McKennie and Berhalter: A Reunion That Defines USMNT's Journey

Weston McKennie walked into the Chicago Fire training facility on Friday with a game on his mind and a coach in his heart.

Across the room, Sebastian Berhalter had the same coach in mind — for slightly more obvious reasons.

Both players hoped to bump into Gregg Berhalter, the man who once led this U.S. men’s national team and, in Sebastian’s case, the man who led him to school, training and everything in between. For McKennie, though, the connection runs far deeper than tactics or team sheets.

“He’s a great person, and I’m not just saying this because [Sebastian is here],” McKennie said with a laugh, before the tone quickly shifted. This wasn’t just another polite nod to a former manager. This was a player talking about someone who had seen him at his lowest.

“I went to him with problems on and off the field. I've cried in front of him,” McKennie admitted. “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.”

This is the emotional undercurrent running beneath the U.S. camp right now. A World Cup looming, a new coach in charge, but the fingerprints of the old one still all over this group.

From “Babies” to Men

When Gregg Berhalter took over after the 2018 qualifying collapse, he inherited a broken program and a bunch of teenagers. Many of them are now the spine of this World Cup squad. He still talks about them like a proud older brother who suddenly realizes the kids at the end of the table now have kids of their own.

“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.”

That last line hangs in the air. Because the moments are coming fast.

Pochettino’s Balancing Act

On the training pitch, another voice now sets the tone. Mauricio Pochettino put his players through their paces on Friday, with one notable face back in the mix: Chris Richards.

The defender trained with the group and moved freely. It looked normal. It isn’t.

He will not play this weekend, Pochettino confirmed, and that reality clearly grates on him.

“When we decided the roster, we thought that Chris could play the final of the Conference [League] because we had designed the roster previously,” Pochettino 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 tightrope. Get minutes into legs without breaking bodies. Keep rhythm without risking everything. Pochettino knows there is no way to win that argument online.

“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.”

He smiled when asked about specific knocks and niggles. Normal for this time of year, he insisted. The real test, in his eyes, comes not from the physio room but from the schedule.

Germany Again, and the Standard They Set

Pochettino has been clear for months: this team needs elite opposition to grow. In March, he pushed for top European sides. Now, after beating Senegal, he gets another heavyweight in Germany.

“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 this opponent. In October 2023, they led Germany through a Christian Pulisic strike before being overrun 3-1 in Connecticut. Fourteen of the 26 players in this squad were part of that night.

McKennie doesn’t linger on the details of who lined up for Germany. 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.”

New coach. New wrinkles. Same ambition.

McKennie’s Form, and the Question of Where to Use It

McKennie arrives in camp with numbers to back up his swagger: nine goals and six assists across Serie A and the Champions League this past season. Juventus, as a club, fell short — two points shy of the final Champions League spot — but McKennie’s own confidence never really dipped.

He knows what that kind of club form can do inside a national-team dressing room.

“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,” he said.

The puzzle now is how Pochettino uses him. Deeper, to dictate and destroy? Higher, to break lines and arrive late in the box? McKennie shrugs at the positional debate and leans into his versatility.

“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.”

Form, he knows, can be fickle. World Cups don’t care who looked sharp in March. They care who delivers on the day.

Some in this squad ride in on hot streaks, others drag questions behind them. The tournament will flatten all of that soon enough.

For now, the picture is simpler: a former coach watching his “babies” turn into leaders, a new coach wrestling with impossible choices, and a midfielder at the peak of his powers, ready to test himself again against Germany.

If this group really does “step up to these moments,” as Gregg Berhalter insists, the world is about to find out.