Friday Newsletter: Zack Steffen, Pep Guardiola and What It's Like to Play for Perhaps the World's Best Club Team

I Speak to the USMNT's No. 1 Keeper About Playing for Pep Ahead of Another Man City-Liverpool Showdown

Zack Steffen Has Been Manchester City’s regular starter in cup competition (Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images)

What’s it like playing on what may be the best club team in the world?

American Zack Steffen, the 26-year-old No. 2 goalkeeper for Manchester City, ponders the question. “Oh, man,” he says. It’s Steffen’s second season on the ground with City, the Premier League leader and current Champions League semifinalist, after spending 2019-20 on loan with Fortuna Düsseldorf. And by now, Steffen has a full understanding of the Pep Guardiola experience.

“I mean, there’s pressure,” Steffen tells me during a recent interview. “It’s a grind. It doesn’t stop. It’s pretty, pretty crazy. I don’t think I’ll truly grasp the situation until I’m not with them anymore, to be honest.”

City meets Liverpool on Saturday in the FA Cup semifinals (10:30 a.m. ET, ESPN+), and it’s certainly possible that Steffen will be in goal for the showdown between England’s top two teams, who just met last weekend in a scintillating 2-2 Premier League tie and may be on a collision course for next month’s Champions League final.

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In the past two seasons, Steffen has started every FA Cup and League Cup game for which he has been available. When Guardiola was asked on Friday who would start on Saturday, he said: “I’ll think about it. We’ll discuss it with the physio. Of course, in the FA Cup I play with Zack, but we’ll see.”

Zack Steffen on briefly losing his USMNT No. 1 job in October: “Yeah, it was upsetting. I mean, obviously we all want to play each and every game, and that’s why we’re who we are. We’re competitors, we’re athletes. We want to play as much as we can. Our passion is playing and being on the field. But at the same time it’s a team sport. And especially goalkeeping, you’re here to support one another. And there’s a very good camaraderie among the [USMNT] goalkeeper pool.”

I’ve always been fascinated by Guardiola and the extremes of his coaching personality. He was a kind of shadow character of my most recent book, having exerted a profound influence over three of the main characters: Xabi Alonso, Vincent Kompany and Manuel Neuer.

When Alonso, the World Cup and Champions League winner, joined Bayern Munich in 2014, he did so mainly to prepare for his own coaching career by immersing himself in the methods of Guardiola. “I learned a lot those two years,” Alonso told me. “[It was] very useful for me to understand more about football and how I want to do things.”

Like Alonso, Man City’s Kompany was in his 30s and already massively accomplished when he first encountered Guardiola. But that didn’t prevent Kompany from getting a Ph.D-level education from Pep.

“Mainly by [Guardiola], I have been more and more convinced that this is a game of positions,” Kompany told me. “You don’t want to call it a chess game, but there are similarities in the sense that players have to be really aware of where they need to stand in relation to other players at any given time on the pitch, whether that’s in possession or without the ball. It’s becoming more and more specific, where being a few yards too much to the left or to the right—even when you’re nowhere near the ball—makes a big difference.”

“For example,” Kompany continued, “your winger coming inside too much when the ball is on the opposite side creates for the fullback who is marking [that winger] to be able to maybe mark two players from one position, because he’ll be closer to your No. 10 or your striker that’s around. So he’ll be able to provide cover for his defenders and midfielders. Whereas if you create large distances [between your winger and his teammates], the fullback can only be concerned with marking one player and can’t intervene on the other one because he is farther away. He needs to take a few steps back, and so on.”

If you watched Bayern Munich regularly when Guardiola coached there, it became clear that Neuer almost never booted the ball aimlessly downfield like so many other goalkeepers. Under Guardiola, the word you heard most often from the Bayern players to describe their attacking philosophy was control. Why would you boom the ball downfield and risk giving up control?

“The passing game has become more important,” Neuer told me. “We rarely just hammer the ball forward. I have probably twice as many touches of the ball now than I used to have at Schalke.” During the 2015-16 European league season, Guardiola’s last with Bayern, Neuer completed more passes—in fewer games—than Antoine Griezmann did at Atlético Madrid.

I ask Steffen what it’s like playing for Guardiola. What are the opportunities? What are the challenges? “I mean, the challenges are to perform at the highest level every single day, every single game,” he says. “It’s obviously amazing just to learn from it and just see how his players play and the culture and the style of play that he has, that he has pushed onto this group of players the past five years.”

In what ways is Guardiola extreme? 

“Just in the way he thinks the game,” Steffen says. “He’s just very detailed with everything. With how he looks at other teams, with how he looks at how we play. He’s always thinking about how he can break down a team and how he could help us to concede as few goals as possible and win as many games as possible.”

I hope Steffen starts for City on Saturday against Liverpool. Guardiola has always stuck with Steffen in Cup games before, even the biggest ones. It remains to be seen, though, if Steffen’s desire to be a No. 1 somewhere—the better for him to remain the No. 1 USMNT keeper for the World Cup—causes him to push for a loan next season. Perhaps to a team like soon-to-be-promoted Fulham, where he could play week-in and week-out and join USMNT teammates Jedi Robinson and Tim Ream.

Steffen ended up starting six of the U.S.’s 14 World Cup qualifiers. He was injured for the first three, but when he came in healthy for the October qualifiers he had to watch the first two from the bench behind Matt Turner.

“How can I put this? I mean, yeah, it was upsetting,” Steffen tells me. “I mean, obviously we all want to play each and every game, and that’s why we’re who we are. We’re competitors, we’re athletes. We want to play as much as we can. Our passion is playing and being on the field. But at the same time it’s a team sport. And especially goalkeeping, you’re here to support one another. And there’s a very good camaraderie among the [USMNT] goalkeeper pool.”

“So whoever comes in and is part of the group, we all do a really good job of supporting one another and making sure that the guy who’s going to be in between the sticks has the support and is ready and then feels good mentally and physically. So that’s what my role was in that camp, and that’s what I tried to do, was to get Matt ready and make sure he felt confident going into the games.”

Steffen ended up starting the third game that window, a 2-1 win over Costa Rica. And while he missed the three deep-winter qualifiers with another injury, he was back in goal for the last three qualifiers as the U.S. punched its ticket for Qatar 2022.

With both Steffen and U.S. No. 2 Turner (who’s joining Arsenal this summer) figuring to be backups at their clubs, one thing to watch this summer will be whether one or both push for a loan with their eyes on the World Cup.

OPENING THE MAILBAG

Thoughts on the Bobby Warshaw interview with Gregg Berhalter?

@CNCguy46345

I may be wrong by doing this, but I’ll presume that you’re asking my thoughts about Bobby, whom I really like, asking Berhalter about my recent story that included a longtime USMNT fan’s letter to me about the rise in what he called toxic fandom of the team. Look, I’m glad the story has resonated with a lot of people, some of whom disagree with what was presented and some who feel the opposite way. It’s pretty clear that a lot of the most vocal people haven’t read the entire story (which they could for free if they wanted to) because there’s a lot of nuance in it on all sides of the topic that they’re not addressing.

Personally, I think saying “Grant Wahl thinks USMNT fans are toxic” is false and a bad-faith way to communicate it, but if you’re only on Twitter that’s what you’ll find in some areas. Toxic probably isn’t even a good word to use at this point, because it has sort of lost its meaning as it gets used by people who think it’s a badge of honor.

In any case, Berhalter said that’s what happens in any sport with increasing popularity, including soccer, which I agree with 100%. Is Berhalter going to say publicly that there’s an element of USMNT fans that’s over-the-top in their constant negativity to the point that longtime fans are sending journalists letters about it? Of course he’s not, and so he didn’t say that. But I will say that I have heard from a lot of prominent people in the media and elsewhere that the letter from that U.S. fan was spot-on from their perspective.

Nobody’s saying fans can’t have any opinion they want about anything and express that opinion. That’s sports. And the increased popularity of the USMNT and the nature of social media means you have more places than ever to see any opinion you want. But I do think the response to the extremes of Twitter we’re starting to see is that a large number of fans want to engage in thoughtful discussion and debate that you can more easily find in communities like this one and others—where the main point isn’t just to vent your anger.

I keep hearing from certain corners that the U.S. soccer media culture should be more like that of Mexico or England. But in my experience, while there are some tremendous journalists and media people in both countries, those media cultures are often marked by tabloid coverage, reactionary hot-takes and a similarity that their national team players refuse to speak to most of the media there as a result. Is that really “better”?

Give us your keys to the CCL final between Sounders and Pumas!

Kit McGurn

This is a huge opportunity for Seattle to end 14 years of MLS misery and become the first MLS team to win the CONCACAF Champions League in its league format and send a team to the FIFA Club World Cup later this year. What’s more, Seattle got a break when Pumas upset tournament favorite Cruz Azul in the semifinals, which also means that Seattle has the advantage of hosting the second leg of the final.

By all means, Seattle has to find a way to neutralize Pumas’ Juan Ignacio Dinenno, who has been by far their most dangerous threat and sparked the three-goal comeback against New England in the quarterfinals. For Seattle, it was huge that Raúl Ruidíaz rediscovered his scoring touch in the second leg against New York City. If Stefan Frei can continue his phenomenal form of late in goal, I think this is Seattle’s title for the taking.

Did Pep and City show they are growing up when it comes to how to win hard scrappy games in Champions League?

Nate Pentz

I mean, maybe? It was wild (though not unexpected) when things got rough with Atlético Madrid and City toward the end of the game. What’s interesting to me is that City’s previous Champions League exits didn’t come as a direct result of a team trying to get overly physical with them. But I do think the tremendous contrast between City’s game against Liverpool and the one against Atleti shows that City can persevere in those extremes, which is a good sign for the team’s resilience. They’re clearly not soft.

With the success of the USWNT at the SheBelieves Cup and most recently against Uzbekistan (understanding they’re not the strongest opponent), which veteran USWNT players are most at risk of losing either their starting position or even place on the roster? Will any veterans get another chance or will this younger generation carry the team forward?

Amy S

I think veterans like Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Christen Press and Tobin Heath will get chances to come back to the national team, but coach Vlatko Andonovski has truly reset things to the point that club performances really are going to matter now for everyone when it comes to being called into the national team. That has never really been the case before, and it’s about time. A player like Rapinoe, at age 36, is probably in more danger of not returning simply because she’s older than the players mentioned above. That said, Rapinoe’s conditioning has gotten better in recent years, not least since she got connected to Sue Bird, and that and her skill will give her a chance to be involved in World Cup 2023.

Is Jesse Marsch's current success a harbinger of things to come for American coaches in Europe? What's going to really move the needle? Staying up at Leeds is well and good (good on Marsch for that), but what changes the calculus for big European clubs w.r.t. hiring American managers?

Josh Lane

I think we’re still really early in the timeline of U.S. coaches in European club soccer, much earlier than in the timeline for U.S. players. It’s going to take quite a few more American coaches to join Marsch over there before we can have a serious discussion about Americans coaching big European clubs. That said, on a case-by-case situation, is it possible that Marsch could have success at Leeds that would cause bigger European clubs to be interested in him? Sure. He has already coached at a club (Leipzig) that was a Champions League semifinalist not long ago. But it’s going to take more American coaches getting chances in Europe to create any sort of trend. Some to watch: Steve Cherundolo, Jim Curtin and an existing one like Pellegrino Materazzo with Stuttgart.

With the World Cup coming up around the corner, what city in the U.S. would you most want to go watch the final in?

Chris Danforth

I’m taking this to mean which city would I want to go to a public viewing of the 2022 final in. And if that’s the case, I’m picking my town, New York City. The fact that you can go watch every World Cup game in a neighborhood with the nationality that’s playing in the game is unbeatable.

Who is the next USMNT player (after Pulisic, Dest, McKennie, and maybe Reyna) to become a regular for a major European club?

Oliver Gottfried

You didn’t mention Tyler Adams, so I will. I think he would be a good fit at a sizable Premier League club.

In your Thursday pod discussion, you said Chelsea and Villarreal were set up for cup success. Does that mean in addition to league success or instead of? And how does a manager build a team for cup success differently than for league success or for success at both?

James

What I meant is that while Chelsea and Villarreal clearly aren’t the best teams in their leagues, their ceilings are very high in a limited cup competition, and they’re capable of winning any cup competition they enter. In my opinion, being set up for cup success also involves having a really good coach—as Chelsea and Villarreal do—who can make up some of the differences in a small-sample-size cup competition that are harder to deal with over the course of a longer league season.

Since the best, most highly paid female players are now in European leagues without salary caps, do you think the NWSL may institute something like a "Beckham Rule" to re-attract the world's top talent?

@wosofreak

I hope they do, because otherwise the gap stands to grow. I recently heard that Wendie Renard was hoping to come to an NWSL team, but her salary demands are too high. That’s not to say that I think Renard is a must-sign for any MLS team, but that her expectations weren’t in line with what is on the ground here.

Curious to hear where you think U.S. Soccer/USWNT CBA discussions are going to end up regarding FIFA prize money!

@natgoldc

Honestly, no idea, but I really like your piece examining a potential math-based solution. (Seriously, check it out. Nathán Goldberg Crenier is a former Harvard soccer captain who has also worked in data for U.S. Soccer and club teams.)

Story behind your podcast music opening?

@acreach

Ha! It was discovered and suggested by my friend Taylor Rockwell of the Total Soccer Show as he helped me launch my podcast in 2020. He knew I was calling the show Fútbol with Grant Wahl and that my background in soccer has a big Latino influence. And he came up with this, which I was very happy with.

Have a good weekend!