Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira has emerged as a potential candidate for the United States Men's National Team (USMNT) head coach vacancy after leaving his role as manager of RC Strasbourg.
The former Crystal Palace and New York City boss was the first head coach hired by the club's BlueCo owners, who appointed him last year. The Frenchman led the Alsace outfit to a 13th-placed finish in Ligue 1 last term as they picked up a single point less than its haul during the previous term under Julien Stephan and Frederic Antonetti.
That mid-table showing across the 2023-24 campaign was not enough to convince Todd Boehly and his partners of Vieira's merits as a coach as he was relieved of his duties via a mutual agreement. Now, FOX Sports have reported the ex-Gunners icon is among the names being weighed up by U.S. Soccer to potentially succeed Gregg Berhalter.
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The latter as dismissed as head coach of The Stars and Stripes after the team's underwhelming performance at Copa America 2024 as the crashed out at the group stage. One win and two defeats sealed their fate on home soil as the world's No. 11-ranked side failed to live up to pre-tournament expectations.
Former Premier League stalwart Vieira is a new addition to the growing list of potential contenders for the role in charge of the USMNT. Since the parting of ways with Berhalter, a host of household names have been linked with the post, with Jurgen Klopp purportedly turning down the job .
In addition, Spain's Euro 2024-winning mastermind Luis de la Fuente has been mentioned as a potential candidate, alongside former England boss Gareth Southgate - who has just left his role as manager of the Three Lions. Either way, U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker is all too aware of the size of the task facing him as he sets about searching for his next head coach.
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Speaking after Berhalter's departure, as prepares to potentially appoint a manager who will lead the team at the next World Cup in the country in 2026, he admitted: "Winning is the yardstick, and we didn't do that. We are looking for a serial winning coach and a coach that can also build on the work that has already been put in place.
"Clearly, there's still a lot of potential in the group and we have to turn out the performance and results, so that's what I'll be looking for and that'll be my absolute No. 1 priority. All my energies and efforts will be going into that straight away."
Crocker has also hinted that assessments have been conducted in-house as his governing body looks to learn from the team's poor performances at Copa America. He added: "I think I'm a lot clearer and a lot more confident in what I see and also doing reviews with both Gregg and with (former USWNT coach) Vlatko (Andonovski).
"I'm a lot clearer in what I think we need going forward. I'm in a better place to have a much more targeted search where I'll be more inclined to go hard and go early with specific candidates that I feel meet the criteria that we're looking for."
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