Gregg Berhalter out as USMNT head coach following Copa América group stage exit
A little more than a week after the United States men's national team became the first Copa América host to be eliminated in the group stage of the world's oldest international tournament, Gregg Berhalter will no longer be the team's head coach. FOX Sports was the first to report on the news.
U.S. Soccer confirmed the separation in a statement on Wednesday.
Berhalter was originally hired in 2018, almost 14 months after the Americans failed to qualify for that year's World Cup. He led the U.S. back to soccer's marquee competition and into the round of 16, and was rehired for the 2026 World Cup cycle last June by Matt Crocker, who had become the federation's sporting director two months earlier.
But despite winning a third successive Concacaf Nations League title in March by beating Mexico 2-0 in the final, the team has struggled throughout Berhalter's second term.
[Related: 10 USMNT coaching candidates to watch, including Jürgen Klopp]
The USMNT would've been eliminated in the Nations League semis by Jamaica if not for a 95th-minute own goal by the Reggae Boyz. They lost in Trinidad late last year and at home to Panama in this year's Copa América, failing to recover from gratuitous red cards in each game, both of which they led. The Americans were also outclassed by Germany in a 3-1 friendly loss last October and humiliated in a pre-Copa exhibition against Colombia, a 5-1 shellacking that was the program's most lopsided defeat in 13 years.
Needing a win and some help to advance to the Copa quarterfinals, the U.S. lost to Uruguay on July 1 — the first time the country failed to advance from group play at a major tournament since 2007.
Berhalter finishes his U.S. tenure with 44 wins, 15 losses and 13 ties. He holds the highest winning percentage of any permanent USMNT coach. It wasn't enough to save his job in the end. There's no word on who Berhalter's successor might be, but U.S. Soccer is expected to name a new coach before the men play their next match, a friendly against Copa América semifinalist Canada on Sept. 7.
Doug McIntyre on possibility of Jürgen Klopp to USMNT if it falters at Copa América | SOTU
Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports who has covered the United States men's and women's national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him at @ByDougMcIntyre.
