DaMarcus Beasley calls for Gregg Berhalter’s exit from U.S. men’s national team

It was after midnight on the east coast, and many viewers who tuned in for HBO Max’s telecast of the U.S. women’s soccer team’s 4-0 win at New Zealand were ready to go to sleep.

But during the postgame show, any of those viewers who also follow the U.S. men’s team got one more jolt: U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer DaMarcus Beasley pointedly called for U.S. men’s manager Gregg Berhalter’s departure amid the scandal engulfing the program.

“He lost the locker room; he lost the trust of the players,” Beasley said of Berhalter’s criticism of Gio Reyna’s lack of effort at the World Cup.

Berhalter had criticized Reyna without naming him, and the event where he spoke in early December was meant to be off the record. But the word quickly got out, as did confirmation of the subject.

“U.S. Soccer, for one, can’t stay with Gregg Berhalter,” Beasley said. “Once you lose the locker room and the trust of your players, I think you have to go. I hope that Cindy [Cone, U.S. Soccer’s president] and Earnie [Stewart, the sporting director], whoever’s making the decisions, can see that and put somebody in that position to make better decisions and move this team forward.”

Beasley criticized all sides of the scandal, including Gio Reyna and his parents, Claudio and Danielle. Claudio complained to Stewart during the World Cup about Gio’s lack of playing time, and Danielle revealed Berhalter’s 30-year-old domestic violence incident to Stewart after Berhalter’s conference speech.

“It’s a bad situation,” said Beasley, who played with Stewart, Reyna, Berhalter, and U.S. men’s team general manager Brian McBride at various World Cups.

» READ MORE: Claudio and Danielle Reyna, Gio’s parents, admit to disclosing incident to U.S. Soccer concerning Gregg Berhalter

“First, Gregg Berhalter wasn’t honest with his assessment of why Gio didn’t play that first match — bad,” Beasley said, referring to Berhalter’s postgame news conference after the 1-1 tie with Wales in Qatar. “Gio’s reaction — bad. … Then obviously, what happened with the Reynas and that news that came out on what [the Berhalters] did 30 years ago, another thing that’s bad. Everything about the situation stinks.”

Beasley also noted that before the scandal, he backed Berhalter staying on.

“I thought he did enough that he could have kept going and brought this team success in 2026,” he said.

Standing next to Beasley were two U.S. women’s team legends, Shannon Boxx and Julie Foudy. They concurred with him.

“What I saw from the outside is he created this unified team that played well,” Boxx said, but the scandal’s damage may be irreparable.

“Unfortunately, I have to agree with you,” she said. “It feels kind of like maybe they need a fresh start, especially if they lost the locker room.”

» READ MORE: Inquirer soccer writers debate who should be the next USMNT manager

Boxx backed the principle of not keeping a national team boss for more than one World Cup cycle, noting that she played for a different manager at each of her four tournaments from 2003-15. So did Foudy, another former U.S. women’s star. She’s plenty connected in the men’s game too, having worked with many current and former players at ESPN.

“There seemed like there was so much love around that group during the World Cup, which I think in large part, people say Gregg fostered,” Foudy said. “Beyond this happening, I have always been of the mindset that you bring in fresh voices, fresh training, fresh tactics, all those things.”

Foudy called out Danielle Reyna, whom she played with on the national team when Reyna (then Danielle Egan) earned her six caps in 1993.

“This is a situation that happened 30 years ago that is Ros’ story to leak out, not Danielle’s, right?” Foudy said, referring to Berhalter’s wife, Rosalind. “This is her situation. And the fact that this happens in a scenario that you see often happen in youth sports or high school sports. And for it to be two soccer families that have had tremendous histories and have been on national teams and all of that.”

» READ MORE: USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter discloses domestic violence incident from his past

When the camera turned to play-by-play broadcaster Luke Wileman, he stayed out of offering a direct opinion. But the English-born Canadian has long watched U.S. teams from afar with Canada’s TSN, and offered an outsider’s perspective.

“It needs to be a person who can continue the foundation that has been laid, because let’s not forget where Gregg Berhalter took this team from,” Wileman said. “Now the big question is, for the people making the decision, is that coach out there who they think can improve this team — from a playing perspective, put aside what happens with the investigation.”

Officially, Berhalter’s contract expired at the end of 2022. Stewart said on Jan. 4 that Berhalter is one of the candidates being considered for the 2026 cycle, pending an investigation of the domestic violence and a separate review of the state of the men’s program.

Anthony Hudson, a former U.S. under-20 and Colorado Rapids manager who was one of Berhalter’s assistants at the recent World Cup, is running this month’s camp and games for less-heralded players.

» READ MORE: Paxten Aaronson, Brandon Vázquez headline USMNT January camp roster

Beasley and Foudy concluded the discussion by asserting that U.S. Soccer will seek the players’ input on the decision.

“They’re going to ask the players, and they’re going to have a say in who’s going to be the next coach,” Beasley said.

“Especially with Cindy Parlow Cone as the president — she was a player, she understands the importance of them having a voice,” said Foudy, who played with Cone for many years. “Having said that, they’re going to say, ‘OK, there’s going to be some boundaries.”

Those views aren’t the only ones out there, of course, even among Berhalter’s former teammates. (And there are many of them, as Berhalter won his 44 national team caps over 13 years.) Fox Sports’ Alexi Lalas, who was on the 1995 Copa América squad with Berhalter, said on his latest podcast that he wants Berhalter to stay.

But while Fox still has the World Cup and Concacaf men’s Gold Cup, it isn’t a U.S. Soccer rights holder anymore. HBO Max’s parent company, Warner Brothers Discovery Sports, took over those rights from Fox this year — and this was its first telecast of the deal.

So Beasley’s words carry special weight. They also sent notice that while WBD Sports and U.S. Soccer are partners, the broadcasters appear to have some editorial independence to say what they want to.

» READ MORE: Will the USMNT play in the 2024 Copa América? U.S. Soccer CEO JT Batson opens the door to it.