U.S. men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter is not doing the thing most would expect a U.S. men’s national team coach to do during a tournament the U.S. men’s national team is playing in: coach.
That is to say, after Berhalter was officially named to his former post last week, U.S. Soccer said that interim B.J. Callaghan would still be in charge through the Gold Cup.
Callaghan, who was Berhalter’s assistant for several years, just led the USMNT to a CONCACAF Nations League title. His head coaching resume, brief as it may be, is at least successful.
Additionally, this will not be the A-team the U.S. brought to the Nations League, with the Gold Cup roster mostly comprised of players on the fringe.
But still, it seems a bit odd for a head coach — especially one like Berhalter who is so familiar with the team already — to not do the very thing his job title suggests during a major international competition.
This issue was posed to U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker at last week’s re-introductory press conference for Berhalter. Crocker suggested that Berhalter will actually be more useful to the USMNT doing non-coaching things for the next few weeks.
“What we didn’t want to create was the environment of you know, Gregg puts his boots straight back on, slides back into the environment, and it’s very much business as usual,” Crocker said. “There’s some real big-ticket items around some real strategic stuff over the next couple of seasons that we need to map out first.”
After saying the U.S. is in “good hands” with Callaghan for the Gold Cup, Crocker added that having a former Berhalter assistant in charge provides continuity that will free Berhalter himself to begin planning a strategy for the 2026 World Cup.
“It gives myself and Gregg the real great opportunity of spending some real time together, working through and piecing together the framework of that strategy for 2026. We can then bring that back to the staff and players and start to get their input to really develop it together collectively.”
The USMNT kicks off the Gold Cup on Saturday against Jamaica.
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