Berhalter, the U.S. National Team, and a match that will reveal so, so much
Tonight's match against Uruguay sets up perfectly as measure of Gregg Berhalter’s ability to truly inspire this talented group
There aren’t many matches that truly stand up as some kind of critical referendum.
That said, Monday night’s U.S. national team match just might be one of them.
Although none of us outside higher offices at U.S. Soccer can know for sure, it seems safe to assume the Copa America group stage finale in Kansas City will say a lot about Gregg Berhalter’s future in charge. It’s not the match result, per se, of course. Rather, it’s about whether this (unmatched?) generation of U.S. players can advance from group play, having dug themselves a gaping hole. Advancing into the elimination rounds was always the first checkmark required to make the team’s Copa run feel anything like success.
Here’s why this one sets up perfectly, a genuine measure of Berhalter’s ability to squeeze the very most from this talented assembly:
(First, a quick disclaimer: I’ve always been nonpartisan on Berhalter, probably one of the few. He’s surely done some good, moving the program forward and nudging it necessarily from a coaching-related stasis. While he’s raised the floor, I do wonder how high he can lift the team, curious about where the ceiling might be? As I said, pretty much neutral.)
U.S. Soccer technical director Matt Crocker, the Welshman and former director of football operations at Southampton who took over less than a year ago, surely had several factors in mind when he put Berhalter back in charge for a second World Cup cycle. Among them: his popularity with the players. Berhalter clearly cares about them, and it seems mutual.
Well, here’s their chance to validate the critical choice.
Popularity among players means a few things, including respect that goes both ways, a healthy work environment and generally a scene that people enjoy being around. Notable instances aside, players will try to do what’s asked, and these are all good things.
As to how those elements manifest to affect results, that can fall one of two ways:
The players can get too comfortable, and the coach will eventually struggle to get the most from them. Or they’ll fight like all hell for the coach and the staff, as if their own lives depend on it.
And there you have the essential framing for tonight’s match.
If the team can assemble a scrappy, never-say-die performance and somehow scratch out the badly needed result (no matter what it looks like), they’ll go a long, long way toward validating Crocker’s choice. They’ll demonstrate the bottom line value to keeping a coach the players love, for whom they’ll run through the proverbial wall. It will show that Berhalter can be low-key but also an unlikely inspirational figure.
If they can’t push this big bolder up the hill through energy, effort, fight, industry and determination, then whatever value any of us assign to “players coach” and “fighting for their leader” and all that will surely need to be reevaluated for this case. Not because we’ll doubt that they tried, but rather because we’ll have a better understanding of the hard truth: that a popular coach just isn’t enough.
We’ll know the program most likely needs more, whether that’s in tactical acumen or ability to wring higher level performance from certain individuals or a varied stylistic approach or whatever. That’s a whole different set of questions — and nobody will be pressed to answer them if the United States can beat Uruguay tonight and advance.
Maybe this a good thing, too. We know this team has precious few real tests to evaluate itself before the 2026 World Cup, which is truly a generational opportunity – a World Cup on home soil at a time when the player pool seems deeper than ever. It’s a cannot miss opportunity, too important to take chances.
In terms of a significant choice – an absolutely critical one really – we’ll have a lot more information by later this evening.