USMNT coach Berhalter reveals aim to emulate England's success after World Cup draw pairing

DOHA, Qatar — After being paired together in Friday's World Cup draw, Gregg Berhalter has revealed he contacted Gareth Southgate following his appointment as U.S. men's national team coach with the aim of emulating England's recent success.

Southgate initially took interim charge of England in September 2016 before taking the job on a permanent basis in November that year, instigating a dramatic change in fortunes.

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England were knocked out of Euro 2016 by minnows Iceland but under Southgate, they reached the semifinals of the World Cup two years later — their best performance in 28 years — before losing the Euro 2020 final on penalties.

Berhalter became USMNT coach in December 2018 and, after the U.S. were drawn in Group B alongside England at the World Cup in Qatar starting in November, the 48-year-old said: «I reached out when I took the job over. We've maintained a dialogue since then, we're always bouncing ideas off each other and talking about international football and the job. It's a strong relationship.

»[I did it] because of the similarities that I mentioned. I knew I was taking over a young player pool. I saw what they did. I also knew that he was taking over a team that didn't always… there was always a little bit of a difficulty in playing for the national team.

«They were at a difficult point and he changed the culture. So that was something I was interested in doing, because we came off qualifying in 2018 [when they missed out].»

The USMNT were also paired with Iran, evoking memories of their meeting in 1998, dubbed