It's a decision that will polarise opinions in American soccer, given the ugly fallout from an investigation into an allegation of domestic violence

All these months later, and the U.S. men's national team is right back where it started. A sporting director search, a coaching search, two interim coaches… all in a six-month span. And yet, through it all, Gregg Berhalter is back in charge for a second cycle.

That will surely be a divisive decision. Berhalter has polarised opinion for some time, but never more than over the last six months. Still, despite all that's happened over these six months, U.S. Soccer's leadership has come to the conclusion that Berhalter is the best coach for the massive, massive job of leading this team and this program towards 2026.

It came as a surprise, with the news leaking just as the U.S. kicked off against Mexico in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinal. It remains to be seen when exactly Berhalter will return to the sidelines, but that return is imminent.

What does that mean for the future, though? How did we get here and how will the USMNT adjust, or in this case readjust, to their coach? GOAL takes a look.

Getty / GOALAn ugly 'exit'

On the day the USMNT saw their World Cup ended at the hands of the Netherlands, there was reason to believe that it wasn't the last we'd see of Berhalter as the program's head coach. The team, by all accounts, had a good World Cup. Players spoke of the culture built by Berhalter during his time in charge, and how important that culture would be on the road to 2026.

And then everything changed. Anyone following American soccer knows the story by now: the Reyna comments, the domestic violence incident, and all of the ugliness that followed. A very public disaster for all involved and it seemingly cost Berhalter his job. It would be tough, perhaps impossible, to come back from that, many thought.

U.S. Soccer investigated the allegations, with Berhalter providing full cooperation. An independent investigation determined that Berhalter should be cleared to come back, should U.S. Soccer choose to bring him back.

That decision, any decision, would be put on hold, though, as the U.S. first needed a sporting director.

AdvertisementGettyA delayed coaching search

Berhalter's contract with the U.S. Soccer federation expired in December. We are now in June, and it is just now being confirmed that Berhalter is back. That's a pretty long time between big decisions, but U.S. Soccer had other matters to attend to.

This could have, and would have, been wrapped up in January if not for the controversy. But once that became public, U.S. Soccer had no choice but to take a step back and assess.

The first decision that had to be made was in the sporting director position, with Earnie Stewart announcing earlier this year that he would be leaving the federation to take a role at PSV. The decision was made that the sporting director would eventually choose the head coach, so first, U.S. Soccer had to choose a sporting director.

They found their guy in Matt Crocker, the former Southampton executive. His appointment was announced at the end of April and, although he wouldn't start officially until August, the coaching search was officially under way from the moment he was hired.

GettyThe other candidates

Ron Waxman really was the one that started Thursday night with a bang.

The agent announced that his client, Jesse Marsch, would not be hired as the next USMNT head coach in the leadup to kickoff of the USMNT's semifinal match. Marsch, at one point seen as the favorite, was out of the running, but the question quickly became who actually was in the running?

Shortly after, it was reported by the Athletic that it was, in fact, Berhalter that would be getting the job. The news came after weeks of reports about candidates, with U.S. Soccer talking to a number of head coaches from all over the world.

The likes of Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry, both MLS veterans, had been linked. The dreamers of the USMNT fanbase held out hope for a big name, someone like Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho. American coaches Steve Cherundolo and Pellegrino Matarazzo were both said to be in the running.

Berhalter, though, is the guy. He himself had been linked to several other jobs, with Swansea, Club America and Sparta Rotterdam among those reportedly interested at one point or another. In the end, though, he's rejoining the USMNT, and there are plenty of players that will be happy about that fact.

GettyPlayer support matters

One of the key reasons Berhalter is back is that the USMNT players backed him so hard, both publicly and privately.

It started with Christian Pulisic, the face of the USMNT, who was the first player to publicly say that he wanted Berhalter back as the team's head coach.

"Yeah, no doubt, no doubt about it. I think the strides that we've taken in recent years with him in charge, have been evident. I think it's quite clear," he told ESPN back in March. He doubled down on that this past week when asked about Berhalter once again, praising the coach rather than deflecting what could have been an obviously-uncomfortable question.

Tim Weah followed suit with his own public backing: “We are definitely a family and no one can take that away, you know. Gregg really helped us form this type of relationship with each other, so yeah, he was a huge, huge important part of this team so hopefully he comes back.”

That culture, that family atmosphere, was a driving force. The fact is that Berhalter has made it fun to play for the national team again. After all of the chaos that came with the 2018 cycle, Berhalter has helped rebuild this program by empowering players. He built a leadership council to streamline communication between players and coaches and has generally been seen as a player-friendly coach. At the end of the day, the players simply like playing for him, and that really matters at the international level.