Why U.S. Soccer needs to move on from Berhalter after Copa failure - ESPN

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As Gregg Berhalter addressed the media Monday in the wake of the United States men's national soccer team's 1-0 loss to Uruguay, a result that eliminated it from the 2024 Copa América in the group stage, he was asked if he was the right voice and the right person to lead the Americans into the 2026 World Cup.

He responded with a barely audible, «Yes.»

Berhalter's answer wasn't surprising. While resignations during news conferences aren't unheard of, the manager who won't back himself in a moment like that is rare indeed. That said, Berhalter's response flew in the face of the available evidence. The U.S. is out of the Copa América at the first hurdle in a tournament that it was not only hosting in front of supportive crowds but one in which it was given an utterly manageable group that, in addition to Uruguay, included Bolivia and Panama.

Yet not even those tailwinds were enough to push the U.S. into the knockout rounds. Instead, what was on view was a team that hurt itself with backbreaking mistakes and couldn't find a way to grind out the results it needed.

Do the players deserve some of the blame? You bet. But Berhalter has to own this performance, as well. As a consequence, the U.S. Soccer Federation needs to move on and find a new manager who can better generate the kind of momentum that the 2026 World Cup has the potential to provide.

To be clear, there are broader reasons for calling for a new manager than the results from just one tournament. The most damning is that the U.S. hasn't made any discernible progress from the encouraging displays at the 2022 World Cup, when a young team reached the knockout stages. The expectation was that the young core of the team would improve and take the next