Earnest Stewart Q&A: ‘The American in me always wants to win…’

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With five Americans in major roles, PSV Eindhoven has moved into the elite of international soccer. 

One of the key figures at the reigning Dutch champion is U.S. Hall of Famer Earnie Stewart, who joined PSV as director of football in 2023 after five years at U.S. Soccer, where he was sporting director. 

Ever since, PSV has expanded its American influence more than any other team in Europe with Stewart heading up its soccer division and Ricardo Pepi, Malik Tillman, Sergiño Dest and Richard Ledezma starring as players. (Wisconsin-born teen Esmir Bajraktarević, who was signed in January from the New England Revolution, has switched his international allegiance to represent Bosnia & Herzegovina at the senior level.)

Soccer America talked with Earnest Stewart, as he prefers to be called, in Eindhoven about PSV’s American family.

SOCCER AMERICA: Is the heavy American presence at PSV a part of your vision?

EARNEST STEWART: This story is bigger than that. I started in Eindhoven on March 1 2023, and had only three, four months for the new season. We needed to make adequate choices, and Ricardo Pepi was already within the [recruiting] profiles on the list at PSV. Just like Malik Tillman and Sergiño Dest. Because I also knew them, it made it easier to make choices.  A combination of the transfer window approaching rapidly, learning more about our own squad and knowing all three players from a personal, quality potential standpoint helped us make these choices with full confidence.

SA: Because all these American players have adjusted so well to the PSV system, does that mean the club will be more focused on prospects from the United States?

EARNEST STEWART: One of the main qualities Americans bring is their do-or-die mentality. They always want to win games and work hard, which are basics in soccer to achieve your goals. Therefore, the  United States has become an interesting market for us. But the combination of knowing them, the way we want to play, the mentality we look for and still being capable of doing those investments has to chain together at the right time. The American market is very interesting from a talent and cost standpoint, where other countries such as Brazil, with a huge history of talented players that have succeeded in Europe, have a different price range.

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The Dutch company Philips was founded in 1891 in Eindhoven. In 1913, it launched the sports club Philips Sport Vereniging (PSV) for its employees. It became one of the three big soccer clubs in the Netherlands, along with Ajax and Feyenoord. PSV joined them in winning the European Cup in 1988, a remarkable accomplishment for a country with a population of less than 20 million. PSV, the reigning league champion, has won the Eredivisie 25 times, the KNVB Cup 11 times and the Johan Cruyff Shield a record of 14 times. Brazilian greats Romário and Ronaldo both started their European careers at PSV.

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SA: So there’s a hotline with the United States?

EARNEST STEWART: If there’s a hotline, it’s more because of the network that has been built over the years. Meanwhile, we also hired Thomas Schaling, who worked as director of scouting for Charlotte FC, so we’re now extra sharp in a market that’s very interesting. But in the end, it’s also about relationships, it’s about how you view players and the closer they are to our DNA, the easier it’s to make those choices.

SA: How about the joint venture between PSV and FC Austin? Even Queen Maxima of the Netherlands attended, in 2022, the presentation of the partnership in Texas.

EARNEST STEWART: We ended that. If you want to work together, you don’t exchange your best players. It just doesn’t work that way. So in the end. it came down to sharing knowledge. And after Austin made a change at the top, with Claudio Reyna moving out and Rodolfo Borrell coming in, they wanted to concentrate on their own product. So that was the reason we both decided to end our partnership.

SA: Wasn’t it also a problem that American soccer is developing much faster than expected toward the level of clubs like PSV?

EARNEST STEWART: Not so much a problem, but a compliment to soccer in the United States. The styles are still totally different. The way that is played in the United States, compared to the Dutch Eredivisie, are two separate things. On the other hand, if you see the investments the United States has done, the owners have done and the teams have done, it becomes for clubs like PSV more difficult to compete from a monetary standpoint. As soon as young talents have played two or three years for an MLS team, transactions become difficult because the prices have changed. That says a lot about the steps MLS has made, but at the same time, because the difference in styles, we still can pick out players who do fit in our philosophy.

SA: Can you explain the difference in styles?

EARNEST STEWART: MLS is a high-flying game, where physicality is extremely important. The physical aspects, the demands in travel and all that kind of stuff, asks for another type of player. Where Holland is known for the style of play. It’s not only about winning, it’s also about winning in a certain way. In the United States, the weight on winning in a certain style is a little bit less. It doesn’t matter how you win, as long as you win. So those two types of approaches are different, but, of course, there are always certain players who fit into both cultures.

SA: Do you see teams in the MLS that have the intention to mix the best of two worlds?

EARNEST STEWART: I sure believe that some teams want to do that. I remember at Philadelphia Union, its coach, Jim Curtin, and I worked on something like that. Especially in the way we believed to develop players. And it worked. For where we came from, we got some good results and later on – in a different style – they even got into the MLS Cup final. Now LA Galaxy and LAFC have fans who expect something different as well. I’m therefore curious what the future will bring.

SA: But if the United States wants to get further than a quarterfinal at the World Cup, they have to add extra ingredients to their high physical quality and team spirit.

EARNEST STEWART: With the Philadelphia Union and also when Gregg Berhalter and I were with the national team, our highest goal was to do that. A lot of people thought we were crazy, but if you want to become world champion at one point you will need to play through lines and create many more man-advantage situations through your positional game. You need creative players and you need to try to bring your game to the opponent. I don’t believe that sustainable success can be achieved over a longer period of time through reactionary soccer. Not by saying that we would become world champion in 2022, but starting the process to find players who could play in a way that one day we indeed could become world champion.

SA: You were formed as a player in the Netherlands, how much are you formed as a manager in the United States?

EARNEST STEWART: What I like to tell myself is that I have the best of both worlds in me. I have my own DNA, I am who I am. I’ve always been interested in what ways the American and Dutch culture can improve the person who I am. Since I grew up, people asked me if I was Dutch or if I was American, but I always felt that when I was in Holland there were special American things in me. And when I worked in the United States I had moments that I felt, ‘Yeah, now I see I grew up in Europe.’ There was always this up and down of who am I. These days I have a good understanding of who I am and how both worlds have enriched me in life. I’m definitely a mix of both. For example, in Europe a lot is focused on the game itself. In the United States it’s also about filling seats through creating entertainment outside the field. That’s a piece I learned from my time in the United States. Of course, soccer is No. 1, but in the end you also have to deal with other aspects of the game. Because TV money, merchandise etc., are also a vital part in helping the organization grow.

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Earnest “Earnie” Stewart was born in Veghal, Netherlands, to an American father who served for three decades in the U.S. Air Force, and a Dutch mother. He debuted for the USA in 1990. While playing Dutch pro soccer with Willem II and NAC, Stewart played in three World Cups for the USA. He started all four games in 1994, scoring the game-winning goal against Colombia that assured the host team of passage to the second round of the 1994 World Cup. He played in all three games in 1998 and started twice and came off the bench twice in the USA’s run to the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup. Stewart ended up with 17 goals and 10 assists in 101 appearances for the USA. After 14 seasons in the Dutch league, he played two seasons for D.C. United and won the 2004 MLS Cup. Stewart was technical director of NAC Breda and AZ Alkmaar’s director of football affairs before returning to the United States in 2015 to become the Philadelphia Union’s sporting director.

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SA: What American flavor did you pour over PSV?

EARNEST STEWART: One of the things that our coach, Peter Bosz, and I have is that we’re not afraid to say who we are, what our ambitions are and where we want to go to. That is how it should be within a top club. Not always taking the underdog position, but having a mentality that you can and should win every game. We go to games knowing that we have one of the biggest budgets in the Dutch league, which means we should dominate against almost all teams no matter if we play home or away. That’s how we addressed it, and that’s what we put at the top of what we want to do. We should go out with confidence every single time we play. The American in me always wants to win, the Dutchman in me adds that we also should win in an attractive way. For Peter Bosz and I, winning is extremely important, but we also realize why people come to the stadium and what they want to see. 

SA: What do the four main Americans players add to the current process at PSV?

EARNEST STEWART: When I look at Ricardo Pepi, he brings this spice of an Mexican-American. The way he deals with things, unbelievable! It’s all about scoring goals. Malik Tillman can play out of this world. He should be a starter at the 2026 World Cup. That’s how good he is. A talent that has to feel comfortable in his environment. It’s therefore a big blow that they’re both injured for the rest of the season. If you only look how decisive they were in the Champions League for us, it’s going to be a hell of a job to compensate them. Hopefully, we’ll see Malik but also Sergiño Dest (below) back soon. Sergiño is such a special player at such a high level. The way he can turn from people, the way he can defend, the quickness he has. Richard Ledezma has been here for a longer period of time and he’s adapted to what we expect here in Holland as he’s very comfortable on the ball. He’s also brings this element of wanting to win at all times.

SA: What about the next steps with PSV to guarantee a winning team for the future? With the focus on local talent and scouting especially the United States?

EARNEST STEWART: It’s indeed one of the countries we are very interested in. There are 350 million people, so there must be a lot of talent. And I’ve seen a lot of talent when I was there. We appointed Aloys Wijnker as our academy director. He also worked for the U.S. Soccer Federation (Boys Development Academy director). With Thomas Schaling heading up our team of scouts, we now have three people who worked in the United States and have seen the talent.

SA: Meanwhile, MLS is one of the fastest-growing leagues in the world.

EARNEST STEWART: MLS has been and is great. From its inception to where it is today; I just can say, Wow! What owners have done, what the league has done, what Don Garber has done and the teams themselves. Also, the USL has done an amazing job. But the development process is another thing. Before players go to an USL team and before they go to an MLS team is something we in the United States — I still say we —really need to take care of. The way it’s structured now doesn’t help MLS, doesn’t help USL in that regard. As the process of a professional doesn’t begin at the age of 14. It begins way earlier than that. This is where a lot of steps still have to be made.

Development is really simple and can be boiled down to one phrase, the best with the best against the best at every level. This in combination with good coaches and facilities. That’s what you have to create. There are still too many different entities that are all doing their own thing.

SA: When are you coming back to the United States?

EARNEST STEWART: I don’t know. I’m in a good place right now. I’m also not the biggest career planner, but I put my head down and work hard. With that, there have been a lot of opportunities which at one point led me back to the U.S. I really had an amazing time in the States. Philadelphia was an amazing employer and the same with the U.S. Soccer Federation in Chicago. I now made the choice for PSV and being closer to our family. I’m extremely happy now, but who knows what the future will bring?

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(Jaap de Groot is a Dutch-American sportswriter. He worked for 43 years at the daily De Telegraaf, serving as sports editor. He is the co-author of “Cruyff’s My Turn: A Life of Total Football,” which was published in more than 60 countries and in 23 different languages.)

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