U.S. Soccer has a big decision to make about Gregg Berhalter’s future as USMNT manager

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The case for the dismissal of U.S. men’s soccer team manager Gregg Berhalter is made by the team’s results, not by the braying chorus on social media that has never liked him.

What matters more is whether U.S. Soccer Federation sporting director Matt Crocker is willing to make the move, now that Berhalter’s team has crashed out of the Copa América with just one win in three games.

It is a woefully blown opportunity in the team’s biggest games before the 2026 World Cup, not just against serious opponents, but on big-time stages on home soil.

So will Crocker pull the plug? If he’s going to, it has to be now, and that’s not just about Berhalter. There are two years until that World Cup, and they will fly by. Since national teams don’t gather often, waiting any longer will limit how much a new manager can work with the players.

“Our tournament performance fell short of our expectations,” Crocker said in a brief written statement after Monday’s 1-0 loss to Uruguay at Arrowhead Stadium. “We must do better. We will be conducting a comprehensive review of our performance in Copa America and how best to improve the team and results as we look towards the 2026 World Cup.”

» READ MORE: USMNT crashes out of Copa América with loss to Uruguay, piling pressure on manager Gregg Berhalter

Before Crocker’s statement, Berhalter spoke of the need and desire for a review.

“We know that we’re capable of more, and in this tournament, we didn’t show it,” he said. “It is really as simple as that. … You look at the stage that was set, with the fans in this tournament, with the high level of competition in this tournament, and we should have done better.”

So now what?

“I think collectively — the staff, the players, the sporting department — we need to look at where do we improve, how do we do better?” Berhalter said. “It’s not the aspirations that we have as a group. We know it’s a talented team with big potential, and we didn’t show it in this tournament.”

It’s no surprise Berhalter thinks he should keep his job. He has an ego like any coach in any sport does. Nor is it a surprise that he was asked about that many different ways and on the last one reduced his answer to one word: “Yes.”

Then came a long, awkward silence before the next question.

» READ MORE: Tyler Adams, Brenden Aaronson, and other USMNT players know they’ve blown a big opportunity

A few days before the tournament started, The Inquirer asked Stuart Holden, a former U.S. player and current Fox broadcaster, whether he thought Crocker would dismiss Berhalter if warranted.

Holden, a former member of the U.S. Soccer Athlete Council, which has a powerful voice in the governing body’s operations, has not been afraid to use his platform over the years and knows plenty of other people in the halls of power.

“[Crocker] is aware that his legacy is attached to Gregg Berhalter’s performance as coach of this team,” he said. “From what I know about Matt Crocker, and in the brief opportunities I’ve had to speak to him … he is not afraid to make decisions. He seems like he’s strong-willed enough and bold to make that [call] if he feels that the performance in the Copa América ultimately isn’t good enough.”

Holden also did not hesitate when asked if he thought U.S. Soccer would back Crocker to make such a decision, including with the big money commitments it would require — to buy Berhalter out and hire a big-time successor.

“I absolutely think that U.S. Soccer would pull the trigger if they thought that Gregg Berhalter was not the right guy to achieve the success that they deem acceptable come 2026,” he said. “I don’t think they’re scared to make that choice.”

» READ MORE: Fox’s Stuart Holden put Gregg Berhalter on the hot seat going into the Copa América

Since that interview, other well-connected sources across the U.S. Soccer landscape have told The Inquirer the same thing: Crocker would make the move if results warranted it.

It’s been just over a year since Crocker agreed to bring Berhalter back after the scandal with Berhalter, Gio Reyna, and the Reyna family. Crocker said a lot of things at the time. But one reason for the decision stood out far above any other, and still does: The players wanted it.

They said so loudly, too, and the players who spoke were big names: Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah, and Antonee Robinson.

At that point, Crocker was just under two months into the job — and still splitting his time with English club Southampton, his previous employer. Bringing back Berhalter was not his first choice. But between his newness and everything that happened in the scandal, it wasn’t too surprising that he deferred to the players.

Have those players and Berhalter advanced the U.S. team since then? It’s important to include the players in that question, because the players impact games far more than managers do, no matter how famous they are. From Berhalter to Jurgen Klinsmann and anyone else out there, the manager doesn’t score goals or miss them, defend them or fail to.

» READ MORE: There was real pressure on Gregg Berhalter and USMNT players at their biggest game since the World Cup

Nor does the manager swing a fist toward a player on the field and rightly get ejected for it, as Weah did against Panama. That moment defined everything that followed in that game and against Uruguay.

But let’s answer that question. There’s a pretty clear sense that no, the program has not advanced since Berhalter came back. And with the timing what it is — two years to go until the World Cup, and two months before this fall’s lightweight friendly games — it bears saying again: If Crocker is going to pull the trigger, now is the time.

There’s another benchmark to measure the situation, and you’ve read about it plenty in The Inquirer.

Two months and a day after Crocker announced Berhalter’s return, he announced Vlatko Andonovski’s departure from the U.S. women’s team. That wasn’t surprising because Andonovski had just been at the helm of a reigning World Cup champion that crashed out in the round of 16.

Andonovski knew as well as anyone that the earliest exit from a major tournament in team history was unacceptable and that he had to take the fall. So he did.

» READ MORE: Sam Coffey makes the U.S. women’s soccer Olympic team, but Alex Morgan doesn’t

A few days later, general manager Kate Markgraf resigned. That gave Crocker the opening to launch a total overhaul of the program. The ensuing housecleaning was what many people had called for, and Crocker put his foot down with the broom.

Then he hit on another big swing, landing Emma Hayes to be Andonovski’s successor.

It doubtless helped that perhaps the most famous club coach in women’s soccer blended deep U.S. roots with English ancestry and that Hayes had wanted the U.S. job for many years. But she still had to give up her dream of winning the Champions League, and Crocker got her to do it — trading a six-month delay to Hayes’ arrival for one more shot at the trophy.

There is no equivalent hire to Hayes on the men’s side. Fans can dream of some big-name European, but none is feasible to land. Nor would any of them make clear sense to actually coach this team the way Hayes does with the women’s side.

That will complicate Crocker’s process. If he fires Berhalter, he should have some idea of the replacement he can get, whether from the domestic ranks or abroad.

» READ MORE: Why Matt Crocker believed Emma Hayes was worth waiting for

And Crocker knows the best fit for the job is no longer available. That’s Jesse Marsch, who was one of the runners-up a year ago. From all accounts, Crocker would have been happy to hire him, but he deferred to the players.

Now Marsch has just led Canada to the quarterfinals, while Berhalter’s U.S. team is out of a tournament it is hosting.

So, to the question again: Will Crocker do it?

It’s down to his beliefs, his convictions, and his knowledge that he has done this before. Now, in the biggest moment before the World Cup arrives, he has the chance to do it again.

» READ MORE: Is the USMNT playing in the Copa América a big deal? Christian Pulisic sure thinks so.