Berhalter: I'm still right coach for USA despite Copa América exit

Berhalter: I'm still right coach for USA despite Copa América exit

ByJEFF KASSOUF

July 2, 2024, 12:39 AM

KANSAS CITY, Missouri -- Gregg Berhalter said he believed he was still the right man to lead the  United States men's national team, despite  crashing out of the 2024 Copa América in the group stage on Monday with a 1-0 loss to Uruguay at Arrowhead Stadium.

The loss, combined with Panama's 3-1 victory over Bolívia in a simultaneous match in Orlando, left the Americans in third place in the group. Uruguay advanced as group winners and Panama, which defeated the 10-man USMNT on Thursday, moved onto the quarterfinals as the second qualifier out of Group C.

Asked in his postgame news conference whether he was still the right person to lead the USMNT into the 2026 World Cup, Berhalter responded with a simple "yes."

However, he said there would be a review into what went wrong for the U.S. during the tournament and admitted the performances had not been good 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," he said. "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."

Uruguay scored the game-winner in the 66th minute on a controversial goal from Mathías Olivera. Ronald Araújo headed on a free kick that was saved by Matt Turner, who started against Uruguay after leaving Thursday's match with a leg injury.

Olivera was the first player to the rebound and appeared to be in an offside position at the time of Araujo's header, but after a long delay, referee Kevin Paolo Ortega pointed to the middle of the field to uphold the goal, much to the chagrin of USMNT players and a large portion of the crowd.

Bolivia had equalized against Panama moments prior, which briefly put the United States back into second place in the group in the live standings. Berhalter received word of the Bolivia equalizer on the U.S. bench moments before Uruguay's goal, and he appeared to be trying to relay a message to captain Christian Pulisic right before Uruguay's free kick.

The USMNT had not previously been eliminated from the group stage of a World Cup, Copa América or Gold Cup that it hosted. The United States is now 2-4-3 (W-D-L) against Uruguay.

Uruguay was without head coach Marcelo Bielsa on the sidelines due to a suspension imposed for his team's late re-entry to the pitch in the second half of Thursday's victory over Bolivia. Still, Uruguay rolled out an unchanged starting lineup against the United States.

Monday's game in Kansas City got off to a chippy start. A frenetic first half was interrupted by 14 total fouls and two injuries that required substitutions.

Uruguay winger Maximiliano Araújo left the match on a stretcher in the 27th minute after heavy fall following a collision on Uruguay's attacking corner kick. He was replaced by Cristian Olivera.

Fourteen minutes later, USMNT forward Folarin Balogun left the game due to an injury after a collision with Uruguay goalkeeper Sergio Rochet.

Panama led Bolivia 1-0 at halftime behind a goal from José Fajardo.

Berhalter brought on attacking options Josh Sargent and Malik Tillman late as the U.S. chased an equalizer, but the Americans finished with only three shots on goal and were not quick enough to get the ball off their feet inside the 18. Panama's victory also meant the USMNT needed to score twice and beat Uruguay to advance.

Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.