Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Six months after the 2022 World Cup, and the expiration of Gregg Berhalter’s contract as US Men’s National Team manager, US Soccer has finally settled on who should lead the team into the 2026 World Cup. Berhalter will be back in position later this year.
Berhalter is a divisive figure among the American soccer fanbase. Many hoped US Soccer would be ambitious in their search for a new manager with countless potential candidates linked with the job. It was even reported that Zinedine Zidane was contacted over his availability and interest in becoming the next USMNT head coach.
In the end, though, Berhalter was rehired, bringing to a close a confusing and chaotic chapter in American soccer’s recent history. New US Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker explained how the 49-year-old emerged as the outstanding candidate after going through “a battery of practical and psychological testing.”
The faux-scientific process raised some eyebrows, as did Crocker’s admission that US Soccer used Berhalter’s USA team as a yardstick to judge managerial candidates by. It was therefore unsurprising that Berhalter ultimately emerged as the most suitable manager for the team he built over the last four years.
Nonetheless, Berhalter’s return will provide some much-needed stability to the national team programme. On the pitch, the USMNT has tread water since the end of the 2022 World Cup. Off the pitch, the Reyna family scandal has posed difficult questions of the way American soccer is run at executive level.
Gio Reyna was one of the best players on the field as the USA swept aside Canada in Sunday’s CONCACAF Nations League final, contributing assists for both of his team’s two goals. Most encouraging was the understanding between Reyna and Folarin Balogun, the USMNT’s new number nine, who has the potential to raise the ceiling for the whole team.
“Gio is an important player in this team,” Berhalter said when asked about the damaged relationship between him and the Borussia Dortmund player whose family attempted to blackmail the USMNT head coach after Reyna barely featured at the 2022 World Cup. “He’s an extremely talented individual and I have the obligation and the commitment to coach him like I coach every other player.
“I want to get the best out of him. We know that, if we can unlock his talents, he’s going to be a game-changer for this program. There’s work to do and part of it is working together with Matt [Crocker] and trying to rebuild the relationship that we know will be important.”
Berhalter will also have to rebuild his relationship with Ricardo Pepi and Zack Steffen who were both surprise omissions from the USA roster for the 2022 World Cup. The 49-year-old, however, is generally a popular figure within the locker room, particularly with key figures like Christian Pulisic and Timothy Weah.
Bizarrely, Berhalter won’t take charge of the USMNT again until after the Gold Cup, which will kick off this weekend. Crocker reasons this is because US Soccer must establish the framework for the next three years building up to the 2026 World Cup on home soil. B.J Callaghan will continue in his interim position until next month.
While it’s true the US must make further progress under Berhalter, their performances against Mexico and Canada in the Nations League suggested this is already happening. Callaghan might have been in the dugout for both matches, but the team on the pitch was very much one Berhalter forged.
“When I took over in 2018, I was coaching kids,” Berhalter said. “And to see the development of this group…it made me think about ‘okay, what could the next three years look like if we continue to develop in the way that we have? What is it going to look like?’ And that was exciting because you think about it, this group continues to go where we think they can go, the sky’s the limit.”
Balogun’s decision to represent the USA over England and Nigeria is surely one of the reasons Berhalter believes this team can achieve even more. Other players like Yunus Musah and Reyna will also continue to develop as they grow and mature. Nobody doubts the potential of this generation of American players. Now it’s time for Berhalter to prove he’s the right man to realise it.
