- Berhalter's contract not renewed in 2023
- World Cup coach involved in U.S. Soccer investigation
- Robinson & Turner echo Pulisic's words of support
WHAT HAPPENED? Premier League stars Antonee Robinson and Matt Turner had already weighed in on the controversy surrounding the family of winger Gio Reyna, and backed their USMNT teammate to do the business in their upcoming Nations League fixtures.
Berhalter's chances of getting a USMNT renewal appeared harmed by the investigation before the final report painted the World Cup coach in a generally positive light and said he is eligible to come back.
AND WHAT'S MORE: After Christian Pulisic recently voiced his backing for Berhalter, both Robinson and Turner went on to do the same, albeit less explicitly, and Berhalter now stands on more solid footing in his bid to return to the team.
WHAT THEY SAID: "I think he did a very good job creating a style of play that suited us," said the Fulham full-back, who has already made 27 appearances under Marco Silva this campaign. "A lot of the players that he brought in, getting a lot of talented players together, obviously quite young guys like Yunus [Musah] started when he was when he was manager. Bringing us to the World Cup, where we didn't do as well as we'd like to but we still did, I think, very well. We put in performances that we're all proud of.
"What Christian [Pulisic] basically said about things being unfair ith what happened to him? Yeah, it's kind of a situation that's off the pitch and [it's] unfortunate having past things brought up, especially when it was things that had been dealt with and have influence in his life now. So on a personal level, on a professional level, it's unfortunate. I just hope it all gets resolved on his side really quickly and that you can move on from it."
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Turner, who by contrast has featured just seven times under Mikel Arteta this term, echoed Robinson's words: "Yeah, I feel similarly. Obviously, it is unfortunate and I think everything that he built, from the outside, it's not as clear the connection that he created amongst the group.
"The selections, the like-mindedness of people, it became like this culture that sort of policed itself in a lot of ways, which I think can be pretty rare when it comes to national teams getting together. We're grateful for all the work that he put in and did and I think we really did thrive and the end of it all during his tenure, and yeah, we'll see what the future holds."
IN THREE PHOTOS:
Getty Images
Getty Images
GettyWHAT NEXT FOR THE USMNT? Despite the words of Pulisic, Robinson and Turner, interim head coach Anthony Hudson will take charge of the Stars and Stripes' next two Nations League matches, the first of which comes away at Granada on Friday. A decision on a permanent coach may come this summer.
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