U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker’s sudden departure for a role in Saudi Arabia shocked those around both the federation and American soccer as a whole.
It undoubtedly comes with poor optics. The World Cup – to be played on home soil – is just two months away. How could U.S. Soccer’s top sporting executive leave now?
But that skin-deep complaint lacks substance. And if you’re worried Crocker’s departure will have any sort of impact on the team this summer, you’ve misplaced your concerns.
Crocker wasn’t going to be involved in the day-to-day of the World Cup. Planning was done. As Crocker himself put it recently, “outside of training and breakfasts with Mauricio (Pochettino) and the staff, and whatever they need me [for], for me, it’s business as usual.”
American soccer fans should focus instead on what Crocker is leaving behind: the gargantuan task of reforming a sport that has proven resistant to meaningful change.
Crocker’s main function within U.S. Soccer had less to do directly with what the U.S. men’s national team does this summer, and more with what the World Cup is supposed to do for American soccer overall.
His focus has been on how U.S. soccer can develop world-class players. To accomplish that, he had to take on the behemoth of youth soccer in America and try to find a way to institute the “U.S. Way,” a plan that he hoped would change and improve player development in this country.
Matt Crocker hired Mauricio Pochettino to coach the USMNT in one of his signature moves as federation sporting director (Adam Hunger / AP Photo)
In an interview with The Athletic last month, Crocker was blunt about the current landscape.
“Everybody agrees that the system is broken,” he said. “I haven’t spoken to anybody who feels that we have a player development system that is working, thriving, where everybody is working together in the best interest of the child.”
But knowing it’s broken and knowing how to fix it are two very different things.
Crocker worked diligently since joining U.S. Soccer in April 2023 to build relationships by listening and learning, rather than commanding from above, as the federation had long been known to do. He tried to serve and unite. His efforts brought U.S. Club Soccer into a partnership with the federation. Some believed his relationship building with U.S. Youth Soccer and the American Youth Soccer Organization was starting to bear fruit.
But Crocker learned what former U.S. Soccer sporting director and three-time U.S. World Cup veteran Earnie Stewart had learned before him.
“It’s a bigger beast than I ever expected,” Crocker said. “It’s so complex. It’s so political.”
“It’s taken us a while for people within the system — important people who make decisions about the game — to start to believe and trust U.S. Soccer; [to trust] that we have the right people, that we’re building a robust plan that involves collaboration and working together. … Maybe I underestimated how long that would take to begin to build that trust.
“I’m frustrated. I’m frustrated at the speed of change,” he concluded. “But, you can definitely see and feel, I believe, positive (indications) about how U.S. Soccer is perceived, and its ideas about working together with the whole system.”
Losing Crocker might be a step back in those efforts. The work done to get people to “believe and trust U.S. Soccer,” isn’t helped when the person leading it departs. And this is where the optics and the real challenges collide. U.S. Soccer’s reputation as an all-powerful organization is still under-repair. Crocker’s efforts to unite the ecosystem were partly about convincing people that everyone is in this together.
Now he’s gone and replacing him will not be an easy task.
Emma Hayes promptly guided the USWNT to an Olympic gold medal after being hired as head coach by Matt Crocker (Robert Cianflone / Getty Images)
Crocker, who hired both Pochettino and U.S. women’s national team coach Emma Hayes, was very well-liked within the organization. Staff members were caught off guard by his departure. His ability to connect with people, both within the federation and outside of it, should not be undervalued. It was an important part of the progress, even as tedious as the inch-by-inch nature of the work might have felt to him.
But no one person was going to be able to tackle this issue. For the last eight years, we’ve heard talk about how the World Cup is going to transform soccer in America. It’s the perfect pie-in-the-sky tagline that executives love to repeat without any real context. In practical terms, though, this tournament playing out in American backyards should breathe excitement into the grassroots and youth soccer.
U.S. Soccer has to find a way to exploit the moment.
“This is a long, long-term project,” Crocker said last month. “But we have to start with the hard work now. We’re never gonna have a better opportunity [than] the next five years.”
Now, U.S. Soccer will have to find a new leader, or a new strategy, to tackle it.
Henry Bushnell contributed reporting to this story.
