While USMNT struggles, Berhalter and his old staff are winning big in MLS | OneFootball

Eight months later, the U.S. men's national team's twin defeats on the Concacaf Nations League final stage has some folks who watched the 2024 Copa America feeling deja vu all over again.

Not Gregg Berhalter or two of his former assistants, however.

The former USMNT boss who lost his job following the 2024 Copa has found the return to club football following his dismissal last summer to be quite productive so far with the Chicago Fire. And his former USMNT understudies B.J. Callaghan (Nashville SC) and Mikey Varas (San Diego FC) are also among the biggest positive surprises of the new season.

Here's how each has fared through Matchday 5:

Gregg Berhalter

Chicago Fire FC (3-1-1, 10 points)

Vancouver Whitecaps FC v Chicago Fire FC | Rich Lam/GettyImages

Berhalter's U.S. teams at times struggled to finish the chances they created. But his former Crew sides were much better at that, with Berhalter even gaining a reputation as a bit of a striker whisperer at the club level.

This time it's Hugo Cuypers benefitting from Berhalter's tutelage, surging into second place in the MLS Golden Boot race with five goals behind Philadelphia's Tai Baribo. And as a team, the Fire have already found the net 12 times. If they score only once per match over their remaining 29 league fixtures, they'll still score their most goals as a club since 2019.

The Fire have now won three straight after Saturday night's 3-1 win in Vancouver to hand an admittedly shorthanded Whitecaps side their first loss of the season.

B.J. Callaghan

Nashville SC (3-1-1, 10 points)

New York Red Bulls v Nashville SC | Ira L. Black - Corbis/GettyImages

Callaghan was one of Berhalter's assistants with the USMNT and served as interim manager while Berhalter's had lapsed following the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Now in his first senior full-time managerial job, he's led Nashville to three straight victories, including an impressive 3-1 win at the Philadelphia Union on Matchday 4 and an entirely comfortable 3-0 triumph over CF Montreal on Matchday 5.

Edvard Tagseth and Ahmed Qasem both look to be low key excellent signings for the Coyotes, who suddenly seem to have far more balance than in the last season or two, when it felt like the burden to win matches hung entirely on Hany Mukhtar.

Mikey Varas

San Diego FC (2-1-2, 8 points)

San Diego FC v Columbus Crew | Orlando Ramirez/GettyImages

Another Berhalter assistant, Varas was the last USMNT interim manager in September before Mauricio Pochettino took over for the October international window.

At San Diego, he's the first-ever manager of MLS' 30th club, and so far has earned better results than most expected. And had they finished one of a flurry of chances in their 2-1 loss to Austin FC Sunday, they would've become only the second expansion side to go five matches unbeaten to start life in MLS, joining a 2023 St. Louis side that won its first five.

What's particularly impressive about what Varas is doing is that most of it has come without headline signing Chucky Lozano. The Mexican star has been out since Matchday 2 with a hamstring strain.