US Soccer’s Worrying Message to Gregg Berhalter After USMNT Disaster

With all eyes on Gregg Berhalter’s future as USMNT coach following the team’s disappointment at the 2024 Copa America, US Soccer has sent a worrying message that doesn’t seem to bode well for the 50-year-old.

Following the USMNT’s 1-0 loss to Uruguay on Monday night in Kansas City, which combined with Panama’s 3-1 win over Bolivia to eliminate the Americans from the tournament in the group stage, U.S. Soccer Federation sporting director Matt Crocker released a statement expressing his displeasure with the outcome.

“Our performance in the tournament did not live up to our expectations. We must do better,” Crocker said in the statement. “We will conduct a full review of our performance at the Copa America and determine how best to improve the team and results leading up to the 2026 World Cup.”

The United States will host the 2026 World Cup along with Canada and Mexico, but the question is whether Berhalter will still be the team’s coach by then.

The 16-team Copa America is divided into four groups of four, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the quarter-finals after a round-robin tournament.

The USMNT opened with a 2-0 win over Bolivia, but were shocked by Panama in a 2-1 loss in their second game after winger Tim Weah was sent off in the 18th minute and goalkeeper Matt Turner was substituted at halftime due to injury.

Uruguay won the group with a win over the USMNT and Panama finished second.

Berhalter said after the defeat that he was still the right person to lead the team to the 2026 World Cup.

It appeared Berhalter’s days were numbered after the USMNT’s Round of 16 exit to the Netherlands at the 2022 World Cup after young star Gio Reyna received limited playing time.

After the tournament, at a management conference that Berhalter considered a confidential environment, the coach mentioned that a player had to be disciplined and almost sent home from Qatar because of his behavior after learning he would not start the team’s opening match against Wales.

He didn’t name the player, but rumors about Reyna had already spread, and Reyna himself addressed the situation in an Instagram post in 2022, saying he hoped the ordeal would remain private.

Reyna admitted to letting his emotions “get the better of him” and apologized, and said he was told he was forgiven.

Reyna’s parents, former U.S. national team players Claudio and Danielle Reyna, were distraught over the situation involving their son and Berhalter’s comments.

Danielle admitted to informing US Soccer of a 1991 incident in which Berhalter kicked his current wife, Rosalind, in the legs during a heated argument outside a bar while she was in college.

Berhalter, while admitting that the incident was true, claimed that reporting the incident was an attempt at blackmail.

The couple reconciled seven months after the incident and have been married for 26 years.

Berhalter did not coach the team while the U.S. Soccer Federation investigated the 1991 incident, but he was reinstated last summer as the team’s coach.

Reyna started all three of the USMNT’s Copa America matches.