Gregg Berhalter singled out Haji Wright for criticism after the USMNT’s 1-1 draw with El Salvador in the CONCACAF Nations League, and the comments got Futbol Americas’ Herculez Gomez fired up.
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41 Comments
Messed up. it’s every kids dream to play in World Cup, for haji it to came true to only having it taken away months before tournaments starts is so messed up. Haji going through it right now. If I was haji I’d be up every morning training. Success is the best revenge..
That's ridiculous. You play him 45 minutes in el salvador on that shitty field and criticize him? If haji wright had played against grenada he would've gotten 4 goals like ferriera. It's almost like Berhalter wanted wright to fail to say I told you so
I know Paul arrival personally my brother played with him in the usmnt u17,20,23 and xolos de Tijuana … but honestly he isn’t good. He lacks technique.
Purposely direct. I was watching a different game play out…
He should do that to his trash mls friends
Love you Herc your right
This coach is sheer rubbish! He is divisive. How many opportunities did JF misfire? The coach is the reason the team is not reliable.
Disgraceful behaviour on the part of a mediocre "manager". In a proper National Team, declarations like these would have very public consequences. However, it is the USMNT, who cares?
I have a bad feeling we’re gonna flop hard in this group I mean we let Canada & Mexico finish ahead of us in qualifying
Coach Expensive shoes at it again with the ridiculousness smh
GGG makes it impossible to like and take him seriously.
If Greg had half as much talent as Haji then, he wouldn’t have had to get the job illegally
Black players are typically used as scapegoats so nothing to see here.
Maybe Gregg Berhalter just trying to deflect his own criticism away before it reach him.
He wasn’t working hard enough on the pitch so he got pulled off…. simple as that
The 9 is set. Jesus baby!
yea ridiculous!!! give him another shot!!!
As a West Brom fan here in England what chance as Dike got making the U.S team guys.hope he does well for us.
GGG is only trying to justify bringing in his MLS superstars, it's as simple as that 🤷
Berhalter: It wasn't his night, it was bad luck.
ESPN: GREGG BERHALTER SHOT HAJI WRIGHT'S DOG!
So why Guardiola is in the team? He need to improve
He should be careful… Haji Wright only plays friendly match, Liberia is willing to get Haji Wright
This is such a stupid take from Greg. Did he even watch his own game? It was a literal mud pit. Did he expect to play tiki taka and everything perfectly flowing like in the Xavi, Iniesta, and Busquets era of Barca? This can't be going down well with Puli, Weston, and the others because they all played together during the youth teams. They clearly love the guy. You don't just throw a player over the bridge like that. I'm not even saying because he is amazing or something. Just in general.
I honestly think Gregg suffers from bi polar disorder.
Weird comment for sure by Gregg, definitely out of character. Seems that his biggest strength as a manager has been fostering a positive environment and relationships with the players so this was a bizarre thing for him to say
Berhalter is a joke. I can't think of a single time over the last 2 years when he made the difference in the team getting wins. It's going to take some great individual efforts for us to get out of the group come November.
Greg is not a coach who encourages players like klopp or ten hagen…. if team flops in qatar greggy needs to go… go back to mls… never liked him, besides got job from buddies in us soccer… wasnt a success coach anywhere…
Berhalter will give any MLS scrub a million chances to fail, but let a guy playing overseas not score in just 45 minutes in a mud-covered, third-world swamp and all the sudden "he didn't take advantage of his opportunity." What a joke. He should have been fired a long, long time ago.
Ferriera has been given way too many chances and honestly does not look good enough but Gregg will give him a million opportunities 🤔
I don’t like the vibes of this coach now or ever. What is his identity? A tactician, a players coach, a man motivator? No, no, and no.
It's so typical of today's society to judge and react even though we don't understand. We say that Greg is being unfair or has different standards because he hasn't had this kind of criticism for other players. In Spiderman, Uncle Ben says, "With great power comes great responsibility." Greg has the same standard for every player, "When you get on the field, when you have the honor to play for your country and represent it on your chest, give your everything." That doesn't mean that you always have your best game. As other comments have pointed out, there are many times that other players haven't played their best game and Greg stuck with them and stood behind them. Why? Because they played with heart and passion and represented the fighting spirit of US soccer that Greg wants his team to have. The fact that the conditions were muddy and wet and sloppy actually worked in Haji's favor. What the US needs in their forward isn't the striker that every time he gets the ball, you expect a goal. Of course that would be nice. But the US needs that Joze Altidore type of striker that intimidates other teams by being a physical, tough presence up top. Of course it was nice to see Ferreira score 4 goals against Bermuda. But all of us also know that Bermuda is not that tough of competition. Greg is looking for the striker that takes ownership and says, "This is my position and I will give everything when I'm out there. There will be no game that announcers are saying I'm irrelevant. Because even if I'm not scoring, my presence on the field will be felt and seen." Yes, Haji, still has a chance in Greg's mind. But if he wants that spot, he has to not rely on his skill or his goal-scoring success with his club. The forward that Greg chooses will be the one that shows the heart to fight. So why would Greg be critical like this? Why would he come across as unfair? Because if it's in there, he wants to bring that fight out of Haji that says, "No, I will not back down and let you count me out." Because that is the heart of American soccer
Unlikely night? No unfair night. Start him in one of the three games prior. Not the night where no one play properly. That is bs.
This coach sucks…already making excuses.
I don’t like to see him call Haji out, but I can see where it comes from. He’s desperate to find a striker who can consistently perform and he’s running out of time.
I’ll allow it.
Berhalter is just an idiot with this move. He's been an underwhelming coach for the most part.
Slow down turbo – what he said wasn't that bad taken as a whole. Wright was a long shot to make the WC roster anyway…. Sheesh….
You know I hope Haji goes on to play for Ghana and does great. Greg is such of a tool!
The problem isn't Gregg called someone out. It's he doesn't take responsibility for his failures and what's even worse is that I don't think he even recognizes his failures.
I don’t think he should’ve been called out like this but this game showed that Haji Wright doesn’t have the right mentality yet. Since he is on the fringe of making on the WC squad, Berhalter was probably expecting him to come out with a lot of effort and energy. Instead, he was playing to not get injured and never really gave much effort. I can almost guarantee he’s not making the team now.
20-20 hindsight, Berhalter favored Wright for the World Cup from the beginning and wanted him to justify that before roster selection, hence the critical comments. And probably wanted to light a fire under him. Wright is relatively fast and physical for a US forward and the USMNT needs that so I love the decision. I think Berhalter is partly looking to 2026 too where the US has some advantage playing near to home.
For this interviewed gregg is right, haji never takes advantage of his presence against the wales but haji needs to shut down England period if he wana be in guiness book of record