen Brown so unique. I love Jalen Brown. He's great. And he's not afraid to, you know, speak what's on his mind and maybe go the un... maybe go the way that's not traveled as much, right? But carve his own path. I respect that out of Jalen because a lot of guys would just sit back on their hands and not say anything. But shout out Jalen Brown. I do believe Jalen Brown's stance against Nike is part of the reason why Jalen Brown did not get selected for Team USA Basketball. Because if you're going to tell me that Jalen Brown is not a top 15 player in USA, that is wild. Not the NBA, but top 15 USA player in the world. That's wild. That is wild to me. Guy just won Eastern Conference Final MVP. Guy just won NBA Finals MVP. Second highest paid player in NBA history. Crazy. Crazy. Politics are even in professional sports and that is sad. That is a real, real shame. But I don't have a problem with Derek White being the guy that got called up to replace Kawhi. Because I look at a guy in Derek White and the guy they're going to call up for Kawhi Leonard is a guy that is not going to get a ton of playing time, that is going to probably be later down on the bench that may not even play every game, but may come in a little bit from time to time. Maybe a five minute, six minute stint for a game, maybe. That's your guy Derek White. And why is Derek White so valuable? Because Derek White's not going to complain. I think Team Chemistry is a huge, huge, huge thing here when it comes to Team USA basketball. And I think Derek White is not going to complain. I think you needed more guards. You needed guards that could defend at a high level to guard Canada in the knockout stages. I think you have that in Derek White. I think you saw what the Boston Celtics were able to do with Drew Holiday, with Derek White, how fun they were to watch, how good they were in this regular season defensively. And I think Team USA basketball is trying to mold that DNA into this roster to get a big time defender, a guy, a big time playmaker. And I think that's Derek White. So I have no issue at all with Derek White getting the call up. I actually think from a team perspective, it's not about talent. It's about fit. And I think Derek White is a perfect fit for Team USA basketball. And this shouldn't come as a surprise for anybody. This was talked about during the playoffs that if there was an injury, who was going to be the guy that gets called up? And that was Derek White. And there was reports on that. So this shouldn't come as a real shocker to people. So shout out Derek White from Division II basketball to end up going to Colorado for one year to go into San Antonio to flying under the radar. He was good in San Antonio, but he flew under the national radar and then to just blossom. Into a star in Boston. Yeah, I said it a star because he is Derek White's a star. Respect him. What a journey for Derek White. But that's going to do to this episode of the Mac on sports podcast. The Olympics are heating up. They are getting closer and closer and closer. This weekend, we got a good we got a good weekend of sports. We have the open for golf lovers. Always a good or a good major there. We're going to have the Wimbledon final expecting joke of it to be back in a final maybe against Alcaras. That would be a fun one to watch more team USA basketball and a euros championship. We have a lot to talk about next show. I love you guys. Peace out.