Gregg Berhalter's whirlwind summer comes to a close as World Cup looms | Michael Arace
USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter had the "honor" of throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium Wednesday afternoon. He wore the jersey (No. 3! Babe Ruth!) and Yankees cap presented to him by manager Aaron Boone. A reedy lefthander with a languid motion, Berhalter threw what looked like a breaking ball that was high and outside.
The catch here is that Berhalter is the second cousin and godson of Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski, who in 1967 and 1968 had two of the greatest seasons at the plate in the history of baseball (when adjusted to account for what is known as the Second Deadball Era).
Berhalter, a New Jersey native, remembers being a kid and bounding about the infield before games at Fenway Park. And at age 49, he found himself standing on the mound in Yankee Stadium – wearing pinstripes. He wasn’t exactly comfortable. You might say he took one for the U.S. Men’s National Team.
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“I haven’t done it at Fenway – and that’s the disappointing thing,” Berhalter said. “I did it twice at Wrigley Field (in Chicago, where the U.S. soccer federation is based, and where he lives). Probably the coolest thing I’ve done is lead the singing in the seventh-inning stretch.”
“Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” is a Wrigley tradition. It was another part of the job for Berhalter, who has fit promotions for U.S. Soccer into a grinding international scouting tour.
His USMNT in March clinched a bid to the Qatar World Cup, which, after the wreckage of the 2018 cycle, led to a gust of an exhale from the country’s soccer fans.
Berhalter coached the Crew from 2013-18. Over the last two years of his tenure, his teams overachieved, even as the threat of relocation roiled in an existential fight between team’s owner and Columbus’ fans.
Berhalter now faces a different kind of pressure, from an entire nation. He said he is recognized, and stopped, everywhere he goes. He likes it.
“I think over time the job has been subject to a lot more public scrutiny, just due to information being shared quicker,” Berhalter said. “You look at (Jurgen Klinsmann’s tenure from 2011-18), when I think it started, this more public type of pressure. The public scrutiny has definitely increased.
“It also comes with the territory. I realize that this is a big job, and with big jobs come that type of pressure. I’m much better equipped now to deal with it. Coming from Columbus, it wasn’t the same magnitude. It was very locally based and now this national job is a lot different and it took me a while to get used to it.”
During the summer international break, the USMNT played a couple of friendlies and two games in the round-robin stage of the CONCACAF Nations League tournament. It went 2-0-2.
Since, Berhalter and his staff have been grinding through preparations for the World Cup. He has the youngest national team in the world; his final roster will average somewhere in the range of 24 to 26 years old. This is a reflection of where the U.S. talent base is now, or it’s an indication of how the national team is building toward the 2026 World Cup – which will be played in the U.S., Canada and Mexico – or it’s both.
Last weekend, Berhalter watched Yunus Musa (Valencia) in Spain, James Sands and Malik Tillman (Celtic) and Ranger Cameron Carter-Vickers (Rangers) in Glasgow, Scotland, and Reggie Cannon (Boavista) in Portugal.
“We’ve created this bond with each other, the players and the staff, and it’s something I really haven’t been a part of a lot,” Berhalter said. “I just had dinner with Yunus in Valencia on Saturday. The guys in Scotland, I took them out to dinner Sunday. Reggie Cannon on Monday. It’s like seeing long-lost friends. That stuff has been great.”
These players were important pieces during the qualifying cycle. Likely, they will be important pieces in Qatar, where the Americans will face Wales, England and Iran in group play from Nov. 21-29.
Now, things are starting to get real. Berhalter will open a final pre-Cup camp in Europe on Sept. 19. The Americans will play two tuneups, against Japan in Dusseldorf, Germany, Sept. 23 and against Saudi Arabia in Murcia, Spain, Sept. 27.
Berhalter is expected to announce his camp roster in the coming days. His 26-man World Cup roster for Qatar will be revealed during a news conference in New York Nov. 9.
American fans are wondering what Berhalter is going to do with his striker position. More on that in this space next week.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: USMNT coach has a lot to think about before FIFA World Cup camp
