The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) will conduct a comprehensive review after its Copa America tournament performed “below expectations.”
The U.S. men’s national team beat Bolivia 2-0 in the opening match, but then lost 1-2 to Panama and then 0-1 to Uruguay, who were fighting to stay in the tournament.
This result, and Panama’s victory over Bolivia, meant that Panama was eliminated from the group stage.
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With just two years until the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, head coach Gregg Berhalter’s position is currently under considerable pressure.
A statement from the USSF read: “Our tournament performance fell short of expectations. We must work harder.”
“We will take a comprehensive look at our performance in the Copa America and how best to improve our team and results in the run up to the 2026 World Cup.”
After his team’s defeat, Berhalter said, “We know we can do better and we just didn’t show it in this tournament. That’s it. With the fans on stage and the high level of competition we experienced, we should have done better. We’ll look back and figure out what went wrong, but for now it’s definitely an empty feeling.”
Questioner Athletic Asked if he believed he was still the right person and voice to lead the group, Berhalter said, “Yes.”
Berhalter, 50, led the U.S. to the round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar but is out of contract at the end of the year due in part to his involvement with winger Gio Reyna.
Reyna’s attitude nearly got him kicked out of the World Cup after he was told he would not be in the starting lineup for the U.S. opening game against Wales, and his lack of effort in training afterwards nearly got him fired from the team, but Berhalter opted to keep him in Qatar.
Berhalter and Reina’s relationship was featured in a post-World Cup review (Elcin Erturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
After the tournament, the coach addressed these issues, without naming Reina, during a question-and-answer session at a leadership meeting that was run under the Chatham House Rules, which normally meant that any comments were kept private. But the comments were made public, Athletic The report said the player Berhalter was speaking of was Reyna.
After these stories, Reyna’s parents, former U.S. national team players Claudio and Daniel Reyna, a longtime friend of Berhalter and his wife, Rosalind Berhalter, reported an incident to former U.S. Soccer athletic director Ernie Stewart in which Berhalter kicked Rosalind after an argument in 1992 when she was a freshman at the University of North Carolina.
This led to an investigation by the U.S. Soccer Federation, which ultimately rehired Berhalter.
Captain Christian Pulisic, who scored in the opening match against Bolivia but failed to contribute with two lackluster performances in the following matches, lamented not being able to find a “solution” in the final minutes of the match against Uruguay.
“We started well, we had a lot of energy but in the end we just lacked quality,” Pulisic said. “I felt we gave it our all but we just couldn’t find the solution to score.”
Asked where the team goes from here, he replied: “It’s important to take some time to rest, regroup and find our identity again.”
Pulisic failed to contribute to the US victory (Michael Reeves/Getty Images)
Goaltender Matt Turner supported coach Berhalter and the current staff moving in the right direction.
“I’m OK with the direction we’re heading,” Turner said. “To have that kind of battle on the pitch every game we play in this competition says a lot about how prepared the manager is for us.”
Defender Chris Richards explains AthleticI also believe progress is being made.
“Every game is a step forward, regardless of the result. We can learn a lot from every game,” he said. “Because of our character, people want to criticize us a lot, but we take it and keep moving forward.”
“We try not to listen too much to the outside noise. They can say what they want, but every game, every training session is progress, regardless of the result.”
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Midfielder Weston McKennie is open-minded about his next step, but would be happy to continue playing for Berhalter if that’s the direction he takes.
“Everybody feels comfortable with Greg, everybody understands him and he’s been around for a long time,” he said. Athletic“He’s really taken the team forward from when we started four or five years ago.
“I think the connection between us and him is key. Having a coach who will run through walls for him and has players who listen to him. So whatever happens, happens, but with him as our coach, we’re all going to be happy and we’re going to get up and bounce back and learn and keep moving forward. That’s the only thing we can do right now.”
“We can’t try to live in the past or think too far into the future. We just live in the present, make incremental improvements and see where it takes us.”
The U.S. Men’s National Team is next scheduled to play two friendlies in September, facing Canada in Kansas City on Sept. 7 and New Zealand three days later in Cincinnati.
(Top photo: John Dorton/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)
