Gregg Berhalter nearing agreement to return as USMNT head coach

Doug McIntyre

Soccer Journalist

Gregg Berhalter will return as coach of the U.S. men’s national team, a source confirmed to FOX Sports on Thursday evening. The Athletic’s Paul Tenorio was the first to report the news.

An announcement is expected on Friday. U.S. Soccer didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Originally hired in December of 2018, Berhalter qualified the USMNT for its first World Cup since 2014 last year. He led the Americans to an undefeated first round at Qatar 2022 before the U.S. was eliminated by the Netherlands in the round of 16. He was in talks with then USSF sporting director Earnie Stewart to extend his contract through the 2026 World Cup that will be co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, but those discussions were put on hold after a decades old domestic violence incident involving his now wife.

That episode was reported to U.S. Soccer by the parents of USMNT attacker Gio Reyna, both of them former national team players. An independent investigation determined that the disclosure was in retaliation for Berhalter revealing that he considered sending the younger Reyna home from the World Cup for poor behavior after he was informed he wouldn’t start the Americans group stage opener against Wales.

The investigation also found that Berhalter had truthful when he admitted that he had kicked his then girlfriend during an argument outside a bar when the two were freshmen student-athletes at the University of North Carolina. Danielle Reyna, Rosalind’s roommate at UNC, didn’t witness the altercation but learned of it afterward.

U.S. Soccer insisted that Berhalter remained a candidate to be rehired. But first U.S. Soccer needed to replace Stewart, who left the federation in February for a similar position with Dutch club PSV Eindhoven. Matt Crocker was named his successor in April. FOX Sports reported earlier this week that Crocker had interviewed more than 10 potential candidates for the USMNT’s coaching job. The squad has been led by a pair of interim bosses, first Anthony Hudson and then B.J. Callaghan – both former Berhalter assistants – since January. Several players, including World Cup goalscorers Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah, recently said publicly that they wanted Berhalter to return.

Berhalter had been linked to open club jobs in Wales, the Netherlands and most recently Mexico’s Club America. FOX Sports’ Rodolfo Landeros reported on Thursday that Berhalter had withdrawn his name from contention for that position, citing his desire to return to the USMNT.

He and many of his players got what they wanted in the end.

Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.