CARSON, Calif. — For interim United States men’s national team coach Anthony Hudson, there is no hiding the obvious. After a successful run to the Round of 16 at the World Cup, the hope was to build off — and celebrate — that performance to begin the new cycle.
Instead, after a bizarre set of circumstances that contributed to the expiration of coach Gregg Berhalter’s contract, Hudson admitted there is a sense of sadness hanging over the team, which was eliminated by the Netherlands in Qatar.
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“It’s a shame for everyone who’s involved: players, staff, Gregg, everyone is affected by it,” Hudson said. “It’s not a nice situation.”
But, Hudson said, that’s professional sports. Adversity comes with the territory and it’s up to him and the blend of mostly high-potential young players and World Cup veterans to make the most of its annual January camp and a pair of friendlies against Serbia and Colombia on Jan. 25 and 28, respectively.
“it’s been a dream for so many of them — so many of us, but mainly the players,” said Hudson, who was on Berhalter’s staff as an assistant in Qatar. “They set out with a big, lofty ambition, not just to go [to the World Cup], but to go there and represent themselves in a way that people would sit up and take notice of the team.”
“So when all this happened, I think it was [a feeling] of shame. It’s sadness because all the attention has gone away from that. All the good work and it’s been shifted in another direction.”
Until U.S. Soccer hires a permanent coach, it will be difficult for everyone to move on completely without acknowledging the state of flux. Especially with an ongoing external investigation into a 1991 domestic violence alternation involving Berhalter, which was brought to the attention of USSF general manager Earnie Stewart by Danielle Reyna, the mother of star winger Giovanni Reyna.
