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Soccer

With Copa América near, Gregg Berhalter keeps focus on 2026 World Cup

Copa América is “a building block toward 2026,” the U.S. men’s soccer coach said Tuesday in a meeting with Washington Post reporters and editors.

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Gregg Berhalter, coach of the U.S. men's national team, is preparing for Copa América, and the 2026 World Cup is on the horizon. (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post)
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Players have started to arrive in Washington for the beginning of U.S. men’s national soccer team training camp — from clubs in England and Germany, Netherlands and France. Many more will report this weekend, plus a straggler from Belgium early next week.

A group that has grown close over the past five years — through highs and lows at the 2022 World Cup and mostly highs at several regional competitions — will reconstitute for an extended camp before an important summer.