Who is Anthony Hudson, Gregg Berhalter’s interim replacement as USMNT coach?

With Gregg Berhalter currently the focus of a domestic-violence investigation commissioned by US Soccer, it was announced on Wednesday that Anthony Hudson will step in as interim boss of the United States men’s national team during its January training camp.

US Soccer to hold Berhalter probe, review team progress

Berhalter has admitted to physically abusing his wife during a “heated argument” when the pair were still dating in the early 1990s. The 49-year-old, who led the USMNT to the last 16 at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, has been out of contract as the Stars and Stripes’ head coach since the end of December.

In a statement confirming Hudson’s appointment as caretaker, US Soccer added that it was conducting a review of the USMNT’s results under Berhalter’s stewardship over the past four years.

Who is Anthony Hudson?

Hudson, 41, had been serving as assistant to Berhalter since 2021. Before becoming a part of the USMNT’s senior backroom team, he was head coach of US Under-20s.

The Seattle-born Anglo-American, who is the son of former England international Alan Hudson, began his coaching career in the third tier of US league soccer, taking over as boss of Real Maryland Monarchs in 2008. A spell as reserve-team coach at Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur then followed, before he was hired as head coach of Welsh side Newport County, who at the time were in the Conference Premier, the top flight of the English non-league pyramid. After just five months in the role, however, Hudson was sacked following a sequence of poor results.

After parting company with Newport, Hudson got his first experience of international management in a three-year stint with Bahrain, initially as boss of the country’s under-23s. He piloted the age-group team to the 2013 U-23 Gulf Cup of Nations title, and in 2014 oversaw the senior side’s third-place finish at the West Asian Football Federation Championship.

In 2014, he was then handed the reins of the New Zealand national team. Although he led the All Whites to victory at the OFC Nations Cup in 2016, he could not steer the side to the 2018 World Cup: they were beaten by Peru in an inter-confederation qualifying playoff. Under Hudson, New Zealand also appeared at the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia, where they lost all three group-stage games.

In late 2017, he returned to club coaching to take the helm at MLS franchise Colorado Rapids. In his only full season in the dugout in Denver, the Rapids failed to make the playoffs, coming second-bottom in the Western Conference. He was fired two months into the following campaign, having overseen a run of no wins in the team’s first nine games, and angered Colorado chiefs by criticising the quality of his squad. “We’re fighting down at the bottom with a bottom group of players [...],” Hudson told reporters after a defeat to Atlanta United. “Today was just another example of the real gulf in class.”

As interim USMNT boss, Hudson will be assisted by B.J. Callaghan, who was also part of the country’s World Cup coaching staff, and US Under-20s head coach Mikey Varas. He will take charge of the team’s friendlies against Serbia and Colombia, which are to be played in Los Angeles on 25 and 28 January, respectively.

Berhalter: “There are zero excuses for my actions”

In a statement released on Tuesday, Berhalter acknowledged that he kicked his wife, Rosalind, during an altercation three decades ago, describing the incident as a “shameful moment”. “In the fall of 1991, I met my soulmate,” he said. “I had just turned 18 and was a freshman in college when I met Rosalind […]. We had been dating for months when an incident happened between us that would shape the future of our relationship. One night, while out drinking at a local bar, Rosalind and I had a heated argument that continued outside. It became physical and I kicked her in the legs. There are zero excuses for my actions that night; it was a shameful moment and one that I regret to this day.”

Berhalter probed after Reyna fallout

Berhalter’s admission came after US Soccer received a domestic-violence allegation against the coach in December - an allegation made by Danielle Reyna, who is the mother of USMNT player Gio Reyna and was Rosalind’s college room-mate when Berhalter assaulted her.

In a statement issued to The Athletic, Danielle Reyna said she reported the incident to Earnie Stewart, US Soccer’s sporting director, in the wake of Berhalter’s criticism of her son’s attitude. Speaking at a New York conference after the USMNT’s elimination from the World Cup, the coach revealed that he had come close to sending home a squad member who “was clearly not meeting expectations on and off the field”. Although he did not name the player, Gio Reyna confirmed in a social-media post the following day that Berhalter had been referring to him.

Danielle Reyna explained: “I wanted to let him [Stewart] know that I was absolutely outraged and devastated that Gio had been put in such a terrible position, and that I felt very personally betrayed by the actions of someone my family had considered a friend for decades.

“As part of that conversation, I told Earnie that I thought it was especially unfair that Gio, who had apologized for acting immaturely about his playing time, was still being dragged through the mud when Gregg had asked for and received forgiveness for doing something so much worse at the same age.”