USMNT's McKennie and Berhalter: Growing Up Fast

Weston McKennie walked into the Chicago Fire training facility on Friday with a purpose. Part media duty, part reunion tour.

Next to him stood Sebastian Berhalter. Both were hoping to bump into the same man.

For McKennie, it was a mentor he credits with shaping his career. For Sebastian, it was his father.

“He's a great person, and I'm not just saying this because [Sebastian is here],” McKennie said with a laugh, talking about Gregg Berhalter, the former USMNT head coach who helped steer the program out of the wreckage of the 2018 World Cup qualifying failure.

McKennie had barely dropped his bags before stepping up to the podium, but his mind was already elsewhere: back with the coach who listened, pushed, and occasionally just let him cry.

“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 Generation Comes of Age

Gregg Berhalter’s fingerprints are still all over this U.S. team, even if he’s no longer on the touchline.

When he took over after the 2018 collapse, he inherited a group of talented kids who barely knew what it meant to live as professionals. Many were teenagers, scattered across academies and European benches, more promise than product.

Now they’re something else entirely.

“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,” Gregg 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’s the bond McKennie feels when he talks about Berhalter. It’s not just about tactics or roles. It’s about someone who watched this core group grow from wide-eyed prospects into players who carry Champions League minutes, title races, and the weight of a World Cup summer on their shoulders.

Pochettino’s Dilemma and the Richards Frustration

Out on the grass Friday, Chris Richards moved freely with the rest of the squad. No limp, no obvious hitch. He looked like a player ready to go.

He won’t play this weekend.

Mauricio Pochettino confirmed as much, and the irritation in his voice told its own story. Not anger at the player, but at the way the situation has unfolded.

“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 every national-team coach walks in the weeks before a major tournament. Players are nursing knocks, fatigue, and the residue of long club seasons. Everyone wants rhythm. No one wants risk.

Pochettino knows the trap. He also knows he can’t win the argument online.

He laughed when pressed on individual fitness issues, then cut straight to the heart of the problem.

“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.”

Rest them and you’re accused of undercooking them. Play them and you’re reckless. For Pochettino, there is no risk-free path, only calculated gambles with a tournament clock ticking louder every day.

Germany Again, and the Value of a Scar

This weekend brings Germany. Another heavyweight. Another measuring stick.

Pochettino has been clear about this part of the plan. He wants his team tested by the best, not protected from them.

“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 what it feels like to be cut open by Germany. They lived it not long ago. In October 2023, they led through a Christian Pulisic goal in Connecticut, only to lose 3-1. Fourteen of the 26 players in this current squad were part of 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.”

The scar from that night in Connecticut isn’t a burden. It’s a reference point. A reminder that this group can go toe-to-toe with elite opposition—and also how quickly those games can tilt.

McKennie’s Form and the Role Question

Individually, McKennie arrives in camp carrying something every manager craves: form.

Nine goals and six assists across Serie A and the Champions League tell the story of a season in which he found end product and influence. Juventus, as a club, stumbled just short of the Champions League places, missing out on fourth by two points, but McKennie’s own confidence never really wavered.

He wants to drag that belief straight into the World Cup.

“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 question is where that energy gets deployed. Deeper in midfield, dictating tempo and breaking up play? Or higher up, arriving in the box, timing late runs, and pressing from the front?

For McKennie, the answer is simple: wherever he’s needed.

“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 in better club form than others. That’s always the case before a World Cup. Tournaments don’t care. They reward whoever delivers in the moment, not whoever had the best winter.

McKennie understands that. He’s lived both sides of the sport now—the promise, the setbacks, the grind of Italy, the scrutiny of the national team. He’s no longer the teenager Berhalter first took under his wing.

He’s one of the men Berhalter talks about with a mix of pride and disbelief.

And as the U.S. step into another test against Germany, with injuries to manage, critics to ignore, and roles still to fine-tune, the real question isn’t whether this group has grown up.

It’s whether they’re finally ready to play like it when the World Cup lights come on.