U.S. Soccer Federation fires coach Gregg Berhalter

July 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. Soccer Federation fired men's national team manager Gregg Berhalter after the team failed to advance out of the group stage during the recent COPA America tournament in Atlanta.

Losses to Uruguay and Panama knocked the U.S. men's team out of the competition and resulted in Berhalter's firing effective immediately, ESPN, Bleacher Report and CBS Sports reported Wednesday.

"I want to thank Gregg for his hard work and dedication to U.S. Soccer and our men's national team," U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said in a statement.

"We are now focused on working with our Sporting Director Matt Crocker and leveraging his experience at the highest levels of the sport to ensure we find the right person to lead the USMNT into a new era of on-field success," Cone said.

Crocker made the decision to fire Berhalter after a 10-day review that included meetings with Cone, U.S. Soccer vice president of sporting Oguchi Onyewu, chief executive officer J.T. Batson and the U.S. Soccer board of directors.

The U.S. men's team failed to make it out of the CONMEBOL event's group stage for the first time in its five appearances in the international soccer competition.

The group stage losses are especially surprising as the United States hosted that stage of the soccer competition in locations in Canada, the United States and Mexico.

The losses prompted the American Outlaws fan group to call for Berhalter's immediate firing.

Berhalter coached the men's team for five years, but the team never won a top-tier match other than against a struggling Mexico team.

The men's team only won five matches against top-20 teams, but four of those were against Mexico and one against Iran.

Crocker said the search for Berhalter's replacement already has begun.

Potential replacements include Jose Mourinho, Joachim Low, and Zinedine Zidane.

Jurgen Klopp, Wilfried Nancy and Steve Cherundolo are among others thought to have a good shot at taking the helm of the U.S. men's national team.

Once a coach is hired, the focus will be on preparing for the 2026 World Cup hosted in the United States, Canada and Mexico.