What's Old Is New Again For Berhalter.
U.S. Soccer has confirmed that Gregg Berhalter is once again the head coach of the United States men’s national team.
He's been at the center of a more-than-half-a-year drama for U.S. Soccer, and his reemergence now creates a possible risk that fans will view the move as a capitulation, a surrender. Like, “Sorry, this is the best we could do. Deal with it.” Or, as U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Clint Dempsey said on Paramount+, “Why have we wasted this much time?”
Berhalter has technically been out of a job since the end of last year and was considered a long-shot candidate to take his old role back when he became embroiled in a complicated, fraught saga involving USMNT midfielder Gio Reyna and Reyna's parents.
That all led to an investigation into a 1992 domestic violence incident involving Berhalter and his now-wife.
During the investigation, Berhalter's contract expired; and the two men who would have been responsible for either rehiring or replacing him, sporting director Earnie Stewart and USMNT general manager Brian McBride, left their jobs.
USSF even hired a consulting firm, Sportsology, to assist with a broad search, and indicated it might not hire a new coach into the summer.
Then the investigation, which mostly corroborated Berhalter's public account of the 1992 incident, officially cleared him to be reconsidered. U.S. Soccer hired Matt Crocker to replace Stewart and reportedly interviewed more than 10 candidates, with names like Jesse Marsch, Patrick Viera and even Zinedine Zidane's name being thrown around.
U.S. men’s soccer star Christian Pulisic hasn’t always been reluctant to speak to the public through the media who cover the team, but he’s perpetually hesitant to say anything. So when he sat for an interview recently and declared of his once (and future) coach, “I think he should be considered,” we probably should have known what was coming.