It was announced Tuesday that the USMNT will play at FedEx Field this summer for the first time since 2012, coming to Washington to face Colombia in an international friendly on June 8.
USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter joined the Hoffman Show for a one-on-one chat and discussed how he's evolved as the national team's top man, and what he is looking for over the next few years from the squad, and his public tiff with Gio Reyna at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
"The important thing is to be focused on getting better," Berhalter said about entering his second cycle as men's team coach. "We feel like we did a lot of good things in the first term, but now it's about how do you get better, not being complacent. Really trying to take the group from one level to the next.
"And that's the key to me, is whatever you did in the past you evaluate it, but the whole intention is to improve."
He added that the "experience alone, particualr for the players particiapting in a World Cup, gives you the comfort" to have a base to then improve upon.
"Going into this next World Cup they understand what it's like, they understand how difficult the games are, they understand the difference between winning and losing and potentially what it takes to win these games," Berhalter told Hoffman. "World Cup games, particularly the knockout games, are very challenging, very little separates the teams and it's about being tuned in for every moment during the game to get the result that you need."
When it comes to the situation with Reyna and navigating protecting his lockerroom and an individual player from external storylines and being transparent about what is going on, Berhalter said that "it starts with your group, it starts with the trust that you have between the group and the players and you work hard over the course of four years to build that trust."
"When you have teammates that can look each other in the eye and they know that they're gonna lay everything on the line for the person next to 'em, then you're in a really good spot," he continued. "And so when we move into this next two-and-a-half-year period, that's where the team needs to get to again. You could be in a certain place for the last World Cup and now it's about how do you get back to that in 2026."
Berhalter said the policy is to always be more transparent than less transparent while creating a team that works well for eachother on and off the pitch.
The head coach also gets into America's options at striker, working with the diverse talent pool, the evolution of Christian Pulisic, and much more.
Listen on the audio player above!