Despite making it to the knockout stage, it’s clear that US Soccer needs a better coach than Gregg Berhalter to get this team through. There’s no other way to put it than to say that Gregg Berhalter has been a massive underperformer with the US Men’s National Team (USMNT).
The USA’s World Cup run came to an end on Saturday after a 3-1 loss to the Netherlands in the round of 16.
The USA was completely lost defensively with the Dutch scoring three wide open goals. Offensively, the US proved as challenged as ever. They managed a single goal and only four shots on goal.
Berhalter’s lineup selections and substitutions throughout the tournament were disappointing. Despite US Soccer giving him his best, Berhalter found a way to underperform. He should not be allowed to continue as the US head coach going forward.
Berhalter’s team cannot score
The USMNT played sixteen games in 2022. They went goalless in seven of them and just one goal in five others. That means the US has only been able to score multiple goals in a game four times out of 16 games this year. Only one of those games came against a team that qualified for the World Cup (a 3-0 friendly win over Morocco).
Extending further back to include the last two games of 2021, the US was unable to score as they were held to just one goal in both games.
So, the US scored multiple goals in a game just four times in their last 18 games in the last 13 months. Frustrating yes, but not surprising considering Berhalter lost his job in Sweden because of it.
Third best team in a weak confederation
Berhalter won the Nations League and Gold Cup for the US in 2021. This should have been proof that the US was the dominant team in the region. Unfortunately, the World Cup qualification process saw the US undo all that hard work. They and only automatically qualified by the skin of their teeth due to goal difference. During that qualifying campaign they drew at home and lost away to a Canadian team that lost every game in Qatar and was eliminated before playing its third game.
The USA also lost on the road and struggled heavily in a home win with Costa Rica. During qualifying, the Ticos combined to edge the US 3-2 over the course of two games. That same Costa Rica team proceeded to lose 7-0 to Spain and 4-2 to Germany in their group and failed to advance to the knockout round for a second consecutive World Cup.
The signature victories of Berhalter’s tenure with the US came against Mexico in 2021. They beat the Mexicans 3-2 in the Nations League final and then 1-0 in the Gold Cup final. in qualifying, they produced another frozen Ohio “Dos a Cero” and followed it up with a third straight tie at Azteca. But the shine came from those results with Mexico’s poor performance in the World Cup. El Tri drew 0-0 with Poland and lost 2-0 to Argentina. They beat Saudi Arabia 2-1 in their final, but were knocked out in the group stage for the first time since the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.
Berhalter’s struggles away from home
Maybe it was because he was the brother of the CEO of US Soccer. Maybe it was because he came from MLS. But there’s no denying that US Soccer did everything they could to improve Gregg Berhalter’s record by scheduling home friendly matches.
During Jurgen Klinsmann’s tenure, the USMNT played away friendlies against Belgium, France, Slovenia, Italy, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Ireland, Chile, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Germany to name a few.
Even going back to Bob Bradley’s time in charge, the US prepared for the start of World Cup qualifying with a series of tough friendlies. Their three warm-up friendlies in 2008 were away to England, away to Spain and at home against Argentina.
Berhalter did not have to go through that stretch. At no time before this World Cup was his team voluntarily tested. He opened his term with home friendlies against Panama and Costa Rica. Prior to the 2019 Gold Cup, he had two friendlies at home against Jamaica and Venezuela. He managed to lose both of them. 2020 saw another friendly friendly at home against Costa Rica before the COVID outbreak. During Berhalter’s entire tenure as the USA coach, he has only had to manage two friendlies in three away settings. They went to Wales in 2020 and to Northern Ireland and Switzerland in 2021. It’s worth noting that all three games were played behind closed doors.
And because they were never tested during friendlies, their performance in big games suffered. In fact, during Berhalter’s time in charge of the US, they posted a 6-7-8 (WLD) record in games played away from US soil. That’s a winning percentage of just 48%. But that counts actual away games as well as games at neutral sites (like the World Cup). In true road games, Berhalter was just 2-5-5 for a 38% winning percentage. that is not an acceptable number.
wasted talent
The wealth of generational talent at his disposal makes Berhalter’s massive underachievement that much more frustrating. Christian Pulisic had already established himself as the future of the USMNT during the previous World Cup qualifying campaign. But this cycle saw the appearance of stars. Guys like Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, Yunus Musah, Ricaro Pepi, Gio Reyna, Brenden Aaronson and others.
For reasons known only to him (as no one in the American soccer media seems capable of finding the answer), Berhalter opted to leave Ricardo Pepi off the World Cup roster in favor of Jordan Morris. Pepi scored three goals during the World Cup Qualifying. He was thriving thanks to his recent move to FC Groningen, where he scored six goals in nine games. But that wasn’t good enough to get past an MLS player who hadn’t scored since August for a club that didn’t make the playoffs.
Then once the World Cup started, Berhalter decided to start playing without Gio Reyna. Reyna was an unused substitute in the disappointing draw with Wales. Berhalter told the media that it was because Reyna was injured. Reyna said that he was not hurt.
The next game against England saw Reyna come on for seven minutes as a substitute against England. For the deciding group match against Iran, Berhalter sat Reyna again for the entire match. Only when the USA was in dire straits losing 2-0 in the Round of 16 to the Netherlands did Berhalter finally relent and send Reyna off. But by then it was too little, too late, and the US was gone.
A change must be made
The 2026 World Cup will be played in North America. It seems to be the biggest and best World Cup ever played. If the US really wants to challenge for a title in four years, they absolutely need to get out of Berhalter.
US Soccer gave him everything to succeed.
They gave him an extra year to gain experience with the Columbus Crew. They scheduled numerous home games against easy competition to add to their record. He was lucky to be part of the greatest generation of talent this country has ever seen. They gave him a hundred million dollar hotel and a World Cup base camp. And he still underperformed massively.
In the 2010 World Cup, Bob Bradley won one game and was knocked out in the round of 16. Four years later, Jurgen Klinsmann won a game and was knocked out in the round of 16. In Qatar, Berhalter was given far more tools and had far more talent at his disposal than any of those previous World Cup teams. However, he too won only one game and was knocked out in the round of 16.
Photo credit: IMAGO / Sven Simon
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