When Gregg Berhalter took over as U.S. men’s national team head coach five and a half years ago, the program was still fighting to emerge from the darkest moment in its history.

The 2017 loss to Trinidad and Tobago that meant the U.S. failed to qualify for the following year’s World Cup in Russia was more than a wake-up call. It forced leadership at U.S. Soccer to examine every blemish in the mirror. It highlighted the failures of previous cycles to develop young talent. A year after that game, Berhalter was put in place to move the national team forward.

Now, after an unsuccessful group stage at Copa America on home soil, the U.S. program must once again face its failures.

This time, part of that evaluation is whether Berhalter is the right person to lead the program into the 2026 World Cup, which the United States co-hosts with neighbors Canada and Mexico.

If it’s up to Berhalter, the answer is simply, “Yes.” The coach only had one word to share when asked after the loss to Uruguay on Monday that sent his team out of Copa America after the group stage if he believed he was still the right person for the job. He also acknowledged that the decision would not be up to him. U.S. Soccer leadership will evaluate Berhalter over the coming days.

“Our tournament performance fell short of our expectations. We must do better,” U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker wrote in a statement provided by the federation 90 minutes after the Uruguay game ended. “We will be conducting a comprehensive review of our performance in Copa America and how best to improve the team and results as we look towards the 2026 World Cup.”

The U.S. lost to Panama and Uruguay during the Copa America group stage. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

Berhalter’s task when he was hired was not a simple one, nor was it one that involved linear progress.

His first U.S. teams were a mix of the old and the new, trying to find a blend between experience and pure, stark youth. His first tournament call-ups in the summer of 2019 included Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Christian Pulisic, all of whom had yet to play in a Gold Cup, as well as Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley, who both had more than 100 caps. Berhalter next called up a competitive roster for the 2021 Nations League. The team’s progress under his direction was evident.

The roster was built mostly around youth, with players such as Sergino Dest (then with seven caps), Antonee Robinson (10), Adams (12), McKennie (21), Yunus Musah, Brenden Aaronson (both four), Pulisic (15), Gio Reyna (also four), Josh Sargent (13) and Tim Weah (10).

The U.S. went on to win that tournament, picking up its first signature win over Mexico in the process. It was the first of three consecutive Nations League titles, and Berhalter continued adding new, young faces into the program.

He successfully navigated 2022 World Cup qualifying with one of the youngest teams in international soccer. And while getting back to the World Cup was an imperfect path — the U.S. finished third in CONCACAF qualifying — getting to the tournament in Qatar allowed the program to close the door on that 2018 failure. Berhalter’s young team then impressed in the World Cup, performing well in the group phase before bowing out to the Netherlands in the first knockout round.

Berhalter helped the U.S. return to the World Cup in 2022 after the team failed to qualify in 2018 (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

The idea behind the entire process was to build toward that home World Cup in 2026.

Berhalter did a good job in the first cycle with this team, but the past year has felt far more halting. U.S. Soccer leaders must now determine whether the coach who engineered the transition from 2018 to 2022 is the right person to continue building toward that 2026 tournament.

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Crocker has said “yes” to that question once already, when he and U.S. Soccer’s leadership team, including president Cindy Parlow Cone and CEO and secretary general JT Batson, brought Berhalter back last summer. But the USMNT’s failure to get out of its Copa America group has caused yet another referendum on the program.

Taken in isolation, it would be harsh to put all of the blame for this failure on Berhalter and the coaching staff. Weah’s first-half red card undoubtedly impacted the Panama result, which altered the path to the knockout rounds. But the results as a whole over the past year suggest stagnation more than progress. Berhalter’s teams still lack a signature win over a top opponent. These last 12 months have seen losses to Germany and Colombia, the latter by an embarrassing 5-1 scoreline. A draw against Brazil was a positive, but it was followed within weeks by this Copa America exit.

The failure to get out of the group was a massive missed opportunity on multiple levels, from the growth of the team to the potential impact on growing the sport in the U.S. in a summer of soccer that can capture new fans and build toward 2026.

Berhalter is a process-oriented coach, precisely attuned to the details of his program. His grinding work ethic is well-known to anyone who has been around the team over these five and a half years. For Berhalter, what happened in the Copa America was a setback.

“We know we’re capable of more, and in this tournament, we didn’t show it,” Berhalter said. “It’s really as simple as that.” But, much as he has done throughout his tenure, Berhalter also framed it as a moment from which to take lessons and build.

“When you’re in tournament football, there’s very little that separates success from failure,” Berhalter said. “It’s one action, it’s one decision from the referee, and you could be in trouble. For us, it’s having this understanding that every time we step on the field, it has an impact. And I think we’re getting there, but we’re not always there. And that’s something that we can improve.”

Players credit Berhlater for creating the group’s close bond. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

After Monday’s loss at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, players in the mixed zone backed Berhalter with some of the same ideas they discussed during the job’s most recent hiring process. The culture of the team, which they have largely credited to Berhalter, remained a strength in the group. There was a trust in one another, they said.

“I believe we all have a comfort with Gregg, and we all understand him and we’ve had him for a long time,” McKennie said in the mixed zone. “He’s progressed the team very far from where we started. I think the connection that we have with him is what’s important, in having a coach players would run through a brick wall for, players that listen to him. And so I think whatever happens, happens, but I think if he’s the coach, we’re all happy.”

Only now, U.S. Soccer must weigh whether that comfort is a strength or, potentially, a weakness.

Is that comfort level within the group under Berhalter preventing them from pushing on? Are the red cards — specifically Weah’s and defender Dest’s in a Nations League game in Trinidad last November — signs of too much leeway? Is a group filled with young players too accustomed to discussion around their team as a ‘golden generation’ growing complacent?

The results at the Copa, one win and two defeats, and over the past year, should at least challenge the way this team is discussed.

Yes, the group is filled with players who are playing across Europe, including a handful who are at some of the biggest clubs in the world. And yes, it was still the second-youngest team across both the Copa America and European Championship, going on in parallel in Germany this summer. But their roles for those clubs vary.

Few are asked to carry their team, and compared to the world’s best international sides, arguably outside of Pulisic, the U.S. still lacks bonafide stars, the difference-makers that can turn games on their head at the highest levels. That has manifested itself with a team that has struggled to create enough goals, both in Qatar and this summer.

This U.S. team has talent, but in the grand scheme of global soccer, it remains an upstart trying to challenge the very best. The team cannot afford to believe it has arrived. It’s an idea that veteran center-back Tim Ream seemed to hint at in the mixed zone after the Uruguay game.

“This is a fantastic group, as everyone knows and one that is very close, but sometimes the intensity falls through the cracks,” Ream told Univision. “We have to continue to put our heads down and continue to work, continue to be humble enough to know there are things we can continue to improve, every single day, every single training session, every single game.

“If guys have that mindset, then they can continue to be on an upward trajectory. When we start to think that we are a finished product, then guys are going to stagnate and just stay at the level they are at.”

Some of that should fall on the players, of course. That was most certainly a theme from the team after Monday’s defeat. “I don’t think this tournament really had anything to do with the staff or the tactics or the way we play,” Reyna said. “I think it was more individual mistakes.”

But some of it also falls on Berhalter and the staff.

If the leaders at U.S. Soccer feel this team must be challenged to get to the next level, there are legitimate questions as to whether the culture in the program right now is set up to do that, and if it is, whether Berhalter is the person to do it.

“I don’t think so. I don’t think we’ve progressed enough since the World Cup,” USMNT legend Clint Dempsey said on Fox on Monday night, when asked if Berhalter is still the right voice to lead the program. “We’re not on the right track. … For me, it hasn’t been good enough.”

As for the next steps, there are many factors beyond just on-field performance U.S. Soccer will consider. The federation likely is aware of the discourse around Berhalter and the national team, in which a growing sector of fans has trained its focus on the coach as the problem. “Berhalter out” has been a rallying cry on social media, ubiquitous in any discussion or debate around the team.

The biggest question, though, is who they would look to if they were to replace Berhalter.

There aren’t obvious candidates for the position.

One finalist from the last hiring cycle, Jesse Marsch, only recently took the Canada job. Notably, Canada advanced to the knockout stage of the Copa America, albeit with just one goal in the three group games. Some of the big-name candidates that fans would hope to see cost many multiples of the salary U.S. Soccer currently pays Berhalter, and that doesn’t even begin to account for whether those names would even want the gig.

The decision U.S. Soccer makes in the coming days, and, if it chooses to move on from Berhalter, the weeks that follow, will have a massive impact on what happens in two years when the World Cup comes back to these shores. The disappointment of a similar result in that tournament would dwarf this current failure.

Considering the stakes and the expectations, the USMNT job feels bigger than even the monumental task of climbing out of that failure in Trinidad nearly seven years ago.

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(Top photo: Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)

Green Bay Packers new running back Josh Jacobs is looking forward to enjoying the Fourth of July ahead of training camp, but he’s doing so with newfound caution after an experience with the Milwaukee Fire Department this week. 

Thanks to USAA, the official Salute to Service partner of the NFL, and Huddle Up For Home Fire Prevention & Safety, Jacobs joined the Milwaukee Fire Department on Tuesday to learn more about how there are over 10,600 home fires started by grills, according to the National Fire Protection Association. 

After witnessing what he did at the firehouse, Jacobs can see why the number is so high. 

“Normally when you’re grilling, at least in my family, the person on the grill is probably throwing back a couple beers while they’re cooking,” Jacobs told Fox News Digital. “You got kids running around the grill, you got so many things. It just takes one thing to go wrong for things to go really wrong. It can be weather, wind, just having the wrong things around the grill. 

“Just knowing the facts and all the things I was taught today definitely opened my eyes to a lot of things when it comes to it.”

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What Jacobs witnessed was a controlled explosion of a charcoal grill, which was done to not only show him the damage that can be done if not careful but to also spread awareness and educate the public on how to stay safe and avoid these home fires. 

“It’s been fun to be able to meet the real-life heroes and just live a day in their life,” Jacobs said about the firefighters he was able to meet. 

Josh Jacobs of the Green Bay Packers participates in drills during the team’s minicamp at Ray Nitschke Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on June 11, 2024. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Jacobs also learned how heavy a fire-safe suit is, as he was in full gear to help extinguish the flames. 

“The fire suit, it’s not even close,” he said when asked which was heavier, his game day gear or the suit. 

“The experience was definitely cool. They showed me a lot of love here. Man, I’m walking away with a lot of gifts, so it’s definitely been fun … being able to talk about the safety of it, being able to have fun and be smart at the same time.”

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs puts out a fire at the Milwaukee Fire Department. (USAA)

Safe fun is what everyone is looking to have this weekend and the many weekends to come this summer when grills are fired up.

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It was tough to tell what was more lethargic Wednesday night.

The mind-numbing pace of a 3-hour, 23-minute game at Dodger Stadium.

Or the head-scratching performance of the Dodgers’ offense after a four-run first-inning outburst.

After surging in front with a quick four-spot against debuting Arizona Diamondbacks starter Cristian Mena, the Dodgers’ bats came to a screeching halt in their 12-4 loss at Chavez Ravine, with the team’s muted play mirroring the slow, meandering rhythm of their second-longest nine-inning game of the season.

“We just drew dead tonight,” manager Dave Roberts said, “after that first inning.”

Indeed, the game couldn’t have started better for the Dodgers, who were still riding high from a walk-off Tuesday night win.

With originally scheduled Diamondbacks starter Jordan Montgomery out with a knee injury, Arizona turned to Mena, a rookie right-hander, for his MLB debut.

His big-league welcome: A first-inning blitz from the top of the Dodgers order.

Shohei Ohtani singled. Will Smith walked. Then, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández blasted back-to-back home runs, answering Arizona’s opening run in the top half of the inning to jump out to a sudden 4-1 lead.

“I’m sure he had a lot of nerves out there, a lot of excitement,” Freeman said. “He was falling behind hitters in that first inning and we were able to jump on him.”

And with breakout rookie pitcher Gavin Stone on the bump, and the Diamondbacks seemingly staring down a long night on the mound, all the pieces appeared to be in place for the Dodgers to cruise to a rout.

Instead, they squandered the early advantage without much of their typical fight.

After recording four hits, four runs and one walk in their first five at-bats, the Dodgers finished the night two-for-26 as a team, recording more double plays (three) than hits (two) over a scoreless closing eight innings — the final six of which were handled by four Arizona relievers.

“Their bullpen,” Freeman said, “we just didn’t have anything for it the rest of the game.”

In the bottom of the third, the Dodgers failed to capitalize on a two-on, one-out opportunity, when Freeman was doubled off trying to score on a fly out.

In the fifth, another double play — this time a routine grounder from Hernández — negated Freeman’s one-out walk.

The Dodgers finally put another runner in scoring position in the sixth inning, after Miguel Rojas doubled off the wall. But as suddenly as the opportunity arose, it was dashed nearly as fast. Pinch-hitter Kiké Hernández struck out. Chris Taylor grounded out to end the inning.

And, with Arizona ahead 8-4, the Dodgers never threatened to come back again.

Stone didn’t help the cause much on the pitching side.

After giving up just one run from a bases-loaded jam in the first inning, he struggled to find a rhythm in his first start since last week’s shutout against the Chicago White Sox.

He put two batters aboard in the second inning, laboring to retire that frame without any damage.

In the third, he finally came unglued, giving up one run on a Eugenio Suárez double before serving up a tying two-run home run to Gabriel Moreno.

“My arm felt good, just command wasn’t there,” said Stone, whose ERA rose from 2.73 entering the night to 3.03 by the end of his three-inning, four-run outing, dealing a potential blow to his All-Star candidacy.

“You just have to forget about it,” Stone added. “I just wasn’t executing.”

While Stone’s night ended after the third, the Dodgers’ pitching problems persisted throughout.

Christian Walker continued his career-long dominance of the club by whacking his 16th and 17th career home runs at Dodger Stadium. The first one was a solo drive off Ryan Yarbrough, breaking a 4-4 tie in the top of the fifth.

The latter served as superfluous insurance, a three-run shot in the ninth that made Walker — who also had a double and single in his four-for-five performance — the ballpark’s all-time slugging leader (minimum 100 career plate appearances) with a .741 mark.

“It’s like [he is] better than Shohei here at Dodger Stadium,” Roberts said of Walker, who also has a .333 batting average and 29 RBIs at the ballpark in just 41 career games. “It’s a division rival. I do think that we bring out the best in him. He actually plays really well at home against us as well, but at this ballpark it’s otherworldly. He doesn’t give anything away.”

On Wednesday night, neither did Walker’s Diamondbacks teammates.

In between his blasts, Arizona added another run in the fifth, then two more in the sixth on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s two-run homer.

Along the way, the Dodgers were also victims of several self-induced miscues.

Freeman was easily thrown out on the third-inning sac fly attempt, trying to score on a relatively shallow fly ball to right fielder Jake McCarthy.

An at-bat before Gurriel’s back-breaking sixth-inning homer, Teoscar Hernández seemed to mistakenly think Walker had hit another home run to left field, pulling up at the warning track on a double that clanked off the top of the wall and might have been catchable.

And the Dodgers’ five pitchers combined for 201 total pitches, slowing a 7:10 p.m. game that Roberts quipped “dragged from the get-go.”

“I looked up and it was 9:15 pm, and it was like the fifth inning,” Freeman said. “I was like, ‘Woah.’ [It felt] like pre-pitch clock. But yeah, just a longer game. Wish we would have won it.”