HARRISON, N.J. (AP) — Sebastian Berhalter sprinted across the midfield in a red, white and blue jersey with the U.S. national team crest on it as the Americans prepped for next year's World Cup with a friendly against South Korea. Jonathan Klinsmann was on the bench.
“It’s incredible. I think just to think about that, it’s probably never happened, right, in the history of soccer where you have two national team coaches'— former national coaches' sons in the same camp,” Gregg Berhalter said. “It’s kind of crazy.”
The sons are trying to shine for the Americans.
Sebastian Berhalter, 24, debuted in a June 10 friendly against Switzerland while in his sixth season of Major League Soccer.
Jonathan Klinsmann, 28, got the callup during his second season with Cesena in Italy's Serie B after three years as a backup with the LA Galaxy. He didn't play in Saturday's 2-0 loss but gets another chance against Japan on Tuesday night in Columbus, Ohio.
“Do whatever I can to make the best impression and see what comes next,” he said. “I’m confident in making those impossible saves look a bit less impossible."
Jurgen Klinsmann, a star German striker, coached the U.S. from 2011-16 and led the team to the round of 16 at the 2014 World Cup. He was fired after a pair of losses in the first two qualifiers for the 2018 tournament.
Gregg Berhalter was a U.S. defender at the 2002 and '06 World Cups and coached the Americans from 2018-22, also taking them to the World Cup round of 16. He returned from mid-2023 to mid-2024, and then was let go after first-round elimination at the Copa America.
“When you grow up around the game and you’re around good people and you are around the game at a high level, it brings a lot,” said retired midfielder Michael Bradley, whose 151 national team appearances are the third-most in American history and whose father Bob coached the Americans from 2006-11.
The sons are vying for roster spots when the Americans will host soccer's premier event next year. Current coach Mauricio Pochettino decided to shake up his player pool after a pair of losses in the CONCACAF Nations League in March.
“It was a big wake-up call,” Pochettino said Monday.
Sebastian Berhalter has started seven of the last eight U.S. matches, advancing toward his father's 44 caps. He was born in London in 2001, when his father was with Crystal Palace.
“The earliest thing I remember was when he played for Energie Cottbus,” he said, thinking back to a German second-division match on May 14, 2006, against visiting 1860 Munich. “It was the last day of the season, they needed a win to get up, and he scored a PK and they went up and everyone was on the field, and I just remember being on my dad’s shoulders, parading through the sea of people.”
He was in the youth academies of Sweden’s Hammarby and Columbus when his father coached those clubs, played in 2019 at North Carolina (his father’s old college) and made his pro debut for Columbus in 2020.
“We never said: You have to do this. It was really about him always wanting to play,” Gregg Berhalter said.
The Berhalters have weekly soccer conversations.
“Probably the biggest thing I’ve learned that in any environment I go into I can kind of easily assimilate and just be myself, not shy away from that,” Sebastian Berhalter said.
Jonathan Klinsmann's only prior national team camp was in 2018, when he trained but didn't dress.
He was born in Munich when his father was with Bayern toward the end on an illustrious career that included 47 goals in 108 appearances for West Germany and Germany and titles at the 1990 World Cup and 1996 European Championship.
Jonathan Klinsmann spent much of his youth in Newport Beach, where his father and Californian wife Debbie settled. As a 9-year-old, the younger Klinsmann got to hang out with Germany's national team as his father coached the host nation to a third-place finish at the 2006 World Cup.
“A lot of the fond memories were just being able to be around those players as a little kid and being able to look up to them,” he said. “You don’t quite understand the ramifications of everything and the pressure.”
He then watched as his father coached the U.S. Like many fans at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Jonathan Klinsmann and his family missed the Americans' group-stage loss to Germany in Recife because of waist-high flooding that prevented them from reaching the team hotel for the trip to Arena Pernambuco.
“They told us that there was no way our bus was getting to the hotel, so we just had to swallow it and watch at the hotel,” he said.
Jonathan Klinsmann played youth soccer in southern California, and then moved to Bayern's youth academy after his father became first-team coach in 2008-09, switching from forward to goalkeeper. He caused controversy in 2014 when his father dropped U.S. great Landon Donovan from the World Cup roster and the youngster tweeted, in part: “HAHAHAHAHAHAH.” He apologized to Donovan.
He played college soccer at the University of California Berkeley from 2015-16 and started for the U.S. at the 2017 Under-20 World Cup and joined Hertha Berlin, saving a penalty kick during his professional debut in a Europa League match on Dec. 7, 2017. He transferred to Switzerland's St. Gallen in June 2019, appearing only in a pair of Swiss Cup games, then signed with MLS in August 2020.
“He chose soccer at the end of the day, but he had a good chance to go also far with basketball,” Jurgen Klinsmann said of his 6-foot-4 (1.93 meter) son.
Both of the sons realized from an early age the determination of professional athletes.
“It kind of rubbed off on me, not even him telling me to work hard," Sebastian Berhalter said. “If I really wanted it, I’d have to work harder than everyone else.”
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer