I Dig Sports
England to play in Japan in June 2024 - their first Test in the country
England will travel to Japan next year for a historic first Test match between the two sides in the country.
Steve Borthwick's team will face the Brave Blossoms on 22 June 2024, with the venue to be confirmed.
The teams have met three times, with the last match a 52-13 win for England in last year's autumn Tests.
England - who face Japan in the group stage of this year's World Cup - toured the country in 1971 and 1979 but the games did not have Test status.
"This is a landmark occasion for our two rugby nations," RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said.
JRFU president Masato Tsuchida added: "We are delighted to welcome England to Japan next year."
England will face Japan in Nice on 17 September in the countries' opening games in Group D of the World Cup in France.
Gareth Bale has said that Lionel Messi will have less pressure to win in Major League Soccer because clubs "accept losing a lot better over there."
Earlier this month, Messi announced that he intends to join MLS club Inter Miami following his departure from Paris Saint-Germain, although a deal is yet to be finalised.
- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)
The 2022 World Cup winner was linked with a return to former club Barcelona but decided to move to the United States and said he wanted to enjoy his football "in a calmer way."
Barca took a swipe at Messi's decision by releasing a statement saying he chose to "compete in a league with fewer demands."
Bale, who finished his playing career at LAFC, agreed that Messi would enjoy an easier life in the U.S. without the constant spotlight to win every week.
"It is a lot more chilled," Bale told BT Sport. "If you lose at Real Madrid, it is like the world has ended. You are crucified. You feel down. You go home and you're not happy.
"They accept losing a bit more [in MLS]. There is no consequence. You can't get relegated over there. When you lose a game you go on to the next one. They accept losing a lot better over there.
"They know how to lose but they celebrate every win like you have won the championship. He will definitely enjoy it."
Last year before announcing his retirement, Bale joined LAFC on a 12-month deal and helped them secure their first major trophy by beating Philadelphia Union on penalties in the MLS Cup final.
Earlier this week, Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas told reporters that the club are planning for Messi to make his debut on July 21 in a Leagues Cup match against Liga MX's Cruz Azul.
PSA World Tour Finals: More conduct strokes for Mostafa Asal
Defending champion Mostafa Asal and Diego Elias played out a 90-minute, best-of-three encounter which saw conduct strokes and plenty of mid-court traffic issues in another forgettable encounter at the PSA World Tour Squash Finals.
Asal ended the day top of Group B in Cairo after prevailing 10-11, 11-7, 12-10.
It was their first meeting since December’s Hong Kong Open final, where Asal came back from two games down to take the trophy, and it was a scrappy encounter with a number of traffic issues throughout, with Alias disputing hand blocking by his Egyptian opponent during one juncture.
The post-match thoughts of defending champion @mostafasal_ after he came from behind to defeat top seed Diego Elias ?️#WorldTourFinals pic.twitter.com/4E1VUa4KDR
— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) June 21, 2023
Asal, who received two conduct strokes for impeding Elias’s movement unfairly, said: “It’s always controversial between me and Diego. It was a little bit unfair towards me today, I got a conduct stroke for grabbing the racket and I didn’t do that at all.
“There were a few mistakes but I’m happy to go through it, I’m learning from all of this. I was in a situation today which was harsh and there were similar decisions towards him. I’m trying to deal better with the referees, you can’t continue squash like this.”
Meanwhile, Egypt’s World No.8 Mazen Hesham got his first win at this event, beating Frenchman Victor Crouin 11-7, 11-6. Asal tops the group on seven points, with Elias second on five and Hesham behind him on four.
Sublime finish, @diegoelias96 ?
We're nearly at the hour mark in this match-up against the two former World No.1s ?#WorldTourFinals pic.twitter.com/c25DJEOAjB
— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) June 21, 2023
It’s a battle between Asal, Elias and Hesham for the semi-final spots, with Crouin’s attempts to qualify for the last four coming to an end. A 2-0 win for Hesham over Asal and a victory for Elias over Crouin would see Asal miss out on a spot in the semis, meaning he will have to be on his mettle despite his current position at the summit of the group.
“I’m very happy with the way I performed today,” Hesham said.
“Yesterday I wasn’t very happy with the errors I made at the crucial points. I’m trying to evolve and get better, but it’s going to take some time. I’m very happy to get my first win here and who knows, maybe I can win the next one and be in the semi-finals.”
World No.3 Hania El Hammamy ended a three-match losing run against World No.1 Nouran Gohar on day two of the CIB PSA World Tour Finals to move to the summit of Group A in the women’s event.
Held at Cairo’s EDNC SODIC, the CIB PSA World Tour Finals features the top eight male and female players on the CIB Road to Egypt Standings, with points for the standings on offer at all PSA World Tour events throughout the 2022-23 season. The group stage uses a round robin, best-of-three games format as players bid to qualify for the knockout stages.
El Hammamy – the 2019-20 World Tour Finals champion – is on the verge of qualification for the last four after she came back from a game down to defeat Gohar by a 10-11, 11-10, 11-4 scoreline.
“I think I should be disappointed that I haven’t been able to get more wins against her since January,” said El Hammamy.
“But I’m definitely trying to end this season on a high with some good performances like tonight, hopefully I can keep playing like this for the rest of the tournament. I want to start with a new head to head [record] against her next season.
“If I want to win the tournament it doesn’t matter if I’m first or second in the group. I have to be able to win every match against every player, so I’m just focused on playing my best squash and trying to satisfy myself a little bit before the end of the season.”
The other match in Group A saw Belgium’s Nele Gilis claim her first win at the World Tour Finals courtesy of an 11-10, 4-11, 11-6 win against USA’s Olivia Fiechter.
“It was really tough, I didn’t know when to start warming up,” said Gilis, whose match ended close to one o’clock in the morning.
“I was definitely feeling it, I was a bit tired and my legs were on survival mode. I’m very happy to get my first win at the World Tour Finals.”
It’s all to play for in terms of qualification, with all four players still able to reach the semi-finals. El Hammamy is currently in the driving seat though as she tops the group with seven points, meaning a win over Gilis in her final group match will see her qualify. Gohar is second with five points.
New Zealand’s World No.4 Joelle King won her opening match in Group B, navigating the discomfort of an ankle injury as she came from behind to beat England’s Georgina Kennedy 5-11, 11-8, 11-9. King is second in Group B behind World No.1 Nour El Sherbini, who tops the group due to having a higher percentage of points won.
Results – Second Round: 2022-23 CIB PSA World Tour Finals Men’s Group A
[4] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [1] Diego Elias (PER) 2-1: 10-11, 11-7, 12-10 (90m) [6] Mazen Hesham (EGY) bt [7] Victor Crouin (FRA) 2-0: 11-7, 11-6 (28m)Results – Second Round: 2022-23 CIB PSA World Tour Finals Men’s Group B
[3] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) bt [8] Tarek Momen (EGY) 2-0: 11-6, 11-4 (16m)Draw – Men’s Group A Third Round: To Be Played June 22nd
[1] Diego Elias (PER) v [7] Victor Crouin (FRA)Draw – Men’s Group B Second Round: To Be Played June 22nd
[2] Ali Farag (EGY) v [3] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) [5] Paul Coll (NZL) v [8] Tarek Momen (EGY)Results – Second Round: 2022-23 CIB PSA World Tour Finals Women’s Group A
[3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt [1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) 2-1: 10-11, 11-10, 11-4 (56m) [5] Nele Gilis (BEL) bt [8] Olivia Fiechter (USA) 2-1: 11-10, 4-11, 11-6 (45m)Results – Second Round: 2022-23 CIB PSA World Tour Finals Women’s Group B
[4] Joelle King (NZL) bt [7] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) 2-1: 5-11, 11-8, 11-9 (34m)Draw – Women’s Group A Third Round: To Be Played June 22nd
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v [8] Olivia Fiechter (USA)Draw – Women’s Group B Second Round: To Be Played June 22nd
[2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) v [4] Joelle King (NZL) [6] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) v [7] Georgina Kennedy (ENG)'An appetising thought' - Australia's warning after Labuschagne and Smith's lean Test
Australia's two-wicket win in the first Test was notable for being achieved without much contribution from the prolific pair as they made 35 runs between them. That's the fewest they have put together when they have both batted twice and it remains the case even when one of them hasn't.
It is potentially a daunting prospect for England who will rue letting a match slip away when they had kept Labuschagne and Smith quiet, and maybe also for the members of Australia's coaching staff who will be feeding them balls in the nets when training does resume in London at the weekend.
"They will be no doubt a craving for more net sessions from Marn and Smudge. They're disappointed they missed out in this game, but I think any time the Australian cricket team can win without those two performing at high level is always a positive. We've got some areas we can improve, there's some growth within the team and there's two obvious ones."
It is not that Labuschagne lacks experience in English conditions. He has played here extensively and averages 55.52 for Glamorgan from 26 County Championship appearances, while he made four half-centuries in the 2019 Ashes after being Smith's concussion sub at Lord's.
His contest with Broad now looms as one of the fascinating duels of this series. Given the amount of work he puts into his batting, and his hunger for training, he will no doubt leave no stone unturned to try and find a response for the second Test while the same applies to Smith, although he came into Edgbaston on the back of a superb 121 against India.
"I genuinely just expect [Labuschagne] to score a hundred next game," he said. "We had potentially our two best batters not score runs this game. It's very unlikely, doesn't happen very often. In my opinion, the greatest batter of my era in Test cricket, Steve Smith, not very often he misses out twice. We've still got four Ashes Tests. Might be a good thing for us, they have some runs in the bank."
The coaching staff will be there to offer advice, but McDonald expects they'll work out their own solutions.
"I think there's always a curiosity to get better, so we're not going to stall that in any way," he said. "They'll come up with different plans, different movements.
"They've seen what England are going to do and how they're going to attack them, and they're probably two of the greatest problem-solvers we've had over a period of time so you would expect them to go back to the drawing board.
"[Batting coach] Michael Di Venuto will be part of that process. They'll come out pretty clear what they need to do next innings. But there's no issue there."
After two days off, Australia will begin their preparation for Lord's on Saturday. That is expected to largely be a training session for those who didn't play at Edgbaston, but it would be no surprise if Labuschagne and Smith can't resist an extra hit.
Will Australia bring in Starc for Boland at Lord's?
"We'd seen the way they go about it, they are ultra-aggressive," McDonald said. "But I think Scott Boland, that match-up probably surprised us how aggressive they were against Scott. So that's something we can look at and find better ways through."
Boland did dismiss Zak Crawley twice the game and was threatening under gloomy skies on the third evening, but for the first time in his Test career he was largely treated with disdain.
McDonald suggested that with a degree of hindsight about how conditions played out at Edgbaston, where the pitch was largely flat and slow, Starc could have had an impact.
"I think the fact the line and length potentially over left-arm swing, and we didn't feel as though we may have got swinging conditions here," he said. "It's really down to a gut feel at selection, it can be critiqued any way you want.
"We feel as though, looking back on it, potentially Mitch could have played a role, there's no doubt about that. But we felt like when we went into the game with all the information that we had, we made the best decision.
"We took Starcy on that journey, he understands that and he understands the fact there are four more Test matches and he's got a pivotal part to play within that."
One of the knock-on effects of England playing at such a rapid tempo is that the fast bowlers did not clock up massive workloads at Edgbaston. Captain Pat Cummins sent down the most with 32.2 overs and Hazlewood was used for 25 alongside Boland's 26. Allrounder Cameron Green bowled just eight.
McDonald said there was a plan mapped out of which bowlers may suit certain venues but that it could also be adjusted on the fly.
"Our bowlers didn't bowl as many overs as we probably expected in this Test match," he said. "There's a longer turnaround, so you can have a pencil plan but the reality is you see how they pull up, what the conditions are when we get to Lord's, and you make a decision with what's in front of you. The issue is we've got great depth in the fast bowling, and that's one of our great strengths."
On the field, Australia played a largely defensive game during the opening Test, operating with three or four sweepers for large periods and sometimes only a slip and a gully. It was a tactic flagged before the series but came in for scrutiny which would likely have escalated had Cummins and Nathan Lyon not forged their match-winning stand. However, McDonald wasn't going to be drawn into judging one team's approach over another.
"I think it should be more a celebration," he said. "Two styles come together and produce a Test match like that. Certainly no vindication, we'll go about it our way and England will go about it their way and we'll see what happens at the end of the series.
"We're clear from the way that we play. I've suggested over the last 12-18 months it's pretty clear the way that we do go and we feel as though we've got some great strengths around that."
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
Ponting: If Robinson hasn't learned already ... then he's a slow learner
On the third morning of the Test, Robinson removed Khawaja for 141, knocking back his off stump as Khawaja came down the pitch while looking to force the ball through the off side. Robinson celebrated by shouting towards Khawaja, and appeared to tell him to, "F*** off, you f***ing prick".
Ponting had remained tightlipped on the subject on commentary for Sky Sports for the remainder of the Test, but delivered some stern words to Robinson on ICC Review Podcast on Wednesday.
"As I said after Ollie Robinson said what he said, this England cricket team hasn't played against Australia, and they'll find out pretty quickly what playing Ashes cricket and playing against a good Australian cricket team is all about," Ponting said. "And if Robinson hasn't learned that already after last week, then he's a slow learner."
Robinson had even referenced Ponting during the same interaction, going to justify his actions citing the example of the former Australia captain.
"We've all seen Ricky Ponting, [and] other Aussies do the same to us," Robinson said. "Just because the shoe is on the other foot, it's not received well."
But Ponting shot back at Robinson, saying the latter would "learn pretty quickly" what it means to prick the Australians in an Ashes series.
"Some of the things he had to say - I mean he even brought my name into it, which I felt was a little bit unusual," Ponting said. "But for me, it's water off a duck's back. If he is sitting back thinking about me, then no wonder he bowled like the way that he did in that game, if he's worried about what I did 15 years ago.
"He'll learn pretty quickly that if you're going to talk to Australian cricketers in an Ashes series, then you want to be able to back it up with your skills."
However, Khawaja was unperturbed by what was apparently said to him by Robinson, claiming that he did not hear the bowler's send-off in the moment. The pair had a quiet exchange on the final day while Khawaja was batting, but the Australia opener said there was nothing in it.
"The other day, the crowd was so loud I had no idea," Khawaja said. "I got out and all I could hear was the Barmy Army. I didn't actually hear anything. Today there was nothing much in it. Just a bit of friendly banter."
"I've heard them say that before, that they're not 'results driven', but I don't believe that for a second," Ponting said. "This is an Ashes series; this is the biggest challenge that Ben Stokes has had in his career as a captain.
"I'm not copping that. I mean, if they're not results driven, they wouldn't be disappointed at all about losing. And it seemed to me last night; and he said it, that all his players were in pieces at the end of that game. So that means to me that they do care about losing, and you should.
"Winning Test matches is not an easy thing to do, and winning an Ashes Test is not easy. You don't want to be giving good cricket teams opportunities back into a game of Ashes cricket when you're in control of the game. England were in control of the game late on day one. So England presented Australia with an opportunity, and Australia made the most of it."
Former Australia and Queensland paceman Peter Allan dies aged 87
Allan had previously toured the Caribbean with Australia in 1965 but did not play a Test due to illness.
Remarkably, Allan also took 10 wickets in an innings in a Brisbane club game in March of 1966.
Allan's first-class career spanned a decade from 1959 to 1969. He took 206 wickets at 26.10, including 12 five-wicket hauls and three 10-wicket hauls in 57 matches.
His post-cricket career featured a variety of roles including with the Brisbane City Council, as a hotel publican and civil celebrant on Hamilton Island.
Queensland Cricket Chairman Chris Simpson honoured Allan upon his passing.
"Peter had great skill as a bowler which was also mixed with determination," Simpson said. "He typified that strike bowler role in the teams he played for. He served on the executive committee of the Queensland Cricket Association from 1985 to 1991 and was generous with his time and insights for any aspiring player who sought him out.
"His feat of taking 10 wickets in an innings remains a high point in Australian cricket. Peter made a wonderful contribution to cricket in Queensland and on behalf of Queensland Cricket, we thank him for his service to the game."
Wrexham learn fixtures for League Two return
Wrexham have learned their schedule for the upcoming 2023-24 campaign in League Two after securing promotion back to the English Football League (EFL) last season.
The Welsh club, owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, will start their EFL campaign with a home game against Milton Keynes Dons on Aug. 5.
- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)
Wrexham will then face a three-game stretch in a week when they travel to AFC. Wimbledon (Aug. 12) before hosting Walsall (Aug. 15) and Swindon Town (Aug. 19).
Wrexham secured a fairytale return to the EFL following a 15-year absence as National League champions after ending the season with a record 111 points.
Notts County were Wrexham's closest rivals in the National League last season after finishing second and earned promotion to League Two through the playoffs.
In March, Wrexham edged County 3-2 in a dramatic game which saw former Manchester United and England goalkeeper save a 97th-minute penalty to set up his team for promotion.
Wrexham face an away trip to County on Oct. 28 before welcoming them to the Racecourse Ground on Feb. 17.
Before the start of the new season, Wrexham are set to play summer friendlies in the U.S., with matches scheduled against Chelsea in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on July 19, LA Galaxy II at their home in Carson, California on July 22 and Manchester United in San Diego on July 25.
Meanwhile, Leeds United and Leicester City have learned their schedule for life in the Championship after relegation from the Premier League last season.
Leicester will be playing in the second-tier of English football for the first time since 2014 despite being crowned Premier League champions seven years ago.
They begin their 2023-24 campaign by welcoming Coventry City to the King Power Stadium on Aug. 6 before facing Cardiff City and Rotherham United the following week.
United States stars Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson start their Championship season at Leeds with a home game against Cardiff on Aug. 6.
Both clubs have still not appointed a permanent manager ahead of the new campaign as they look to bounce back to the Premier League.
PALM DESERT, Calif. -- Michael Vecchione scored off a rebound at 16:19 of overtime to give the Hershey Bears their 12th American Hockey League title, 3-2 over the expansion Coachella Valley Firebirds in Game 7 of the Calder Cup final Wednesday night.
Connor McMichael and Hendrix Lapierre scored for Hershey in the second period as the Washington Capitals' top affiliate overcame a 2-0 deficit to tie it. Hunter Shepard made 45 saves for the Bears.
Hershey coach Todd Nelson won his second Calder Cup after guiding Grand Rapids to the 2017 title. He joined Bun Cook and John Paddock as the only head coaches to win Calder Cups with two teams.
Defenseman Ryker Evans and captain Max McCormick scored for Coachella Valley and Joey Daccord made 35 saves. Seattle's top farm club, the Firebirds were the first to reach the final in their first season since the 2010 Texas Stars.
Evans opened the scoring at 4:41 of the first period, beating Shepard with a wrist shot off Andrew Poturalski's pass from behind the goal.
McCormick made it 2-0 24 seconds into the second taking a cross-ice feed from Kole Lind and beating Shepard through the legs from close range for his 14th goal of the playoffs. Evans also assisted.
With McCormick off for tripping, Hershey cut it to 2-1 on a power play on McMichael's goal with 6:08 left in the second. Mason Morelli got the puck across the crease for McMichael to jam in. Lapierre tied it with 2:51 remaining in the period, tipping Vincent Iorio's long shot past Daccord.
How U.S. Soccer's strange coaching search played out
In early January, roughly a week after Gregg Berhalter's contract as the United States men's soccer coach expired, Zinedine Zidane rejected an approach from the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) to be the next coach.
His lack of interest wasn't surprising given his résumé, but the USSF's pursuit felt instructive. It was a big swing.
A World Cup winner with France as a player, Zidane doesn't need much of an introduction. He established himself as an all-time great on the field and is among the sport's most respected managers, having guided Real Madrid to three straight UEFA Champions League titles from 2016 to 2018. If somehow the USFF had managed to land him, it would have been widely celebrated and set a positive tone for the lead-up to the World Cup on home soil in 2026.
- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)
When that didn't happen, though, there was reason to believe it was someone in that mold -- accomplished at the sport's highest level -- the federation would continue to pursue. Call it basic logic, especially since in that same week, U.S. Soccer announced it had hired a law firm to investigate a domestic violence incident in which Berhalter admitted he had kicked his now-wife in 1991, when they were in college.
With all of this going on, the idea that Berhalter would be rehired seemed far-fetched, and that was before it became public that the parents of budding star Giovanni Reyna -- close friends with the Berhalter family for decades -- had attempted to orchestrate his downfall.
When the investigation was complete in March, its report showed that U.S. Soccer legend Claudio Reyna and his wife, Danielle, both threatened to reveal damaging information about Berhalter to U.S. Soccer officials during the World Cup as their son received limited playing time.
"Once this tournament is over, I can make one phone call and give one interview, and his cool sneakers and bounce passes will be gone," Danielle Reyna told a federation staff member, according to the report.
On Dec. 11, she did, informing then-sporting director Earnie Stewart of the incident. And at least for roughly six months, that call had the desired effect: Berhalter was out as USMNT coach.
That, of course, is no longer the case. Berhalter was reintroduced as the U.S. coach on Friday and will take the baton back from interim coach B.J. Callahan at the conclusion of the Gold Cup.
Whether Berhalter is the right coach can -- and will -- be debated ad nauseam, but what's not up for discussion is that his circuitous route back to the role was bizarre.
Few details on candidates, interview process
When Stewart departed to become the director of football at PSV Eindhoven in late January, U.S. Soccer announced it hired an outside agency, Sportsology, to head the search for his replacement, who would then be responsible for hiring the next head coach.
"Working with key U.S. Soccer leadership, Sportsology has also already begun a full review of U.S. Soccer's sporting department," the USSF announced in January. "The group will also analyze head coach candidates to accelerate the Sporting Director's hiring process."
It took three months before Matt Crocker, most recently the director of football operations at English club Southampton, was hired in April. In a Q&A after his hiring, Crocker said he'd conduct a series of interviews in June, narrow the list of candidates, and then another round in the middle of July.
At Berhalter's re-hiring news conference, Crocker said that a "worldwide" search had been conducted, adding: "I spoke to numerous candidates from guys that were [in roles] in the top leagues, coaches who have coached internationally previously."
Crocker also confirmed the number of candidates was in "double-digits" but did confirm any other names or if that second round of planned interviews had occurred. It's also unclear who of those interviewed were subjected to what U.S. Soccer described as a "battery of practical and psychological testing."
One candidate, Jesse Marsch, was presumably in the mix until the end given his agent, Ron Waxman, tweeted that the ex-Leeds United manager would will not take the USMNT job just hours before news leaked of Berhalter's return. Another candidate, ex-Arsenal star and recent Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira, had initial talks with the federation but sources told ESPN's Julien Laurensthat talks did not progress.
Oguchi Onyewu, recently hired as the federation's vice president of sporting, said Sunday on the Paramount+ Nations League pregame show that other names would not be divulged as a matter of confidentiality.
Sebastian Salazar tries to make sense of why Gregg Berhalter's return as USMNT coach isn't until after the Concacaf Gold Cup.
Did salary or budget play a role?
None of the known candidates represent the same type of ambition associated with the early approach for Zidane, which can be explained a few ways. What is most likely is that the U.S. job -- as desirable as it appears domestically, with a young, talented core and a home World Cup to prepare for -- still doesn't interest the sport's most accomplished coaches.
Then there's the budget. USSF CEO JT Batson said they had no salary restrictions, but a USSF source told ESPN in April that budget would play a role and, for example, something in the range of $10 million salary for a top-tier coach was unrealistic.
Multiple sources told ESPN's Jeff Carlisle the names of the other finalists were not circulated widely among the 23-person USSF board of directors, which approved the Berhalter hire, with only one member voting not to confirm.
Prior to the confirmation, multiple board members expressed concern about giving Berhalter a second World Cup cycle, perhaps primarily as a matter of principle. It's a common refrain all over the world that coaches can lose their effectiveness at the international level beyond one World Cup and that rotating in a fresh voice or perspective guards against that. Jurgen Klinsmann's second cycle with the U.S. supports that idea, but of the 16 teams that reached the 2022 World Cup knockout phases, 10 had either been with the team at the 2018 World Cup or served as the head coach previously.
Did the players want Berhalter back?
As most of the American soccer public dismissed the possibility of Berhalter's return, star Christian Pulisic had not. In an interview with ESPN in March, Pulisic admitted he was not always a fan of Berhalter, but eventually he came around.
"There were moments when -- he benched me. I hated him. I was so angry," Pulisic said. "But then the next game comes along and then I find myself in a better place.
"The way he handled a lot of situations, I have to give him a lot of credit. I think he created a team that was probably the best brotherhood family that I've been a part of. On the football side of things, when it came down to it in World Cup time, I think you could say a lot of people were impressed with what we did out on the field as well."
Pulisic was far from alone. Weston McKennie, Timothy Weah, Walker Zimmerman and DeAndre Yedlin among others all lauded the job Berhalter did in the past few weeks and months.
In Qatar, the U.S. advanced from the group without allowing a goal from open play before their 3-1 loss to the Netherlands in the round of 16. It was a strong showing by U.S. standards, especially considering it was using the youngest starting XI in the tournament. After the exit, negotiations for a contract extension with Berhalter were set to begin with the expectation that it was little more than a formality.
But when word leaked that Berhalter referenced Gio Reyna's poor attitude in Qatar (without naming him specifically) during a leadership summit, it changed everything. That's what prompted Danielle Reyna to finally go through with her threat, and once the USSF was made aware of the domestic violence allegation, it made the decision, if largely forced, to back away from extension talks.
"Whoever it is, I'm going to play and give a 100% and that's what I'm going to do," Pulisic told ESPN in March. "In my opinion, everything that happened with Gregg, first of all, was I think handled in an extremely childish manner. I think we all have seen what's been going on. I think it's childish, it's youth soccer, people complaining about playing time. I don't want us go in too far into that, but that's what we'll say.
"I think Gregg has been extremely unfortunate to even get into the position he is now [while he was out of contract]. Do I feel like we should just wait and wait? I don't think it's necessary because I don't feel we're in a phase like we were after, not qualifying four years ago or however many years ago for the last World Cup where we need a complete rebuild."
Gregg Berhalter hopes to foster a strong relationship with Gio Reyna in his return to the USMNT.
And what about Gio Reyna?
Pulisic's comments were made prior to Crocker's hiring, and it's impossible to quantify how much weight they carried, but had the players taken a firm stance that it was time for a new coach, it's hard to allow for the possibility that Berhalter would have been rehired.
"From day one, my job was to make sure that I engaged with the players, so they understood where we were and what type of process I was intending to take the candidates through to work through who the best candidate was ultimately coming out ... the other end," Crocker said. "And I kept them up to speed throughout the process."
Crocker never said specifically whether Gio Reyna was among those he consulted, and Berhalter said on Friday he has not spoken with Reyna since the World Cup.
"I'd certainly acknowledge that there's work to do and Gio is an important player to this team," Berhalter said. "He's an extremely talented individual, and I have the obligation and the commitment to coach him like I coach every other player and I want to get the best out of him. We want to get the best out of him and we know that if we can unlock his talents, he's going to be a game-changer for this program. So there's work to do, and part of it is working together with Matt and trying to rebuild a relationship that we know will be important moving forward."
Tough, potentially awkward conversations are sure to come. Reyna has addressed the situation publicly only once, in a December Instagram post, in which he expressed disappointment that events in a private team setting were made public and "extremely surprised that anyone on the U.S. men's team staff would contribute to it. Coach Berhalter has always said that issues that arise with the team will stay 'in house' so we can focus on team unity and progress."
His initial on-field response, however, couldn't have been better. Reyna played what might have been his most impressive half of soccer in a U.S. shirt during the Concacaf Nations League final against Canada on Sunday, assisting both goals in the 2-0 win -- one on a corner, one on a brilliantly weighted pass to new striker Folarin Balogun -- before leaving the game at halftime with an injury. His influence on the game was pronounced and he ran that game from central midfield, a role Berhalter never deployed him in.
"Meeting with me is not the priority [for Reyna]," Berhalter said Friday. "It's for him to get rest and prepare for the upcoming season. We'll have time to do that. It is a priority, but we'll have time to do that before the September window."
Phone: (800) 737. 6040
Fax: (800) 825 5558
Website: 
Email: 
