McKennie and Berhalter: A Reunion Signifying USMNT's Journey

The Chicago Fire’s training facility felt less like a neutral site on Friday and more like a reunion hall.

Weston McKennie walked in hoping to see the coach who helped shape his career. Sebastian Berhalter walked in hoping to see his dad.

Same man. Very different relationships. Same emotional thread.

"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 manager and Sebastian’s father.

McKennie had barely dropped his bag before he was on the podium, but his mind was already on a quieter moment later in the day. A chance to sit down with Berhalter again. To talk, to remember, to listen.

"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 line cuts to the heart of this U.S. team. Berhalter may no longer be the man on the touchline, but his fingerprints are still all over the group.

From “Babies” to Men

When Gregg Berhalter took over after the 2018 qualifying collapse, he inherited chaos and potential in equal measure. Teenagers, mostly. Talented, raw, and still figuring out what it meant to be a professional.

Years later, he watched them warm up again in Chicago, this time as an outsider. Emotion hasn’t gone anywhere.

"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," he 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."

For Berhalter, this summer is about watching a generation he nurtured try to cash in on years of promise. For the players, it’s about proving they can do it without him on the sideline.

Pochettino’s Dilemma and the Richards Frustration

On the training pitch, another figure moved through the session with a different kind of tension. Chris Richards trained with the group, looked comfortable, went through the warm-up. He will not play this weekend. Mauricio Pochettino made that clear.

Richards’ situation grates on the coach.

"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 before a major tournament. Fitness versus sharpness. Risk versus rhythm.

Pochettino knows the drill. He also knows he cannot win the 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 laughed off a question about specific knocks and niggles, calling them the usual end-of-season issues. The reality is simpler: everyone wants minutes, nobody wants injuries, and there is no perfect answer.

Germany Again, and a Different Kind of Test

The calendar offers no gentle buildup. After beating Senegal, the U.S. now get Germany in another heavyweight European test.

In March, Pochettino had pushed hard for games like this, insisting that chances to face top European sides are too rare to waste. He hasn’t changed his tune.

"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. have seen Germany recently. In October 2023, they led through a Christian Pulisic strike before losing 3-1 in Connecticut. Fourteen of the 26 players in this squad were there that night.

McKennie doesn’t dwell on the names on the other team sheet.

"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 stakes. Same belief.

McKennie’s Form and a Role to Be Determined

McKennie arrives in camp carrying something every national team coach craves: club confidence.

Nine goals and six assists across Serie A and the Champions League tell their own story about his season. Juventus fell just short of the Champions League places, missing out by two points, but McKennie’s individual stock rose.

For him, form is fuel.

"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.

Where that energy gets deployed is the interesting question. Deeper in midfield? Higher up, arriving late in the box? McKennie doesn’t seem bothered by the debate.

"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 in this squad are flying; others are scraping for rhythm. World Cups have a way of making all of that irrelevant the moment the whistle blows. McKennie knows it, but he also knows he’s as ready as he’s ever been.

On Friday, though, before Germany and before the World Cup, his focus drifted back to one man.

A coach who once guided a group of “babies” into the professional world. A mentor he cried in front of. A voice he still wants in his ear as the biggest tournament in the sport looms.

If this U.S. team really is ready to step into its defining moment, it will do so carrying both Pochettino’s plans and Berhalter’s legacy into the same arena.