Gareth Southgate has resigned ans England manager after the Three Lions lost the EURO 2024 to Spain on Sunday.
Over the last eight years Southgate, 53, has taken England to back-to-back European Championship finals and a World Cup semifinal and quarterfinal in his four major tournaments in charge. Based on previous tournaments, that is a huge achievement.
But based on the talent at his disposal and the style of play, England’s manager has been criticized by many and now seems like the right time to move on.
Whatever Southgate decides to do next, he should be getting a call from one national team who currently need a new head coach: the USA.
Why would Gareth Southgate be a good fit for the USMNT?
He has proven he can not only get results at tournaments consistently but he’s also moulded a talented young crop of players into a team that can grind out results. The USMNT have tried to play flamboyantly over the last few years and failed at the top level. Now it’s all about one thing: getting results in 2026 and making a deep run.
Southgate was England U21 manager before and the way the likes of Saka, Foden, Bellingham, Palmer and Mainoo have all become key members of his team proves he can develop young talent and integrate them into a national team. The USMNT have so many talented young players and Southgate would be a good fit to nurture that talent. His record proves it.
He is a clear communicator with a clear plan and his style of play, being defensively sound and dangerous on the counter-attack and transitions, would suit this USMNT player pool. Much better than the possession-based style Gregg Berhalter tried to implement.
Add in that Southgate worked extremely closely with newly-appointed U.S. Soccer technical director Matt Crocker for many years with the English FA to implement the impressive systems that are in place to develop and nurture young talent (success at the youth World Cup and European Championship levels in recent years have underlined this) and he may be a lot higher on the candidates list than most people think.
Is Southgate the sexy hire? No. Will his style of play get people off their seats? No. But is he actually the best man for the job at the right time? He has to be right up there. He is a calm head who exudes confidence and being the figurehead for the most important tournament ever for the USMNT is something he would relish and enjoy.
Now that Southgate has stepped away from England, he may want a break. But the USMNT could give him the opportunity to do that and take his time in putting the building blocks in place before he’s ready to kick-start the road to 2026. U.S. Soccer could do a lot worse than hiring Southgate.