McKennie and Berhalter: A Reunion Ahead of the World Cup

Weston McKennie walked into the Chicago Fire training facility on Friday with a game on his mind and a coach in his heart.

He hadn’t even settled in before he and Sebastian Berhalter were ushered in front of the microphones. Both had the same hope for the day: a chance encounter with Gregg Berhalter. For Sebastian, it’s family. For McKennie, it’s something close.

"He's a great person, and I'm not just saying this because [Sebastian is here]," McKennie said, laughing as he spoke about his former USMNT boss.

This wasn’t the usual polite nod to a past manager. McKennie made it clear Berhalter had been a sounding board, a mentor, someone he trusted with more than tactics.

"I went to him with problems on and off the field. I've cried in front of him," he 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’s the thread running through this group. Gregg Berhalter didn’t just inherit a squad; he inherited a generation. When he took over after the 2018 qualifying collapse, many of these players were teenagers, raw and wide-eyed. Now they arrive in Chicago as established professionals, fathers, leaders.

Berhalter still feels tethered to them.

"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," he 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."

Pochettino’s Dilemma: No Safe Choices Before a World Cup

Out on the training pitch, Chris Richards joined the warm-up, moving freely with the rest of the squad. It looked encouraging. It isn’t enough.

He will not play this weekend. Mauricio Pochettino confirmed it, and the frustration was obvious.

"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 of this stage of the cycle. Tight muscles, minor knocks, players at different stages of fitness. Pochettino acknowledged that several are managing the usual end-of-season issues, but he brushed aside the idea of listing them one by one. The broader picture matters more: a squad being tuned, not overworked, with the clock ticking toward the World Cup.

Saturday, then, becomes a test of judgment as much as a test of quality. Rest too many and you risk dulling the edge. Push too hard and one bad step can derail a tournament.

Pochettino knows exactly how that conversation plays out online.

"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."

No risk-free option. Only decisions, and the consequences that follow.

Germany Again, But a Different U.S.

The opponent this weekend is familiar and unforgiving: Germany.

Pochettino has been clear since March about what he wants from these friendlies: elite European opposition, real jeopardy, real lessons. They got that against Portugal and Belgium. They got it in a win over Senegal. Germany offers another hard look in the mirror.

"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. saw Germany not long ago. In October 2023, they led through a Christian Pulisic goal, then watched Germany turn the game and win 3-1 in Connecticut. Fourteen of the 26 players in this squad were part of that night.

McKennie hasn’t forgotten the balance of that match.

"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 names haven’t changed much. The stakes have.

McKennie’s Form, and a Role That Can Bend

McKennie arrives with something every manager wants from a midfielder at a major tournament: form and belief.

His season with Juventus ended in disappointment for the club – two points short of a Champions League spot – but not for him personally. Nine goals and six assists across Serie A and the Champions League underline the step he has taken as an attacking force.

"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 tactical question. Deeper, linking play and breaking lines? Higher, arriving late in the box, hunting goals?

McKennie isn’t fussy.

"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 in this squad arrive in peak rhythm, others in search of it. That’s the World Cup’s great truth: form can help, but it doesn’t decide anything on its own. The day does.

For McKennie, for this maturing core, and for a former coach watching proudly from the periphery, Germany offers a glimpse of what this summer might become. The generation once called “babies” now walks into these games as men.

The question now is simple: can they own the moments they were brought up to face?