Gregg Berhalter ‘dreams every night’ about leading the USMNT out for the 2026 World Cup final in his home state of New Jersey… with coach happy for expectations to be higher than ever

Gregg Berhalter has revealed he dreams “every night” of taking the United States to the 2026 World Cup final in his own backyard.

The United States will host soccer’s premier competition along with neighbors Mexico and Canada, and all matches from the quarterfinals onwards will take place in the United States.

MetLife was recently selected to host the finals, ahead of AT&T Stadium in Dallas. Berhalter grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, just a 25-minute drive from where the 82,500-seat stadium now stands.

The coach was invited to Alexi Lalas’ house State of the Union Podcast on Thursday and was asked if he ever dreams of taking his team to the finals.

“Every night, man, every night,” Berhalter said.

‘It’s easy to talk about it, right? It’s much harder to do. I understand that. But it would be a dream come true if we can do it. I know it is a challenge, we have to win four knockout games to achieve it. But everything is possible.”

The USMNT has never made it past the semifinals of a World Cup, and the only time it reached the quarterfinals was in 1930.

By 2026, two decades will have passed since the United States advanced beyond the round of 16, but Berhalter wants fans to dream that this group can go further than any other.

‘Why not? “When you think about the first four years (of my reign)—(we were) babies—we had a really young team,” she said.

‘We played against the youngest team in the world for the last four years and achieved a lot. Why not take that and carry it over to the next four years and say, ‘Okay, let’s go for it’?’

Berhalter added: “I don’t see any reason why we can’t do it.” When I think about the age of our boys, the experience they are going to have: they will have played another 150 club games, more national team games under their belt and another international competition. If we add to this the last World Cup, they will be ready.

“You need that experience to perform at a high level and guys will be ready.” We will have talent, we will have teamwork.

‘Why not aim high? We will be hosting the World Cup, why not shoot for the stars?