Gregg Berhalter oversaw what very well could be the United States men’s national team’s (USMNT) largest embarrassment yet at Copa America 2024 — and that is saying something.
The USMNT has often been the butt of jokes on the international soccer stage. A country attempting to indoctrinate the world’s game has tried to sell the notion that it can keep up with the world’s best, yet it falls woefully short almost every time despite taking what appears to be promising steps forward.
Professional soccer — its highest level of competition — has exploded in terms of popularity across the United States over the last 25 years. Much of that has to do with making the world’s top leagues in England, Germany, Italy, and Spain accessible to the masses who were looking for something more than Major League Soccer.
It has influenced what is being described as the golden generation of American soccer which was supposed to rise up from the ashes of its lowest moment of not qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup — the first time since 1986 that the Americans failed to do so — and take the program to new heights.
Over the last seven years, the United States has never amassed this sort of talent and has never seen a bulk of its roster playing overseas in those high-profile leagues: Eight play in England, five play in Italy, two play in Spain, and two play in Germany. That is 17 of Berhalter’s 26-man roster that plays in top European soccer nations. Nine of those players are on teams that will appear in the UEFA Champions League — the top international club tournament on the planet — next season.
A young, burgeoning roster also boasts the experience of representing the United States on the largest stages. Eighteen of the 26 members of the Copa America roster were on the 2022 World Cup team that advanced to the Round of 16 before falling to the powerhouse Netherlands.
So in theory, Copa America, which was being hosted in the United States, was supposed to be the final tune-up for the Americans before the 2026 World Cup (also on home soil) to flex their muscles and show the world that they could keep up with the likes of Brazil or Argentina — both of whom headline the tournament. Especially because their group was so easy to navigate on paper. Bolivia and Panama were ranked outside the top 40 in the world by FIFA with the lone real test coming in the form of Uruguay, ranked No. 14 in the world.
But the Americans, ranked No. 11 on the planet, could not get out of their own way (which could also be spelled Weah, in this case).
They beat Bolivia 2-0 in the opener before a senseless Tim Weah red card in the 20th minute of their second match against Panama ultimately led to a shock loss. That’s right, the same Panama to which the USMNT lost in 2017 to miss the 2018 World Cup, which was initially this program’s most embarrassing moment.
But Berhalter said ‘Hold my beer.’
Needing at least a draw against Uruguay and some help on Monday night, the US lost 1-0 to crash out of the group stage of a tournament they were realistically third-favorites to win behind only the reigning World Cup champions Argentina and Brazil.
Berhalter entered the Group C finale on his ninth life anyway, which shows how steady of a nosedive this has been over the last two years.
This was a manager who helped oversee the USMNT’s meteoric rise from their 2018 World Cup qualifying fiasco. His young team became a force to be reckoned with at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to the point where after their elimination against the Netherlands, the ceiling for the program remained sky-high with an eye on 2026.
Instead, he was forced to take a hiatus after his contract expired and US Soccer sifted through the controversy between he and the Reyna family. When he returned to the helm in June of 2023, the positive results disappeared.
Berhalter’s side skated through stumbled through unimpressive CONCACAF opposition to win the Nations League, but lost to Panama one month later in the 2023 Gold Cup semifinals. Yes, again, THAT Panama.
Their wins leading up to Copa America were nothing to write home about: 3-0 against Uzbekistan, 4-0 against Oman, 4-0 against Ghana in friendlies.
When the Nations League kicked back off in November, narrowly snuck past Trinidad & Tobago in the quarterfinal. They ultimately won the trophy again, but did so by defeating what possibly was the worst Mexican team we have seen in ages.
Meanwhile, the results against more established powers continued to be poor. They lost 3-1 to Germany in October of 2023 and 1-0 to Slovenia in January of 2024.
In a primer for Copa America on June 8, they were lambasted 5-1 by Colombia before digging deep to earn a 1-1 draw against Brazil.
Quality opposition has proven to be unbeatable for Berhalter. USMNT has not beaten a team ranked inside the top 20 of FIFA’s world rankings since defeating Iran in the final match of the group stage at the 2022 World Cup on Nov. 29. They defeated World Cup semifinalists Morocco during a June friendly in that same year, but they were ranked 24th in the world.
This program is stuck in neutral, seemingly wandering aimlessly through the most important stretch in its history, which is not just to claim itself as a legitimate world power but to help the sport take that next step in popularity rather than struggle on the periphery of the “Big 4.”
It is not going to happen with Berhalter. He has been given too many chances and has not done enough with them when it is starting to matter most. Instead, the US has to scrounge up all of the loose change they have and throw it at a proven winner of a coach like, say, former Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.
Then reap the rewards of having your golden generation playing for one of the finest coaches of this generation.
