World Cup 2022: USMNT leaders motivated by common goal based on shared experience
By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer
Back in 1995, Gregg Berhalter was toiling away in relative obscurity with Dutch second-tier club Zwolle when a special guest showed up at one of the young defender’s games.
It was Earnie Stewart, who had starred for the United States at the 1994 World Cup and played for first-division Willem II.
"That he took the time to drive an hour and a half to come watch me play just meant a lot to me," said Berhalter, now in his third year as coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team. The USMNT head into their final match of 2021, a friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Saturday in Carson, California (8 p.m. ET, FS1 and the FOX Sports app).
Berhalter and Stewart weren’t particularly close. Despite both being based in the Netherlands and having been on the U.S. squad that stunned Argentina en route to the semifinals of the Copa America a few months earlier, there was an experience and status gap between them.
It was different with Berhalter and Brian McBride. "Gregg and I were around the same age," McBride said. "He was more of a friend than a mentor."
Berhalter, McBride and Stewart went on to become key members of the 2002 World Cup team that narrowly lost to Germany in the quarterfinals — still the best finish for the Americans since the inaugural tournament in 1930.
Now the three are trying to lead the USMNT back to the biggest stage in sports after the failure to qualify four years ago.
That disaster shook U.S. Soccer to its core. When the dust settled, a modern leadership structure on the sporting side was put into place. Stewart was hired as the USMNT’s first general manager after holding similar roles in the Eredivisie and with the Philadelphia Union in MLS. In January 2020, McBride, one of the most decorated players in U.S. history, took over as GM when Stewart was promoted to sporting director, overseeing both the men’s and women’s programs.
With the 2022 World Cup less than a year away, the USMNT sit second in the eight-team CONCACAF standings. The top three finishers automatically qualify for Qatar.
There’s little margin for error in the six remaining qualifying matches, though. And for all the top-end talent on a squad led by Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic, Juventus’ Weston McKennie and Barcelona’s Sergiño Dest, the USMNT player pool is historically young and inexperienced.
Berhalter, McBride and Stewart are working to bridge those gaps, using the shared experience of playing on that 2002 World Cup team.
"That tournament was impactful for all of us in all of our lives," Berhalter said.
The three men have eight World Cups and 240 caps between them, but what still stands out most about 2002 was how close everyone was off the field.
"That group was unique in the sense that everyone trusted each other," McBride said. "You could be open and honest."
That's the kind of atmosphere the leadership trio has been trying to recreate within the current team. And by all accounts, it’s working so far. "This group is amazingly close," Berhalter said.
Stewart and McBride both know firsthand what happens when the locker room culture goes south. They were members of the USMNT that finished dead last in France in 1998, one cycle before the modern high-water mark.
"It really makes you think about how important it is to put a team together," Stewart said. "You can forget about all the tactical things we’re trying to accomplish. Having that in itself is already a huge plus. A team will always beat 11 individuals."
In the 1994 World Cup, Earnie Stewart (8) celebrated with teammates after his goal vs. Columbia helped the U.S. upset one of the pre-tournament favorites. The USMNT advanced to the second round.
In their current roles, sometimes that means making personnel decisions that aren’t based solely on soccer. With so much at stake, everyone has to be all-in at all times.
"Not everybody fits in a team," Stewart said. "You have to be bold and brave to make choices that sometimes people won’t understand."
McBride and Stewart speak almost every day. Same for the coach and GM. They don’t always see eye-to-eye, but that’s nothing new.
"Brian and I played on the same side of the field, so we had to fight with Gregg all the time," joked Stewart, a former forward like McBride. "It isn’t different now."
Having unique perspectives is understandable given their backgrounds. The son of a U.S. military member stationed in the Netherlands, Stewart was born, raised and spent almost his entire professional career there.
Berhalter grew up in New Jersey but spent 15 years in Europe after leaving the University of North Carolina. He finished his career as a player/assistant coach with the LA Galaxy before helming Swedish club Hammarby and the Columbus Crew.
Meanwhile, McBride starred for the Crew from MLS’ inception in 1996 until his two-goal performance in Korea attracted the attention of English teams. The Chicago-area native was already 31 when he transferred to Fulham, for whom he scored 33 goals across five Premier League seasons.
Despite their varied backgrounds, there are similarities among the three as well.
"If you look at our careers, we were all battling and trying to climb to make it to the levels we made it at," Berhalter said. "We come from all these different backgrounds, but we all understand what it takes to be successful, the hard work and dedication and the amount of time that we need to put in. That’s what we have in common. It does make the conversations easier."
Their shared history with the national team also helps, even if, as McBride said, "There’s not a lot of reminiscing. I can tell you that."
Said Stewart: "You know that if you leave the room one day, and you’re kinda ticked off at each other, you come back the next day and get on with your job again."
Really, they have no choice but to look forward. While a squad made up mostly of MLS prospects can set the single-year wins record for the USMNT this weekend, it won’t mean anything if the U.S. misses out on a second World Cup tournament in a row.
Eight of the 26 players in camp this month were born after 2002. Berhalter, McBride and Stewart have tried to drive home to this new generation how meaningful it is to represent the U.S. on the global stage by talking up the team’s history, but the focus is on now and the immediate future.
"Something we laid out to the players is that this team is a point on the USMNT timeline," Berhalter said. "To be part of that is a special thing, and we take it really seriously."
Same goes for the responsibility they feel to not just get the program back to where it once was but also push it to new heights.
"I think there’s just a common understanding of what we want, and that’s the most important thing," Berhalter says. "All three of us have been involved with the national team program for a long, long time. We all have a real deep love and respect for the U.S. national team. That’s the best part. There’s a common language of wanting to do well.
"We want this team to be great."
One of the most prominent soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams in more than a dozen countries, including multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports, the New York City native was a staff writer for Yahoo Sports and ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
