The USMNT just got beaten 4-1 by Belgium and knocked out of their own World Cup. The Giants got beaten 38-7 by Philadelphia in a playoff game they had no business being in. Different sports, different years — but the same hollow arc: a feel-good run, a big-name coaching hire, and then exposure the moment elite competition showed up.
The comparison isn't as far-fetched as it sounds.
The Daboll-Berhalter template: early promise, eventual collapse
Both teams entered their respective cycles on the back of embarrassing low points. The USMNT failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup — eliminated by Trinidad and Tobago with a World Cup berth on the line. The Giants were lining up in surrender formation against Washington under Joe Judge before ownership pulled the plug.
Replacements were found. Gregg Berhalter returned for a second stint and got the USMNT to the 2022 knockout stage. Brian Daboll took the Giants to a playoff win in Minnesota. Both looked like genuine turnarounds. Both weren't. Berhalter's group stage "success" in 2022 was built on two draws and a 1-0 win in a group with only one serious team. Daboll's playoff run was built on wins over mediocre opposition. When real competition arrived, both teams folded. Berhalter was eventually fired after a Copa America exit on home soil. Daboll was sacked mid-season.
The pattern is worth keeping in mind when reading early results too optimistically.
Big contracts, high hopes, open questions
Both organizations responded the same way: spend on a proven name. U.S. Soccer paid Mauricio Pochettino $6 million a year — third-highest among international men's coaches. The man took Tottenham to a Champions League final and won Ligue 1 with PSG. The Giants signed John Harbaugh at $20 million per year, tied for the highest head coaching salary in the NFL. A Super Bowl winner. A perennial playoff coach in Baltimore.
Pochettino's early signs were encouraging. The USMNT dismantled Paraguay 4-1 in the group stage — a performance that looked even better when Paraguay later pushed France to 1-0 in the knockout round. They beat Australia 2-0. They lost to Türkiye 3-2 with a rotated squad. They knocked out Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0. The momentum felt real.
Then came Belgium, and it evaporated inside 90 minutes. Christian Pulisic was nursing a calf injury and invisible. Folarin Balogun and Tyler Adams were equally absent. Belgium controlled possession from start to finish, and a lucky deflection off a defender's head was the only reason the scoreline wasn't worse than 4-1. Fox Sports is already questioning whether Pochettino should be retained for the 2030 cycle.
Harbaugh's version of that test is coming fast — games against the Cowboys and Rams in the first two weeks of the season. His inherited roster is ranked 23rd in the NFL by ESPN's talent metrics. If Malik Nabers starts the season injured or ineffective, that offense doesn't have obvious alternatives. If the secondary can't hold up against top passing attacks despite better scheme and coaching, the defense won't matter how well Harbaugh draws it up.
- USMNT: Pochettino delivered early group stage momentum, then collapsed 4-1 against Belgium's top-tier defense
- Giants: Daboll delivered a playoff win, then collapsed 38-7 in Philadelphia once the level stepped up
- Both organizations responded to failure by hiring high-profile, expensive coaches with major pedigrees
- Both face the same core question: were the previous squads underperforming, or just not good enough?
Harbaugh's contract length and the Giants' ownership culture make a quick firing unlikely. Pochettino may not get the same runway. But the more pressing question for both franchises isn't about the coaches at all — it's whether the rosters can compete at the top level when the margin for error disappears. Pochettino couldn't answer that against Belgium. Harbaugh gets his answer in week one.
