USMNT's Growth: McKennie and Berhalter Reflect on Progress
The first thing Weston McKennie did at the Chicago Fire training facility wasn’t touch a ball. It was look for a man.
Not a teammate. Not a current coach. A former one.
Gregg Berhalter.
McKennie and Sebastian Berhalter faced the cameras on Friday, but their eyes were already drifting toward the corridors, hoping the Chicago Fire head coach might appear. For Sebastian, it was family. For McKennie, it was something close.
"He's a great person, and I'm not just saying this because [Sebastian is here]," McKennie said with a laugh, as he spoke about the man who once built a national team around him.
He’d barely arrived before the media duties began, yet McKennie made it clear what he really wanted from the day: a few quiet minutes with the coach who helped shape him.
"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."
That bond isn’t unique. It runs through this USMNT generation.
When Gregg Berhalter took over after the failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, he inherited kids. Talented, raw, unsure of what a professional life really demanded. He watched them grow in real time.
"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," Berhalter 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."
He no longer picks the team, but he’s still emotionally tied to it. The summer ahead will tell whether that generation is ready to turn promise into something more tangible.
Pochettino’s Balancing Act
On the training pitch, the mood was lighter. Chris Richards jogged, stretched and passed with the group, looking every bit like a player gearing up for a big weekend.
He won’t play.
Mauricio Pochettino confirmed it, and the annoyance in his voice was hard to miss.
"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."
Richards’ situation is a snapshot of a wider problem. Players are nursing the typical end-of-season knocks and strains. Pochettino smiled when pressed for a full injury rundown, but the reality is simple: everyone is managing something, and the clock is ticking.
The real question is risk.
Play the stars and you invite danger. Rest them and you invite rust. Either way, someone will have an opinion.
"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," Pochettino 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."
There is no perfect answer, only judgment calls. This weekend in Germany will be another one.
Germany Again, and a Different U.S.
Pochettino has been clear about one thing: he wants the U.S. tested, and tested hard.
"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."
Germany are familiar opponents. The U.S. met them in October 2023 and led through a Christian Pulisic strike before losing 3-1 in Connecticut. Fourteen of the 26 players in this squad lived that defeat.
McKennie hasn’t forgotten the lesson.
"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."
New coach. New context. Same ambition.
McKennie’s Form and a Role to Define
If there’s one American walking into this World Cup window with a spring in his step, it’s McKennie.
Nine goals and six assists across Serie A and the Champions League tell their own story. Juventus fell just short of a Champions League place, missing fourth by two points, but McKennie’s individual year crackled with energy and end product.
He wants to bring that same edge into the national team camp. Where exactly he deploys it is still up for debate.
Deeper conductor? Box-crashing threat? Somewhere in between?
"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 teammates arrive on a hot streak, others fighting through dips in form. The World Cup has never cared much about club narratives. It cares about 90 minutes, about who can bend a game to their will on the day.
McKennie believes this group can do that. Gregg Berhalter believes they are ready to step into that spotlight as men, not prospects.
Now they head into Germany, into another hard test, into a summer that will define how this generation is remembered.
