CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 7, 2026

Gregg Berhalter

Press Conference

Q. Looking at last week's results where the team understands that they had chances to win and it wasn't necessarily the cleanest endings to both games, how much do you think that's going to help pre example this group through the final four games given they should have been won and they had enough chances to do so?

GREGG BERHALTER: Yeah, I think for us, the St. Louis game was disappointing. The Cincinnati game, I spoke afterwards about it being a very good performance, just the randomness of soccer came into play and we ended up looking.

For us, the important thing is looking to see a response from the group, right, because at the end of the day this is a results business and we didn't get the results we wanted. Now it's about how do we respond against a good Red Bull team, a team that can hurt you if you are not focused.

Q. You seemed concerned about Robin after the game on Saturday, curious how he's doing, and any updates on Leo or Chris?

GREGG BERHALTER: Robin is out. He's had a couple facial fractures, nose, cheekbone, couple stitches. Some eye damage. He's going to be out.

And Leo is still out, as well.

And then Chris is back. He's in contention to be in the squad.

Q. What do you make of Michael Bradley's transition to a head coaching role, you've had a relationship that goes years back. He has some young, up-and-coming players. What do you make of how he's done in this brief portion of his career?

GREGG BERHALTER: I have a lot of respect for what Michael's doing. Of all the players that I coached, he's one that you clearly see he could have been a coach. I love his pathway. I love how he's vested himself and his career, taken time to be a coach and coaching the second team, and performing really well and getting up to the first team level.

You can see he has very clear ideas of how he wants his team to play, and I think the team performs well. There's some inconsistencies in some phases of the game, but other than that it's a difficult team to play against. Opponents have the lowest passing percentage against Red Bull.

It's great for him. Comes from a soccer family, obviously, and it's good to see him get an opportunity.

Q. What's where you are mental state of mind, earlier consistently playing and last two games, not to your liking; that something that's a mental setting that players need to reset in a way to get back to their certain ways or is that a coaching thing that you can actually teach on the field?

GREGG BERHALTER: I think it's some of both. You know, there's certainly -- certainly conversations need to be had about some moments in the game, how we can stay focused, stay engaged and make the right plays.

You know, some of it is, you know, doing it and being -- doing your actions, repeating your actions over and over again. We talk a lot about the moments in the game. How you never know which moment is going to be the deciding moment so you have to be focused on all of them. You see in the game against Cincinnati the penalty we gave up is what literally causes us to lose the game. It's something to learn from.

Again, if the performance was really poor, I would be really concerned, but the performance was good and now it's just about tightening up some aspects.

Q. What advice would you give Michael Bradley as his coaching career is just getting started?

GREGG BERHALTER: I'm sure he's getting some advice from his father and he has some great pedigree. He probably doesn't need my advice. Coaching is a journey, and he's a smart guy, and it's just a continual journey to keep learning and keep improving. If you do that as a human being, as a coach, you'll position yourself well.

It's really been fun watching him, first of the generation getting an opportunity to coach MLS, and it's really been nice to see.

Q. You touched on wanting the team to respond to the recent losses positively. What has the mood been like in the locker room, and have you seen the accountability and urgency in the group in training that you were hoping for?

GREGG BERHALTER: We always see that. That's not an issue. Accountability, urgency isn't an issue with our group. They train very hard, very focused. No concern in that area.

I think for us processing through a strange type of performance where you play really well -- and it's just about how do we -- how do we prove that was an aberration and that's not who we are as a group.

Q. I would like to ask you about Chris Brady, obviously has been in good form and on the Men's U.S. National Team. How do you think he's handling the moment and status with that, and what are you seeing in his development?

GREGG BERHALTER: He's handling it really well. When you look across the league, I think a lot of the MLS players that are in contention from the international team are performing at a good level, and you don't see pressure getting to them. And Chris is another example of that.

He's doing well. I think he understands that all he can control is his performance and he's highly engaged and really wants to have a good ending to this first half of the season and hopefully cement him in the World Cup stage.

Q. My question is regarding the game last night, the CONCACAF Champion's Cup, your opinion regarding the final with the two teams from Liga MX, what do you think about that?

GREGG BERHALTER: I think in any year that can happen. I don't think that's indicative of the league's strengths. We know the Mexican league has good top teams, and our team has good top teams. And on any given day -- unfortunately in the semifinal, we came up on the short end for both teams. But I think we played ourselves well throughout the tournament.

Q. The way Red Bull plays with the high line and the ability to not allow a high percentage of passes, how important is it to be patient this week because they might not see opportunities because of the high line that's there to tempt you; how important is it to wait for that right pass?

GREGG BERHALTER: I think in general, we have our way to play and we know what we're doing and we want to make it difficult. So far this year, we have been able to score a lot of goals and we want to continue to do that. I don't think it changes. It's how we play complete matches in all phases of the game, and adapting somewhat in some respect to some of their strengths. And I think that's completely normal in how you approach a game.

Q. Obviously you praised how Michael Bradley. What do you make of the youth movement we are seeing, three teenagers being regular starters, and how maybe what we see from this Red Bull team reflects the positives that can come from giving young players lots of opportunities but at the same time, also the risks with a lot of guys playing in their first pro seasons?

GREGG BERHALTER: You can see, as I mentioned, some inconsistencies in actions.

But what I also see is a ton of potential and bright spots in their group. When you think about Hall up top, really good improvement behind the back line, good first couple steps, good finishing. Really impressive striker. Someone we were looking at when I was in the national team to call up to the senior squad as such a young age.

Their midfielder, Benedetti is very calm on the ball, pro typical, Spanish No. 6, one, two touches, very smart player. To me, it's really enjoyable to watch those players. The young players, Dos Santos on the left is good on the ball, good passing, good penetrating passer.

For me it's an exciting group and for us we know the challenges that come with it. They have a lot of athleticism, they have a lot of running ability, they have a lot of pressure and for us it's going to be about how do we deal with that and play through it.