McKennie and Berhalter: USMNT Maturing Ahead of World Cup

The first thing Weston McKennie wanted at the Chicago Fire training facility wasn’t a ball or a bib. It was a familiar face.

Gregg Berhalter’s.

Beside him stood Sebastian Berhalter, the coach’s son, smiling at the obviousness of it all. One player chasing a mentor, the other hoping to bump into his dad at work.

"He's a great person, and I'm not just saying this because [Sebastian is here]," McKennie said with a laugh, the warmth in his voice matching the words.

McKennie had only just arrived when he and Sebastian stepped up to the podium, but his mind was already on the man who helped shape his career and, in many ways, his adulthood.

"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 bond isn’t unique. It runs through a large chunk of this U.S. men’s national team.

When Gregg Berhalter took over after the 2018 qualifying collapse, he inherited a fractured program and a locker room that barely existed. What he did have was potential: a wave of teenagers scattered across academies and European benches, still learning what it meant to be professionals.

Now those “kids” are back in Chicago, older, hardened, and on the brink of another World Cup.

"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," Berhalter 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."

That’s the backdrop as this U.S. team prepares for Germany, and beyond that, for a World Cup that will define whether this generation truly delivers on its promise.

Pochettino’s Balancing Act

On the training pitch, Chris Richards moved smoothly through warmups with the rest of the group. No grimaces, no obvious limitations. He looked like a player ready to go.

He won’t.

Mauricio Pochettino confirmed Richards will not play this weekend. The defender’s absence is a reminder of how thin the margin is at this stage of the cycle, and how quickly plans can unravel.

"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 reality for a coach in this window: fitness issues everywhere, certainty nowhere.

Pochettino admitted several players are managing the usual end-of-season knocks, but he brushed off the idea of listing them one by one. The real story, in his eyes, is the impossible choice facing every national team manager before a major tournament.

Rest or risk.

He knows whichever way he turns, someone will say he got it wrong.

"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."

So he walks the tightrope: protect legs, sharpen minds, keep rhythm, avoid disaster. There is no perfect answer, only judgment calls and the hope the squad reaches the World Cup intact.

Germany Again, But Different

Pochettino has been clear since March about one thing: the U.S. need to feel European heat before they step into a World Cup.

They got it against Senegal. Now comes another test in Germany.

"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. know what this level looks like. They saw it up close in October 2023, when Germany beat them 3-1 in Connecticut despite a Christian Pulisic goal. Fourteen of the 26 players in this squad were part of that night.

McKennie doesn’t dwell on the details of Germany’s lineup from that game. For him, the lesson was more basic: the gap isn’t unbridgeable.

"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 ideas, same core. The faces are familiar, but the context has shifted. This is no longer a team happy to prove it belongs on the same field; it’s a group trying to learn how to win these games when they matter most.

McKennie’s Edge

Few arrive in camp riding a personal wave quite like McKennie.

His club season with Juventus ended in frustration – two points short of the Champions League places – but his individual numbers told a different story: nine goals and six assists across Serie A and the Champions League, and a player who looked fully at ease in one of Europe’s most demanding environments.

He wants to bring that version of himself into this World Cup.

"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 confidence gets deployed is the intriguing question. Deeper in midfield, dictating and breaking up play? Higher up, crashing the box and driving at defenses?

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 teammates come in hot, others searching for rhythm. That’s the nature of a World Cup year. Form can set the stage, but it doesn’t write the script. The tournament does.

McKennie knows that. So does Gregg Berhalter, watching his “babies” walk around as fathers and leaders now. So does Pochettino, juggling minutes and managing risk with a clock that won’t slow down.

Germany awaits. The World Cup looms. The generation that grew up under Berhalter’s watch no longer has the excuse of youth.

Now it has to grow into its moment.