Fire Gregg Berhalter.

The US started their pre-Copa tuneups with a 5-1 loss to Colombia, marking the worst defeat in Berhalter's reign

Summer, firmly summer. Not the end of spring, nor simply the hint of verano, but summer. It’s here. 

There’s something inherently hopeful about the start of summer. And so, too, about the major sporting events looming forth. For the US Women’s National Team, and for a mostly-U23 US Men’s team, the Olympics are just 45 days away. For the senior US Men’s National Team, the world’s oldest international football tournament is set to transpire on American shores. That tournament, the Copa América, South America’s prestigious festival of fútbol, will test the USA’s mettle against top teams and tell us, definitively, where this team actually stands ahead of the 2026 World Cup. 

With full appreciation for the caliber of South America’s footballers, there’s been hope that this US team might finally start making good on their potential, and prove capable of beating a big team. I mean, they drew England 0-0 at the World Cup, didn’t they? And (perhaps underrated) previous generations of US teams have beaten big teams before.

But beginning late Saturday afternoon, approximately 12 miles from the White House, before a crowded stand of opposing fans, the US Men’s National Team did something it’s been doing for a while now. It disappointed. 

Yesterday’s 5-1 defeat to Colombia marks the worst defeat of Berhalter’s era. That’s one way to prepare for the summer ahead. 

Where we’re at

Ahead of Saturday’s friendly, the first of two to help them prepare for Copa América, Gregg Berhalter said the following: 

“So I think we're looking for our performances to give us information of where we're at. We know we're playing two top summit teams, and we're going to learn a lot both about our group and our opponents in these two games.”

“… information of where we’re at…” So, where are we at? We’re at the top of Concacaf, the worst-performing region outside Oceania, though we still struggle to claim its trophies, and do things like blunder games against Trinidad and Tobago (a nation with a total population smaller than Philadelphia’s) both home and away. 

Gregg Berhalter is now in his second tenure as US manager, originally appointed in late 2018 and returned to his post June 2023. In that time frame, achievements trotted out ad nauseum include repeatedly beating the worst Mexico team in memory, qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar (by thin margins it must be said), then getting out of their group (Wales, England, Iran) before falling to the Netherlands 3-1. 

Exiting the World Cup in the Round of 16, despite what is frequently touted as the most talented generation of players, is pretty much parr going back decades for the US Men’s program. 

Against the world’s top teams (as ranked by FIFA), the US has a record of five wins, seven draws, and six losses. Four of those wins are against what must be again emphasized as the worst Mexico team in the modern era. 

When they meet a big team, they fall short. 0-0 against England is the best they’ve done in six years. They are less than the sum of their parts. They don’t punch above their weight. 

Why are we here? 

It’s possible we’re just not that good. That’s certainly the interpretation from casual fans and peripherally interested Americans— whose hearts (or even simply attention) the federation claims to want to sway. 

We are not here for lack of experience. At club level, more players in Gregg’s roster compete for teams in the world’s most prestigious leagues than any generation before it. Many among them have competed in Champions League, Christian Pulisic has won it. Together, they’ve been a unit for years. They’ve competed in multiple tournaments. They’ve played and should have already learned from top teams (England, Netherlands, Germany, Uruguay). They’ve been to the World Cup. 

With a few caveats (yesterday was the first time we saw a starting backline of A. Robinson, Ream, Richards and Scally), Saturday’s starting lineup featured an average age of 25 years and 237 days. We’ve been trotting out “this is a young team” as a default storyline for years now. But that’s the ninth oldest lineup Gregg has ever fielded. In terms of appearances, yesterday’s lineup (which at face value was an exciting lineup!) featured an average of 32.9 caps. That’s the seventh most experienced lineup of Gregg’s reign, and his second most experienced since 2019. 

There were moments when things could have gone differently against Colombia. There always are. Folarin Balogun had the first look of the game. But Antonee Robinson had the first major mistake of it, and Colombia punished us: 1-0 six minutes in. Rafael Borré made it 2-0 in the 19th minute.  

Tim Weah pulled one back for the US in the second half, finishing off a patient buildup from the team. But things collapsed soon after. Starting in the 77th minute, Colombia scored three goals in eleven minutes to end the game 5-1. 

Gregg (and the players)

It’s important to note that not all of this is Berhalter’s fault. To some extent, I think a few members of this team are too comfortable. For one thing, endless Concacaf competition breeds complacency. In the press conference finally sent out to remote media, which was not transmitted live due to “technical difficulties”, Berhalter called the friendly a “wake up call”: 

“We're not framing it as a lesson learned. We're actually framing it as a wake up call. Really poor performance against a top team. And I think if you give, or I know, if you give a team like that the opportunities that we gave them, you're going to have no chance to win. It's never going to happen.”

When all we play is Concacaf, the team isn’t confronted with too many opportunities like this to awaken. 

These players are professionals that want to win, but it seems some among them see their time with the USMNT as a respite from pressure, rather than the height of it. The leaders of the team advocated for Gregg Berhalter’s return. With Berhalter on side, it’s possible they see their spots secured as the team’s leaders. Perhaps they all, Gregg Berhalter included, need to feel a bit more pressure. 

In a game riddled with frustrating mistakes, lack of communication, and players caught sleeping, Gregg accused them of not respecting the game in the final minutes: 

“I think the first half, you look at the two goals, maybe they had two and a half chances in the first half, scored two goals. And then, you know, from the 75th minute on, it was, I think, a lack of respect for our opponent, the game of soccer, what we were doing. And I think the sad thing is, it overshadows how we got back into the game, how we were aggressive, how we had them on their heels, and they were, they were struggling for a moment when it was 2-1, and we weren't able to capitalize on it, and then, and then the game went to pieces late, late in the match. So, wake up call for us.”

Interestingly, however merited some of Gregg’s critiques may be, few of his reflections point inward.

It’s just a friendly. It ended 5-1 against a top-ranked team that’s now 22 games unbeaten. If they learn from it, then play the Copa América with a newfound chip on their shoulder, that while now long deceased, was once the trademark psyche of an underdog team… then I look forward to being proven incorrect here. 

But if what we saw yesterday is a harbinger of what’s to come, then it’s long past time to put more pressure on the players in this program, and fire Gregg Berhalter.