Berhalter, who played seven years in Germany, has played several times against Frings, 34, and calls him "an exceptional player" and an "eccentric."
"On the field, in his day, he was an absolute animal, but he's also skilled, and he's good going forward," Berhalter said. "He meant a lot to all the teams he played on [Alemannia Aachen, Werder Bremen, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich]. ... The question is going to be how does he adapt to MLS, because it's not always easy for foreigners to adapt to MLS, especially guys from Europe. So we'll see. But he definitely has the quality, and I think if the set-up's right for him, he should do well."
Does Berhalter carry any personal animosity over the hand ball that was not called?
"Absolutely not. No," he replied. "I would have done the same thing."