The U.S. men’s national team’s group stage elimination from the 2024 Copa America was its earliest exit in a competition under Gregg Berhalter and despite the frustration from Monday’s loss to Uruguay, key members of the team continue to have support over their head coach.
Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie were two USMNT players who went the distance in Monday’s 1-0 defeat at Arrowhead Stadium, a result that ended the Americans’ Copa America involvement after three matches. Paired with Panama’s 3-1 victory over Bolivia, the USMNT were left stunned as the competition they have been excited to host for the first time since 2016, will no longer see them included in this summer.
After back-to-back losses to Panama and Uruguay respectively, the USMNT now heads into a period of uncertainty, wondering if Berhalter will be retained as head coach heading into the September-October friendlies and November’s CONCACAF Nations League schedule.
“Just to see the guys’ faces in the locker room and to see the emotion of the staff and players, we’re bitterly disappointed with the results,” Berhalter said postmatch. “We know we’re capable of more, and in this tournament, we didn’t show it. It’s really as simple as that.”
“You look at the stage that was set with the fans in this tournament, with the high level of competition in this tournament, and we should have done better,” he added. “We’ll do a review and figure out what went wrong and why it went wrong, but it’s an empty feeling right now, for sure.”
The USMNT re-hired Berhalter last summer after a lengthy hiring process was led by USSF sporting director Matt Crocker. Berhalter had won 37 of his 60 matches in charge of the USMNT during his first spell as head coach, leading the Americans to key victories over Mexico in both Nations League and Gold Cup play.
In addition, the USMNT did make their World Cup return in 2022, advancing out of the group stage alongside England, only to be eliminated 3-1 by the Netherlands in the Round of 16. Friendly losses to both Germany and Colombia, paired with recent defeats in the Copa America group stage have led to fans and media alike judging whether or not Berhalter should be the coach going forward, but both Adams and McKennie voiced their support of the 50-year-old staying in his position.
“We all have a comfortability with Gregg, and we all understand him; we’ve had him for a long time,” McKennie said of Berhalter. “He’s progressed the team very far from where we started off four or five years ago, and I think the connection that we have with him is important, and having a coach — players that would run through a brick wall for him, listen to him. Whatever happens, happens, but I think if he’s the coach, we’re all happy.”
“I absolutely have faith in him,” Adams said of Berhalter. “I don’t think it’s a coach’s job in a lot of situations. You know, we put a game plan in place; guys need to follow the game plan, of course, but you’re a footballer at the end of the day. How many times have you played the game? You need to be able to find solutions on the field, as well. He’s stuck with us through a lot of tough moments; I think we’re going to stick with him, as well. I think that’s important.”
For now, most of the European-based players will receive a deserved break while the MLS contingent will return to their clubs for the continuation of their league schedules. Berhalter remains the USMNT head coach for now, and presumably will also receive a short break of his own before preparing for the September international window (friendlies vs. Canada and New Zealand on home soil).
However, Crocker confirmed after Monday’s loss that USSF will be conducting a review of the USMNT’s early exit from the Copa America, showing that the federation isn’t settling for what happened over the past two weeks.
“Our tournament performance fell short of our expectations. We must do better,” Crocker said in a statement following the loss. “We will be conducting a comprehensive review of our performance in Copa América and how best to improve the team and results as we look towards the 2026 World Cup.”
