Matarazzo on Hoffenheim hot seat as American coaches flounder

Under-fire TSG Hoffenheim coach Pellegrino Matarazzo will host Miroslav Klose’s Nuremberg on Wednesday in cup action. The World Cup’s all-time top-scorer is enjoying life as a manager. Recently, Klose’s 2. Bundesliga side blasted Joe Enochs’ Jahn Regensburg 8-3 last Friday. 

Enochs, who represented the US in his playing days, lost his position after the embarrassing defeat left his team with four points from ten games. Meanwhile, Matarazzo’s situation shed light on the difficulties American coaches face in European soccer.

Players’ success stories don’t translate to coaching

More than ever, USMNT stars are becoming decisive with their clubs in top-rated European leagues. Christian Pulisic played at a world-class level at the start of the season while Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi have been in fine scoring forms of their own. Antonee Robinson has played every minute for Fulham in the Premier League and the performances of Brenden Aaronson and Josh Sargent in the Championship can serve as other examples of the recent trends.

But when it comes to American coaches, the story is very different. So far, only Jesse Marsch and Matarazzo have coached in UEFA club competitions. Following his time with Leeds United, Marsch is now Canada’s national team coach.

For a while, the 50-year-old Wisconsin native was dreaming of coaching USMNT. Similarly, Matarazzo publicly expressed his desire to lead his nation in the future. But, for now, US Soccer went with a big name by hiring Mauricio Pochettino.

Tough time for Europe-based US coaches 

Previous USMNT coaches Bob Bradley and Gregg Berhalter also tried their luck in Europe. However, Bradley was only in the Premier League hotspot for 11 games with Swansea City. And Swedish club Hammarby was a second-tier club when Berhalter was in charge between 2011 to 2013.

But the recent crop of young coaches has struggled to even reach that level. David Wagner, who was born in Frankfurt and spent most of his time in Germany, was recently relieved of his position at Norwich City.

Steve Cherundolo worked as assistant manager at Hannover and Stuttgart, but he’s now settled with life at MLS. Enochs is another US coach who has a long-standing history in German soccer.

In his first full season at the club, Enochs won promotion to 2. Bundesliga before the awful start to the new campaign. Regensburg conceded 30 goals in the first 10 games of the season while they only found the net four times, including three in the weekend’s 8-3 defeat.

Time is ticking for Matarazzo at Hoffenheim

Wednesday’s game will be crucial for Matarazzo’s credentials at Hoffenheim. While he fared much better in Europe, four points from three games after defeat in Porto last Thursday, their league form has been concerning.

In Sunday’s goalless draw with Heidenheim, Matarazzo had to rely on a superb late save by his goalkeeper Oliver Baumann to salvage a point. Hoffenheim currently sits in 15th place after eight rounds played in the Bundesliga. Their only wins came against the bottom-placed teams Holstein Kiel and VfL Bochum.

In that regard, their next league game will also be against 16th-placed St. Pauli. But, if Klose recorded another win against a US coach on Wednesday, the pressure would increase on Matarazzo. 

With 99 goals in 57 league games, Matarazzo is only second to current Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann for the highest goal-per-game ratio at Hoffenheim. But they also conceded 104 goals this time, which is the fourth-worst record for a Hoffenheim coach.

PHOTOS: IMAGO