CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 21, 2026

Gregg Berhalter

Press Conference

Q. Curious, to start off with, the midfield situation for this week with Anton and Sergio training, what your expectations are for them, and if you have to go with Mauricio and/or Joel again, what your confidence is with them after last weekend?

GREGG BERHALTER: I think the last game was an important step for the team in terms of being shorthanded and being able to respond.

We know that it's never easy in this league, and for us missing three midfielders and to come out with a win, what was important for the group in a shutout.

So now, as we have players returning, it's about assessing and seeing what's the best lineup, what's the best formation to help win a game against Toronto.

Q. So this is a unique year and there's a break, lengthy break in the middle of this season for the World Cup. Obviously the focus right now is on Toronto. But you know, putting on your other hat, looking at the organization more broadly in the first team, how are you looking to use that break for the second half of the year?

GREGG BERHALTER: Yeah, I think the first thing is some rest. Rest for the players. Relaxation after -- after Saturday.

And then for the organization, it's about how do we get better in the second half of the season. You know, really evaluating how we performed in the first half, and then looking at, you know, how do we add to the squad to continue to improve.

You know, I think most teams are going to be doing that in this break, in this lengthy break, so we need to make sure that we're ahead of the curve and keep improving the squad.

Q. Speaking of the World Cup, Chris Brady has had some great games lately, especially against Montréal. Curious where do you think he stands now that the roster is coming out in five days and in position to make the team?

GREGG BERHALTER: You know, I don't think it's important what I think right now honestly. All it really is is about players doing as much as they can to control what they can control.

And with a guy like Chris, that's exactly what he did, and then he has to be comfortable with whatever decision the coach makes, that he gave his best effort and he put his best foot forward, and he certainly did that.

We're supporting him a hundred percent, and you know, our fingers will be crossed.

Q. And speaking of fingers being crossed, I guess you'll be watching the roster release a little differently this time. There could be a Berhalter on that list. How is that going to be for you watching that on Tuesday?

GREGG BERHALTER: I think it's similar. Similar to, you now, what we talked about with Chris, is that all you could do is control your performance, and Sebastian has did a great job in doing that.

I think he should go into that Tuesday announcement with his head held high because no matter what happens, he knows he did everything to make the team.

Q. Talking about the World Cup break, I think last year, you mentioned once that you already have the team that you need to come with the roster, last year. And this summer, will you be looking at the teams and the players? Will you be scouting to look for some reinforcements?

GREGG BERHALTER: I think that, you know, we're always looking to improve, and we're looking at every position and saying, okay, how do we get better? And some of them may be a long-term view that we're taking. Some of them may be short term. But we want to improve and help this team and we also want to help our players that are here to perform at their highest level.

So it's always a combination of things that are at play to really help performance.

Q. Last week, a documentary series following the U.S. road to the World Cup was released. I don't know if you watched it. But in the first episode you talked about how the initiative was to rebuild the program in eight years, thinking of the upcoming World Cup. How do you think that rebuild has gone, and how do you see the state of the program heading into this tournament?

GREGG BERHALTER: I think it's an exciting moment for all of U.S. Soccer, and what I know is the players, the coaching staff, understand that.

And you know, that's the most important thing is that, you know, when -- when the opening whistle comes against Paraguay, the team that's on the field and the team that's on the bench and everyone is focused on how they can perform at their best levels.

You know, we have a good team. We have good players. We have experience from the last World Cup, and we'll be ready to play.

Q. I had a pleasure to meet you at the 2022 US Open before Iga Swiatek/Jessica Pegula game, and back then you shared with me that you have polish roots. You mentioned that your mom's maiden name is Skonieczna [sic]. I don't know if you remember that conversation. Any way, nice to talk to you.

GREGG BERHALTER: Great pronunciation. And great memory by the way.

Q. Nice to talk to you again, and congrats on a very decent start of the season. And speaking of Poland, there is a lot of speculation, where will Robert Lewandowski end up. But what is known right now that the only concrete offer that Robert has been presented with came from Chicago. So I just wanted to see what can you share with us on that? Because we know that he doesn't do anything haphazardly. He checks everything. He looks at both sides. He looks under every rack. We know that his lawyers talked to somebody from the organization about the taxes in the United States. So just curious, what can you share? Have you had a chance to talk to him? If yes, what was said, and if not what without him? Let's say he's here and he asked you, 'Why should I come and join Chicago Fire"?

GREGG BERHALTER: Well, first off, I don't believe that he doesn't have any other offers. That seems really hard to believe, a player of his caliber. I'm sure he does have offers presented to him.

But in terms of our communication, we've had a lot of communication, both with him, with his team. You name it.

And I can speak freely because he's not a player of Barcelona anymore, or he won't be a player as of next week. And it's someone that we're pursuing. We think that both the community, the Polish community, but not only that, the whole community of Chicago will get behind the signing. We think it's a fantastic signing for the club, for the city and for the league.

A player like that, this high level, can only help add to our group and add to our talent. We already have a really strong, attacking team, and to add to that would be -- would make us much stronger.

Q. A lot of conversations going on about the potential future of the squad coming after this World Cup break and about the World Cup itself because of the excitement around it. But there's a game coming up this Saturday. One of the challenges you've got has been that there's three young players that are hoping to make the World Cup squad for their respective teams. So what's the focus like been in the group this week, and what has been the work this week going into facing Toronto?

GREGG BERHALTER: Yeah, it's a good call to get us back to reality, right. Because at the end of the day, you know, our focus is on Saturday, and it's not on, you know, the World Cup right now. It's not on the World Cup rosters. It's not on any players we're going to bring in.

It's on our squad and how we can perform on Saturday. We know we have a difficult opponent. We know that they have had their share of adversity, also, this year and they are going to be hungry to get a win, and for us, it's about focus four 90-plus minutes to try to have a very good performance.

And what I would say is guys like Chris and Mbo and Puso and Joel, all the guys that are in contention, even Hugo and Anton, all of them have been really focused on the team and the group, on their performance.

We need that same type of effort and focus on Saturday because, you know, when I think about us playing against Montréal, you know, I didn't -- I didn't love the whole game, but what I loved more than anything was the mentality. Very strong mentality in the game no matter what -- how much we were pushed, we were strong in our defending. We were compact between our lines. And at the end of the day, we got a well-earned result.

So we will want to have the same mentality on Saturday.

Q. I guess, building on that, the last two games you got the win but they really weren't the prettiest of games to watch. How much at this point of the season is it about just getting those results so you can go into the break on a high?

GREGG BERHALTER: It depends what you think pretty is. You know, it depends on your perspective. Because from my perspective, when you play a team like D.C. that has the lowest ball-on-play time in the league, that's how the game is going to look, and it has less to do with what you're doing and a lot to do with what the opponent is doing.

And having said that, you know, we defended really well against D.C. First and second balls was immense. We didn't get flustered by the amount of set pieces they had, the amount of throws in they had, corner kicks. It didn't bother us.

And very similar against Montréal. Shorthanded team, playing players out of position. Third game in a week, and we got the job done.

So from my perspective, it was very pretty.

Q. When you came into this job, one of the things was getting Chicago back to being a team that everybody in MLS really respected, both as a group, commercially, all of it. With the All-Star voting coming out and having four different guys that have been really at the center of it from the team being Chris and Hugo, two guys that your group happened to inherit from coming in beforehand, and then Philip and Mbo coming in as guys you brought in, what does it do to this group to see that not only are your guys playing well but getting recognition, as well, from around the league?

GREGG BERHALTER: You know, I think that's nice but we do it to try to win championships, and that's the most important thing. It's such a long, long season and long grind, and you need to stay consistent. You need to have consistent effort over time.

And you know, the end game for us is to be a perennial contender. I'm not sure we're there yet. You know, last year, I'm not sure we proved that we were there. But we're making strides and we want to continue to improve and continue to compete.