Gregg Berhalter issued a blunt response when grilled about his future as USMNT head coach following their nightmare Copa America exit on Monday night.
A miserable 1-0 defeat to Uruguay proved the final nail in the coffin for Berhalter’s men at Arrowhead Stadium, with Panama’s 3-1 victory against Bolivia elsewhere meaning the hosts crash out of the competition at the group stage.
Two years out from a World Cup on home soil, their abject showing in this summer’s tournament – which also included a shock 2-1 loss to Panama – has come as a brutal reality check and further increased calls for Berhalter to be fired as coach.
In his post-match press conference, the USA boss was asked if he believes he is still the right man to take the team forward ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
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Berhalter simply responded: ‘Yes.’
After a bright start in Kansas City, Berhalter watched his side slowly fade as the game progressed before Mathias Olivera bundled home the winner for Uruguay with 24 minutes to play.
There was brief hope for USA just moments beforehand when Bolivia briefly drew level against Panama, yet in the end the latter ran out comfortable victors – meaning even a draw against an efficient Uruguay outfit would not have been enough.
‘Just to see the guys’ faces in the locker room and to see the emotion of the staff and players, we’re bitterly disappointed with the results,’ Berhalter said to kick off his press conference.
‘We know we’re capable of more and in this tournament this we didn’t show it, it’s really as simple as that.
‘You look at the stage that was set with the fans in this tournament, with the high level of competition in this tournament and we should have done better. We’ll do a review and figure out what went wrong and why it went wrong but it’s an empty feeling right now for sure.’
When asked by Mail Sport if he is worried about his position as coach, the 50-year-old said: ‘Well I’m not happy with the results of the tournament, that’s for sure.
‘That’s first and foremost the expectations that we have, to do better than we did. And we’re bitterly disappointed with it.
‘The other stuff that’s out of my control, it’s not something to spend a lot of time with. To me it’s about how do we keep getting better, how do we keep improving and processing the lack of performance in this tournament?’
USA midfielder Tyler Adams leapt to Berhalter’s defense after the game, insisting the team plans to rally behind their head coach at a time its needed most.
‘I absolutely have faith in him,’ Adams said when asked if he still believes Berhalter is the right man to take them forward.
‘We put the game plan in place and the guys need to follow the game plan. But football, at the end of the day… you need to be able to find solutions on the field as well.
‘He’s stuck with us through a lot of tough moments, I think we’re gonna stick with him as well. I think that’s important.’
‘He basically told us in the changing room that we weren’t knocked out from this game today, and I think everyone knows that,’ he added.
‘The game that we dropped points in and it faulted us was Panama.’