From the Stands to the Pitch: How Sebastian Berhalter Turned a Rejection Into a World Cup Moment

Four years ago, Sebastian Berhalter was just another face in the crowd at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. He was there to support his father, then-USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter, sitting in the friends and family section while the players wore the crest. He had no reason to believe he’d ever be one of them.

Now, after a 4-1 demolition of Paraguay that marked his World Cup debut, Berhalter is proving that the label ‘coach’s kid’ no longer applies. The 25-year-old Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder entered as a second-half substitute for Christian Pulisic, becoming the 28th father-son duo in World Cup history to share the stage. And the moment, he admits, still feels like a joke he’s waiting to wake up from.

“Even before the game, I just kept chuckling to myself, like, what the hell is going on?” Berhalter told reporters at the USMNT’s training base in Irvine, California. “I couldn’t believe it.”

What makes Berhalter’s rise so striking is the path he took to get here. At 21, he had attended exactly one youth national team camp — where he was told he wasn’t good enough. That rejection became fuel. An even sharper sting came two years later, when his own father delivered a similar message in a candid moment captured in FIFA’s ‘Letters That Unite’ series.

Since then, Berhalter’s career has veered sharply upward. He became the engine of a Whitecaps team that reached both the MLS Cup and Concacaf Champions Cup finals in 2025. That’s when current USMNT boss Mauricio Pochettino took notice.

“From day one he believed in me,” Berhalter said of Pochettino. “He just said, ‘I saw something in you before, playing in Vancouver.’ That’s all I can ask for: a coach that believes in you.”

Berhalter earned his World Cup roster spot after showing out at the 2025 Gold Cup, where his passing range and set-piece delivery turned heads. But his teammates say it’s the intangibles that separate him.

“Tenacity,” said USMNT midfielder Tyler Adams when asked what Berhalter brings. “Seb’s a glue guy. Every single day in training, he competes at a super high level. He’s improved so much as a player, and that’s shown since he’s come into the fold.”

Against Paraguay, Berhalter got the call to enter during halftime after Pulisic took a hard knock. He was told just 30 seconds before running on. “Sometimes it’s better because you don’t think about it,” he said. “You’re just ready to go in.”

Now the USMNT faces a Friday showdown with Australia in Seattle for top spot in Group D. The Socceroos arrive with a chip on their shoulder, fueled by comments from U.S. analysts who called them a limited side. But Berhalter knows better. He watched Australia stiff-arm Turkey 2-0 in Vancouver.

“You like teams that have that brotherhood,” he said. “You like teams that when you go against them, you can see they’re hungry. Because it makes you raise your level that much more.”