FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The Huntsville City Football Club gave outgoing interim head coach Christosphe Berra a going away present in the form of a win Wednesday, leaving New England victorious despite playing a man down for the final 40 minutes.
HCFC, which announced Monday that Berra was leaving the team following Wednesday’s match, defeated the New England Revolution II 2-1 in a clash that kicked off at 10 a.m. CDT.
Berra, the club’s second head coach this season after he replaced Jack Collison, addressed his departure following the match.
The Edinburgh native and his wife have a young daughter and are expecting another child. With a baby on the way the Berras are returning to Scotland to be near family.
“I think at this moment in our time, in our life, for my family’s benefit, my wife’s benefit, for my daughter’s benefit, it’s best to be around family with my wife having a child,” Berra, 39, said. “You know, it’s a really big moment in everyone’s life. Yes, football means a lot to me, means a world to me.
“And if I didn’t have football, my life, obviously, I wouldn’t be that same person. But family is more important.’’
For now, the Boys in Blue will be under the direction of assistants Fabio Hernandez and Zac Herold as the club processes its coaching options. An interim head coach will not be named.
“Zac will take the head seat in the dugout on gameday,” said Matt Cairns, HCFC’s Director of Soccer Operations.
Berra replaced Collison on April 13, prior to this season’s fifth match. Collison was the first coach in HCFC’s history after being named prior to the club’s inaugural 2023 season.
Berra led HCFC (3–9-4-0) to its three wins, including Wedneday’s 2-1 decision behind goals from Jony Bolanos and Woobens Pacius.
“I feel like it’s never a good thing, fun thing to go through,” said midfielder Isaiah Jones. “So many coaches, but I feel like we still have the same squad and same players, and together you can see we can give ourselves. So no matter who comes in, we know we’re gonna work, we know we’re gonna give it all.
“And really, the coaching situation shouldn’t really affect us too much. We just got to keep pushing.’’
The Boys in Blue will be back in action Sunday at 5 p.m. at Inter Miami CF II. The match can be seen on MLS Season Pass on AppleTV, while fans can gather at the official watch party at Innerspace Brewing Co.
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