Alexi Lalas Trolls Gregg Berhalter By Dragging Him In His Rant At Referee Kevin Ortega

While the USMNT has to make peace with the premature Copa America exit at Uruguay’s hands, official Kevin Ortega’s controversial refereeing from the game remains the talk of the town. Ortega’s questionable decisions during the game largely brought immense disadvantages to the US. The referee reached the peak of controversy when he refused to shake hands with the US captain Christian Pulisic after the game. Reacting to this infamous gesture, former US international Alexi Lalas vociferously opined that Ortega should not officiate matches again. But on top of that, while blasting the referee, Lalas did not forget to throw a jibe at the US coach, Gregg Berhalter.

On the latest episode of the ‘State of the Union’ podcast, Alexi Lalas was asked about his opinion on Ortega’s refusal to shake hands with Pulisic. “That’s ridiculous, I don’t get that. This referee was ridiculous. It was a joke and should not referee,” said Lalas in response. Co-host Carli Lloyd hinted that Gregg Berhalter should review the referee’s controversial act, just like he was planning to question the CONMEBOL referees’ officiating in other games. When Lloyd brought up Berhalter’s potential reviewing, Lalas couldn’t help but throw a sarcastic shade at the coach. “Just as Gregg Berhalter is doing a review of the federation and everything that went on as he made in his press conference very very clear, he’s going to do that. I mean we just saw the freaking review. There it is, alright, you lost again,” Lalas added, reminding the US coach of the shocking defeat. 

Earlier, Berhalter had notably hinted that the CONMEBOL officials at the Copa were biased against the USMNT- a CONCACAF team. Referring to Tim Weah’s red-card incident from the game against Panama, Berhalter said that the US midfielder played into the referee’s tendency to penalize US players. It remains to be seen if the American coach will lock horns with the CONMEBOL officials in the coming days. While the likes of Alexi Lalas are highly critical of Gregg Berhalter and want him out of the US camp, there is a chance in hell for US Soccer to sack the vanquished manager.

Gregg Berhalter is here to say despite the shocking defeat and subsequent vitriol

The US Soccer cannot overlook the fact that Gregg Berhalter is underpaid for a head coach’s role. He is making $2.9 million a year in the US camp. That is way below the market standards and the US can never fancy bringing in a coach of his standards for a similar price. Besides, before the US-Uruguay match kicked off, former American coach Eric Wynalda confirmed that the US Soccer is not contemplating parting ways with Berhalter.

In yet another positive for Gregg Berhalter, quite a few US players are happy to continue taking orders from him. Matt Turner said that the US coach has been taking the team in the right direction. He added that there is ‘no issue’ in Berhalter’s way of managing. Furthermore, Gio Reyna opined that individual mistakes cost the US team. Reyna said it is impossible to blame the US personnel, including Berhalter, for the Copa exit.

What is your take on the Berhalter-US situation? Tell us in the comments.