Hour 3: ‘What’s More Likely,’ plus Ex-USMNT Coach Gregg Berhalter Talks World Cup

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1:00Rich Eisen:This is The Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of The Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at YouTube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. And now, this is the Rich Eisen Show. What do you got, Mike Brown? The series isn't over. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I'll tell you. Nobody wanted that job. And it's just like, I'll take it.

1:42Rich Eisen:Earlier on the show, ESPN NBA analyst Tim Legler, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero. Coming up, former U.S. Men's National Team head coach Greg Berhalter, And now it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen show is on the air. First two hours have been something else. Larry David did in fact zoom into this program, talk about his vantage point of the New York Knicks massive record-setting comeback in game four, something Tim Legler joined us in hour number one to discuss because he's calling the NBA Finals on ABC and in between Tom Pelissero joined us. And we're going to take your phone calls before we get out of Dodge here on this Friday.

2:30Rich Eisen:844-204-RICH, number to dial. The U.S. Men's National Team takes to the SoFi Stadium pitch tonight to take on Paraguay in the opener of the 2026 World Cup for Team USA. And joining us now is the first individual to ever be a head coach and player for the U.S. Men's National Team in a World Cup. So it stands to reason And he was the first human being to do those two things and then have a son play for the U.S. men's national team, as his son Sebastian will do tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, Greg Berhalter of the Chicago Fire as well. Good to see you, sir. How are you? Thanks for having me, Rich.

3:06Rich Eisen:I'd shake your hands, but I'm not allowed to use them in this conversation, I've been told. Okay. Love it. Nice. Thank you very much. I'm sorry to do that. I went that way first. What's going through your mind right now, man? What's your emotions like? you know a lot of different emotions but i think the first thing is um is you know thinking about sebastian thinking about the team how they're getting mentally ready to play tonight yeah that's yeah that's like you know like your dad first yeah i mean i always think about no matter what sporting events happening i always think about the athletes the coaches what they're going through right before the game like what is their mindset what are they focused on like how because i know personally, you start really dialing in on the smallest things.

3:51And that's always interesting just to think that moment, the moments before the big event, what's going through their minds.

3:57Rich Eisen:Okay. So then let's walk through what was going through your mind, 2002 World Cup, correct? Yeah. You know, as a player, so it's different as a player and a coach, but as a player, you're really focused on your individual self. You're focused on how do you get your body ready? How do you get your mind ready? What are your tasks? Really just, you know, I was one that always got hyper-focused. You know, every athlete's different. You have some that like need more outer interaction. For me, it was about internalizing everything, taking it inside and really starting to focus on my job and what I need to do.

4:30Rich Eisen:Okay, so that's the player. Yes. What about as the head coach? What's that like? So as a coach, you know, it's really about, you know, now you're taking care of everybody. You need to make sure everybody's in a good spot. and it's little conversations leading up to the game. Maybe two days before the game, you start having these conversations with players, checking for understanding, checking where their confidence is at, really try to get them in a good mindset to be able to perform. With the staff, we had a detailed game plan and variations that we'd go over. Okay, if this happens in the game, what should we be looking for?

5:02We'd spend hours going over that game plan.

5:04Rich Eisen:Okay, now as a dad, what's it like? As a dad, it is more emotion. it's a tremendous amount of pride you know I was talking to my wife last night and I don't really have words to describe what it's like it's really hard to communicate my feelings it's just it's such an immense amount of pride and really because I know how hard Sebastian's worked to get to this point you know a year and a half ago he wasn't even on the radar of the national team and now he's in the world cup do you leave him alone yeah yeah I mean it's it's always he's you know no no no contact zone today no he'll if he will contacts me that's fine right but you know i'm not i'm not proactively going out to him you know he's he's getting in his in his mindset he's getting his focus and you know i'm not gonna take away from that at all you've had your share of helicopter dads you're not one of them basically is what you're saying right now you know that's just not my style it's never been my style okay because again i mean in my brief career of being an AYSO coach.

6:08Rich Eisen:Couldn't stand those helicopter taps. And I imagine you have had some experiences with that sort of thing. Sports are sports, right? At every level it happens. Every level. Good answer. Good answer. Good answer, coach. Okay. So what would you consider then a successful World Cup for this U.S. men's national team? Because obviously the advancement of the sport in this country, and you've helped with that. And you could see how many of the players are professionals at some of the top clubs on planet Earth playing for this team now. What would you consider to be a successful 2026 World Cup? You know, so when we started in 2018, the project was an eight-year project.

6:52It was getting to this moment because it's such a big moment for soccer in the United States. but if you rewind even further you know from 1994 was the last time we hosted the world cup and now you see 32 years later how much soccer has grown and how established it is you know 30 MLS teams you look at some of the facilities that they have in major league soccer now the owners are completely committed to this and then we get to this point with this this roster in particular They're 21 of the 26 players have come from MLS academies, developmental systems. And these guys, 13 of them have played in the last World Cup.

7:30They're at peak age, perfect age to perform now. And so for me, I think it's now it's about the expectations are we should win knockout games, multiple knockout games. And I would think it'd be success if we got to the quarterfinals.

7:44Rich Eisen:So this is an eight-year plan that you're talking about. because everything you just said for the for the novice that's listening right now greg burhalter here on the rich eisen show this is these are all record numbers right yes of what you just mentioned in every metric yep but it's still not i guess for the lack of good enough to win right it's not what we see elsewhere yes um but good enough you think to to knock off some top-notch worldwide stars and teams and sides is what you're saying. I think so. And the reason why I say that is because I look at the squad, I look at the roster. I talked about the experience.

8:28I talked about being in the peak age. But you also have very good players. You know, Christian Pulisic, Weston McKinney, Tyler Adams, Chris Richards, Balogun. These are very good players. And when we put it all together, I don't see any reason why we can't win knockout games in the World Cup. Now, what gets challenging in a World Cup in particular is when you have to do it, you know, time and time again. So when you have to go round 32, round of 16, quarterfinal, semi-final, you always have to knock off a big team. That becomes challenging.

9:03Rich Eisen:I bet. What about your successor as the USMNT head coach? What do you think? So what I would say is, you know, I really like the mindset that he's brought to the group. I really like what he's focused on. you know this is his first world cup this is his first um international coaching job but right away what he focused on is you need to die for this jersey you need to fight for this jersey and that's bringing the argentinian he's argentinian that's bringing that type of mentality to the group which i think is always important you know which we always had in our day when we played which which i always focused on as well but really emphasizing that because it's home soil he wants these guys committed and ready and ready to defend the jersey what is the biggest challenge of being the head coach of the u.s men's national team what is it i think there's a couple things i think the first thing is coaching a national team in general is very complicated because you know that's not their full-time jobs it's a part-time team so that that's one of the complications the other complications for most national teams that i've seen is just the expectations of the public, right?

10:09What do Americans want us to do? Win. That's it. And that's the only thing that's good enough, right?

10:14Rich Eisen:You know, it's like Rocky. Exactly. I mean, that's what Adrian told Rocky. Exactly. And I'm for it also. Like, I'm not saying, oh, it's acceptable for us, you know, to be happy with, you know, finishing, you know, 24th in the world. But the expectations are extremely high. You see the England coach also, you know, every coach in the world, All the countries want these teams to do is win. And there can only be one winner. So I think it brings unrealistic expectations at times. The biggest challenge of the group that the United States is in right now is what? So the biggest challenge of the group in my eyes is that it's very even.

10:52I think any team could beat any team. And that's going to be complicated because you can't predict the results. so you could get to the third game and every team could still have the ability to go to the next

11:03Rich Eisen:round okay um what is it like and then we'll talk a little bit about chicago fire and everything else going on with your life here what is it like to stand on the pitch of a world cup and just yeah did it's crazy take a minute i mean there is there is enough time yeah uh in in a in a match or game where yeah we were a couple seconds yeah we were talking before and one thing you mentioned was the intensity of the matches and how much it means to the players and to the fans. Everybody. Everybody. You know, there's always that moment when the Anthem's playing at a World Cup when I'm on the field and it just, it hits me and I'm like, wow, the gravity of what you're doing right now.

11:43The gravity, like I feel at that moment, I feel so connected to our country and I want so badly to go out and win for our country. It's such a special moment. once the game starts you know the focus immediately goes to you know your job and coaching but there is that one moment before the game where it really hits you like wow this is this is massive yeah it

12:02Rich Eisen:sure is you know and what is your favorite world cup memory either playing or coaching what is that for you that's a great question i only ask those greg yeah that is a great question i mean And, you know, I think the England match in Qatar was very special. It was a great match because the stadium was so big. You know, our fans got into the game and started getting behind us. And, you know, we were taking it to them. You know, the win against Mexico in the second round in 2002 was also a huge moment for the country to play in the quarterfinals. To get to the quarterfinals in 2002 was really big.

12:42So those are some of the memories that come to mind.

12:45Rich Eisen:Okay. and you were a high school teammate of claudio claudio reina yes okay new jersey huh new jersey st benedict's look i'm from staten island there you go i mean there's three bridges that connect with your home state that's right that's the way it works all right so chicago fire which is by the way you know like we're gonna have a san francisco team named the earthquakes i mean let's be honest here but i guess it's i've heard that before by the way you know what i mean okay uh i get it but But what are you seeing from the MLS level right now? It's growing. That is intense. No, it's growing.

13:17It's growing. It's improving. I think what I mentioned before about world-class facilities. So we just had Germany training at our facility.

13:24Rich Eisen:There you go. And I'm talking to the German national team players, and they're saying this would be the third best training facility in all of Germany, what we have in Chicago. Look at that. Look at that. Now, that's serious because when I covered the NFL games, not to interrupt, but I'll throw it back to you in a sec. um you know i covered the first nfl game in munich yeah and um see seattle um practiced at byron munich's um home facility the buccaneers practiced in the facility that they have for the kids yeah and that was nicer yeah exactly that was nicer and i'm like wait a minute right shouldn't it be kind of the other way around and everybody's like no no it shouldn't and so when you're saying that, that's saying a lot.

14:11It's incredible. I mean, we have the kids, we have the youth, we have the second team, we have the first team in it, but I mean, it's just an incredible facility. We have an owner, Joe Monsueto, I'm not sure if you're familiar with him, but one of the best owners in sports. You know, he's building a privately funded$750 million stadium downtown Chicago.

14:29Rich Eisen:Can the Bears play in it? Sorry, that just slipped out. Keep going. Sorry. No, I mean, that's how committed he is to making this thing work. So, you know, we're trying to attract world-class players. Obviously, Messi's in the league. We're trying to sign some world-class players. So I think the league is growing and improving, and it's here to stay. It's just a matter of are we going to close the gap to one of the top five leagues in the world, and that's what we're striving to do. Okay, and in the competition level, the intensity of the league, you could see it. Yes, absolutely. We're making progress.

15:01Rich Eisen:Now, did you, let's be honest, were the Germans a little bit surprised? Because here on this show, we always say, if somebody goes higher register, they're trying to shine off that they don't believe. Like, wow, you have a really nice facility here. Condescending, a little backhanded compliment type of tone. Did you get a little bit of that? There was a little bit of that. Like there was like a surprise, like a condescending surprise a little bit. But Liverpool is coming here this summer to train there. Man United was there last summer. It's a top facility. It is a top facility. And again, here, there's two squads here in Los Angeles when the when el traffico plays here in in this town you could you could feel i've been to a couple of them like they're going crazy going nuts yeah atmosphere's great yeah angel city for the the women's side of things and that that's a neat stadium downtown here right across street from the coliseum you could see it you could feel it here yeah absolutely so uh last one for you before i let you go because again i understand it's game day and it's pretty big um what will it be like for you and your wife to watch your son tonight with that uniform oh man in that moment put yourself if you don't mind flash forward a couple hours from now what do you what do you think that's going to be like for you greg it's going to be special um you know the the one thing that that's going to be amazing is that we'll both get to share that experience because it is hard to describe like the moment that you step on a field in the world cup and we'll always have that together me and sebastian yeah and you're you both met uh in carolina right we met at carolina yes yes both tar heels okay yep so belichick reaching out you and you and bill chatting about coaching a little bit not so much you got mike malone and bill now on that camp i know i know it's some good coaches there exactly now we just got to win right well that's the point of everything right i mean the pressure gets on just for anybody for anybody at any level and it starts tonight for the u.s men's national team.

16:59Yes, it does.

17:00Rich Eisen:Hey, I appreciate you coming here on a game day. Yep. You know, and I wish you the best of luck. Enjoy that moment, you and your wife. And the rest, is the whole family? A whole family. A whole family. Grandparents. Your parents here? Yep, parents are here. So what's the size of the group? So today, I think we're about eight. But the group grows to, the next game in Seattle, the group grows to like 15. Oh my goodness. Yeah, it gets bigger. Okay. Yep, all the cousins come out of the woodwork. and yeah and then game three is back here great game three is back here we'll have another big party at that game los angeles yep and then after that yep knockout time here we go let's go here we go all right uh everybody check out uh this man on the sidelines of chicago of the chicago fire or it's just chicago fire right yes the chicago fire fc okay chicago fire fc everybody uh greg berhalter thank you for coming on here really appreciate that thanks for having you got Got it right here on The Rich Eisen Show.

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19:49Rich Eisen:While the world watches the stars of the FIFA World Cup, Hyundai has its eyes on the next generation of talent. Future stars who are already turning heads at age 14 because next doesn't wait for an invitation and neither do we. Hyundai has always moved the future within reach. We did it when we made advanced safety standard on every vehicle and engineered EVs with ultra-fast charging capability. And we're still doing it every day because the future isn't some far-off concept. It's already here. Next starts now. Hyundai, an official partner of FIFA. Rich Eisen here. Take a second and look at your city's calendar.

20:22Rich Eisen:Everywhere I go, there's always something coming up. Games, concerts, conventions, tournaments, the kind of events that bring people in from all over. And when that happens, you can feel it. More energy, more fans, and a whole lot more people looking for a place to stay. So here's something to think about. if your city has that kind of buzz, if big events are on the way, listing your space on Airbnb could be a great opportunity. If you're already planning to be out of town or you've got a trip coming up, why not make your place work for you while you're gone? You've got the space and you're not using it.

20:56Rich Eisen:It could be earning you some extra cash. I know when I travel for these big events, I'm not just looking for a place to crash. I want something comfortable and safe, a place that allows me to experience the city like a local. And that's exactly what you can do by offering to list your space. No big lifestyle change, no long-term commitment, just making smart use of the space you already have. So the next time your city draws a crowd, think about listing your space on Airbnb. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host. The Rich Eisen Show podcast. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show.

21:37Rich Eisen:I'll be back. Oh, my God. Very good. I appreciate that. Yeah. Predator, the original Predator. Theater's near you 39 years ago today. Noah in Portland, Oregon's been trying to get on the air for a while. What's up, Noah? How are you, sir? Hey, guys. What's going on? What's going on, man? What's on your brain? Rich, Chris, TJ. All right. So I've got notes. So no dilly-dallying, no sneaking thinking. See here. What do you got? I'm going to try to be optimistically realistic about this. If you guys want to play some PD Pablo, I will do it. I'm down. What's happening? I'm ready for the Panthers win-loss.

22:12Rich Eisen:Panthers win-loss. Oh, okay, here we go. Who am I? Okay, here we go. Warren Razor. Noah, once again, why is somebody from Portland, Oregon calling in and wanting to play the win-loss game of the Carolina Panthers? I'm going to try to do this properly with all due respect. TJ, I absolutely love you, but I used to be a Dallas Cowboys fan, but I realized I was only a fan because it was the 80s or late 90s. They were winning everything. So you chose to go with the Panthers? Yeah, that's correct. Yeah, he said, I'm no longer with the Cowboys. I'm going to the Panthers. That's what he said. He didn't stutter.

22:46Rich Eisen:It was that and the Jaguars, and I just happened to like the Carolina. That sounds crazy to me. All right. What happens when the Bears open things up against the Carolina Panthers? Ooh, shout out to Anna. That is her team. I'm sleeping on the couch that night. That's a win. All right. Then you visit the Falcons. That's a win. 2-0 at the Browns. We got QB issues. No Miles Garrett. That's a win. That's a 3-0 start. And then could you imagine their 3-0 on Sunday night football? And BC comes to town with the Lions. What happens then? That's a loss. All right. 3-1 at the Eagles. That's also a loss.

23:23Rich Eisen:That's 3-2 now. Home for the Bucs. We're going to win that one. 4-2. Quick turnaround. going to Green Bay on Thursday night? I was there last year when we gave Jordan Love his birthday spankings at his own home. We're going to win that one too. 5-2 home for the Broncos. That's a loss. 5-3 at the Saints. That's going to be a win. 6-3 home for the Ravens. That's going to be a loss. 6-4 at the Bucs on a Monday night. I'm going to split it with these guys. That's going to be a loss as well. Okay, you're now 6-5 at the Vikings. Looking good. Okay, so that's going to be a battle of the Bank Stadiums.