In a stunning turn of events, Gregg Berhalter has returned as the U.S. men's national team head coach after his contract expired Dec. 21, 2022. It has been a tumultuous time in the U.S. camp since its World Cup elimination in the round of 16, a period in which the 49-year-old was the subject of an investigation after allegations of domestic violence against him -- information shared to U.S. Soccer by midfielder Gio Reyna's parents, who were unhappy with the lack of playing time for their son and comments by Berhalter about Reyna at a news conference.

After the investigation, U.S. Soccer deemed that the incident between Berhalter and his wife in 1992 did not eliminate him from consideration for another cycle as the men's head coach. The search for the next manager continued, with the team being linked to Jesse Marsch, Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry and Zinedine Zidane, to name a few. We've come full circle to Berhalter, who led the USMNT to 37 wins, 11 losses and 12 draws over his previous stint, but how will the team dynamic change? Can Berhalter continue to build on his success? And most importantly, was this the best decision?

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ESPN writers Kyle Bonagura, Jeff Carlisle, Bill Connelly, Cesar Hernandez and Luis Miguel Echegaray give their views on Berhalter's reappointment, whether they agree with it and what to expect next.

Berhalter rehire is underwhelming, but can he build on foundations he laid down?

Berhalter's return as USMNT manager feels safe. He's a known quantity, one that isn't going to push the USSF out of its comfort zone. It's certainly not going to generate excitement in the U.S. fan base, a significant swath of which has wanted him gone for a while in favor of a bigger name.

As I wrote after Thursday's win over Mexico, there were some compelling reasons for not bringing Berhalter back. A domestic violence incident, no matter how long ago, and even though restorative steps have clearly been taken, isn't easy to get past. The outing of locker room dirty laundry related to nearly sending Reyna home from the World Cup, no matter how obliquely Berhalter tried to do it, hinted at potential problems with the players. And then there is the second-cycle syndrome, where returning national team coaches don't improve on their first go-round. The history of second cycles in the U.S., from Bruce Arena to Bob Bradley to Jurgen Klinsmann, hasn't been an encouraging one.

For these reasons, I thought that the USSF would look elsewhere.

But player input matters, and the backing of Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah hints at a strong level of support inside the U.S. locker room. It also sends a signal that the way Berhalter handled the quarrel with Reyna, at least until it was made public, was approved of by the broader player pool.

Clearly, Berhalter has some fence-mending to engage in with Reyna. Those will be hard conversations, and Thursday's win over Mexico revealed how much more dynamic the U.S. attack looks with Reyna in the middle. But that's what Berhalter gets paid for, and there is too much at stake for either individual to hold a grudge.

Let's be clear, however. Claudio and Danielle Reyna behaved abominably in disclosing the domestic violence incident and dragging Rosalind Berhalter into a petty dispute over their son's treatment. It's good to see that behavior not get rewarded.

As for the USSF, they look like they don't know what they're doing, spending considerable time and money to hire a sporting director who led them back to exactly the same place they were in December. This all should have been finalized months ago when the results of the investigation were announced.

Is it an ambitious rehire? Not at all. But there is something to be said for continuity. Berhalter has spent the past four-plus years building this team, and now he'll have the opportunity to expand on the foundation that was laid down. With no World Cup qualifying, there will be fewer competitive fixtures over the next three years to do that, so the fact that there is familiarity between manager and players gives the U.S. something of a head start rather than starting over.

Now we'll see if safety results in growth and progress. -- Carlisle

USSF's U-turn is not a good look

After last night's chaotic victory over Mexico, USMNT's captain Pulisic said, "Today is a testament of the work that [Berhalter] put into this team."

I know he meant it as a compliment, given the scoreline and big gap in current development between the American setup and their Mexican rivals, but because of last night's erratic match (four red cards, objects thrown onto the pitch, the homophobic chant that continued throughout the game) it's also a great line to describe the circus that has surrounded the U.S. Soccer Federation since the whole Reyna/Berhalter ordeal.

The decision to rehire Berhalter is a bit like like the season finale of "Lost" where the "flash-sideways" narrative showed how the Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 never crashed. Here, Berhalter is the airplane, with the descending reality that he might never get his job back, especially after the arrival of Matt Crocker, the federation's new sporting director who replaced Earnie Stewart. In the end, all of us would come to the conclusion that after a lengthy investigation and five months of dilly-dallying, the team would have a new manager. But just like the ending of "Lost" and Flight 815, we're all left in purgatory scratching our heads at the time wasted.

From a strategical standpoint, I have no issues with Berhalter's return, and in many ways, it makes a lot of sense. Pulisic is correct. The chemistry and camaraderie amongst this young American team is evident, and in the end, it was Berhalter who built it and eventually took them to the World Cup and a spot in the round of 16. The team likes him. They trust him. Maybe even Reyna (though I do question Reyna's judgement after seeing his peroxide blonde hair). Vieira or Henry could have been choices that showed more ambition, but in the end, if the squad is happy, then part of the job is done.

My issue isn't with Berhalter's return. It's with a federation who spent six months going around in a circle by hiring an outside firm that interviewed multiple candidates, only to make a decision they could have done themselves in a much shorter timeframe.

I salute you, USSF. You are making CONMEBOL teams look less chaotic. -- Echegaray

Can Berhalter get the best out his players, including Reyna?

Had the public feud with the Reyna family never happened and Berhalter been renewed at the end of his contract, I would have mostly been indifferent to his return as manager. The team checked the minimum accomplishment boxes -- Nations League and Gold Cup trophies, World Cup round of 16, dual-national recruiting success, etc. -- to justify his continued employment.

The obvious caveat is that his appointment coincided with a rapid improvement of the player pool, so it's not apples-to-apples when comparing the team's success with how it performed under past managers. He had better players to coach, so the bar to measure success should have been higher. That's why it was hard to ever get excited about the job Berhalter did specifically. He had all this talent, but the attack usually performed at a level -- especially against the better competition -- that was less than the sum of its parts.

Then, of course, came the Reyna stuff. It was messy, embarrassing on a number of levels and doesn't need to be rehashed again today. The ordeal became the prominent storyline in the wake of what was, for the most part, a good showing at the World Cup. It was one of those stories that U.S. Soccer should have wanted to put to bed as fast as possible and never revisit. So, when the federation announced it was bringing in an outside search firm to help find a new sporting director, common sense indicated there was no way that path would lead back to Berhalter (despite the USSF's insistence that he remained an eligible candidate).

We'll find out in the coming days and weeks what happened behind the scenes that led to Berhalter's return, but the most obvious takeaway is that the hiring process comes off as amateur and borderline comical. Leadership will inevitably dress it up as wanting to be thorough, but that supposed thoroughness makes the past six months look like a complete waste of time. It will look even worse if he's not coaching the team at the Gold Cup.

There is no shortage of global candidates who were qualified for the job. The idea that there wasn't a better candidate in the USSF's price range is hard to fathom. Still, there are continuity benefits from Berhalter's return that are worth acknowledging. Either way, the players remain the most important factor in dictating how the team performs. -- Bonagura

U.S. soccer play it safe ahead of 2026 World Cup

It was easy to feel like the U.S. could find an upgrade over Berhalter. He was tactically outclassed by Louis van Gaal in the World Cup round of 16, and frankly, his fear of falling victim to Concacaf nonsense (primarily in road games during World Cup qualification) seemed to lead to a paranoid and overly cautious approach. Some of his squad selections were confusing and/or frustrating, and while he obviously wanted a pressing-and-possession style, a lot of the worst moments the U.S. produced under his command were with constant, aimless possession that made it seem like the talent wasn't suited for the tactics.

Throw in the soap opera that unfolded with the Reyna family in December, the long gap between his contract expiration and the present, and the ongoing assumptions that things frequently go wrong in a national team coach's second cycle, and this felt like a solid time for a clean break.

At the same time, even with plenty of shaky moments, the U.S. played almost exactly to its talent levels under Berhalter at the World Cup. They have more depth of talent than Iran and Wales, and they advanced past them; they had less than the Netherlands, and they lost to them. And since the World Cup, under two different interim coaches, the tactics and personnel decisions have been almost indistinguishable from Berhalter's, and the U.S. has continued to perform as one would expect against opponents at hand.

If the country's golden generation of early- to mid-20s players continues to mature in the coming years, the U.S. will have its best roster ever for the 2026 World Cup. Knowing that the players like him and play to their talent levels under him, it's easy to think, "Hey, bird in hand!" and go back to the Berhalter well. Maybe you could improve upon his abilities by making a new hire, but maybe you could do worse, too.

Uninspiring logic? Absolutely, especially when you think about how much stock we're putting into a four-match sample (and if you think, like I did, that the U.S. underachieved in World Cup qualification.) But his overall record was still solid at worst. The long delay in making this decision seems ridiculous in retrospect -- and if it turns out that he and Reyna can never restore a healthy relationship, it will seem far worse -- but many of the team's star players spoke in his favor, and there's plenty of time for Reyna restoration.

I'd love to think there was a perfect successor out there, but unicorns don't exist, and there's at least a strain of logic in bringing him back. -- Connelly

Berhalter's influence runs deep on star players

It's back to a comfortable square one for the USMNT. In what initially seemed to point to a new direction after the drama regarding Reyna and a reshuffling of USSF leadership, Berhalter has returned as the surprising, and also safe, rehire.

It's tough to imagine many USMNT fans are popping bottles of champagne right now because of the return -- although some might still be drinking after the dominant 3-0 win over Mexico in the Concacaf Nations League, to be fair -- but the return of Berhalter should maintain stability in a project that took steps in the right direction this past World Cup cycle. With Berhalter leading the way, the USMNT brought in a new generation of talent, won over key dual-national figures, clinched the 2021 Gold Cup, and also lifted the inaugural 2019-20 Concacaf Nations League trophy. Sure, the World Cup round of 16 exit last year neither surpassed nor fell below expectations, but it laid down a promising foundation to build off of.

Could U.S. Soccer have aimed higher for the hire? Most definitely. Tactically and in games against difficult opponents, there was lots of room for improvement for the coach who had managed just two club teams before getting the USMNT job. Off the field, there's also everything surrounding the Reyna incident, which is going to take a lot more than just a few paragraphs to truly dive back into.

But what was noticeable in recent months was that even though Berhalter was out of contract in 2023, high-profile members of the USMNT like Weah and Pulisic still backed him. Even with B.J. Callaghan, the interim head coach, taking charge against Mexico in the Nations League, it was also easy to see the Berhalter influence that helped guide a player like Pulisic to the incredible MOTM performance he had over the USMNT's longtime rivals.

All that said, there is something quite funny and bizarre about U.S. Soccer stating Friday that sporting director Matt Crocker "led a worldwide search process" for a new head coach before landing back on Berhalter again. Time will tell whether it's the right decision and whether they should have searched a little more. -- Hernandez

LOS ANGELES -- The final round of the 123rd U.S. Open should provide plenty of drama for golf fans on Father's Day.

Rickie Fowler will try to win his first major championship and complete his amazing comeback. Wyndham Clark will try to join the sport's elite, after winning for the first time on the PGA Tour only five weeks ago. Rory McIlroy will try to end a nearly nine-year drought without winning a major. World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler is lurking 3 strokes back, and if his putter cooperates, he'll have a chance to win his second major.

Here are some of the highlights from the final round at Los Angeles Country Club's North Course:

Tee times | Leaderboard

Defending champion Matteo Berrettini has withdrawn from next week's championships at Queen's because of an abdominal injury.

In 2021, the world number 21 won at Queen's before losing to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final.

He beat Filip Krajinovic in last year's final to retain the Queen's title.

Berrettini withdrew from Wimbledon last year after testing positive for Covid-19 and now hopes to be fit in time for this year's tournament, which starts on 3 July.

Top seed and world number two Carlos Alcaraz will make his debut at Queen's this year and the 20-year-old Spaniard is due to face qualifier Arthur Fils in the opening round on Tuesday.

On the same day, unseeded record five-time champion Andy Murray is due to face a tough opening match against Australian world number 18 Alex de Minaur.

Fellow Briton Cameron Norrie, a Wimbledon semi-finalist last year and fifth seed at Queen's, will play Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic on Monday.

Lawmaker interest in the PGA Tour’s “framework” agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia will go beyond commissioner Jay Monahan and the circuit’s top executives.

Multiple players have been sent a request from Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s staff seeking a virtual meeting within the next two weeks “as part of our inquiry” into the agreement.

Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut and the chairman of the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter to Monahan and LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman on Monday asking for documents relating to the deal, which will create a new, for-profit entity that combines the commercial activities of the Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf with the PIF as an investor.

On Wednesday, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging him to examine the deal for potential antitrust concerns. The Justice Department is set to review the agreement as part of an ongoing investigation, according to various sources.

“We would like to speak with players to hear their perspective on and understanding of the agreement and its potential impact on PGA Tour membership going forward,” the request from Blumenthal’s staff read.

The agreement was announced last week with few details and it remains to be seen what information players could provide Blumenthal. A player meeting is scheduled for Tuesday at the Travelers Championship, but according to various sources, it’s unlikely there will be additional information before the Tour’s next policy board meeting later this month.

A project using artificial intelligence to track social media abuse aimed at players at the 2022 World Cup identified more than 300 people whose details are being given to law enforcement, FIFA said Sunday.

The people made "abusive, discriminatory, or threatening posts [or] comments" on platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, soccer's governing body said in a report detailing efforts to protect players and officials during the tournament played in Qatar.

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The biggest spike in abuse was during the France-England quarterfinals game, said the report from a project created jointly by FIFA and the players' global union FIFPRO. It used AI to help identify and hide offensive social media posts.

"Violence and threat became more extreme as the tournament progressed, with players' families increasingly referenced and many threatened if players returned to a particular country -- either the nation they represent or where they play football," the report said.

About 20 million posts and comments were scanned and more than 19,000 were flagged as abusive. More than 13,000 of those were reported to Twitter for action.

Accounts based in Europe sent 38% of the identifiable abuse and 36% came from South America, FIFA said.

"The figures and findings in this report do not come as a surprise, but they are still massively concerning," said David Aganzo, president of Netherlands-based FIFPRO.

Players and teams were offered moderation software that intercepted more than 286,000 abusive comments before they were seen.

The identities of the more than 300 people identified for posting abuse "will be shared with the relevant member associations and jurisdictional law authorities to facilitate real-world action being taken against offenders," FIFA said.

"Discrimination is a criminal act. With the help of this tool, we are identifying the perpetrators and we are reporting them to the authorities so that they are punished for their actions," FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.

"We also expect the social media platforms to accept their responsibilities and to support us in the fight against all forms of discrimination."

FIFA and FIFPRO have extended the system for use at the Women's World Cup that starts next month in Australia and New Zealand.

SOMBOR, Serbia -- Less than a week after leading the Denver Nuggets to their first NBA championship, Nikola Jokic was back in his hometown of Sombor on Sunday to enjoy his big passion of horse racing.

Thousands of his supporters in the usually sleepy northern Serbian town of some 47,000 people also converged on the local horse racing track where Jokic was watching his family-owned horses compete in harness races. Many had T-shirts with Jokic's portrait, some reading "Be the Next Champion" and "Sombor, the Town of Champions."

A billboard reading "Welcome Home MVP" showed Jokic with his No. 15 Nuggets jersey and also depicting galloping horses.

After winning the NBA title, Jokic was concerned about whether he could return home in time for Sunday's races after the team's victory parade in Denver on Thursday. He joked that he would ask Nuggets president Josh Kroenke to lend him the team plane to make sure he arrived on time.

This was a special day for the Sombor hippodrome. Beer and barbecue stands were in full swing, and even the people waiting in long lines to attend were in a celebratory mood.

Jokic arrived late to the track, followed by local media. Famously shy and laconic, he was not in a talkative mood and declined to talk to journalists, passing them by as he entered the racetrack.

Appearing in the stands from time to time amid members of his family and friends, he watched every race his family's stable participated in, then disappeared out of sight. He was in the company of his wife and daughter, brother, father and friends.

The crowd erupted with applause and joy when Jokic first appeared, wearing a polo shirt that had the "Dream Catcher" inscription, after the name of the first horse he purchased years ago.

His father, Branislav, said Jokic wouldn't be answering questions from reporters.

"He told me 'Dad, I have had enough of publicity during these past few days,'" Branislav Jokic said. "And I believe him."

Jokic developed a strong passion for horses and horse racing in his youth, and it nearly took him away from basketball when he was a kid, his father said.

Denver clinched the NBA title Monday by beating the Miami Heat 94-89, with Jokic posting 28 points and 16 rebounds and collecting the MVP trophy for the NBA Finals.

Jokic, nicknamed Joker by his fans, is coming off a historic playoff performance. He became the first player to lead the league in total points (600), rebounds (269) and assists (190) in a single postseason.

The Washington Wizards are finalizing a trade to send three-time All-Star guard Bradley Beal to the Phoenix Suns for a package expected to include Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, several second-round picks and a picks swap, sources told ESPN on Sunday.

The deal could take a few days for the full framework to be completed, but Beal is on his way to the Suns to form a new Big 3 with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, sources said.

Beal's agent, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports, confirmed to ESPN that a framework is in place that will land Beal with the Suns.

"This was an extremely complicated process with so many different hurdles to get through, and Ted Leonsis and Michael Winger were unbelievable partners in making this happen," Bartelstein told ESPN. "From the day that Ted drafted Brad he has been by our side along with [former general managers] Ernie Grunfeld and Tommy Sheppard. They've always had Brad's back in every way and now we have experienced the exact same thing with Ted and Michael Winger. We are extremely grateful."

Beal is lifting his no-trade clause to accommodate the deal to a Suns franchise that has now realized a top-heavy roster of talent and salary. Beal will join Booker, Durant and Deandre Ayton -- four max contracts together with a looming collective bargaining agreement designed to severely limit the roster flexibility of teams above the second apron of luxury tax at $117 million. It is the ultimate all-in play for the Suns to chase a championship.

The arrival of Beal and the $207 million left on his contract projects the Suns to be a second-apron team for at least the next three years, which will leave them largely reliant on minimum contracts to fill out the roster.

Suns leadership along with the team's key players were relentless in recent days selling Beal on Phoenix as a destination to fulfill his championship hopes, sources said.

Owner Mat Ishbia has made a massive commitment to salary and luxury tax on the Beal and Durant deals to pursue a title in the coming seasons. The Suns will have $163 million in salary committed to Booker, Durant, Beal and Ayton for the 2023-2024 season.

Bartelstein worked closely with Winger on navigating a deal with Phoenix in recent days, talks that included conversations with several teams, sources said. Beal's no-trade clause proved to be limiting in the options that Washington had in the marketplace to negotiate a return on the deal.

The Wizards will be unloading the final four years and $207 million of Beal's contract, clearing the way for Winger to reshape the roster after the franchise missed the playoffs in four of the past five years -- all of which included losing seasons. The Suns had no first-round draft picks available to include in the deal because of the Brooklyn Nets' control of them from the Kevin Durant deal.

After 11 years with the Wizards -- who drafted him No. 3 overall in 2012 -- Beal is nearing 30 years old and agreed with Winger that the franchise is without a quick-fix route to contention.

Once the Beal trade is completed, the Suns will have made two blockbuster trades in the past several months under Ishbia, including the Durant deal.

After completing the first season of a five-year, $251 million contract, Beal's standing as the NBA's only current player to have a no-trade clause negotiated into his deal gave him the ability to control not only possible destinations, but how a potential package to acquire him impacted his new supporting cast.

Beal's no-trade clause will convey with him to the Suns.

Leonsis gave Winger full autonomy on whether he wants to pursue a rebuild with the Wizards or continue a trajectory around high-priced veteran talent. The Wizards are awaiting player-option decisions on forwards Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porzingis, who both can become unrestricted free agents.

Beal averaged 23.2 points on a career-best 51% shooting in an injury-plagued 50 games last season. For his career, he's averaged 22.1 points -- including back-to-back seasons of 30.5 points and 31.3 points from 2019 to 2021.