US soccer star applauds Gregg Berhalter's sacking

United States soccer decided to part ways with manager Gregg Berhalter, which was a widely expected move. Certain members of the program seemed to delight in Berhalter's dismissal.

According to The Daily Mail, United States star player Gio Reyna liked an Instagram post announcing Berhalter's firing within minutes after it became public.

Gio Reyna and Berhalter had a rocky relationship to say the least. According to The Daily Mail, Reyna's beef with Berhalter dates back to the 2022 World Cup, where the manager kept Reyna out of the lineup in their opening group stage match, and played him just 8 minutes against England. Berhalter reportedly did this because of Reyna's "poor attitude" in training.

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After a disappointing early exit out of the Copa America, United States soccer fans have received accountability from the program. While Berhalter's firing was swift and decisive, we’ll take a closer look at his timeline with team USA, and why he may not have deserved to be fired just yet.

Sporting News and others have explored who the United States might target as a replacement for Berhalter. There are some impressive names to sift through, but changing the manager doesn’t always alter the result for the United States.

Transfermarkt lays out the myriad of moves the United States has made at manager. The country has been searching for a permanent answer since Jurgen Klinsmann’s tenure ended in 2016. Bruce Arena, Dave Sarachan, Berhalter, Asher Mendelsohn, Anthony Hudson and B.J. Callahan have all taken turns as lead of the U.S. soccer team.

In 2023 alone, the United States had three managers, culminating with Berhalter’s re-appointment in August 2023. He also served as manager from Dec 2, 2018 through December 31, 2022.

Scrutinizing performance in major tournaments is the barometer to measure managers. Berhalter led the United States to the knockout stage in the 2022 World Cup, where they were defeated by The Netherlands 3-1. This was viewed as largely disappointing, but maybe it should not have been so harshly judged.

As we’re seeing again in Euro 2024, The Netherlands are a formidable team with a bevy of talent throughout their roster. While the United States had bigger dreams in the 2022 World Cup, bowing out to a strong team like the Netherlands isn’t a cause for major embarrassment.

As NBC Sports noted, the United States has only made it past the round of 16 once, which was in 2002. The round of 16 finish in 2022 is right around where the team has always finished. While fans want to compete at a higher level, Berhalter’s 2022 club didn’t finish any worse than what the program had accomplished historically.

It might be difficult to remember now, but U.S. soccer brought Berhalter on to revive a fledgling program. The United States didn’t even qualify for the World Cup in 2018, so bringing them back to the knockout round in 2022 can qualify as progress. Sports Illustrated wrote that it took the United States nearly 14 months to hire him in 2018.

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The Washington Post reported that a large fan group of U.S. soccer believes that Berhalter won’t be able to improve the team’s standing, and has called for his ousting. Even former U.S. players have said Berhalter hasn’t been good enough in his role as manager, according to Fox Sports.

The United States didn’t make it out of the group stage in Copa America 2024, losing to Panama 2-1, and officially got eliminated with a 1-0 loss to Uruguay.

However, there were circumstances that put the United States in a difficult position during the tournament. For example, Tim Weah received a red card against Panama in the 18^th minute for striking Roderick Miller. Berhalter told ESPN that the act was silly on Weah’s part, but playing a man down for most of the game really hampered the U.S.

Against Uruguay, officiating was a hot topic, as World Soccer Talk and others discussed some of the bizarre calls made in that contest. After the match, there was demonstrated tension between U.S. star Christian Pulisic and the lead referee Kevin Ortega, who seemed to be at odds after the contest.

Be that as it may, there’s a case to be made that Berhalter had to overcome obstacles that would have been difficult for any manager to pull off. While the end result certainly isn’t what anyone was looking for, a closer examination of the details may have given the former manager a case for additional rope.

However, Berhalter didn't have and shouldn't have had an infinite leash to perform. The United States will need to show improvement and victories against quality opponents soon.

The United States is co-hosting the 2026 World Cup, and there is no doubt that this is in the back of the program’s minds. The Los Angeles Times wrote that the U.S. soccer is in trouble, and the current state of affairs cannot go on. The country would prefer to have a stable manager in place well before the 2026 World Cup to establish a chemistry between coach and team.

As reported by the Daily Mail and others, former U.S. goalie Tim Howard thinks he can convince Jurgen Klopp to take over the U.S. men’s national team. Pep Guardiola is another name that has been circled about, and hiring either person would be an-attention grabbing move for a team that is looking to change its narrative.

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