He’s not even supposed to be here.
After being snubbed from Gregg Berhalter’s initial roster, Haji Wright pulled his coach’s bacon out of the fire on Thursday night. The striker came off the bench to bag a brace as the US men’s national team narrowly avoided a historically disastrous loss to Jamaica in the Concacaf Nations League semifinals in Arlington, Texas with a storming comeback from 1-0 down to 3-1 winners after extra time.
A night that started disastrously – sleepy defending by both fullbacks, Antonee “Jedi” Robinson and Joe Scally, led to Gregory Leigh’s goal just 30 seconds after the opening whistle – ended with inspiration, and elation. The Yanks can now secure a third consecutive CNL title with a win in Sunday’s final against Mexico (9:15 pm ET | Paramount+, UniMás).
“All a guy can do is what he just did. He actually got man of the match, coaches’ man in the match, for good reason,” Berhalter told reporters of Wright postgame. “Because you have to shake off the disappointment of not getting selected in the first place. Then you come into the group and it's always an odd feeling because you feel like you're a second choice. But when I called him and told him he wasn't in the team, the message was listen, you're doing everything right. You can't do anything more. So just be patient.”
Wright seizes his chance
In fact, it was a lack of patience that served the Los Angeles native well on this remarkable occasion at AT&T Stadium. It took a late-breaking injury to Josh Sargent for a space to open up a spot for Wright, who’s been in strong form for Coventry City and actually netted a dramatic 100th-minute winner for his club in their FA Cup upset of Wolverhampton Wanderers over the weekend.
On Thursday night Berhalter revealed when he told Wright he was wanted as a replacement for Sargent, he caught the striker at an awkward moment – and just in the nick of time.
“He was getting on a plane to go to Dubai. He had a family vacation planned for the international break,” said the coach. “So I called him and he was like, 'Well, I'm at the airport and my whole family's here, my agent’s already there and my girlfriend’s going, she planned the whole thing.' Really, this really happened.
“I said, 'I can imagine, Haji, I'm gonna give you 10 minutes – I didn't give him a time limit, but let's hang up and just think about it, process it, right? I know it's a lot of information right now for you to handle. I know you got your parents, the bags are packed and you're at the airport, but just think about it for 10 minutes and give me a call back.' And he called me back and he said 'I’m in.' And when I heard that, it really shows what type of guy he is, what type of character he is.”
When Wright got his chance, he seized it, pushing relentlessly when all hope seemed lost for the Yanks, who’d been laboring awkwardly to break down the Caribbean side’s 5-4-1 low-block formation.
“I thought the execution from the guys of this match, given all the absentees we have, was brilliant,” said Jamaica manager Heimir Hallgrímsson of his side’s massive effort and heartbreaking late gut punch. “Tactically they were good, defensively they were absolutely spot on … Overall I felt really comfortable, even though the possession was US. I even felt that they [the USMNT] kind of gave [up] trying to score in the end. We just took all the momentum away.
“We should have killed the game off in these 90 minutes. But it really, really hurts and I feel for the guys, doing so well for 95 minutes and concede a goal with the last touch of the game.”
First Wright pressed the Reggae Boyz defense to earn the USMNT one final corner kick deep into second-half injury time, which set the stage for FC Cincinnati’s Miles Robinson to flick the delivery on at the near post, the ball then clanging off Cory Burke for a dramatic, fluky own-goal equalizer. Then Wright struck up an incisive connection with fellow substitute Gio Reyna, who served up excellent through-ball assists for both of his goals.
Reyna shows he belongs
Reyna remains a flashpoint for this team in every sense of the word, with creativity and swagger unique to the USMNT pool, but a growing list of complications that have sidetracked his club career. Berhalter has kept faith in him despite his lack of playing time at Nottingham Forest and the tortuous drama that erupted between them at and after the 2022 World Cup, and was rewarded here.
The coach flashed a rare moment of defiance and attitude when Reyna’s name was brought up, seemingly referring to remarks made in recent days by Jesse Marsch – reportedly a leading candidate to take Berhalter’s job during his six-month exile after the World Cup as the ‘Reynagate’ controversy bubbled – questioning whether Reyna should have been called in after so few minutes for his club.
“I think I heard somewhere or read somewhere, ‘Why did Gio get called into camp?’ You guys hear that? Anyone?” Berhalter asked reporters rhetorically. “Well, I think he showed why he got called into camp. Amazing quality, amazing talent. And for us, it's about supporting him through the difficult times of adapting to the Premier League.
“But his quality is unquestionable, when you see the plays he made on both the second and third goal,” he added. “He has that quality that not many players have and it's clear that he deserves to play on this team.”
Jamaica had won just three of these sides’ 32 previous meetings all-time and were missing a handful of their top talents like Michail Antonio and Leon Bailey. But the USMNT defense’s lack of focus in the opening moments handed them a precious lead to defend, and defend it well they did.
“The worst thing to do against a 5-4-1 is give up an early goal. You see how they protected a lead and were very compact and very difficult to break down,” said Berhalter. “All I can do is credit the boys, and credit their spirit and their perseverance because on a night when we didn't play our best, they kept going and going and going. And we got the goal right at the end, which is miraculous. You don't often get that. But then to keep going and say ‘OK, we're not going to penalties, we're winning this thing in regulation,’ I think is a testament to the group we have.”
