In the summer of his junior year of college in 1994, Gregg Berhalter decided it was time to look further afield to continue his studies. He was going to abandon his bachelor’s degree at North Carolina and go chase an education in soccer.
Berhalter’s self-styled immersion program started in Zwolle in the Dutch second tier, where he found, like all Americans who travel to the Netherlands, that everyone spoke surprisingly excellent English. When he had questions, there were actually people who could answer them. This would not have been the case in, say, Genoa.
Yet no individual was more influential to Berhalter than the young, prickly manager making his name at Ajax Amsterdam. In Berhalter’s first season in Holland, Louis van Gaal led Ajax to the first undefeated league season in the country’s history, scoring 106 goals in 34 games, and added the Champions League for good measure.
Berhalter was so fascinated by the Dutch approach that he began to carry a journal with him, making detailed notes on everything from specific training drills to the ideal attributes for players at each position. To understand the Dutch way of thinking about soccer, he peppered teammates with questions at practice, in the locker room, and sitting on the bus on the way to games.
Your buddies suck as much as you wsj
Ajax
You have to be careful playing against the Dutch, with their wooden cleats.