Alexi Lalas has slammed United States Mens National Team manager Gregg Berhalter after the US were dumped out of their home Copa America in the group stage.
If the Copa America was a litmus test for this US national team ahead of the 2026 World Cup which they host alongside Canada and Mexico, then they’ve truly failed. America entered the final game in the group stage against table toppers Uruguay knowing their fate was in their own hands.
A strong showing in their opening game against Bolivia saw Christian Pulisic and Folarin Balogun both score in the first half to seal a 2-0 win. But a disastrous 2-1 defeat against Panama last Thursday left the US needing to beat Uruguay or rely on Bolivia to bail them out, and is it transpired on Monday – neither happened.
The US were beaten by a second half strike from Mathias Olivera while Panama secured second place with a 3-1 victory over Bolivia. America will now have to sit and watch the rest of the competition unfold in their own backyard and unsurprisingly, criticism has come the way of the head coach.
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Following the game, FOX Sports lead soccer analyst Lalas tore into Berhalter and raised serious concerns over his ability to manage the USMNT into the World Cup. "I know there's sport in firing coaches in all professional sports, and I know the knives are out — and they should be, because this is not good enough for Gregg Berhalter," Lalas said.
"With 2026 barreling down the pike … we can't afford to waste it. We can't afford to be embarrassed, and we can't afford to arrive in the summer of '26 with a team that has not progressed, that has not evolved, that has not improved.
"I'm sure if Gregg Berhalter was here, he would say, 'Oh, but you don't see what's happening inside.' I don't give a crap what is happening inside. I don't care about the dynamic. I don't care how much your players love you. I don't care how ‘Kumbaya’ it is, all I care about is if I see a U.S. men's national team that is better than before. We haven't seen that, and that's a problem going forward."
Lalas then turned his frustrations to the U.S. Soccer Federation, who rehired Berhalter following the expiration of his contract after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, believing him to be the man to propel the team onwards from their last 16 finish in December 2022 despite falling out publicly with Giovanni Reyna.
"This is on Matt Crocker, because he ultimately came to the decision that not only are we going to hire Gregg Berhalter, but we're going to rehire Gregg Berhalter after all of [the Reyna controversy]," Lalas said. "And nobody would have said anything if they had gone in a different direction."
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