CARSON, Calif. — U.S. men’s national team interim manager Anthony Hudson said he’s going to continue to do all he can to move the team forward, now that it looks like he’ll be in charge possibly through the summer.
The U.S. is set to play the second of two friendlies on Saturday against Colombia at LA Galaxy‘s Dignity Health Sports Park. Originally that seemed to be the limit of Hudson’s time in charge. But the last month has witnessed immense upheaval within the USMNT program.
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U.S. World Cup manager Gregg Berhalter is currently out of contract, and awaiting the results of a USSF investigation into an incident of domestic violence that took place between him and his now wife Rosalind back in 1991. That left Hudson to handle the current camp.
But that sense of uncertainty intensified this week with the announcement that sporting director Earnie Stewart and USMNT general manager Brian McBride were both leaving the organization. With USSF president Cindy Parlow Cone stating that the she hoped to fill the positions of sporting director and USMNT manager “by the end of the summer,” Hudson’s stint as manager looks set to last well beyond just the two games in January.
“So we found out over the last few days. Obviously, there’s been some changes,” Hudson said at Friday’s news conference. “And yeah, my focus is for however long it is, just to keep doing all I can to progress the team, prepare the team starting in March, and that’s it. Obviously, it’s a fluid situation, but that’s my focus right now.”
Hudson’s remit has been to blood some young players, and start to build some depth for the World Cup cycle ahead, one that will be capped by the U.S. hosting the 2026 competition alongside Canada and Mexico. To that end, he said he would continue with that approach, though he admitted that with some of the players still in preseason mode, fitness would dictate many of his lineup decisions.
“Firstly, we want to put them in a position to do well, and then we want them to show us what they can do,” he said. “Their objective firstly is to perform, have a good game and stay in the national team set-up. That’s what we’re looking for going into [Saturday].”
