Doug McIntyre
soccer journalist
As the U.S. Men’s National Team looks to a crucial year in 2024 as they battle for their third straight CONCACAF Nations League title and host the star-studded 2024 Copa America, it’s time to reflect on the tournament. Ta. USMNT Roller Coaster 2023.
This year has been almost unbelievably dramatic with the news that the U.S. Soccer Federation is commissioning an independent investigation into coach Gregg Berhalter and the parents of Gio Reyna, one of the program’s most promising young players. It started with a shape.
The year ended with another notable loss against Trinidad and Tobago, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Americans from losing the two-game goal series and qualifying for next summer’s Copa at home. Ta. Meanwhile, the United States won the region’s major trophies in the intervening months.
Here’s what 2023 looks like for American men.
USMNT begins a new World Cup cycle of drama
Even before the 2022 World Cup concluded in December of that year, sources told FOX Sports that U.S. Soccer sports director Ernie Stewart was confident that the USMNT would advance to the last 16 at the 2022 tournament in Qatar. After that, they said they wanted to keep Berhalter in the 2026 World Cup cycle.
That all changed a few days into the new year when former national team players Daniel Reyna and Claudio Reyna reported to Stewart a decades-old domestic incident involving Berhalter and his longtime wife. A law firm hired by the federation to conduct an independent investigation determined that Reynas retaliated against the coach, who revealed that he almost sent Gio home from the World Cup due to bad behavior. did. This also confirms Mr. Berhalter’s events and paves the way for him to be rehired.
However, Stewart had left USSF by then to take a similar position at Dutch powerhouse PSV Eindhoven. Stewart’s successor, Matt Crocker, took over in April and surprised many by rehiring Berhalter in June to replace former Premier League manager and USMNT assistant Jesse March.
Berhalter returned to the sidelines in September. Reyna missed that camp due to injury and was recalled in October. Since then, he has started all four games for the national team under coach Berhalter, scoring twice in the 4-0 friendly win over Ghana. The hatchet appears to have been buried for now. But intense scrutiny of the Berhalter-Reina dynamic is sure to continue not only into 2024, but through to the 2026 World Cup, which will be co-hosted with the United States.
Tyler Adams injury-hit 2023 raises concerns
One of the USMNT’s biggest storylines in 2023 revolved around someone who didn’t play at all for the team.
After captaining his country at the 2022 World Cup and excelling throughout the tournament, two hamstring surgeries have forced heart-throbbing defensive midfielder Tyler Adams to be fit for the national team this year. could not.
Adams is scheduled to return to the field in February, but his health remains a significant concern for the United States. Not only because of how important Adams is off the field, but also because the position he plays is probably the shallowest position in the player pool.
Coach Berhalter (and interim coaches Anthony Hudson and B.J. Callahan) are looking to move forward with the more offensive-minded players Reyna, Luca de la Torre and Malik Tillman, as well as the more defensive-minded players Kellyn Acosta and rookie Leonard Maroney. Many players filled the gap, but none of them succeeded. His position in Adams’ absence. The hope is that that won’t be a problem and that Adams will be ready to reprise his role behind fellow midfielders Weston McKennie and Younus Musa when the 2024 Nations League final kicks off in March. Being able to participate. After Adams’ nightmarish 2023, American fans can’t help but wonder if that will actually happen.
Folarin Balogun becomes the latest valuable addition
Under Berhalter, a number of key dual nationals chose to represent the red, white and blue over other countries, including USMNT starters Musah and Sergiño Dest. But the program’s biggest moment in 2023 was when New York-born, London-raised former England Under-21 striker Folarin Balogun petitioned FIFA to permanently switch allegiance from the Three Lions. It happened during the lunar hiatus.
The 22-year-old’s arrival in May was a coup for a team that had not previously had sufficient firepower up front. Balogun became the first American to score 20 or more goals in Europe’s top five leagues with France’s Ligue 1 side Reims, even before adjusting to America. He quickly joined the American lineup in June and started in three games. 0 Nations League semifinals, defeating arch-rival Mexico in Las Vegas. He scored his first goal for the USMNT in the next game, a 2-0 victory over Canada in the final. Balogun scored two more goals before the year ended, including a beautiful goal in a friendly against Ghana.
With his addition, competition for the starting spot has also intensified. Ricardo Pepi, 20, has been a goal machine in 2023, mostly off the bench for club and country since rumors of Balogun’s possible inclusion on the U.S. squad began last March. Both forwards will start the U.S. National Team’s final game in 2023 and appear poised to compete for playing time for years to come.
When will Gio Reyna leave Dortmund?Ricardo Pepi vs. Flo Balogun? | Sotu
Americans win Nations League again
When Hudson abruptly left his interim position for the head coaching position in Qatar, Callaghan was left in charge of both the Nations League last four and the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The situation was less than ideal. However, Callahan was well-respected among the players and benefited greatly from the strong locker room culture that Berhalter helped foster over the previous four years.
The United States, on the other hand, had the good fortune of playing a Mexican team that was at its worst in decades. In front of a crowd of more than 61,000 people at Allegiant Stadium, just off the Las Vegas Strip, the Americans faced their chief rival off the field in front of a crowd of mostly El Tri fans. Christian Pulisic scored either side of half-time and Ricardo Pepi added a third before a Mexican foul saw Dest and McKennie sent off in retaliation, with two El Tri players also receiving red cards. The game descended into chaos.
Somehow, the USMNT’s most lopsided victory over Mexico in more than two decades was overshadowed by news of Berhalter’s return that broke just before kickoff. Berhalter was reintroduced at a hastily scheduled news conference in Las Vegas the next day, but Callahan remained at the helm through the summer.
The Nations League final was against Canada, but the USA failed to win either of the two qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, leaving the Reds in first place in CONCACAF.
This time, however, the Canadians were no match for the Americans, and even without Dest and McKennie, the Americans ultimately cruised to a 2-0 victory. This was his second consecutive Nations League title for the USMNT, and there was no doubt as to which country was currently the strongest in the region.
USA qualifies for Copa despite (again) loss to Trinidad
After the third-place U.S. team lost to Panama on penalties in July’s Gold Cup quarterfinals, Berhalter led the team to exhibition wins over Asian Football Confederation representatives Oman and Uzbekistan in September. The level of competition increased considerably the following month when the U.S. team hosted four-time World Cup champion Germany in Hartford, Conn., for the first of two more fall friendlies.
The Germans’ 3-1 victory was a reality check for Berhalter and his team, but they responded strongly a few days later against the Black Stars. November brings back a meaningful home-and-home match against historic rivals Trinidad and Tobago for a spot in the Copa America. It was T&T that the United States famously defeated in 1989 to break a 40-year drought in World Cup qualification, and in 2017, a shocking upset ended America’s record for consecutive appearances in soccer’s prestigious tournament. It was the same opponent who stopped him in 7.
Can USMNT win Group C of Copa America? | Sotu
The US had a hard time breaking through it. soca warriors In the season opener in Austin, Texas, the floodgates opened in the second half in an eventual 3-0 win. Anthony Robinson scored a potentially consequential away goal to make it 4-0 on aggregate and the Americans were on track for the second leg in Port of Spain. However, due to Dest’s moment of insanity, the visiting team was reduced to 10 men midway through and lost 2-1. Despite reaching both the Copa and the 2024 Nations League final, it was an unsatisfying but perhaps fitting end to what has been a very strange year for the national team.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports. Prior to joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer for ESPN and Yahoo Sports, where he has previously reported. America Men’s and women’s national teams have participated in multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @Posted by Doug McIntyre.
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