Episode #76 of the Training Ground Guru Podcast, in association with Genius Sports, is with US Soccer Sporting Director Matt Crocker.

Matt has been in role for almost three years and is responsible for setting the Federation’s sporting vision and performance strategy across all 27 national teams.

2026 is going to be a huge year for both Matt and US Soccer, with the opening of a new national training centre in Georgia and hosting a home World Cup.

Before joining US Soccer, the proud Welshman was Head of Coaching and Development for the English Football Association and Director of Football for Southampton. I spoke to him about his career, about his current role and about his ambitions for this summer and beyond.

We hope you enjoy this episode and if you do, please give us a follow via your preferred podcast provider.

SHOW NOTES =>

01:57: Opening of the new National Training Centre.

06:48: Big year ahead, with a home men's World Cup in the summer.

08:30: Almost three years in post now - reflections so far.

13:07: Pay to play in United States/ what is being done to make football more accessible for all.

16:18: Academy system in US compared to in England.

17:37: Composition of the senior squads - mostly based in Europe or at home?

19:13: Is this summer's World Cup key to growing the game in US?

20:52: What would constitute success for US at the World Cup?

23:10: How impressed have you been by Mauricio Pochettino?

24:42: Was it hard to land Pochettino and Emma Hayes?

25:54: US Women winning the Olympics just 10 weeks after Hayes had been appointed

27:37: Do the two Head Coaches - and others within the Federation - provide challenge for you?

28:58: How Hayes keeps him "on his toes."

29:44: Will Pochettino get longer with his players than eg Thomas Tuchel in run-up to World Cup.

31:18: Personal journey - starting his career at Cardiff City. Influence of Gavin Tait.

34:26: Joining Southampton as Academy Manager in 2006.

37:41: Pochettino developing young players at Southampton.

39:20: Joining Football Association as Head of Coaching and Player Development in 2013.

41:05: Three mentors: Dan Ashworth, Dave Reddin and Kirk Vallis.

44:04: Benefits of hiring people from outside football/ having diversity of ideas and experience.

46:10: Returning to Southampton as Director of Football in 2019.

50:49: Joining US Soccer as their second ever Sporting Director in 2023.

52:23: Confidence had been "rock bottom" after Southampton.

54:16: Difficulty of sticking to a long-term plan at a club.

56:02: One of first things he did was reappoint Gregg Berhalter as Men’s Head Coach through to the 2026 World Cup. A year later he was sacked after early exit in Copa America.

57:25: Ambitions for the future - return to grassroots coaching.

Our guest on Episode #75 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Teamworks, is Merijn Zeeman.

Merijn is the General Manager of AZ Alkmaar - a team that regularly compete at the top of the Eredivisie, despite having a budget that's dwarfed by their bigger rivals.

Prior to joining AZ, Merijn was the Sporting Director at Dutch cycling outfit Team Visma, helping them create history by winning all three Grand Tours in 2023.

In this episode, Merijn told us about the lessons he has taken from cycling into football, about how AZ have managed to outsmart the opposition and about their recent collaboration with Teamworks and Luke Bornn.

We hope you enjoy this episode and if you do, please follow us via your preferred podcast provider.

SHOW NOTES =>

02:18: Big clubs in Holland have a budget 4 to 5x that of AZ.

03:30: Started at AZ in December 2024. Came in from cycling, where he was Sporting Director. Spent 10 years there.

05:08: How Team Visma were transformed from also-rans to winners of three Grand Tours in one season. Culture had been bad/ still had one of lowest budgets.

08:55: How they transformed the culture. "It is not logical to expect a group of people will work good together."

14:22: Bringing in influences from outside cycling and why.

17:51: Move into football with AZ. How it came about.

19:07: General Manager role - not one we hear about often in UK football. What does it involve?

21:54: What makes AZ special and even unique as a club? Average finish of 3.8 in the Eredivisie in last 10 years.

26:27: Was the transition from cycling to football difficult? Originally from Alkmaar, which helped. Relationship with Dave Brailsford and also Erik ten Hag, who invited him to watch training at Manchester United.

29:33: How club use data. Influence of Billy Beane and Luke Bornn. Team Visma used data to overcome one outstanding rival rider. Use of Teamworks Intelligence and how it has helped. "One of the ambitions is that in maybe five years we can win games because we understand the game better through data than any other team."

35:06: Big thing has been making data more accessible to the coaches at the club.

36:48: How AZ use Teamworks Intelligence. Big thing is merging event and tracking data. Previously the club had tried to develop their own model.

39:23: Using objective data to counter biases in decision-making. "For a lot of coaches it is about opinions or visions, not about objective information. It is very hard to progress if you don't have objective information."

42:25: How Team Visma used data to usurp a dominant rival rider. Taking this lesson into football.

45:35: What are the club's ambitions for the future?

Our guest on Episode #74 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Teamworks, is Jamie Hamilton.

Jamie is a UEFA A Licence coach and has become one of the most important thinkers in football coaching, with his work on positionism and relationism.

This has struck a chord with coaches, players and fans, at all levels of the game, and is influencing a change of approach.

SHOW NOTES =>

01:50: Jamie's background - as a coach and writer.

04:06: How he first became interested in the concept of positionism. Influence of Pep Guardiola. Desire of positionists to turn chaos into order. Inspiration of Fernando Diniz at Fluminense.

19:20: Guardiola's teams becoming more controlled and ordered in the last five years. Finding Premier League teams more formulaic and less inspirational than they could be with the players available.

20:29: Coaches putting players into slots in pre-designed systems, rather than evaluating who you have, as people and players, and making the best of them.

31:38: Head Coach as a "top-down controller", thus constraining freedom. Enzo Maresca has said that there IS freedom - by virtue of the player receiving the ball having time and not being under pressure. But this is a certain definition of freedom and very different to the definition that a relational coach like Carlo Ancelotti would use. He gives his players freedom to move where they please too.

35:30: Defences are getting more attuned in how to combat positional systems. Becoming more physical, utilising man-to-man marking more. The inherent predictability of positional systems is being countered. So where now? This is where relational football can come in.

42:12: Coaches are worried about what happens when they lose the ball if they don't use positional systems. This isn't necessarily true though.

46:55: Teams have started using man-to-man pressing systems to combat positionalism, eg Bournemouth. This has led to teams hitting long balls into space with a classic number 9 chasing. Set pieces have also come more and more to the fore. There have been some creative solutions, eg Kane dropping very deep for Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund, but the most interesting solutions have tended to be outside the Premier League.

53:50: Bayern Assistant Rene Maric has said (on this podcast) that "tactics don't exist." Need for players to think in the moment.

56:52: Definition of relationism in layman's language. Positionism is zonal, inspired by handball. Relationism is non-zonal with exponents like Diniz, Ancelotti and Scaloni.

1:05:32: Need to let players play and not over coach. Good example of Messi and Suarez. Ability to let go and to be surprised.