Is it better late than never for the USMNT. As the clock ticks on for the World Cup, the team is claimed to be lagging a bit in pursuit of competing with elite teams by experts. But the US Soccer has finally decided to sack the men’s team coach Gregg Berhalter. It has been a bittersweet period for the Stars and Stripes under Berhalter who showed promise at times but also some unexpected upsets. But despite taking action after pretty strong demand, the US Soccer Sporting Director Matt Crocker was taken a dig at by an analyst.

Discussing the move by US Soccer, David Mosse feels that it should have come earlier. Speaking on Alexi Lalas’ State of the Union Podcast, Mosse said, “Matt Crocker did take that step today. I think it’s the right move, but we have to say it does mean the US essentially wasted the last 18 months since the last World Cup,” suggesting that keeping Berhalter for 18 months itself turned out to be a failed idea by Croker.

Meanwhile, the USMNT supporters have the 2026 World Cup as a landmark and want the team to be a competitive unit by then. But as a lead-up, they could not convince the supporters after getting knocked out in the group stage of Copa America. Hence experts feel it was time for Gregg Berhalter to pass the baton.

Contrarily, former USMNT star Alexi Lalas replied, “I think Matt Crocker would probably push back on that and say that there’s plenty of stuff that happened off the field there’s plenty of growth that he could certainly point to,” citing that his spell had its own pros. However, the call was welcomed by both suggesting that results mattered despite agreeing about the next challenge.

What next for USMNT and Matt Crocker after Gregg Berhalter?

Even though he had a mixed spell filled with a few controversies, Gregg Berhalter still felt he was the best person to take the team to the 2026 event. But as he leaves, the USMNT will have a big void to fill. Experts believe Jurgen Klopp, fresh from his Liverpool tenure is being suggested by experts, but equal pay demands were claimed to complicate his potential hiring. But Lalas stated that Crocker had ruled such an issue out of exciting the USMNT fans.

Meanwhile, US Soccer and Crocker will not have much time to evaluate the upcoming coach. With less than 2 years to go to the World Cup, USMNT will look for a coach who will train them to be confident playing even formidable teams worldwide. But whether they would go for a native coach or look up to Europe or South America has to be seen.