U.S. Soccer mercifully made official on Sunday morning what has been considered inevitable for several months: Gregg Berhalter is the new coach of the U.S. men’s national team.



Now Berhalter will begin the difficult task of rebuilding a team while also fighting back against negative perceptions built up by the search. It is not Berhalter’s fault, but the conversations around this national team job center on two ideas: that the search took too long, and that it was not thorough enough.



There can be no quibble with the first argument, though there is some room for debate about just how far past its expiration the search lasted. For some, it’s a decision that should have been made a year ago. For others, when factoring in the U.S. Soccer presidential election, the 2026 World Cup bid, and hiring of a general manager, the search dragged on just a couple months too long.



Now that the search is over, Berhalter’s reign as coach will face more...