Gregg Berhalter is unlikely to survive as coach after the team's embarrassing Copa America exit, and rightfully so
Let's start here: Gregg Berhalter is a good coach. He's a nice guy, too. His interactions with others always come off as kind and genuine, so it's easy to see why his players love him. Berhalter has succeeded in numerous ways while in charge of this U.S. men's national team program, helping build – or rebuild – a culture following the 2018 World Cup qualifying cycle disaster.
Credit, credit, credit. He deserves that. But it's time.
Many believed it a year and a half ago. Even more believe it now. After this summer's Copa America failure, it's extremely hard to rationalize a path back for Berhalter in this USMNT job.
The fact of the matter is this: the USMNT has not gotten better, particularly since the World Cup. This group has, at best, stagnated in the months since Qatar and there's a very real argument that performances have deteriorated. There are always warnings about two-cycle coaches, and those warnings are seeming prophetic.
Crashing out of Copa America on home soil? Losing two of three matches in the tournament, including a must-win against Uruguay Monday night in Kansas City? Derailing the momentum the U.S. was endeavoring to build in advance of the World Cup coming to North America in 2026? Reality is reality: Berhalter has taken this team as far as he can.
He was the man for the rebuild, but not the man to build ON those successes and advance the program. There's no shame in that.
If this team wants to move on an upward trajectory, if this team wants to reach a level that its predecessors never did, change needs to happen. And it's been made abundantly clear that it has to happen at the very top, starting with Berhalter.
GettyA Copa America disaster
There's no sugarcoating or defending it. There's no leaning on proverbial crutches of performances or lessons or improvements. This Copa America was a failure, plain and simple.
Handed a relatively easy group including Bolivia, Panama and Uruguay, the U.S. still found a way to fail. After a somewhat-convincing opening victory over Bolivia, it all unraveled against Panama. Tim Weah's red card doomed the U.S., setting up Monday's do-or-die match with Uruguay. The U.S. held steady until the 66th minute, and reality set in. Uruguay sent the U.S. packing, 1-0.
As a result, they became the first host country team since the Copa America adopted a group stage to not reach the knockouts. It's a failure of epic proportions. This summer was about proving that the U.S. can compete with the elite and, instead, this team lost to … Panama?
Blame certainly can be pinned on the players, who surely didn't rise to the occasion. But this team, this collection of players writ large, is not going anywhere. Many will be leaders still in 2026, when the U.S. will get a chance to prove that this summer was just an aberration.
What can change, though, is the coach. It's time for Berhalter to go.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesA review forthcoming
There were no fireworks at Berhalter's postgame press conference. There was no resignation, just confidence that he is the man who can run it back.
"That’s not up to me," Berhalter said when asked about his job status. "We know that when you're in tournament football, there's very little that separates success from failure. It's one action, one decision from the referee and you could be in trouble and for us, it's having this understanding that every time we step on the field, it has an impact. I think we're getting there, but, we're not always there and that's something that we can improve."
He added: "We’ll do a review and figure out what went wrong, why it went wrong, but I think it's an empty feeling right now, for sure.”
Berhalter was asked point blank if he believed he was still the right coach to lead this USMNT going forward, and his answer was simple: "Yes."
The decision will be up to Matt Crocker, the man who re-hired Berhalter in the first place. U.S. Soccer's technical director now faces a massive decision: should he part ways with Berhalter and, if he does, who is out there that can lead this team and help it achieve its ambitions?
“Our tournament performance fell short of our expectations," Crocker said in a statement. "We must do better. We will be conducting a comprehensive review of our performance in Copa America and how best to improve the team and results as we look towards the 2026 World Cup.”
GettyThe potential timeline
The USMNT's two most recent coaching changes happened rather quickly. Jurgen Klinsmann was infamously dismissed after a World Cup qualifying loss to Costa Rica. His successor, Bruce Arena, saw the writing on the wall after missing the 2018 World Cup. There was no doubt he was gone after that night in Couva.
The most recent major U.S. Soccer coaching decision comes from the USWNT. After failing at the World Cup in 2023, Vlatko Andonovski's marching orders came two weeks after the USWNT's elimination. Andonovski's resignation seemed even more like a foregone conclusion than Berhalter's potential exit, which means that this process could stretch on a bit.
That's not the news anyone who follows the USMNT will want at the moment, but it's the truth. Even if Berhalter's potential exit happens sooner than later, the larger process is all just beginning. The runway to the 2026 World Cup is short and the rush to figure out the coaching situation will lead to some urgency. How much is too soon to say.
GettyWhere this team stands
When looking at Berhalter's tenure in totality, you can break it down a few ways. You can say that Berhalter rebuilt the USMNT into a World Cup-level team while ushering in a new generation of stars. You can also say that that new generation, dubbed a golden one, has not lived up to its predecessors by punching above its weight at any point.
The truth, as it so often is, is somewhere in the middle. During Berhalter's tenure, the U.S., until this Copa, has very simply lived up to expectations. They have beaten teams they were supposed to beat and lost to the teams the were supposed to lose to. It's been, in some ways, totally average, and that's the problem.
When your calling card is "taking care of business against lesser teams" you don't leave yourself much wiggle room when things go south. And this summer, things went very, very south. Whatever goodwill was left unraveled in this Copa America as the U.S. underachieved in every measurable way.
There's room for discussion about why that is, including a plethora of individual player mistakes. Nothing Berhalter did could have prevented Weah from being sent off against Panama, and that moment will be looked back on as the turning point. The fact is that few USMNT players performed at or above their capabilities – which is partly on them, partly on the coach.
Berhalter is the figurehead, and the fact is that this group has never looked like one that can be more than the sum of its parts. It hasn't shown the grit, intensity or mentality of prior generations and, most importantly, it hasn't won the types of games those teams always tended to win. Name a signature win. Tough to do.
Berhalter's best results, undoubtedly, have come against B-level national teams. There have been draws or good performances against the top-tier, but no wins. When facing top-30 opponents during Berhalter's tenure, the U.S. has just six wins. Four of those wins have come against Mexico. The other two? Iran and Ecuador, not exactly the world's elite. That's a big sample size, honestly, and one that proves that this team struggles when facing elite opponents.
Part of that is due to the odd place the USMNT occupies in the global landscape right now. Against CONCACAF foes, they're expected to boss the ball like prime Barcelona. Against the elite, they simply aren't good enough. It's a tough mix to figure out, but one that Berhalter has never gotten quite right.
Can a new coach help this group figure that out? It's worth exploring. Berhalter's record against upper-echelon teams not named "Mexico" indicates that he isn't the guy for the most important games. Is there someone out there who is?