In early January, roughly a week after Gregg Berhalter’s contract as the United States men’s soccer coach expired, Zinedine Zidane rejected an approach from the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) to be the next coach.
His lack of interest wasn’t surprising given his résumé, but the USSF’s pursuit felt instructive. It was a big swing.
A World Cup winner with France as a player, Zidane doesn’t need much of an introduction. He established himself as an all-time great on the field and is among the sport’s most respected managers, having guided Real Madrid to three straight UEFA Champions League titles from 2016 to 2018. If somehow the USFF had managed to land him, it would have been widely celebrated and set a positive tone for the lead-up to the World Cup on home soil in 2026.
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When that didn’t happen, though, there was reason to believe it was someone in that mold — accomplished at the sport’s highest level — the federation would continue to pursue. Call it basic logic, especially since in that same week, U.S. Soccer announced it had hired a law firm to investigate a domestic violence incident in which Berhalter admitted he had kicked his now-wife in 1991, when they were in college.
With all of this going on, the idea that Berhalter would be rehired seemed far-fetched, and that was before it became public that the parents of budding star Giovanni Reyna — close friends with the Berhalter family for decades — had attempted to orchestrate his downfall.
When the investigation was complete in March, its report showed that U.S. Soccer legend Claudio Reyna and his wife, Danielle, both threatened to reveal damaging information about Berhalter to U.S. Soccer officials during the World Cup as their son received limited playing time.
“Once this tournament is over, I can make one phone call and give one interview, and his cool sneakers and bounce passes will be gone,” Danielle Reyna told a federation staff member, according to the report.
On Dec. 11, she did, informing then-sporting director Earnie Stewart of the incident. And at least for roughly six months, that call had the desired effect: Berhalter was out as USMNT coach.
That, of course, is no longer the case. Berhalter was reintroduced as the U.S. coach on Friday and will take the baton back from interim coach B.J. Callahan at the conclusion of the Gold Cup.
Whether Berhalter is the right coach can — and will — be debated ad nauseam, but what’s not up for discussion is that his circuitous route back to the role was bizarre.
Few details on candidates, interview process
When Stewart departed to become the director of football at PSV Eindhoven in late January, U.S. Soccer announced it hired an outside agency, Sportsology, to head the search for his replacement, who would then be responsible for hiring the next head coach.
“Working with key U.S. Soccer leadership, Sportsology has also already begun a full review of U.S. Soccer’s sporting department,” the USSF announced in January. “The group will also analyze head coach candidates to accelerate the Sporting Director’s hiring process.”
It took three months before Matt Crocker, most recently the director of football operations at English club Southampton, was hired in April. In a Q&A after his hiring, Crocker said he’d conduct a series of interviews in June, narrow the list of candidates, and then another round in the middle of July.
At Berhalter’s re-hiring news conference, Crocker said that a “worldwide” search had been conducted, adding: “I spoke to numerous candidates from guys that were [in roles] in the top leagues, coaches who have coached internationally previously.”
Crocker also confirmed the number of candidates was in “double-digits” but did confirm any other names or if that second round of planned interviews had occurred. It’s also unclear who of those interviewed were subjected to what U.S. Soccer described as a “battery of practical and psychological testing.”
One candidate, Jesse Marsch, was presumably in the mix until the end given his agent, Ron Waxman, tweeted that the ex-Leeds United manager would will not take the USMNT job just hours before news leaked of Berhalter’s return. Another candidate, ex-Arsenal star and recent Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira, had initial talks with the federation but sources told ESPN’s Julien Laurensthat talks did not progress.
Oguchi Onyewu, recently hired as the federation’s vice president of sporting, said Sunday on the Paramount+ Nations League pregame show that other names would not be divulged as a matter of confidentiality.
