This is an opinion column.
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The problem with the United States Men’s National Team isn’t talent. It’s leadership and toughness and that’s what is so demoralizing for a country of soccer fans who hoped that this group of players could be something special.
I’ll go back to my conversation last summer with national team member Chris Richards. The U.S. centerback from the Birmingham area was bullish about the Americans’ chances at Copa America. He told me point blank that it was his belief that the U.S. was on the brink of becoming a soccer “superpower.”
At this point, I’d settle for the old days of U.S. Soccer. Back then, the women ruled the world and the men at least made us proud with the amount of fight they brought to every match.
A couple weeks ago, the great hope going into Copa America was that the USMNT would use this summer’s big soccer tournament to grow up and take a positive step towards the 2026 World Cup. From that perspective, there still appears to be plenty of opportunity for growth following a quick exit from the group stage. The U.S. played young in the 2-1 loss to Panama and played small in the 1-0 loss to Uruguay. The team’s lone victory was against Bolivia.
If Uruguay is like the Duke of Copa America, then Bolivia is the Mississippi State. The United States? The Stars and Stripes looked a lot like Ole Miss to me — great on paper but perpetually overrated.
Is the coach, Gregg Berhalter, the problem? Is it the players? Is it the federation? Is it some combination of all three?
Please, at the very least, just give me a team that will fight until the last whistle.
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With about five minutes left in the USMNT’s brief appearance in Copa America, attacking midfielder Gio Reyna was moping around the pitch like a gloomy thundercloud. Yes, it was all but over at that point, with the U.S. needing two goals and a victory against Uruguay to advance, but Reyna could have at least represented his country with pride and worked his hardest until the bitter end.
The big distraction involving the Reyna family and Berhalter is a festering cancer and needs to be dealt with before the next international window. Berhalter needs to go, clearly, and it maybe it would be addition by subtraction at this point if the U.S. moved forward towards the 2026 World Cup without Reyna, too.
General sports fans in Alabama might not be familiar with the soap opera drama of U.S. Soccer, but this reference should clear things up. Berhalter, the coach of the men’s team, is a Mike Shula-type. He’s a decent enough coach, but he doesn’t know how to push elite players to unlock their full potential.
The USMNT needs a Nick Saban-type of coach. U.S. Soccer needs a dictator. The men’s team needs someone completely removed from the amateurish, insular, nepotistic culture of U.S. Soccer. The team needs someone who will come in, clean house and scare the best out of everyone wearing red, white and blue.
My dream is for Saban to Ted Lasso the USMNT ahead of the 2026 World Cup. Let someone else focus on tactics. Just let Saban crack skulls. In two years, he would have the team ready to take on Brazil and Spain and it’s not even a question.
Since we don’t live in fantasyland, I’ll take Jurgen Klopp.
It was a major mistake for U.S. Soccer to bring Berhalter back. Everyone should see that now, and anyone who doesn’t is part of the problem and needs to go, too. I waited an extra day to publish this column because I was expecting U.S. Soccer to do the right thing and fire Berhalter after the U.S. failed to advance out of the group stage of Copa America.
It was my mistake to expect a competent decision from someone in a position of power at U.S. Soccer. U.S. Soccer is Alabama football before Saban showed up. It’s like the granola good ol’ boy network of New Jersey.
Here’s the brief synopsis of what I’m talking about. Berhalter was the coach of the USMNT from 2018 to 2022. He was hired while his brother, Jay, was a vice president for U.S. Soccer. Gregg Berhalter’s contract expired in December of 2022, and U.S. Soccer didn’t renew him because the family of player Gio Reyna went public with blackmail information on the coach in retaliation for not starting their son in the 2022 World Cup.
No, I’m not making that up. It’s like something you’d hear about a travel team in the suburbs.
And maybe that’s the real problem with U.S. Soccer after all. It’s lost in the suburbs perpetually looking for a Starbucks while refreshing its Facebook feed.
After the USMNT performed really well with an interim coach who looked like he could be played by a younger John Goodman (no relation) in a movie, U.S. Soccer decided to interview Berhalter again and bring him back as the team’s coach. What is wrong with these people?
The 2026 World Cup is in North America with the majority of games being played in the United States. The U.S. allegedly has a group of players who everyone thinks can compete for the championship. They’re calling it the golden generation. It’s more like fool’s gold at this point.
It’s always amateur hour with U.S. Soccer, in other words, and at this point the entire operation is a complete embarrassment to the country.
There is still hope, believe it or not. All is not lost after this summer’s regression. The spark in the eyes of captain Christian Pulisic at the end of the game against Uruguay was something we haven’t seen from the U.S.’s best player.
He was mad. He was furious. He cared.
The problem is that Pulisic was directing his frustration at the refs when the core group of players of this so-called golden generation should be demanding professionalism and accountability from U.S. Soccer.
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Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the most controversial sports book ever written, “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”