NESN Soccer Podcast: Greg Berhalter New USA Coach? Copa Libertadores Chaos

After running the inside track for months, Gregg Berhalter appears to have won the race to become the next coach of the United States men’s soccer team.

Berhalter will leave his job as the Columbus Crew’s head coach for a similar role with Team USA as soon as next week, according to CBS’ Roger Gonzalez, whose reporting seemingly confirms U.S. soccer’s most open secret. After 13 months of body-and-soul searching, the U.S. men’s national team finally will hire a coach to take it forward.

In the latest episode of the “NESN Soccer Podcast,” Marc DiBenedetto and Marcus Kwesi O’Mard offer their first reactions to Berhalter’s presumably imminent hiring as U.S. coach and try to answer questions about why the U.S. Soccer Federation might have opted to appoint him.

O’Mard and DiBenedetto next turn to the chaos surrounding the 2018 Copa Libertadores final. The second leg of the Boca Juniors versus River Plate matchup was supposed to take place last Saturday, but an attack on Boca Juniors’ team bus started a chain of events, which ended with CONMEBOL ultimately deciding to stage the game Dec. 9 in Madrid, Spain.

Finally, they preview Arsenal versus Tottenham, Liverpool versus Everton and the other biggest games of the coming weekend.

Listen to the latest episode below on Soundcloud or here on the NESN Podcast Network.