'We need to hold him accountable' - USMNT boss Gregg Berhalter rips into fullback Sergino Dest over 'inexcusable' red card against Trinidad and Tobago

In a true moment of madness, Sergino Dest was sent off against Trinidad and Tobago after picking up two yellow cards in 20 seconds for dissent. The fullback was even pulled away by teammates after the first, but he refused to listen, and was removed from the match. U.S. boss Berhalter spoke on the incident postgame, saying he's disappointed in the 23-year-old, but doesn't want the issue to develop into a "witch hunt" either.

Berhalter has already had one major player-coach incident during his tenure with the USMNT, after the Gio Reyna situation following the conclusion of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Now, the last thing the U.S. needs is another top young player suffering a similar incident with the head coach. However, after the antics from Dest - including his inability to listen to his teammates and essentially insult them - Berhalter clearly has a lot of thinking to do over the fullback's future with his program.

The USMNT boss said: "It is concerning because that's not what we want to represent. That's not who we are as a group. We pride ourselves on staying mentally disciplined, battling through any type of conditions, whether they're good decisions or bad decisions. We're supposed to keep going and respond in an appropriate way, and that obviously wasn't the right response from Sergino. He apologized to the group. He said it's not going to happen again. As a team, players, the staff, we need to hold him accountable because it's inexcusable. It really is and we were very firm with our words after the game. He put a number of guys in jeopardy and made a number of guys do a lot of extra work in this weather and it's inexcusable.

“I've been asked three or four questions about Sergino already and I don’t want this to become a witch hunt. He’s a young player, he’s a fantastic part of this team. He's going to learn and grow. He made a dumb mistake and he knows that. He apologized to the team and we will move forward.”

Berhalter's squad have no remaining matches on their 2023 calendar, so 2024 now awaits the group, with three major tournaments on the horizon: The CONCACAF Nations League, the Copa America and the Olympics, although the latter will see the U-23 squad, coached by Marko Mitrovic, play at the games.