Zinedine Zidane was recently offered, before rejecting, an offer to replace Gregg Berhalter as USMNT head coach, according to a report from French newspaper L’Equipe.
What a strange week of USMNT news it has been, huh?
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It wasn’t just the USA who came calling for Zidane recently, as offers from Brazil and Portugal were also turned down. Reportedly, the only international job that Zidane would take is the France job, but Didier Deschamps just had his contract extended through the 2026 World Cup.
Zidane has been unemployed since leaving Real Madrid at the end of the 2020-21 season. The 50-year-old famously give Los Blancos to three a UEFA Champions League three-peat (2016, 2017, 2018), while also winning La Liga and Copa del Rey twice each.
If the offer to Zidane really existed, we now know Berhalter is not U.S. Soccer’s no. 1 candidate for the USMNT job. The coaching search is officially underway, and they weren’t shy with their ambition.
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Berhalter’s contract with U.S. Soccer officially expired on Dec. 31, following the completion of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where the USMNT reached the round of 16 for a third straight appearance (2010, 2014). Shortly after the USMNT was eliminated, the ongoing Berhalter-Reyna saga began as the then-head coach revealed that an unnamed player — later revealed to be Gio Reyna — was nearly sent home from the World Cup.
This week, nearly three weeks after Berhalter’s comments, the falling-out to a very ugly, very sad turn as two families that were once very close friends, feud through public statements and conference calls.
U.S. Soccer announced this week that Anthony Hudson would oversee friendlies against Serbia and Colombia later this month, as the search for a permanent appointment continues.