As Inter Miami and the Vancouver Whitecaps finalize preparations for Saturday’s MLS Cup faceoff at Chase Field in Fort Lauderdale, Steve Cherundolo — the coach of the 2022 winners and 2023 runners-up — is back in Germany, reunited with his family, reflecting on his tenure with Los Angeles FC, and waiting for whatever comes next.

The former U.S. national team fullback wrapped up four years as LAFC’s head coach and five within the club with the wild Western Conference semifinal two weeks ago at Vancouver, a clash sent to overtime on Son Heung-min’s magnificent, stoppage-time free kick and lost on penalties after a late barrage against the nine-man Whitecaps produced nothing but heartache.

Within a day or so, he was en route to Hannover, his adopted hometown, where he’d spent his professional playing career and built a home with his wife, Mandy, and their young daughters Liv and Bella. They’d returned from Los Angeles a month or so earlier.

Cherundolo, 46, announced in April that this season, his fourth in charge of the Major League Soccer powerhouse, would be his last, that “much reflection and discussion with my family” had determined that returning home to Germany, his wife and children’s homeland, was “in the best interest of my family.”

It’s a bittersweet departure; he’d hoped to leave with another MLS Cup trophy. LAFC was among the favorites after Korean superstar striker Son Heung-min arrived in August from Tottenham, quickly built a partnership with goal-heavy winger Denis Bouanga, and steered the side to its best form since that 2022 Supporters’ Shield/MLS Cup run and its carryover through the first half of the following season.

Cherundolo’s run ended at the spot, a 4-3 PK defeat after a throbbing 3-3 draw as Son clanged off the right post and Mark Delgado skied his try well above the crossbar. The San Diegan says he could have remained with LAFC “for a very long time,” but there was need for the Cherundolos to “slow down a little bit” after five years in Los Angeles’ constant hustle.

He’s a club legend at Hannover 96, which he joined in 1999, following his sophomore year at the University of Portland. He spent 16 seasons there, the last four as captain, was dubbed the “mayor of Hannover,” and started his coaching career within the club.

He joined LAFC in 2021, first as head coach of its developmental second team, then succeeding Bob Bradley as first-team boss in 2022. He guided LAFC to the Shield/Cup double that year, reached the Concacaf Champions Cup and MLS Cup finals the following season, then won the U.S. Open Cup and made it to the Leagues Cup final in 2023. This was the first season in his tenure without a trophy nor a title-game appearance.

He won more than 100 games, all competitions, and captured five trophies across four seasons with teams that featured the likes of Gareth Bale, Giorgio Chiellini, Hugo Lloris, Carlos Vela, Olivier Giroud, Son and Bouanga. LAFC under Cherundolo went 71-36-29 in MLS regular-season play, 10-3-2 in the postseason — one of those draws, in that stirring 2022 championship game against the Philadelphia Union, followed by a penalty-kicks triumph — and 104-51-39 in total.

Marc Dos Santos, one of Cherundolo’s chief assistants during his tenure, was announced Friday as his successor.

Soccer America sat down with Cherundolo just before the Vancouver game to chat about his time with LAFC and in Los Angeles, the pull Germany holds on him and his family, and what he hopes to be doing as he returns to the European game.

SOCCER AMERICA: Reflecting on your time with LAFC and within the organization, the season with Las Vegas Lights included, what means most to you? What are the things you think you’re going to carry with you the rest of your life?

STEVE CHERUNDOLO: The relationships that you build, first and foremost. The coaching staff and players, and then management, ownership, and then some people in Los Angeles who have nothing to do with LAFC.

And also the time being close to my family from San Diego and being in Southern California again, and being able to share that with my children and my wife, show them kind of where dad grew up. That was really special.

SOCCER AMERICA: In your estimation, when was LAFC at its absolute best? 

CHERUNDOLO: Each team is different. I’d love to give you one moment, so we can just focus in on that team and why and when, but each team is different. Each team has its own story. Each team has its own wants and needs.

This particular group, with the addition of Sonny in the summer transfer window and after he found his legs a little bit, we found our stride. 

SOCCER AMERICA: You seemed to really find it coming out of the September international break, that six-game winning streak that started with the 4-2 victory at San Jose, the two 4-1 wins over Real Salt Lake, and then 3-0 at St. Louis City.

CHERUNDOLO: Yeah, the way we’ve built the rosters over the past couple of years has been we finish the roster in the summertime. Next year will be the first time that will be a little different. The majority of this team is coming back next year, so really happy for the next coach. Not so good for me.

And then in ’27, with the calendar change, it’s going to be a little different. So I think you’re going to see the strongest teams at the beginning of the season as opposed to the end of the season.

SOCCER AMERICA: How close did you ever come to being satisfied?

CHERUNDOLO: A little bit of a flaw in my personality. … OK, you did say, “Close.”

SOCCER AMERICA: I don’t think there’s ever a coach that is actually satisfied.

CHERUNDOLO: No, no. Even in ’22, I think we were nine points clear going into the summer transfer window, and we made a lot of changes. You would think obvious changes, right? Gareth Bale, Giorgio Chiellini. But it actually took time to figure that out. And then adding a couple more, Denis and Sebastian Mendes and Cristian Tello. So wonderful players and a very deep bench.

I think the roster in the MLS Cup final in ’22 was pretty spectacular. That was pretty darn close to being satisfied, as far as roster goes. Style of play, I think some of our best football has been most recently. And so I think I’m very happy with that.

SOCCER AMERICA: Which accomplishments do you find most meaningful?

CHERUNDOLO: I think trying to have sustained success in our league with all the challenges we have and with the rules of a league built on parity, for good reasons. I think [those rules were] necessary for a long time. What does MLS 3.0 look like? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll be part of it someday again, but I’m happy to also watch from abroad.

Having sustained success year after year in this league is difficult, and there aren’t many teams who have been able to do that. And I think that is not just good players and rosters. It’s also a way of working and methodology, and that I’m very proud of.