The United States men’s national team has undergone several managerial changes since 2010, with varying levels of success, and may soon be looking for another new head coach.
While the USWNT has managed to establish itself as one of the strongest and most dominant teams in women’s soccer in the 21st century, the men’s team still leaves much to be desired and struggles to develop despite having an increasingly rich pool of high-potential young talent at its disposal.
There is still work to be done in the United States to deliver on the progress it has made in recent times, and the way its list of leadership appointments over the past 14 years reflects that struggle.
We look at the seven managers who have held the job since 2010 and what they’re doing now, starting with one man whose job could be on the line if the 2024 Copa America doesn’t go ahead as planned…
Gregg Berhalter
Capped 44 times by the Stars and Stripes as a player, Berhalter first took over the USMNT in 2018 after leaving the Columbus Crew, starting strong with a positive win rate and winning the inaugural CONCACAF Nations League in 2021, a positive step forward after failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
Playing more dominant football and featuring several talented and more technical players who had begun to break through, more was expected of the USMNT at the 2022 World Cup, and while a Round of 16 exit certainly wasn’t bad, it felt like we never saw the team at its best.
That, combined with a very public falling out with young Gio Reyna and his family, meant things came to a head when he left his post after the tournament.
Surprisingly, he returned to his job for a second spell in the summer of 2023, signing a contract until the 2026 World Cup. They currently face the prospect of being knocked out of the Copa America without even reaching the last 16, which could already put his job on the line.
BJ Callaghan
Having managed seven games before Berhalter’s return to the role, Callaghan’s debut as interim manager came in the form of an impressive 2-0 win over Mexico in the 2023 CONCACAF Nations League semi-finals, before going all the way to beat Canada in the final.
He retired after winning four games and drawing three, a short but extremely enjoyable tenure for a young coach whose career so far has been spent mainly at university level.
Callaghan is now again Berhalter’s assistant, as he was during his first term.
ALSO READ: Where are they now? Christian Pulisic’s debut USMNT XI in 2016
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name the 20 American players who have played the most Premier League games?
Anthony Hudson
Becoming one of the youngest coaches in the game to earn a UEFA Professional Licence in 2012, Englishman Hudson first crossed the Atlantic in 2017 to take charge of Colorado Rapids, before joining the United States national team in 2020.
He had actually been appointed interim coach after Berhalter’s departure following the 2022 World Cup, but left after just five games in charge to accept an offer from Qatari side Al-Markiyah ahead of the 2023-24 season.
Hudson only held the manager’s role for three games before moving into a technical and advisory role, and leaving the club altogether in April this year after the club narrowly avoided relegation.
Dave Sarachan
An experienced American football coach with a magnificently bizarre playing career in indoor football in the 1970s and 1980s, Sarachan moved from assistant to interim in 2017 during his second stint with the national team.
It is quite astonishing that Sarachan was interim manager for 12 months, appointed in November 2017 and replaced by Berhalter the following November. They don’t attach much importance to this role, do they?
Sarachan managed 12 games, winning just three and losing five in a rather forgettable and dismal year that followed their failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
After leaving his position, he took charge of USL Championship team North Carolina FC and later took charge of Puerto Rico, but currently serves as an assistant at Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Bruce Arena
Perhaps the most famous of the list, Arena returned to the USMNT for his second stint as manager in 2016, but after a strong start involving a 14-game unbeaten streak came the dismal World Cup qualifying campaign.
A surprise 2-1 defeat to Trinidad and Tobago in October 2017 finally paid off and confirmed they would miss the tournament in Russia, missing out on a World Cup for the first time since 1986.
He resigned after the loss and returned to Major League Soccer after a two-year hiatus, replacing Brad Friedel as head coach and sporting director of the New England Revolution.
Arena resigned in September 2023, a month after a suspension over allegations of “insensitive and inappropriate remarks.”
READ: The most valuable player on each team at the 2024 Copa America: Vinicius, Pulisic, Valverde…
Jürgen Klinsmann
Klinsmann’s United were polarising and he was not without his critics, but he performed well in a difficult 2014 World Cup, finding himself in a group of death alongside eventual winners Germany, Portugal and Ghana before being narrowly eliminated by Belgium’s golden generation in extra time of the last 16.
Taking over in 2011, he kept his job after the World Cup in Brazil, but they finished fourth in the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup and missed out on the second round of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, ultimately costing him his job in 2016.
He returned to Germany to coach Hertha Berlin in 2019 and then took charge of the South Korea national team in February 2023 with a contract that would see him coach at the 2026 World Cup.
But Klinsmann was fired after a year due to poor results and questions about his commitment to the cause. He has not coached since.
Bob Bradley
Before his ill-fated spell in charge of Swansea in 2016, Bradley had the honour of managing his country’s national team for four years, from 2007 to 2011, having previously worked in the Under-23s team.
Bradley’s U.S. team was responsible for ending Spain’s 35-game unbeaten run at the 2009 Confederations Cup — you know, the Spain team that many consider the greatest international team of all time? Yeah, that one.
They also finished top of Group C at the 2010 World Cup, but were eliminated by Ghana in the first stage. He left his post in 2011 after spoiling the Gold Cup final that year.
Many will remember him most for that stint at Swansea, as we mentioned earlier, where he lasted just 85 days in charge before being sacked, but he has since rebuilt his reputation.
Bradley helped build Los Angeles FC into a dominant force in the Western Conference from its inception, winning the 2019 Supporters’ Shield and the 2019 MLS Coach of the Year award. He is currently unemployed, having left Toronto FC in 2023.
