The fans of the US national soccer team would love to forget October 10, 2017. On the final day of the CONCACAF qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, the USA only needed one point to make it to the World Cup finals.
Sportsbetting fans were able to predict the game’s outcome by using an odds calculator But in the end the United States was left empty-handed after dramatic games. While the rivals from Panama managed to win the victory they needed against Costa Rica, the USA lost their match 2,000 kilometers away against Trinidad and Tobago and were eliminated.
A good two and a half years have passed since then – and in the meantime everything has been put to the test in the US national team. First, the American Football Association patiently and meticulously looked for a coach. At the end of the careful selection process, Gregg Berhalter was chosen as the new strong man to put the Stars and Stripes back on the road to success. The mission for the new coach was clear from the start: Back on the world stage of football!
The trainer
After having worked successfully as a coach for many years at club level – for example in Sweden at Hammarby IF or in the USA at Columbus Crew – Gregg Berhalter took over responsibility for the US men’s national team. In his five years with Columbus Crew, he earned great respect in Major League Soccer (MLS) and the US Association. Berhalter made a name for himself above all as an astute tactician who can adapt the style of play of his teams extremely flexibly and who has an almost obsessive attention to detail, even for the smallest nuances of the game. During his tenure in office, Berhalter has already made it clear that he is ready to take the necessary risks in the game and to adapt to the opponent.
Up-and-coming talent
Most football fans will be familiar with the name Christian Pulisic. The star of Chelsea was in great shape after the restart of the English Premier League. Unfortunately, he ended the season with a hamstring injury that he sustained in the FA Cup final. While Pulisic was for a long time – and rightly – regarded as the savior of US football, the fans of the Stars and Stripes are currently very optimistic about the future. After all, there are a lot of young talents who are getting a lot of attention both in Europe and in the North American MLS.
Analogous to Pulisic, Giovanni Reyna, Weston McKennie, Zack Steffen, Josh Sargent and Tyler Adams have made the leap into the Bundesliga, where they can develop enormously as players. Sergino Dest from Ajax Amsterdam also faces a bright future. But the domestic MLS is also generating more and more talent as the teams invest more in their own youth academies and rely less and less on the traditional system of colleges and universities to train talented players.
Berhalter must have therefore benevolently observed the impressive performances with which Brenden Aaronson, Mark McKenzie, Eryk Williamson, Jeremy Ebobisse and Ayo Akinola attracted attention at the “MLS is Back” tournament that recently ended. Despite the corona pandemic, the good news for these players is that they will have ample opportunity to prove their skills in the near future.
“If I were a player now, I would be highly motivated to look to the future, as there will be many opportunities for the players to show themselves in 2021,” Berhalter told the US broadcaster ESPN.
“We’ll have to rotate a lot. After all, the CONCACAF Gold Cup and Olympic qualification are on the agenda. In June, we will have to mobilize our strongest team for World Cup qualification. 2021 should be an exciting year for US football.”
