Gio Reyna, Folarin Balogun and the winners and losers of Gregg Berhalter's USMNT return

We'll start with the obvious one. Of course, Berhalter is a winner here. It seems he had other jobs on the table, with Club America and Sparta Rotterdam among the clubs linked, but there's no doubt that this was the preferred option. Who wouldn't want a chance to run it back after what we saw at the 2022 World Cup? Who wouldn't want another crack at a cycle with this young, talented, evolving player pool?

The truth is that, if not for everything that went down at the start of 2023, there's a pretty good chance Berhalter would have been in place long before this. It's clear that all involved wanted to make this partnership work given the lengths they went to to make sure that it did.

But that's the past. Going forward, Berhalter obviously has some work to do to repair relationships with some names on this list. He'll have to ensure that this team continues to take steps forward. And, most importantly, he'll have to get results at the 2024 Copa America and the 2026 World Cup, both on home soil.

Both Berhalter and U.S. Soccer did a lot of work to get back to this point. Now, they'll have to prove it was the right call, which Berhalter has the ability to do over the next three years.

Another obvious one, as this appointment means that Reyna must prepare for some awkward conversations. The issue could have been left in the past if any other coach had come in, but now Reyna and Berhalter will have to sit in a room and hash it out. Berhalter says he's ready to do just that, stressing that he sees Reyna as a game-changer. It'll take a lot of maturity and understanding from both if they are to navigate this mess, but doing so is key to the national team's future.

Make no mistake: Reyna is the national team's future. He's arguably the team's most talented player, one that can legitimately change a game at any time. Berhalter's first priority is getting Reyna back on board. He's just that important.

Reyna, though, will have been eager to move on, for sure. Now, this story will loom over him for some time. That first camp together will surely be awkward, and Reyna will certainly need to answer questions about all of this at some point.

Life would have been a bit easier for Reyna if anyone else had come in. Berhalter, though, isn't anyone else, which means Reyna will have a bit of extra work to do by having a very human conversation with his once and future coach.

For all of the arguments over tactics, the national team coach's job, by and large, is to empower his players. The job, mainly, is to bring in the right individuals, keep them bought in and play them in a way that allows them to succeed. There isn't enough time together to have overly-complicated tactics most of the cycle, but there's always time to keep the players right, on and off the field.

Because of that, player opinion is important here. So, when several of the team's top stars come out and openly campaign for Berhalter's return, you have to take that into account.

Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah, notably, were among those to publicly throw their support behind Berhalter, citing his importance to the team's growth. Their praise centered around the culture that Berhalter built, one that the players feel remains vital to the national team's success.

And yes, Berhalter does deserve credit for building that culture. After the disaster that was the 2018 cycle, he's the one who made the national team environment fun again. He got players to buy in and then empowered them by establishing a leadership council that gave them a say on everything from practice times to disciplinary decisions.

That's all more important than the outside world may understand. While various social media users may be unhappy about this decision, several key players will be thrilled and, when it comes down to it, we'll trust the players' side.

Reyna isn't the only USMNT star that Berhalter will need to work with to repair a relationship. Due to the nature of his job, several players were left heartbroken last fall, and now Berhalter will have to make sure that they're welcomed back into the fold for his second tenure.

Ricardo Pepi is one, for sure. He's detailed his frustration with missing out on the World Cup, even if, due to his age, it won't be his last chance. In the months since, he's been scoring goals for Groningen, which is key. His national team career is far from over.

The same can be said for Zack Steffen, a player who also shockingly missed out on the trip to Qatar. He spent the year playing at Middlesbrough and, while his club future is uncertain, he is still very much in the player pool.

Jordan Pefok will have a gripe, as will John Brooks, who, to be fair, may not play for the national team again. Matt Miazga will, though, having been named to the Gold Cup roster, and he has previously said that he felt "screwed" by the coaching staff last cycle.

It's one of the most difficult parts of a second cycle. At the end of the day, only so many players can go to a World Cup, and there will always be some left frustrated that they didn't get the chance. For the coach, the job quickly becomes to get those players onside again, as many could play a part further down the line.

What will that look like under Berhalter? We'll see, but the slate obviously won't be as clean as it could have been as he returns for round two.

For the first time, we'll talk about on-field scenarios here. As a striker, Balogun could certainly benefit from Berhalter-ball as we know it.

We've seen it for years, dating back to Berhalter's time with the Columbus Crew. In the attack, Berhalter likes wingers that can beat a man, get to the line and create danger with a cross. He also likes strikers that can finish a tap-in or two when all of that goes right.

That's the key part of Berhalter's attack: the finisher. For the past several years, the U.S. hasn't necessarily had that. The team has had strikers with good hold-up play or good passing or good movement, but they haven't really had anyone that can put the ball in the back of the net. Enter Balogun, a player that certainly can do just that. In Berhalter's system, Balogun's job should be simple: finish. What else could a striker ask for?

Let's be clear: Balogun would likely flourish under any coach. It's clear that he's a talented young player that can do many things well, and he'll only get better. But Berhalter has made things work with strikers much less efficient than Balogun, who should be on the end of plenty of quality chances in the next few years.

They may have gotten the hire right. We'll find out over the next few years, for sure. Still, there's no doubt that the federation did frustrate a large section of the fanbase with how all of this went down.

Berhalter divides opinion, of course, and turning back to him after a six-month coaching search does invite criticism. There are those that will say that the domestic violence incident should disqualify him. Some will say the results weren't good enough, while others will say they dislike two-cycle coaches. All have a point, and each of those criticisms is valid.

It is important to note, though, that there is also a section of the fanbase that is impossible to please. Twitter is Twitter, after all, and there is a group of people that will be angry just because.

Forget about those people, though, because there is a section of the fanbase that looks at things logically, and even many of those fans were left demoralized by how this process went. A six-month search just to end up on the guy you had before? Having the announcement leak right before a historic win over Mexico? And then he doesn't even start until the fall?!? It all looks a bit bad.

U.S. Soccer knew what this would look like, of course. They knew that many would be upset by this decision, but they made it anyway. Now, they'll just hope they got it right.