It wasn’t much to look at in the moment, the sort of transaction that flies under the radar for all but the most obsessed fans. The baseline General Allocation Money (GAM) involved – $50,000 – is the lowest amount MLS regulations allow to be included in a trade.
In retrospect, getting shipped from the Columbus Crew to Vancouver Whitecaps FC might have saved Sebastian Berhalter’s career.
“I always joke that I got traded for a couple of ball bags,” Vancouver’s do-it-all central midfielder told MLSsoccer.com with a quick smile this week.
“But there's nothing wrong with that. I got the opportunity, so that's kind of what matters most.”
Breakout season
It was February 2022. Berhalter had just returned to the Crew from a year-long loan at Austin FC, the central Texans having not seen enough in his 651 league minutes (five starts) to take up their option to acquire him permanently. Columbus’ staff didn’t have him in their plans for the coming season, either, offering him only a spot on their reserve squad.
Three-plus years on from that ultimately pivotal juncture in his life, Berhalter finds himself at a drastically different altitude. He’s charting a breakout 2025, having produced a litany of breathtaking performances in both MLS and Concacaf Champions Cup play to power the Whitecaps – completely contrary to just about everyone’s preseason expectations – to the top of the Supporters’ Shield table and a place in the CCC final against Cruz Azul in Mexico City on June 1.
His relentless work on both sides of the ball has been industrious and intelligent, spiked with clutch touches of final-third class to produce goals and assists for his side. It’s earned him Best XI honors in the semifinal and quarterfinal rounds of CCC as he posted three goals, two assists and 12 key passes across eight matches in that tournament, in addition to 1g/2a in MLS action.
The underlying data drives it all home. Glance at Berhalter’s dazzling scouting report on FBREF.com and you’ll see a whole lot of big green bars.
Perhaps most remarkable of all? Essentially no one expected anything of the sort. Even ‘Caps head coach Jesper Sørensen, himself a key architect in Berhalter’s breakthrough campaign, admits as much.
“No, I hadn't seen this coming from him, that he could play at this level,” the Dane told MLSsoccer.com, alluding to his film analysis of Vancouver’s previous season – Berhalter had to play several games as a wingback under former manager Vanni Sartini – as he took the reins over the winter.
“It's not really comparable to what I saw, either, in last year, when I studied the games he played as well; he wasn't a regular starter always," Sørensen noted. "But when I arrived, I saw a very competitive person that was driven towards becoming better all the day, all the time, in preseason."
Leap forward
Thus far neither Sørensen nor his players have let slip many details about his methodical, possession-centered game model, nor the skillful ways in which he’s coaxed higher levels of performance out of nearly every individual on a roster previously thought to be short on elite talent. One can identify a hint of his cleverness, though, as he describes his early diagnosis of Berhalter.
“When I studied him, I saw a player that I think ran too much, was running at the same pace all the time, and maybe things became a little bit too hectic sometimes,” recalled Sørensen. “We have had some talks about that, that he has to slow down and use his energy the way that it fits him, and fits the team best. And I think that he is constantly developing. Right now he's also in great shape and great form and scoring, has a lot of confidence, which also accelerates his development.
“When you put in the work and you study everything, and you just want to have the ambitions, then you have the opportunity to make great progress.”
Berhalter himself views this great leap forward rather differently.
“I don't want to sound arrogant saying I expected it. But it's something that, when you put in the work every day and you do the right things, it's going to come, and you’ve just got to trust it, be patient,” he said. “We're also 11, 12 MLS games into the season, so there's still a lot of season to go, and I know that, and I’m taking it one moment at a time, not looking too far ahead.
“I don't want to say I'm an underrated player or someone who came out of nowhere. Like, I've been doing the right things for a couple years now,” Berhalter continued. “Jesper has added a different element, and he's made me better – you know, that's something that I credit Jesper to. Now it's about just keep pushing, keep winning games and winning trophies.”
SNS showcase
This weekend, he’ll mark his 24th birthday on Saturday, then host LAFC – so often VWFC’s bogey team in recent years – in a tasty Western Conference clash at BC Place for Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire (7 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+).
The Angelinos have inflicted one humbling after another in high-profile meetings with their Canadian counterparts, eliminating the ‘Caps from the last two editions of the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs and the 2023 ConcaChampions – by an aggregate score of 15-6. Even if last autumn’s postseason duel was decided by much finer margins, it’s been a profoundly discouraging history for the British Columbians.
This time, the Black & Gold are looking up at VWFC, after some spring struggles saw them sink to midtable in the West while crashing out of CCC in the quarterfinals against Inter Miami. As thrilling as Vancouver’s 11W-2L-6D record across all competitions has been for their supporters, turning the tables on LAFC would taste particularly sweet.
“It motivates you, especially how many times they beat us, man – playoff series, Champions League, all this crap,” said Berhalter. “As a player, you want to go out there and get the job done. So I think the guys are going to be motivated – motivated to go out there, especially in front of our home crowd, and get the win."
Family name
It is both unexpected and somehow quite fitting to delve this far into Berhalter’s story with nary a mention of the family member whose name precedes him: His father Gregg, the head coach and director of football for Chicago Fire FC and the US men’s national team manager for five years.
Gregg has been a vital figure in Sebastian’s journey, albeit in a different and surprisingly low-key fashion compared to other prominent soccer dads, starting with how rarely he actually coached his son’s teams throughout his childhood.
“Growing up, my dad wasn't too involved, honestly. I never trained with him, really; maybe a couple times growing up,” revealed Sebastian. “I know a lot of other parents that took their kids to the field, and he just didn't have time, you know? And I would always here and there ask him questions, and he would come to games sometimes, and he would give me feedback. But he wasn't super, heavily involved.
“He told me, ‘If you want this, you’ve got to do it yourself. I'm not going to sit here and hold your hand.’”
Here, it must be noted, that Gregg was hardly the only soccer-savvy adult in that household. Sebastian’s mother Rosalind won four NCAA national championships with Anson Dorrance’s powerhouse University of North Carolina women’s teams of the early 1990s, her class finishing their collegiate careers with an incredible 97W-1L-1D record over four seasons.
He says both parents let their eldest child find his own way in the game, rather than be guided.
“My mom was always there as a rock. I'm lucky that she also knows soccer,” explained Sebastian. “She was always there to support me, and here and there would give me little things. But yeah, growing up was just trying to figure it out by myself, and I think that gave me the biggest motivation to just keep getting better.
“Having [Gregg] as a resource 1,000% helps,” he added. “The guy is one of the smartest soccer coaches or people I even talk to about the game of soccer. So having him is really nice. And he's also been through it – it's like having a retired player always in your corner. That's something that not a lot of people get to have. So I'm super fortunate.”
Still, his father inevitably cast a shadow when Sebastian reached the professional level, earning a homegrown contract from Columbus in 2020 after one season of college ball at UNC, both his parents’ alma mater. How could it be otherwise? Gregg had been the Crew’s coach and sporting director for five of the previous six years.
“Definitely, the microscope was on me a little bit more. I think any time your dad's the coach of the club, you're always going to be judged a certain way, always be looked at a certain way. But for me, it was just about doing my own thing,” said the younger Berhalter, who credits the whispers of nepotism for giving him an “edge,” a fighting spirit that proved useful.
“I definitely messed up a couple times, definitely learned the hard way. But I think that made me the person I am today. There's always going to be talk: ‘He doesn't deserve this, it's given to him.’ But to me, that just motivates me more; I know that I’ve got to work double as hard to prove everyone wrong.”
Change of scenery
Even that loan stint at Austin wasn’t quite hitting the reset button, since Josh Wolff, Berhalter’s assistant with both Columbus and the USMNT, was in charge of the Verde & Black at the time. It all helps explain why the move to far-flung Vancouver, perched on the edge of the MLS map, proved so timely.
“A change of scenery was good,” said Berhalter. “I was at two teams where, one was my dad's old club, and then one was my dad’s assistant coach. And I think it was a good time to transition and get away a little bit and just start my own journey.”
He would come to fall in love with Rain City, both on the pitch – earning a new contract that runs through the current season with a club option for 2026 – and off it, seduced by its natural beauty, cosmopolitan city life and the Whitecaps’ central place in its deeply-rooted soccer culture.
“It's the best, honestly,” Berhalter said. “I get home and I get to see the water and the mountains from my apartment, and then just every time I smile. I know that there's going to be days that I'm looking back in five, 10 years like, 'Wow, I can't believe I lived in Vancouver for however long I live there.' It's such a special place; the people are really cool, too.
“It's a real community, and to see these last couple weeks of the fans just rallying around the team has been something that's been so special … it's just a really cool place to live.”
Dreaming big
‘Caps fans have ridden an emotional roller coaster over the past few months. The club exited the ‘24 postseason at the hands of LAFC (again), parted ways with Sartini, and then were put up for sale, sparking fears of a relocation akin to that of the NBA’s Grizzlies at the turn of the century, only for the squad to charm the city all over again with this gutsy, inspiring surge into the MLS and North American elite.
It all crystallized in their CCC semifinal first-leg win over Miami. A sellout crowd packed BC Place to not only cheer on their side, but heartily boo Lionel Messi and the Herons’ superstars to an extent they’ve rarely encountered on this continent en route, setting the stage for a 5-1 aggregate triumph that Berhalter calls “probably the biggest games I've ever played in.”
He took particular inspiration from a pregame tifo hoisted by supporters’ groups in the stadium’s south end, a message he’s carrying onward.
“For me it was the beginning of the game, seeing the fans saying that ‘you allowed us to dream again,’” he recalled. “I got a little choked up before the game, just thinking, wow, people count on us, people really believe in us, and that hit me in that moment.
"I had to kind of re-gather myself and say, 'OK, let's do this for them, and let's be dreamers.' That's something that I think the fans really installed in us.”
That helped Berhalter power through the gut-wrenching pain of a second-leg yellow card that will force him to miss the final – “you're disappointed, but the biggest thing is just seeing everyone happy in the finals and knowing that we have a chance. And I'm confident that our group’s going to do it,” he said. It also figures to fuel him for what the Whitecaps believe can be a push for trophies on multiple fronts in the months ahead.
USMNT ambition
On an individual level, the $10,000 question is whether he’s done enough to earn the attention of Mauricio Pochettino, his father’s USMNT successor, as the final countdown begins to next summer’s World Cup (or even this summer's Gold Cup). Sebastian has only briefly worn his country’s colors, way back in a U16 youth national team camp he calls “pretty much nothing,” and says he hasn’t been contacted by Poch or his staff.
He dreams of doing so again, even more so having spent the past few years on Canadian soil.
“I am American, and I’ve probably watched the most US games out of anyone in the last six years – there's not a game I've missed in the last six years. And then also, having my dad go to two World Cups, it's kind of in me,” said Berhalter.
“Living abroad also helped me realize how proud I am of my country. I feel like growing up, I wasn't – it was kind of whatever to me, and I didn't really understand it. But now I know. Going abroad, and especially living abroad, it gave me a different appreciation.”
Just don’t expect him to argue his own case for inclusion. That’s understandable: He’s doing so via his exploits on the pitch.
“I know I can play at that level. I don't feel like I need to pitch anything,” said Berhalter. “It's something that I know I'm capable of, and I know I can step in and do a job. [There’s] always pride in playing for your country. So I think within those two things, if my name is called, I'll be ready.”
