Gregg Berhalter Hasn't Lost the American Locker Room. But He Should Lose His Job

There is no denying that they played for him and for others. It was not a capitulation, nor a cowed or inexperienced performance against one of the best teams in the world.

So Gregg Berhalter hasn’t lost the locker room. But how could he not lose his job after that? How can anyone be sure that he’s the man to shape the U.S. national team into a team good enough to make a major impact at the 2026 World Cup? It has stagnated at best since Qatar 2022, and perhaps even regressed.

There were warning signs ahead of this summer’s Copa América, the most useful yardstick before the United States, Canada and Mexico host FIFA’s 48-team circus in 2026. The chaotic 5-1 friendly loss to Colombia last month. The Concacaf Nations League in March, which the United States won but needed a 96th-minute own goal to avoid defeat to Jamaica in the semifinals. The 3-1 friendly loss at home to Germany last October, in which Berhalter’s team looked naïve and outclassed. The 2-1 second-leg loss in the Concacaf Nations League last November, which resurfaced and brought back a trauma (albeit winning on aggregate) against Trinidad and Tobago.

This tournament has brought new results to the scoresheet. Last Thursday, the Americans couldn’t hold on to their lead against Panama, losing 2-1 and barely touching the ball. So the Americans knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they had to beat Uruguay in Kansas City on Monday, but they lost 1-0. They matched their opponents in intensity, aggression, possession and passing accuracy. But not in know-how. Not in finding a way to get what they needed.

Fans in the stands were reduced to cheering Bolivia on their mobile phones, hoping that the worst team in the Copa could spring an upset against Panama, and praying for mercy from the merciless VAR gods after Uruguay’s 66th-minute winner was almost offside.

As a 36-year-old centre-back sealed the defence before the desperate chaos of the final stages, and Berhalter threw in two English second-tier strikers, the undertaking echoed that of Jürgen Klinsmann at the end of the modern era. The time when the initial ambitions of transforming the United States into a star-studded version of Germany had to be scaled back. Ambitious tactics were replaced by the more prosaic reality of the long ball to Jozy Altidore; of whimsical passing triangles and going back to square one. A programme in an identity crisis, then an urgency for results.

On Monday, at least, the soccer was more polished and smarter. But Klinsmann led a much less talented U.S. team to the semifinals of the 2016 Copa America, where it was dismantled by Argentina. Despite home-field advantage, it was the first time since the 2007 Copa America that the U.S. failed to advance to the group stage of a Copa America, World Cup or Concacaf Gold Cup. And Berhalter’s initial mission was no less grandiose than anything Klinsmann could have imagined: “to change the way the world sees American soccer.”

If he has managed to achieve this since taking charge in late 2018, it has been thanks to the individual exploits of players like Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie at their clubs, not via the national team.

Berhalter has nonetheless stabilized a struggling program after the 2018 World Cup qualifying debacle by bringing in and developing young talent. Qatar 2022 lived up to reasonable expectations, with the United States playing admirably against England, getting the win it needed against Iran, and then losing in the round of 16 to a superior Dutch team. But that third-place finish in the group behind Uruguay and Panama is a failure. Everyone, players and staff, failed.

Berhalter was rehired a year ago after a six-month absence following World Cup elimination and an investigation into a 1992 violent incident. Matt Crocker, the new technical director of U.S. soccer, hired from English soccer, has adopted a “multifaceted evaluation mechanism” with “advanced data analytics, sophisticated metrics and cutting-edge recruiting methods to profile and rank each candidate.”

This was an attempt to avoid making a gut-driven choice, with the required traits essentially excluding a renowned egomaniacal mercenary who might be happy to parachute in for a year or two and collect a generous paycheck, but probably wouldn’t want to spend much time making conversation by the water cooler.

And how many in-demand elite coaches would agree to undergo psychometric testing? Whatever position Jürgen Klopp holds, it is hard to imagine the former Liverpool manager being asked: “Are you able to regulate your own behaviour by understanding yourself in various situations?”

The process has rubbed Berhalter the wrong way with many fans: an exhaustive, six-month global search – and you stick with him when you could have hired (insert name of unrealistic and probably unsuitable celebrity here)?

The team also seemed to treat the task of hiring a head coach like an executive search for a vice president at Ford or General Electric. Berhalter didn’t even coach the team at the Concacaf Gold Cup last summer because he was busy attending long-term strategy meetings.

Despite all the advances in analytics and professionalism, football remains largely driven by the force of personality, the mastery of split-second moments and sheer luck, particularly at international level where a manager has only a limited impact on the available talent pool and players spend the vast majority of their time living in different countries, coached by someone else.

Sport being what it is, Tim Weah momentarily lost his head against Panama and took a blow to an opponent, which was not foreseeable. And it probably cost him dearly. But it’s not just Weah’s fault. It’s also because his teammates failed to overcome the adversity they inflicted on themselves in what turned out to be the decisive match of the group.

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After rehiring a longtime, affable, MLS-trained tactician in a process seemingly designed to weed out big names, personalities and mercenaries, the U.S. then lost to Uruguay, which was superbly led by a legendary eccentric, Marcelo Bielsa of Argentina. He has held more than a dozen managerial jobs in his long and itinerant career, including five in the last decade.

It seems clear that Crocker is not the type of man to make quick changes; he will want to work them out, in three stages. The United States has no other match scheduled until September 7 – a friendly against Canada, which, coincidentally, qualified for the Copa knockout stages under Jesse Marsch, an American who was passed over for the national coach last year.

“We’re going to take stock and determine what went wrong and why it went wrong,” Berhalter told reporters Monday. “Just seeing the faces of the guys in the locker room and seeing the emotion of the staff and the players, we’re bitterly disappointed with the results. We know we’re capable of doing more and in this tournament we didn’t show it, it’s as simple as that.”

Asked whether he would run, he said: “Yes.” But the only quantifiable criterion that really matters is results, especially in a context where only World Cups – especially those held on home soil – allow the American team to emerge from its niche status in the public consciousness.

In a country of more than 330 million people, the loss to Colombia was watched by 1.3 million English- and Spanish-speaking viewers. Last week’s loss to Panama averaged 2.5 million viewers on Fox. But the 0-0 draw with England at Qatar 2022 drew 20 million viewers.

Crocker doesn’t need to worry about PowerPoint presentations, metrics and empty business jargon. It’s the judgment that counts: Do you still believe this guy can lead this team to at least the quarterfinals of the 2026 World Cup? And in that context, the key point is this: What’s the evidence that this team is improving, that it’s still on an upward curve?

“There’s just not enough quality,” Pulisic told Fox Sports after Monday’s loss. “I felt like we gave it our all but we couldn’t find the solution.” The next steps, he added, are to “regroup and find an identity.” The early exit means that, once again, the United States will enter a World Cup uncertain of its world status and with everything to prove — but with the “young and promising” label that doesn’t suit them as well as it did in 2022. And with continuity losing its cachet.

Individually, the team, when at full strength, is better than it was 18 months ago. The biggest gap, a goalscorer, has been filled with Folarin Balogun. Gio Reyna is now a key member. The youngsters are growing; Pulisic, McKennie and Tyler Adams, all 25, and Weah, 24, should be in top form. They no longer lack experience in major tournaments. But the performances and results do not reflect that, not consistently enough, and especially not against top nations like Uruguay, whom Berhalter has been unable to beat.

“Our performance in the tournament did not live up to our expectations. We must do better. We will conduct a full review of our performance in the Copa América and determine how best to improve the team and results for the 2026 World Cup,” US Soccer said in a statement. That sounds great. But a quick glance at the standings should tell them all they need to know.