Sports
Gregg Berhalter rebuilt the USMNT. Will he be the one to lead them in 2026?
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.
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“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)
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The World Cup group stage can get complicated quickly.
With 48 teams participating for the first time ever, FIFA instituted new tiebreaker rules to determine the top two in each group along with the eight highest third-place finishers.
Below, FOX Sports Research has broken down what each team needs to advance, what results would send them through, and which scenarios could leave their fate hanging in the balance.
Here’s where every group stands heading into the next round of matches, and the simple scenarios for them to advance.
Note: Below scenarios are through all games played on June 25. Additionally, three points is now the minimum required for teams to advance as one of the eight third-place teams.
GROUP A SCENARIOS
- Mexico won the group and will face a third-place team from either Group C or E in the Round of 32 in Mexico City on June 30.
- South Africa finished as runner-up in the group, and will play Canada on June 28 in Los Angeles.
- South Korea finished third, and currently ranks eighth among the third-place teams.
- Czechia cannot advance to the knockout stage.
Mexico celebrates after securing the top spot in Group in the win vs. South Korea.
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GROUP B SCENARIOS
- Switzerland won the group and will play a third-place team from either Group G or J in the Round of 32 in Vancouver on July 2.
- Canada finished as runner-up in the group and will play South Africa on June 28 in Los Angeles.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina finished third, and will play USA in the Round of 32 on July 1 in Santa Clara.
- Qatar cannot advance to the knockout stage.
GROUP C SCENARIOS
- Brazil won the group and will play Japan on June 29 in Houston.
- Morocco finished as runner-up of the group and will play the Netherlands on June 29 in Monterrey.
- Scotland finished in third, and currently ranks tenth among third-place teams.
- Haiti cannot advance to the knockout stage.
GROUP D SCENARIOS
- USA won the group, and will play Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32 on July 1 in Santa Clara.
- Australia finished as runner-up of the group and will play Egypt on July 3 in Arlington.
- Paraguay finished in third, and will play Germany on June 29 in Foxborough.
- Türkiye cannot advance to the knockout stage.
Folarin Balogoun of the U.S.
GROUP E SCENARIOS
- Germany won the group and will play Paraguay on June 29 in Foxborough.
- Ivory Coast finished as runner-up of the group and will play Norway on June 30 in Arlington.
- Ecuador finished in third, and clinched a spot as a third-place team.
- Curaçao cannot advance to the knockout stage.
GROUP F SCENARIOS
- Netherlands won the group and will play Morocco on June 29 in Monterrey.
- Japan finished as runner-up of the group and will play Brazil on June 29 in Houson.
- Sweden finished third, and will play France on June 30 in East Rutherford.
- Tunisia cannot advance to the knockout stage.
GROUP G SCENARIOS
- Belgium won the group and will play a third-place team from Group A, I, or J on July 1 in Seattle.
- Egypt finished as runner-up of the group and will play Australia on July 3 in Arlington.
- Iran finished in third and currently ranks sixth among the third-place teams.
- New Zealand cannot advance to the knockout stage.
GROUP H SCENARIOS
- Spain won the group and will play the runner-up of Group J on July 2 in Los Angeles.
- Cape Verde finished as runner-up of the group and will play Argentina on July 3 in Miami.
- Uruguay cannot advance to the knockout stage.
- Saudi Arabia cannot advance to the knockout stage.
GROUP I SCENARIOS
- France won the group and will play Sweden on June 30 in East Rutherford.
- Norway finished as runner-up of the group and will play Ivory Coast on June 30 in Arlington.
- Senegal finished in third, and clinched a spot as a third-place team.
- Iraq cannot advance to the knockout stage.
GROUP J SCENARIOS
- Argentina won the group and will face Cape Verde on July 3 in Miami.
- Austria will advance with a win or draw; in a draw, the runner-up will be decided by tiebreakers.
- Algeria will advance with a win or draw; in a draw, the runner-up will be decided by tiebreakers.
- Jordan cannot advance to the knockout stage.
Lionel Messi of Argentina.
GROUP K SCENARIOS
- Colombia has advanced.
- Colombia will win the group with a win or draw.
- Portugal will advance with a win or draw, and will win the group with a win.
- Uzbekistan can advance with a win, but it is not guaranteed.
GROUP L SCENARIOS
- England will advance with a win/draw.
- England will win the group with a win AND a Ghana draw/loss.
- Ghana will advance with a win/draw.
- Ghana will win the group with a win AND an England draw/loss.
- Panama cannot advance to the knockout stage.
SAN DIEGO — The home run that Roki Sasaki gave up to San Diego’s Ty France was more dramatic than the two walks he issued to open the inning. But it was the free passes that really hurt him.
In the Dodgers’ 7-1 loss to the Padres on Friday, Sasaki was out of the game before he could record an out in the fifth inning. He gave up only three hits but issued five walks, tying his season high, and hit a batter.
“I actually felt different than I ever felt before, mechanically,” Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okubo, noting that his lower body felt a little off. “So I need to go over it and see what was really happening.”
Sasaki successfully pitched around traffic for much of his outing, other than the three-run homer to France in the second inning. But the inefficiency sent his pitch count past 80 before he exited with runners on first and second in the fifth.
“I’m not going to have it every time out, so that’s something I have to improve,” Sasaki said. “And also the game plan. I was able to execute some of the pitches, but some of the pitches I couldn’t, so that’s something I have to go through before next start.”
Earlier this month, when Sasaki held the Angels scoreless through seven two-hit innings, it seemed as if he’d had a breakthrough. But in three starts since, including a seven-run dud against the Chicago White Sox two weeks ago, he has yet to pitch through the sixth inning.
“I am a little surprised, because there was such good momentum going on,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Hopefully we can get him back to throwing the way he did in May.”
The Padres’ Walker Buehler walks off after holding his old team to one run for 5-1/3 innings Friday at Petco Park.
(Derrick Tuskan / Ap Photo/derrick Tuskan)
Sasaki’s command issues Friday showed up almost immediately. After striking out Padres leadoff hitter Fernando Tatis Jr., Sasaki walked Samad Taylor on 10 pitches. But Sasaki bounced back by inducing a double play.
The next inning, there would be no such escape. Sasaki walked both Manny Machado, whom he also battled for 10 pitches, and Gavin Sheets to open the frame. Then Xander Bogaerts’ sharp line drive to center field found leather.
France’s long fly ball to left field, however, found the seats.
Sasaki’s only clean inning, the third, was made possible by catcher Dalton Rushing’s successful challenge of a called ball four against Tatís, flipping a walk into a strikeout.
“I know that there’s confidence in there,” Roberts said. “But when you feel good and you don’t feel good mechanically and can’t execute pitches, then the results are walks, and 1-2 [count] homers, and things like that. But I do think that we can kind of tackle the mechanical things that he’s probably looking for right now.”
The Padres piled on in the eighth inning against reliever Jonathan Hernandez, as the sold-out crowd chanted “Beat L.A.!”
Mookie Betts hit a home run off former teammate Walker Buehler for his second homer in as many games. Betts seems to have come out of his offensive funk, entering Friday with a 1.061 on-base-plus-slugging percentage over the previous 11 games.
Buehler earned the win, delivering five strikeouts in 5⅓ innings.
“[Buehler] is reinventing himself,” Roberts said. “He’s throwing the kitchen sink at you. Cutter, slider, changeup, two-seamers. He doesn’t just try to bully you, and he’s finding ways to just get guys out. So yeah, he’s gonna still go up there and compete.”
The Dodgers went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position and squandered a bases-loaded opportunity with one out in the sixth inning after chasing Buehler. Max Muncy popped out and Kyle Tucker, back in the lineup after exiting Monday’s game because of back spasms, flied out.
The Dodgers have built such a big lead in the division that the loss barely made a dent. The Padres, in second place, trail by eight games.
Caitlin Clark hit in throat during WNBA loose-ball scramble, sparking backlash and game suspension
WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark was hit in the throat during a loose-ball scramble, sparking outrage and a one-game suspension for Alyssa Thomas. Fox News’ Garrett Tenney reports on the ‘absolutely unacceptable’ incident and the coach’s reaction. Political analyst Gianno Caldwell discusses Clark’s immense impact on WNBA viewership, including a $2.2 billion deal, and the role of gender and race in the controversy.
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Phoenix Mercury All-Star Alyssa Thomas is the latest villain to Caitlin Clark fans after punching Clark in the throat during a game on Wednesday night.
The referees missed the punch in real time, but fans and the league office did not.
A viral clip of the punch in slow motion spread across social media, pouring gasoline on the ongoing culture war surrounding Clark’s physical treatment by opposing players, which has been a controversial issue dating back to Clark’s rookie season in 2024.
And Less than 24 hours after the incident, the WNBA slapped Thomas with a one-game suspension for what was deemed a “reckless” and “non-basketball act.”
Who is the woman behind the punch?
If Thomas wasn’t in the WNBA, she says she would go pro in combat sports
In a 2019 interview with Nike PLAYlist, Thomas answered what sport she would have gone pro in if she didn’t go pro in basketball.
“Either boxing or MMA,” Thomas said.
If Thomas never went pro in any sport, she said she would have gotten into dentistry.
“Since I was a kid, I loved going to the dentist. I just was fascinated with teeth and still am. I’m passionate about that whole process of cleaning,” according to a profile on WNBA.com.
The first time Thomas stepped on a basketball court, she threw a ‘hissy fit’
Thomas was signed up to try basketball for the first time at the age of five by her mother, Tina, per the WNBA.
Thomas said she “Threw myself all down the stairs, down the hallway,” while her mom said “She just threw an absolute hissy fit.”
WNBA SUSPENDS ALYSSA THOMAS FOR ‘RECKLESSLY’ HITTING CAITLIN CLARK IN THROAT DURING SCRAMBLE
Her parents didn’t let her win a popular board game
Thomas’ parents never took it easy on her when they played “Candyland” as she was growing up.
“We weren’t the parents that were just going to let you win,” Tina said, per the WNBA.
“In life, you have to fight, and how are you going to fight if you don’t teach your kids to fight? So if she fell over, ‘get up, you’re alright,’ and if she didn’t get up, you knew something was wrong.”
It was a parenting tactic also used by the father of New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter, who famously never let Jeter win in board games or card games when he was growing up, to instill harsh competitiveness at an early age.
Thomas added that her mom was especially hard on her and helped develop her toughness.
“By no means was it easy, and it’s still not easy,” Thomas said.
Thomas plays more physically because shoulder issues hinder her shooting ability
Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas scrambles to get up over Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark during a game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on June 24, 2026. The Phoenix Mercury defeated the Indiana Fever 111-109. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
Thomas currently plays basketball with torn labrums in both of her shoulders.
The injuries are so severe that she completely lacks the structural integrity to lift her arms and shoot a traditional, fluid jump shot. Instead, she is forced to use a rigid, one-handed pushing motion from her chest just to get the ball to the rim.
Because she cannot rely on outside shooting, Thomas adapted by leaning entirely into her physical frame. She drives directly into the teeth of opposing defenses, absorbing heavy contact in the paint to score closer to the basket.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark shown after falling in the lane while Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas watches the ball at Gainbridge Fieldhouse Indianapolis, Indiana on June 24, 2026. (Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
That brutal, driving style requires her to initiate intense physical collisions on nearly every single possession.
Despite the mechanical limitations and constant pain, the tactical shift worked. She transformed herself into a six-time All-Star, three-time First-Team All-WNBA, an Olympic gold medalist and the undisputed triple-double queen of the WNBA.
Thomas has been the center of immense criticism this week
The throat punch on Clark ignited a fierce wave of backlash.
Indiana Fever Head Coach Stephanie White led the charge, completely unloading on Thomas and the league’s officials during her postgame press conference.
“We have a generational talent and a WNBA superstar who had two cheap shots right there that weren’t called,” White said, pointing directly at Thomas’s actions. “Absolutely unacceptable.”
White argued that Thomas regularly crosses the line from playing physical defense into inflicting dangerous, non-basketball contact.
“It’s absolutely egregious and utterly disrespectful,” White continued to fume to reporters. “The fist in the throat is crazy. It’s crazy. It’s dangerous.”
On Thursday, Fever President Kelly Krauskopf released a statement praising the decision to suspend Thomas.
“Player safety should be paramount in our league. We appreciate the WNBA’s review of last night’s incident and the action taken. Right now our focus is on Caitlin and our entire team as we prepare for Saturday,” Krauskopf wrote.
Former Minnesota Vikings captain and prominent conservative activist Jack Brewer said the punch would be considered a “hate crime” if the roles were reversed.
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“This would be considered a hate crime if it were the other way around,” Brewer told Fox News Digital.
Other critics have expressed their own outrage on social media.
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