McKennie and Berhalter Reflect on USMNT Growth Ahead of World Cup
The scene at the Chicago Fire training facility on Friday said as much about the past as it did about the World Cup hurtling toward the U.S. men’s national team.
Weston McKennie walked in looking for a familiar face. Sebastian Berhalter did, too. Different reasons, same man.
Gregg Berhalter.
“He’s a great person, and I’m not just saying this because [Sebastian is here],” McKennie said with a laugh, glancing toward the coach’s son beside him.
McKennie had barely dropped his bags before he was on the podium, but his mind was already on the reunion. This was the manager who had helped shape him, who had seen him at his highest and lowest.
“I went to him with problems on and off the field. I’ve cried in front of him,” McKennie said. “We’ve had tough times and also amazing times together, and so it’ll be really nice to be able to see him around here, hopefully, today, and just to catch up and just go over some memories. I’m sure he’ll probably give me some advice leading into the game and into the World Cup, because that’s just the type of guy he is.”
Berhalter’s Kids Are All Grown Up
Gregg Berhalter no longer picks the team sheet, but he still talks like a man emotionally tethered to this generation. He took over in the rubble of the 2018 qualifying failure, charged with guiding a new wave of talent that, at the time, barely knew what it meant to be professionals.
“I think one thing we have to remember is when I got them, they were young, they were babies, and they were just learning what it takes to be a professional athlete,” he said. “Now I see them, and they’re men! They have kids, and they’re adults, and they know exactly what it means to maintain themselves as professionals. It’s an amazing thing to see.
“I just greeted them now, and was like, ‘I can’t believe it, they’re grown up!’. I think they’ll be ready for this moment. The one thing I know about this group is that they step up to these moments.”
That’s the backdrop to a summer that will define this group. They are no longer prospects. They are expected to deliver.
Pochettino’s Dilemma and the Richards Frustration
On the grass, another story unfolded. Chris Richards warmed up with the rest of the squad, moved freely, looked the part. He still won’t play this weekend.
Mauricio Pochettino confirmed as much, and he did not hide his irritation with how the defender’s situation has dragged on.
“When we decided the roster, we thought that Chris could play the final of the Conference [League] because we had designed the roster previously,” he said. “There was a line of information where we were thinking that he could play that final against Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League. He was on the bench, if you remember. After, that he could maybe be [there] against Senegal. After, today, in the end, the timelines were lengthening and [it] angers me a bit. I’m not happy because we know Chris Richards is an important player, of course, we all know it, but also when I was saying is based on the information that we had, and sometimes there wasn’t clarity.
“In the end, we can hope that Chris can be there. But, in the end, we’re going to find ourselves coming without competing [for a month] and after we have to make the decision if he’s in form to compete or not. There’s not a lot of time in the World Cup.”
That’s the knife-edge of pre-tournament preparation. Players are carrying the usual end-of-season knocks, and Pochettino knows there is no perfect answer. Rest them and risk rust. Play them and risk disaster.
He even laughed when asked to detail every little fitness concern. The broad message: most are fine, nobody is truly safe.
“The haters today with social media, they will never agree if you play normally with the players or if you play with the first team for the World Cup,” he said. “If nothing happens, no one is going to say anything, good decision, but if something does happen, they say I have no clue!
“It’s impossible to know what we need to do. That’s why, from the beginning, it is to prepare in the best way that all the players have the possibility to play or to compete.”
Germany Again, and a Different USMNT
The next test is familiar. Germany, in Germany, a heavyweight sparring session before the real thing.
Pochettino has been clear since March: he wants his team pushed by European opposition, the kind of games the U.S. still doesn’t get enough of. Wins over sides like Senegal are useful; facing the likes of Portugal, Belgium, Germany reveals something deeper.
“We wanted to play the best in preparation for this World Cup,” he said. “I think all the tests of Portugal or Belgium were amazing because they allowed us to improve and to learn what we don’t need to do and how we need to approach it again. I think it’s a great opportunity, after Senegal, this is going to be a beautiful team that we have to face tomorrow, and it’s about approaching in the best way we can.”
The U.S. know the scale of the task. They met Germany in October 2023 in Connecticut and actually landed the first punch through Christian Pulisic, only to lose 3-1. Fourteen of the 26 players in this current squad were there that night.
McKennie doesn’t dwell on the details of Germany’s lineup from that game. He remembers something else.
“I don’t really remember Germany’s roster for that game, and I don’t know how similar it is to this roster,” he said. “But I think that game showed, obviously, the quality that they have, but also the quality that we have as well. We played a good game, and we had the potential to win that game as well.
“We go into this game with a lot of players that haven’t played against them yet and players that have, so I think the new energy, the new style, the new circumstances in general leading into a World Cup, I think it’s going to be a great test for us and I think we go out there with the same mentality that we always go out with.”
McKennie’s Form and His Role
McKennie arrives in camp with numbers that speak loudly: nine goals and six assists across Serie A and the Champions League. It was a strong individual season, even if Juventus fell two points short of a Champions League place.
His confidence is obvious. The question is where Pochettino will use it.
Deeper, dictating from midfield? Higher, crashing into the box?
“I think any player can say that coming out of club form and being in good club form does a lot, because it’s the confidence that you bring, it’s the desire, the want, the everything,” McKennie said. “I think the system that our coach has here, the type of player I am is a player that adapts. I’m the type of player who can play many roles, so I’m more of a guy that, wherever he needs me to do, I’ll do whatever I’m called upon for.
“I try to step up and just be the best I can for the team. I think that’s one thing that this team does have: no one’s selfish. Everyone’s here for the right reasons. Everyone’s here to get a victory for the U.S., so I think it’s amazing to be able to come here with confidence, and coming off a great individual season. Obviously, my club team didn’t finish where we wanted to finish, but the confidence is still there.”
Some of his teammates ride similar waves of form. Others arrive off the back of tougher club campaigns. The World Cup doesn’t care. It strips away context and boils everything down to 90 minutes.
That’s the stage Berhalter’s “babies” have grown into. They’re men now, carrying expectations, scars, and belief. Germany will test all of it.
What they do with that test will say plenty about whether this generation is finally ready to turn promise into something lasting.
