When the U.S. men’s national soccer team hosts Venezuela at the University of Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium next month, it will be U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter’s second-ever trip to Nippert to coach a match.

His first trip to the UC campus? That, of course, was a fourth-round 2017 U.S. Open Cup match against FC Cincinnati, and a lot about that day left an impression on Berhalter.

“Well, I’m still angry we lost,” Berhalter said during a U.S. Soccer teleconference Thursday. The teleconference was staged as part of the lead up to the June 9 U.S.-Venezuela match. Berhalter recounted his previous stay at the stadium in addition to discussing other topics including the controversy around the use of a temporary, natural-grass playing surface atop Nippert’s artificial surface for the game.

“When you think about how rivalries are started and what derby games are like, I think that was a perfect example,” Berhalter said while recalling Columbus Crew SC’s 1-0 loss to FC Cincinnati. “When you look around the stadium. You see the colors of FC Cincinnati. You see Columbus Crew SC in their yellow sticking out and their fans, having a large number of fans there. It was one of the better atmospheres I experienced while working in Major League Soccer. I’ve been there watching other games as well, and there just is an amazing atmosphere.”

The U.S. will look to feed off a similar atmosphere for the Venezuela match. Prior to the start of Berhalter’s remarks, a U.S. Soccer spokesman informed media members on the teleconference that more than 19,000 tickets have already been sold for the match.

The game will serve as the national team’s final tune-up for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the continent tournament for North America, South America and the Caribbean.

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The playing surface issue

It was headline news back in mid-April when the U.S. National Soccer Team Players Association (USNSTPA) issues a news release stating the players’ opposition to playing the June 9 match on a proposed temporary grass surface to be placed atop the artificial turf at Nippert.

Add in the possibility of even the slightest perception of a slight against UC’s beloved Nippert and the whole playing surface issue ballooned into a pretty big situation for all parties involved.

Asked for his thoughts about the playing surface debacle that was ultimately dismissed by U.S. Soccer, Berhalter said he was confident a quality surface will be used for the June 9 match.

“U.S. Soccer’s done installations before, including some very successful ones in 2016 Copa America,” Berhalter said. “I think the opportunity to bring the national team to a great soccer market like Cincinnati – we’re excited that there’s already (more than) 19,000 tickets sold and we’re looking forward to a great atmosphere… You want to play on good surfaces. I think that’s clear. The better the surface is, the faster the ball rolls. I think, the more predictability you have with the roll of the ball. So, that will always be an issue and I think that, again, it’s looking at can we get this field up to a standard that’s acceptable, and we believe we can.”

A U.S. Soccer spokesman said during the teleconference that the grass field installation at Nippert would begin June 2. FC Cincinnati plays at New York City FC June 6.

FC Cincinnati’s last home match prior to the U.S.-Venezuela date is May 25.

Greg Garza ‘on our radar,’ Berhalter says

Greg Garza isn’t FC Cincinnati’s best chance at being represented in the upcoming Gold Cup. In fact, it’s more than likely FC Cincinnati will be coping with a deficit of talent after countries like Costa Rica and Jamaica have made their Gold Cup selections. Those roster picks should deprive FCC of players like Allan Cruz and Kendall Waston of Costa Rica, and Darren Mattocks and Alvas Powell of Jamaica.

Garza is, however, the best chance FC Cincinnati has for being represented in the Gold Cup by an American, and it’s tough to see him edging into a Gold Cup spot at this point.

It’s been on-again, off-again injury problems for Garza ever since preseason. For Garza, preseason started at Berhalter’s January U.S. camp but he was sent back to FC Cincinnati after sustaining what was believed at the time to be a minor quadriceps injury.

That injury last weeks, as did a subsequent calf injury from which Garza returned from on Saturday against Montreal Impact after missing five matches.

Berhalter was noncommittal on where Garza is in the current national team picture when asked about the player.

“It’s been difficult for him to get healthy. What we’ve seen is, when he’s on the field, he performs well. Last week (against Montreal) is a good example of him performing the wing-back position really well,” Berhalter said. “He’s a guy that’s on our radar. We’re continuing to monitor him. We hope he gets back to full fitness. We know he’s an important player for FC Cincinnati and, I think, it’s managing all of those constraints to be able to move forward in a way that helps both the country and the club.”

Garza started and played every minute of FC Cincinnati’s 2-1 win against Montreal.