Berhalter the Man to Lead United States in 2026 World Cup

20/06/23 868

The 2026 World Cup is going to be a huge occasion for the United States as they host the competition for the second time.

In 1994, United States were the sole hosts of the World Cup and in 2026 they will share the responsibility with Canada and Mexico but 11 of the host cities are in the United States.

Qualifying automatically as hosts, there is no need to worry about qualification matches for the man who has been tasked with taking the USMNT to glory in 2026, Gregg Berhalter.

Berhalter was recently reappointed as the head coach of the United States six months after the expiry of his original deal, which started in 2018.

The former Columbus Crew manager was under investigation due to past conduct in his private life and BJ Callaghan took over has interim coach for the Concacaf Nations League and will continue in the role for the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup tournament.

It will be interesting to see how Berhalter manages the situation with Giovanni Reyna as it was his mother who reported Berhalter over an incident with his wife.

The Borussia Dortmund midfielder did not start a match at the 2022 World Cup despite being regarded as one of the best players in the squad and Berhalter criticised Reyna for not meeting expectations. Speaking about his relationship with Reyna, Berhalter said there work to do to rebuild the relationship.

Talking about his reappointment to the role as manager of the United States, Berhalter said, “I'm grateful to have the opportunity to build on our achievements at the World Cup and to contribute to this exciting time for soccer in our country. We look forward to continuing our journey together to make our fans and our nation proud.”

There were question marks about some of the tactical choices at the 2022 World Cup and team selection. However, every coach comes under the same scrutiny, especially following elimination from the tournament.

Nonetheless, the consensus is that the players are behind Berhalter and he has created a good spirit in the squad, with Christian Pulisic, who is going to be a hugely important player for the United States over the next four years, happy to back Berhalter.

At the 1994 World Cup, hosted by the United States, not much was expected from the team. They did well to reach the round of 16, where they lost by just a single goal to Brazil, who went on to win the competition.

However, expectations will be bigger in 2026 and the home fans will want to see their team go further in the tournament. Their best performance was the quarter-final in 2002 and that will be the aim for the 2026 World Cup.

Having named Berhalter as the manager, the question marks surrounding the coaching position have been put to bed early and United States can focus on building a team ready for the 2026 World Cup.