Santana’s roommate on the time, Danielle Egan, later married Claudio Reyna, a number one American participant. Subsequently, Berhalter and Reyna have been World Cup teammates in 2002 and 2006; at each tournaments, Reyna was once america captain. In 2021, whilst running as an government for the MLS membership Austin FC, Reyna got the Berhalters’ son, Sebastian, for that season. When it ended, Reyna declined to stay him at the group. The Reynas even have a soccer-playing son, Gio, who was once anticipated to be a significant contributor for the United States on the World Cup however performed best 52 mins. Berhalter’s sporadic use of Reyna, which generated important statement, seemed suspiciously non-public.
Following the World Cup, Danielle Reyna informed US Soccer about Berhalter’s faculty battle with Santana. Any discussions about extending Berhalter’s expired contract needed to be do away with in order that an investigation might be carried out. It was once onerous to not see all of the sordid episode as a microcosm of the federation: not unusual pursuits undermined by means of feuds and rivalries — “some of which,” Cone says, “have existed before I was born.”
Berhalter, who was once candid and be apologetic about the decades-old incident, was once cleared in March. That intended best that he may just once more be a candidate for the placement. In June, following an in depth seek — characterised as data-driven by means of the federation — and a six-month stretch with out a everlasting trainer, Berhalter was once rehired. That struck many observers as preposterous, or worse—”a sham and an embarrassment,” as Craig Burley of ESPN put it.
Nevertheless, many American enthusiasts are constructive about how america males will fare on the 2026 World Cup, a lot of which will likely be held within the United States. The US group hasn’t reached the quarterfinal spherical since 2002, but it is not strange to listen to commentators say that not anything in need of a semifinal will qualify as a good fortune. It must be famous that the tenure of US Soccer’s president prior to Cordeiro ended as a result of a disappointing consequence by means of america males. After a loss to tiny Trinidad and Tobago led to the group to omit the 2018 World Cup, Sunil Gulati, an economist who had guided the federation for greater than a decade, introduced that he would no longer search re-election. Cone did not immediately rent Berhalter, however her fortunes are actually no less than partly intertwined along with his.
This April, the boys performed an exhibition fit towards Mexico in Glendale, Ariz. Before the sport, Cone, who had flown in to enhance them, met with present and potential sponsors at a cafe close to the stadium. Later, she did a breezy interview on Telemundo, breaking information that she had stored for the instance: The United States and Mexico had submitted a joint bid to host the ladies’s World Cup in 2027. At halftime, she led a gaggle of federation executives down the concourse to Mexico’s suite for an alternate of presents, which is not unusual at global video games.