Carli Lloyd rips into Gregg Berhalter after USMNT suffers Copa America heartbreak at the hands of Uruguay
Carli Lloyd accuses Gregg Berhalter of being too soft on his players after the US national team was knocked out of the Copa America at the first hurdle.
The United States failed to reach the knockout stages of the tournament on home soil after losing 1-0 to Uruguay in Kansas City on Monday.
The result puts enormous pressure on Berhalter, putting his future as national team coach in jeopardy.
Berhalter admitted afterward that he can’t decide for himself what his job will be, but he is adamant that he remains the man who can lead the U.S. national team to a home World Cup in 2026.
Lloyd has won the World Cup twice during her 316-game career for the U.S. national team, in 2015 and 2019. She accuses Berhalter of making his players feel too comfortable.
Carli Lloyd has questioned whether Gregg Berhalter is too soft on his USMNT players
“I’m concerned about how comfortable these players feel with him,” the World Cup winner said
“My concern is how comfortable these players are with Berhalter. We won championships and we hated our coaches,” she said FOX Sports.
“I’m not saying you should hate your coach, but I wonder how comfortable it is in that locker room. Are they being pushed? Are they being held accountable? From the outside, it doesn’t look like that.”
Berhalter was only rehired a year ago after previously leading the United States to the knockout stages of the 2022 World Cup.
With less than two years to go before soccer’s showpiece comes to the United States, the coach admitted he was “completely disappointed” with the results of the dress rehearsal.
“We know we can do more. And this time we didn’t show it. It’s as simple as that,” he said.
“Look at the stage that the fans have set during this tournament, with a high level of competition during this tournament. We should have done better.”
Christian Pulisic failed to inspire the US to the victory they needed to reach the knockout stages