Clint Dempsey is ‘confused’ by US Soccer’s decision to re-hire Gregg Berhalter
Clint Dempsey is ‘confused’ by US Soccer’s decision to re-hire Gregg Berhalter and says the federation ‘wasted a lot of time’
- Berhalter’s contract expired in January and he was not offered an extension
- The USMNT has been under two interim managers since Berhalter’s departure
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The U.S. Soccer Federation’s stunning decision to re-hire Gregg Berhalter as manager of the U.S. Men’s National Team has stunned many in the American soccer community, including American soccer legend Clint Dempsey.
Speaking on CBS Sports’ coverage of the CONCACAF Nations League semi-finals, Dempsey responded to the news first announced by The Athletic’s Pablo Maurer and Paul Tenorio that Berhalter would be returning to the position he held until the New Year.
Berhalter was not re-signed for his role when the USSF conducted an investigation into alleged domestic violence.
That culminated in a much bigger scandal involving Berhalter, his former teammate Claudio Reyna and their respective families.
But Dempsey seemed shocked by Berhalter’s return – noting that the USSF had wasted a lot of time and effort by choosing not to renew his contract.
Just around the kickoff of USA-Mexico, reports claimed that Gregg Berhalter would return as the manager of the United States men’s national team after his contract expired in January
On the CBS Sports broadcast, Clint Dempsey shared his confusion over the decision to rehire him
“I’m confused because either you did something bad enough that you lost the job or got these interim coaches in the game, or you didn’t do it,” Dempsey began.
“And if you go back with Berhalter, we’ve lost a lot of time. Why have we wasted so much time just going back to who we had in the beginning?
“But even after the World Cup I thought he did a good job getting out of the group.
“We were coached out in the game against the Netherlands… but this is a team that many of them were in their very first World Cup, you know what I mean?
“It’s the golden generation and we’ll see if that’s the case. But moving forward, I even said then, we should be judged by how we do in the Copa America and how we do in the CONCACAF Nations League.
“And if they don’t get the job done, someone else has to come. But I’m confused by the decisions.’
Dempsey believes going back to Berhalter means USSF ‘wasted a lot of time’
Berhalter’s reign with the USMNT ended on New Year’s Day, when his contract was not renewed.
That was due in part to an ongoing investigation within the USSF into allegations of domestic violence between Berhalter and his now-wife Rosalind during their college years at the University of North Carolina.
This was brought to the attention of US Soccer by Claudio and Danielle Reyna – who were upset that their son, Gio Reyna, was not getting a tee time at the World Cup.
An investigation revealed no other cases of domestic violence by Berhalter, and he remained a candidate for the position.
Meanwhile, the USMNT saw two interim managers directing them: Anthony Hudson and BJ Callaghan.
The team was recently led by interim managers Anthony Hudson (L) & BJ Callaghan (R).
Reports said incoming sporting director Matt Crocker interviewed more than 10 managers
Hudson was in charge of the team for their January fixtures against El Salvador and Serbia before leaving for a managerial role with Qatar’s Al-Markhiya just before the Gold Cup.
Reports from earlier this week claimed that US Soccer’s new sports director Matt Crocker had interviewed more than 10 candidates for the position.
That reporting from Fox Sports’ Doug McIntyre said many of the candidates were American, but others were from France, England, Germany and Spain — even Central America.
Jesse Marsch, long associated with the US job after being sacked from Leeds United, was in the running. However, his agent Ron Waxman tweeted before the USA-Mexico kickoff that Marsch would not be the next manager.