To say U.S. National Men’s Team coach Gregg Berhalter is a “polarizing figure” is fair, but context is important. Jurgen Klinsmann was a polarizing figure. So were Bob Bradley, Bruce Arena Steve Sampson, Bora Milutinovic … Polarization comes with the job. It’s science.

Monday night, Berhalter and the U.S. soccer team lost to Uruguay 1-0 in Kansas City. With that, the USMNT was eliminated from the group stage of the Copa America, a cliff dive that should have been avoidable and wound up a splat. For those watching at home, the first half was covered by a camera mounted to a satellite 6,000 miles above the stadium and the second half by a camera submerged in an aquarium. Allegedly, this is the fault of FIFA, which supplies the camera feeds. In any case, the pictures could not drown out the noise, which included chants of “Fire Gregg” that continued well after the final whistle.

I have long been a Berhalter supporter, partly because of bias, partly because of those U.S. fans whose only concept of joy is to be miserable, a form of personal and perpetual polarization.

Berhalter took the Crew out of the MLS dark ages and into modernity during his tenure as Columbus' coach from 2013-2018. He updated training facilities, gave players a voice in the direction of their team and implemented an attractive brand of possess-and-attack soccer. He led the Crew to the MLS Cup championship game in 2015 on a shoestring budget. Two years later, he pushed a team with a paltry payroll to the Eastern Conference final as fans fought an owner who wanted to drag the operation off to Austin. Berhalter and his players managed to perform amid a raging storm, and it was remarkable.

Even today, Berhalter’s touch can be felt in Columbus: Midfielder Aidan Morris joined the Crew Academy in 2017, when Berhalter was trying to hang on to the threads of the system. After Berhalter’s departure and under new owners, Morris won two MLS Cups with the Crew. Last week, official word came that, Morris, 22, was being transferred to Middlesbrough and realizing a dream to play England.

Berhalter is a man of substance to be respected and admired. He is a coach who has made his mark on the international stage. His record (44-15-13), winning percentage (.697, the highest in USMNT history) and record in CONCACAF tournaments (Nations League-Gold Cup double in 2021) attest to that. He has deepened the pool of USMNT talent and took a baby-faced team to the Round of 16 at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

In the previous World Cup cycle, the U.S. failed to make it out of qualification. It was Berhalter who rebuilt the national program from the ashes. He recruited and retained talented players with dual citizenship – Folarin Balogun, Sergino Dest, Yunas Musa, Tim Weah, to name a few. His players got his back last year after he was laid off while the federation investigated claims made by the family of Claudio Reyna that Berhalter struck the woman who later became his wife. Then Berhalter was rehired, and his players said their locker room culture was a brotherhood, and they would run through walls for their coach.

The Copa America – a South American nations tournament being played in the U.S. as a warmup to the 2026 World Cup, to be co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico – was supposed to be the next step for the USMNT. It was supposed to be where a “golden generation” of U.S. talent took a step out of CONCACAF and competed with some international heavyweights. And the Yanks couldn’t even get out of Group C.

It was self-inflicted. They beat lowly Bolivia 2-0 when it should’ve been 5-0. It was unfortunate. Weah took a stupid red card early in the game against Panama, the U.S. had to play down a man for most of the match and they failed to get a point out of the deal. It was a high-stakes failure.

Monday night against Uruguay, a 15-time Copa America winner, the goal for the Americans remained clear: Win convincingly enough to make the outcome of the Panama-Bolivia game moot. They needed to get out of the group stage and send a clear message about their coach and their team.

They sent a message, albeit not the one they intended. They were shut out 1-0. The officiating was atrocious, but that does not matter. For the first time, the USMNT failed to get out of group stage in a major tournament played on home soil. Only two short years away from co-hosting the World Cup, they don’t look ready to compete against inter-regional powers. It’s a bad look, too, with Canada – coached by Jesse Marsch, whose name was linked to the U.S. job when Berhalter was in the wilderness last year – getting through to the knockout stage.

I am among a distinct minority in suggesting that Berhalter remains well-suited to carry on through 2026. I am biased, and I’d like to see who’s next before I make my final judgment.

But the situation is no longer polarized. The folks at U.S. Soccer may well decide that the time is right – indeed, that they can wait no longer – for a new voice on the bench. And if they do, U.S. fans, protons, neutrons and electrons, will raise their voice in atomic harmony.

marace@dispatch.com

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter reportedly fired after Copa America loss