In August 2021, a cheering Gregg Berhalter celebrated his side’s 1-0 Gold Cup Final victory over Mexico in Las Vegas – capping off an unforgettable summer for the United States men’s national team.
Flashforward nearly two years later and Gregg Berhalter again sat for the U.S. Football Press Corps in the same city, but looking very different.
Berhalter appeared stoic, determined, and at times even tired—as did most of the panel of US Soccer officials who attended a press conference following the conclusion of a long and exhausting coaching search that brought them back to the man who brought them to life. to the World Cup.
He looked like a man who had to fight for his job back. Although Berhalter was successful in doing so, the work ahead is not an easy one.
It is about reflecting on the results in Qatar (where Berhalter admits the team was not completely satisfied) and about many fences that need to be rebuilt – the most important of which is the relationship with Gio Reyna.
Gregg Berhalter returned to his old job and was once again revealed as the manager of the USMNT
The normally cheerful Berhalter was stoic and seemed tired at times, just like the other panellists
“I certainly recognize there is work to be done,” Berhalter said in reference to mending his relationship with the Borussia Dortmund star.
And Gio is an important player for this team. He is an extremely talented person. And I have an obligation and commitment to coach him as I coach any other player.
“I want to get the best out of him. We want to get the best out of him. And we know that if we can unlock his talents. He will be a game changer for this program.
“So there’s work to be done and part of that is working with Matt and trying to build the relationship that we know will be important going forward.”
But to Berhalter’s credit, he seems more than ready and willing to do that job – committed to returning to US Soccer and carrying out the rest of his plan.
Rumors circulated earlier this week that Berhalter was being offered jobs – including at Club America in Mexico, a team Berhalter said he had “never dealt with.”
Berhalter admitted he was interested and “impressed with the level at which they work,” but said only one job really had his heart.
“One thing I told them when I got the date for this [USMNT] interview is that I have to do this interview,” Berhalter revealed. ‘I know that [Club America and I had] something we talk about, but I have to go through this because I would have regretted it for the rest of my life if I never gave myself the chance.”
The decision to bring Berhalter back was the culmination of a long and tiring process
Sporting director Matt Crocker revealed an intense, data-driven process behind the search
If there was ever an indication of how committed Berhalter was to that opportunity, it was spelled out during the interview process.
To get back to where he used to be — on top of the U.S. men’s national team — Berhalter said he went through several days of interviews, as well as a 10-hour day of “various tests and conversations and tasks.”
It was part of a long, data-driven coaching quest initiated by sporting director Matt Crocker.
‘There are a number of datasets and skills [in] coaches [we’ve] identified – whether coaches are forefoot coaches, aggressive coaches. Whether coaches can reflect our style of play and continue to develop it,” Crocker revealed.
Once the coaching style was determined, Crocker said they focused on coaches with a good reputation for winning — specifically referring to an Elo rating several times — and coaches with a good track record of developing younger players .
That resulted in what Crocker said was a “double-digit” number of potential coaches that the federation went through several interviews and assessments, as Berhalter referred to.
Some of these assessments included “psychometrics, abstract reasoning tests, logical thinking to tests where candidates were given a chance to prepare for certain elements around strategy… and certain tasks that would require them to perform under pressure,” Crocker revealed.
“It gave us the opportunity to get, you know, really rich data, and then it took us a while to sit down and process all these numbers effectively. But what I can say with great pleasure is that Gregg scored phenomenally every step of the way and we are very happy that he is here,” said Crocker.
It included multiple interviews and tests to assess decision making and psychoanalysis
Crocker said Berhalter “pretty much set the data model” in their search for other coaches
But a key line from Crocker later in the press conference may have revealed that things had been tilting in Berhalter’s favor all along.
“Just as far as the data model goes, I mean, Gregg pretty much set the data model. And so, you know, he was responsible for four years of development around state of affairs, around urgent statistics. Obviously what he’s done is he’s developed a very, very young dynamic team with front legs,” said Crocker.
US Soccer ensures that they were looking for the right coach in this process and price would not have been an issue for them.
“At the beginning of this process, we had a clear alignment from our board to find the best coach, and then we figure out how to pay for it,” said JT Batson, CEO of US Soccer. “There have been no restrictions on that front.”
Some of Berhalter’s stoicism was understandable—the man had been through a lot to come back to this point.
Berhalter admitted there is ‘work to be done’ to mend relationship with US winger Gio Reyna
His reappointment follows an investigation into a 1992 incident when he and his wife, Rosalind, were students at the University of North Carolina.
Berhalter admitted to kicking his wife of 25 after she punched him in the face during a heated argument during a night out at a bar when they were 18.
The report described the incident as an “isolated” incident, with “no evidence to suggest” that there were any other problems. The drama was thrown into the spotlight in the aftermath of the 2022 World Cup when it was revealed that US winger Reyna’s parents had notified US soccer chiefs of the incident.
Berhalter wants to mend the potentially strained relationships he has, not just with Reyna, but those rejected by the World Cup, such as Ricardo Pepi and Zack Steffen.
“Ideally, you have alignment with everyone,” Berhalter said. And all we do is try to be great together. It needs good relationships and its players need to be focused on what we’re doing. And there will certainly be time for that in the coming months.’
USSF CEO JT Batson said the federation was willing to pay any price to get the right coach
During that time, Berhalter will work to fix some issues he and the team noticed during their journey to the knockout stage in Qatar – ending at the hands of the Netherlands.
During his opening statement, the returning coach talked about what the locker room looked like in the aftermath of their elimination and what the player’s faces read.
“There was a real disappointment,” Berhalter recalls. “It was not a satisfaction for us to go into the second round and lose to a world power. It was a real disappointment. I looked at their faces and that intrigued me because they were hungry and that was the main thing.’
There will be tweaks in strategy, drills and setup to progress past the Round of 16 when the next World Cup rolls around in 2026.
The returning coach pointed to set pieces and offensive transitions as specific areas for improvement.
“Our defensive form was excellent and the high pressure was excellent,” said Berhalter. But if we win the ball, how can we more effectively create chances on the counter-attack?
“So digging into all this stuff, looking at different defensive formations, how to pressure opponents, was something I focused on.”
During his absence from the team, the reinstated boss met with managers across Europe to talk to them about what he could work on. “The free time was useful in some ways to exchange ideas with many high-level coaches,” Berhalter admitted.
(L to R) USSF President Cindy Parlow Cone, Berhalter, Crocker and USSF CEO JT Batson
There will be some periods of adjustment for both the team and the returning coach.
Berhalter will not take over until after the summer, leaving BJ Callaghan to try to win both the Nations League final on Sunday and a third consecutive Gold Cup.
But in that time, Berhalter will get to know the team again. One of the times the coach saw a genuine smile – a trademark of his – was when he talked about getting back together with the team he had worked with for so long.
“I’d love to go to the dining room and give everyone a hug and resonate with them,” Berhalter said with a grin. “It’s been a while, but their focus now is on winning the Nations League. And that’s the most important thing.’