Gregg Berhalter’s future as U.S. men’s national team remains uncertain after the recent expiration of his contract, but now the American coach has become the center of controversy after the revelation of an incident in his past that has sparked an investigation by U.S. Soccer.
Berhalter revealed on Tuesday an incident of domestic violence that occurred in 1991 between him and his future wife Rosalind when Berhalter was 18. Berhalter’s revelation came shortly before U.S. Soccer announced its own investigation into the incident.
According to the statement released by Berhalter via Twitter, an individual threatened to blackmail him and U.S. Soccer with the information about the 1991 incident in hopes of ending Berhalter’s tenure as USMNT coach.
“In the fall of 1991, I met my soulmate. I had just turned 18 and was a freshman in college when I met Rosalind,” Berhalter wrote on Twitter. “One night, while out drinking at a local bar, Rosalind and I had a heated argument that continued outside. It became physical and I kicked her in the legs.”
“The lessons learned from that night over three decades ago became the foundation for a loving, devoted, and supportive relationship, which we honored and celebrated with our 25th wedding anniversary this past weekend,” Berhalter added.
Berhalter admitted he sought counseling after the incident and eventually married Rosalind. They currently have four children together.
Berhalter is currently out of contract following the expiration of his contract with U.S. Soccer on December 31. The former USMNT player led the Americans to a Round of 16 finish at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, their first involvement in eight years.
What happens next is unclear, but the revelation casts a shadow over U.S. Soccer’s decision-making process as the federation determines whether to bring Berhalter back as head coach or go in a different direction. That is assuming Berhalter wants to return as USMNT coach.
According to U.S. Soccer’s statement on the matter, a decision has yet to be made on who will coach the USMNT for its upcoming friendlies against Serbia and Colombia, and the investigation into the incident is still ongoing.
“We appreciate Gregg and Rosalind coming forward to speak openly about this incident,” part of U.S. Soccer’s announcement read. “Consistent with our commitment to transparency, we will share the results of the investigation publicly when it is complete. U.S. Soccer condemns violence of any kind and takes such allegations very seriously.
“Last month, U.S. Soccer launched a full technical review of our Men’s National Team Program,” it continued. “With the review and investigation ongoing, U.S. Soccer will announce who will lead the January Men’s National Team camp in the coming days. We look forward to building off the performance in Qatar and preparing for the journey towards 2026.”
Good excuse to not renew GB. Keep Reyna, send GB back to MLS
Why do I have a feeling there’s still more to this story…
Was there any unresolved issues or some kind of tension between the families or something like that…
maybe
but Gio didn’t earn the playing time. 2021-22 was a lost season for him, he basically missed all of qualifying, he missed the Nations this past summer, he was less than impressive at Dortmund before the World Cup upon his return…he got beat out for the spot by Weah who was in the middle of all of it for the USMNT while Gio was not because of injury, and slow to recover.
then he acted however he acted when he was told his role
the idea that somehow he was entitled to whatever spot and didn’t have to earn it, I think it’s just because of his name. it’s like not tracking back to defend when you turn it over because you’re Mbappe…….
if Gio’s form had been Mbappe incarnate…ok.
Again I ask…does anyone truly believe GB would not play his best options??? LOL. JK could get away with that crap with LD because he was King Dictator. GB is not, had to exit the group to have any chance to keep his job, and he went with the best he thought to do it.
if anyone got snubbed, it was Aaronson, and you hear all the crap coming out of his camp? Yep…nothing. Class, in stark contrast.
“Again I ask…does anyone truly believe GB would not play his best options??? LOL.”
Of course, Gregg would play who he thought were his best options. Absolutely.
But what JK said to DMB on that topic was 9 times out of 10 the coach will play his best 11 to win the game.
And I don’t think anyone here, for a given game, can tell me that Gregg’s idea of his best 11 was always the same as their idea of his best 11.
The job of any player is to convince the manager that he is one of those 11.
And that is not necessarily an objective situation. It’s the manager’s opinion not beachbum’s opinion.
“JK could get away with that crap with LD because he was King Dictator. GB is not, ….”
??? If you’re talking King Dictator in the sense that the manager is omnipotent about who plays, I don’t see how you can say that JK had any more influence over who was on the team than Gregg did. Gregg took his boys, Long, Morris, Ferreira and Roldan to Qatar. And in the Group stage he subbed in Shaq Moore, the human turnover machine and spiritual heir to Paul Ariolla vs. England and Iran. Clearly Gregg was playing who he wanted to play.
These type issues occur within dysfunctional and insular organizations. Unfortunately, dysfunction is the norm within USSF and Soccer House. Whether that be the conflicts of interest from the previous rights payments and bundling with SUM/MLS; or Jay Berhalther hiring his brother while being COO of USSF; or Sunil Gulati previously being both President of USSF and President of SUM; or the Athletes Council rejecting Kyle Martino’s reform platform and selling selling out to elect Gulati’s VP Cordeiro to President last election, which thankfully didn’t last long. Even Wynalda and John Harkes got into the mix way back when.
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With the now separation between SUM and USSF I’m hoping a cleaning of house takes place within USSF. This amount of dysfunction is pretty typical of a small family run business. Rate to hire outside the small family operation and leads to various forms of cronyism and nepotism decisions for leadership positions and strategic planning.
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It’s time to turn the page. Clean house and implement and copy best practices from better run organizations. Strong corporate governance and an independent board of directors would be good first step.
And let’s not forget the lack of coverage by our soccer media in covering this dysfunction because too much criticism would lose the media writers access and lead to being ostracized.
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It was so bad at one point a private equity firm, Providence Equity Partners, owned about 25% of SUM which held the marketing rights bundle with no opening bidding for all US national teams.
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And many fans even knew their national team was getting pumped out by SUM to a private equity firm? Probably less than 5%.
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Can we start writing about this dysfunction and get our heads out of the sand. Someone let the fans know please
Ooo the plot thickens further…
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Apparently Claudio as Sporting Director at Austin FC declined the loan purchase option on GGGs kid Sebastian Berhalter leading him to go back to Columbus who then traded him for allocation money to Vancouver. That all took place after the 21 season end so January window early 22.
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Tit for tat?
Should Danielle Eagan Reyna be “appropriately sanctioned?” Should she be “publicly exposed and discredited?” GB didn’t name Gio, he mentioned ‘a player’ at the coaching symposium. Members of the press did simple deductive reasoning. There was no publicly outing of dirty laundry because WE the public didn’t know anything about it until AFTER the fact. The cancel culture was complaining about Jordan Morris, Shaq Moore, Jesus Ferreira, Zimmerman and Haji Wright. The cancel culture spend 3 years campaigning against Roldan, Arriola, Long, & Jedi Robinson. The cancel culture is STILL talking about GB being fired and coaching tactics and not how privileged the rich are and how 1 spoiled athlete and his pis poor attitude get excused by US fans, again & again (ie Konrad, Matthew Hoppe, Sergino Dest). “If this was the Reyna’s way at getting back at him, then I’m all for it!” A person that post this; doesn’t have a logical perspective!! This is what’s wrong with America! Let’s beat up Refs for calls we don’t agree with at our kids sporting events. Let’s brawl with other parents for talking smack at our kids sporting events. Let’s jump on our kids wrestling opponent, when they start to lose. Let’s jump up on stage and smack comedians for making jokes. Let’s not hold ourselves accountable for what we say, do or post. Let’s not even acknowledge that this is happening. It’s not the USSF fault!! If Gio didn’t learned this bad attitude from his parents, they enabled him. Most commenters and YouTube channels have been gatekeepers for Gio & fam with prejudice. Don’t stop now!! Players don’t need to earn their way on to the field. They just need to play in the Champions League for billion dollar clubs. If parents are rich then they should be consulted, before coaches make a decision.
Welp. Just when I started to care about the USMNT after Klinsmann destroyed it, I am turned off again.
Now I am not interested in seeing the Reyna’s again either.
I would sue the Reyna family USMNT for slander. Nothing has any merit other than to slander Berhalter. The charges were decades ago no evidence Berhalters falls into the percentage of repeat offender or his character is chronically violent. The traction this rhetoric gets in the media is ridiculous!
Slander requires that the statement is untrue. I think GB and his wife have admitted that the allegations are true. I think that we can all interpret the motivation, but saying something that is true is just . . . well, speech.
This is high school gossip at its worst. Really disappointed in the whole thing. This is worse for the 20 year old professional (Gio) than the disclosure that he wasn’t putting forth effort in the warm up games before the WC. That should not have been disclosed either, but this ridiculous bringing up 30 year old stuff that you probably learned having drinks with peers. Just nasty and uncalled for.
The next US Soccer kit needs to have a giant polka dot bow tie.
Will the over-sized clown cleats impact performances?
The new crest is a squirting flower
For a promo stunt they can have the whole 2002 USMNT roster climb out of a VW Bug.
hudson is the january camp coach. that was my guess last night looking at the assistant list. however his head coach record generally sucks which to me says we are presently concerned more with continuity than quality.
Just a January camp. I’m sure a coach will be identified very soon…. If one can be found who wants to coach this crapshow that Both Reyna’s and Berhalter created.
40 something year olds who can’t act like grown ups and talk about the situation or leave the situation dead after the incesent happened. Both parties are culpable and US soccer and the USMNT are now collateral damage.
i should probably be more direct. hudson if you look him up about every job he’s had more losses than wins, including colorado. i am not sure how that earns an assistant gig and for sure i don’t see how he’s qualified to run a NT camp other than to xerox continuity of existing GB choices and concepts, which i thought we were in the process of evaluating as we speak. that doesn’t make much sense other than laziness or a fait accompli that once USSF satisfies themselves GB gets his job back. which would mean the evaluation is insincere.
i am sure people will compare it to sarachan but he had a winning record and three “trophies” (1 SS 2 USOC) with chicago. he thus met the old flynn rule and could get hired to coach in MLS if he wanted, and in fact got another NT job after ours. he was at least somewhat qualified to coach our NT. vs. hudson was so bad in MLS — 8 wins and 28 losses — i don’t think he could get hired there again under his own power, much less to run our NT.
one thing this has prompted is i honestly hadn’t looked too close at GB’s staff before. the only thought i’d had was the set piece coach has to be fired. having looked at it, i was completely unimpressed by his staff quality. we have usually had a coach with a history of success — not really GB anyway — who then had a lead assistant or two with their own gravitas and winning history. like good enough they could be a succession plan (bradley) or at least be trusted to not embarrass themselves if the HC got ejected or we needed a caretaker. sorry but i now see the assistant staff is junk. the ones who have been HCs have done awful. most are no-names. the product on the field looks like crap. i don’t like the HC but if nothing else make him hire a real staff. including some assistants who are good enough they could lay their own claim to the job. this is a joke and almost like we deliberately hired unthreatening people who could never coach a NT of their own. and then……
but then part of my beef with GB is the extent to which so many player and staff choices are completely subjective and random like i can’t see anyone else at all saying, yeah, that player, that coach, my team.
IV: Sarachan couldn’t get a job in MLS and his NT gig was Puerto Rico. His NC FC squad was 7th place East and knocked out first round then didn’t qualify the 2nd season. PR finished 3rd in their 1st Rnd qualifying group behind St Kitts and Nevis.
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This is just for January, which at this point in the cycle is usually used for U23s especially given 75% of the NT roster isn’t available in Jan anyway. This was likely to be an interim post for this camp no matter what since international managers are still sorting out whether they are staying or going and there are few club openings currently. Even without the drama USSF and Berhalter didn’t have a lot of firm options to test out.
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Hudson has a pretty good U23 record with Bahrain and New Zealand. He’s good enough for C Team in January but can’t be there in March for NL.
Mr IV,
” make him hire a real staff. including some assistants who are good enough they could lay their own claim to the job. this is a joke and almost like we deliberately hired unthreatening people who could never coach a NT of their own. and then……
but then part of my beef with GB is the extent to which so many player and staff choices are completely subjective and random like i can’t see anyone else at all saying, yeah, that player, that coach, my team.”
This is a surprise to you?
This team has been badly coached and disorganized, for the most part, from Day 1 until the very last game and you’re shocked, shocked, to find that the coaching staff is not of the highest quality?
OMG. how is this possible?
I’ve got news for you. Mediocre managers with mediocre staffs generally produce mediocre teams.
The USSF is an old boys club that hires their friends and relatives .
It shows on the field and now it shows off the field as well. It’s ironic that Gregg’s hiring was alleged by some to be related to nepotism and now it appears to be ending in the same way.
And we thought the Bradley’s were a problem. It’s interesting how soccer moms still have so much influence in the American game.
JR: whatever you think of sarachan he was able under his own power to get a senior NT job after US. that is true regardless of how you think he did with that chance. my point is hudson compared to the last caretaker couldn’t even get a NT job if he tried. he could only be handed one.
re your U23 cheerleading, his pattern was he was hired to coach the senior team for bahrain and NZ, was ineffective, but was also at the same time the U23 head. your arguments would be akin to if we hired arena last cycle to also coach the U23s and they did better than the MNT did. so what. he failed to qualify the men’s team in his primary job. you then want to rehabilitate him to coach our adults based on how he did in his secondary efforts with the age group players?
you strain a little too hard to disagree with me for the sake of disagreement. this would be one of the poorest appointments in 30 or more years, even worse than GB by far. GB was at least a mediocre pro coach.
to be fair, i see this more as a signal GB comes back as long as he makes it through the investigation untouched. just throw any of his assistants out there to run the same drills and formation and player types. continuity. my point then being i thought we were supposedly evaluating how we just did and whether to continue status quo. picking a coach to run the B team out in the same way kind of suggests that’s not sincere, or at minimum misses an opportunity to test other ways of doing things.
Mr IV,
What do you expect for the January camp?
Should they have broken the bank and immediately flown in Conte who is probably unhappy at Spurs, or Diego Simeone?
surely there is a better caretaker available than anthony hudson. you don’t have to hire pep to have someone decent coach the team for a few weeks. that’s just an ad absurdum.
Mr V,
Have you been following the USMNT lately?
If I’m some kind of soccer professional I don’t know if I want to be anywhere near these people right about now..
Also MLS starts up on Feb 25 ,and the Euros are already back in action so a lot of the people who might fit your description are already otherwise committed.
And Hudson at least has some familiarity with the player pool.
Which should tell you that the USSF were probably going to rehire Gregg. Either that or they aren’t all that concerned with this camp and maybe they are right.
Don’t worry though , I’m pretty sure Gregg gets back in. The investigation will probably find nothing and the USSF is eager to sweep this thing under the rug asap. There’s no slander or defamation here because Gregg admitted that everything the Reynas said is true. So there will be no litigation to gum up the works. They can play on the redemption card and highlight the loving Berhalter marriage and their 4 wonderful kids. and Gregg will come out and swear that he will spend the rest of his life searching for the true killers.. Oh wait wrong sports figure.
Anyway, don’t worry Gregg will be back soon enough. It doesn’t matter if Gio becomes the next Kaka because Gregg has already shown he doesn’t know what to do with a player like that anyway. And Gio can have a lot less travel wearing down his body. He can take heart from Benzema.
And you can keep bitching about crosses.
It will all wor out for the best. .
So silly. USMNT coaches and players aren’t just supposed to be professionals, but the top professionals. This is also why you don’t hire family members because potential fallout could damage the business. Personally I’m ready to be done with all of them from Berhalter to the Reynas. Bring in a qualified (if one can be found) outsider to take charge. The top players will still be the top players (perhaps minus Gio), but a new tactical system might be best anyway.
Looks like it’s Gio’s mom is the one digging up the dirt.
This is awful – for a number of reasons. US Soccer royalty in combat.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usa/story/4844539/reynas-told-us-soccer-about-past-gregg-berhalter-domestic-violence-incident-sources
On a different but highly related note. If Gregg is out of contract why is the USSF even bothering to investigate this? Did Gregg sign a new contract? Does the USSF want to re-sign him? Otherwise why go through the bother and expense of hiring some outside law firm to investigate when they can simply say that Gregg is no longer an employee and forward all relevant information they have to law enforcement to handle?
Well, USSF doing an investigation is a pretty good sign that they are at least considering re-signing him. Before Berhalter’s talk where he identified indirectly Gio as a discipline problem, I think this would have been the most likely outcome.
But any organization has to look into these things to protect itself from any liability or PR disaster. Not rehiring Berhalter won’t protect them if there’s more to this story that USSF didn’t bother to find out.
yeah i was saying other thread how many weeks does it take to decide which direction this is going as a soccer matter. i think you should know in your gut the day after. we hired GM/TD to make these decisions and not consult around. ok, earn your paycheck, what’s the decision. it shouldn’t take a month if you were paying attention to the games you attended. as you are saying, he’s either “here” but suspended pending legal, or he’s “gone” on soccer basis. i think the reynas only complicated that decision as i am sure they can psyche themselves out that it would be received as a comment on legal.
easy answer. i would think the whole point to an outside investigation is walling off soccer from legal. say as much and announce it as solely a soccer decision. if they are willing to rehire someone under legal cloud, do it and say however he’s suspended. if they don’t want him back, “his contract expired, won’t be renewed for soccer reasons, but we will complete the investigation and issue a report in the spirit of full transparency and USSF edification/ assessment if the reynas acted improperly.”
i will be curious what USSF says on the january games and beyond because the unwillingness to take the easy out — like you’re saying, his contract is done, QED — suggests they want him back. whether i want to read ominous into announcing who will coach january. a lot of sports teams, baltimore ravens, etc., take the first chance to cut ties and then say let the legal system sort out due process and the truth.
Law enforcement?!
For an incident in college against the woman he is has been married to with kids.
This is pathetic. Im not a big Berhalter fan but the Reyna’s are pathetic. Imagine being the Berhalter’s now having to explain the situation to their kid(s). Nice family friends. The biggest shame in all this is Gio. But to set an example, hope Gio gets banned from USMNT until fall 2026. I liked him as a player, bummed about the WC situation, but really will have a hard time rooting for him going fwd.
Law enforcement for the Reynas. Black mail is frowned upon.
“… ,hope Gio gets banned from USMNT until fall 2026”
Are you nuts? HHAAA!!! Are you serious? HHAA!!!
“hope Gio gets banned from USMNT until fall 2026. ”
That’s actually a good idea. He could use a break from all the travel and focus on BVB or wherever he winds up playing. If he does that and flourishes the way his talent indicates he might, then the USMNT will come begging for him.
He’s got that kind of ceiling. Then he can decide if he wants to play for Gregg, who they may yet find a way to sign. Or maybe this guy Hudson. The USSF seem pretty tapped out so they aren’t going to be looking for a big bucks manager.
because the Reyna’s contacted people from USSoccer, namely Earnie Stewart and probably Brian McBride(both former teammates of Claudio), to throw their weight around by threatening to expose personal stuff about Greg, or else. I think that’s called extortion, and if it’s not then it’s still petty, egomaniacal and potentially criminal
Ronnie I think it is coercion as opposed to extortion both being considered blackmail which is illegal and as best I can tell is a felony in most jurisdictions. If there is in fact evidence of blackmail I would expect someone will be getting arrested soon.
“Ronnie I think it is coercion as opposed to extortion both being considered blackmail which is illegal and as best I can tell is a felony in most jurisdictions.”
Both Danielle and Claudio are long time friends of Earnie and McBride.
Bitching to your friends about another friend’s alleged bad behavior is one thing. My guess is we all say a lot of stupid things to our friends when we’re ranting.
But blackmail, extortion or coercion is another thing all together.
This thing is already way out of control and my suspicion would be that Earnie and McBride, from both a personal and professional standpoint, would prefer that this thing go away as soon as possible.
The USSF doesn’t seem to do well with legal stuff.
The USSF want to get going on promotions for 2026 not get caught up in this tawdry affair.
This could potentially have a negative effect on Gio getting called up to the USMNT under a new coach in the short term.
i made a comment a few months ago on here where the fact anti-GB grumbles tended to be either dropped players or “player parents said something.” complaints after the nations league canada loss were often vaguely, at a distance, identified as parent complaints. no one buy pomykal or perhaps miazga said a thing. in this light it does feel like some attempted select team style parent mutiny. mom and dad select don’t usually help decide historically if arena or bradley keeps their senior national team job. maybe this is a side effect of the young player pool. but then historically retention or replacement was someone like flynn and not some green GM some parents might have played with.
From a logical perspective (and, yes, this situation might have already left the bounds of logic) it would be foolish for the federation to “punish” Gio by leaving him off the team for non soccer reasons.
The USSF needs Gio more than Gio needs the federation. Gio makes his money playing for Dortmund and other than the pride of playing for country, there is no real benefit of playing for the USMNT. If anything, suiting up for the MNT risks damaging his club career through injury risk.
Also, there are a lot of dual nationals that could come to the USA and benefit the team so the last thing you want is Gio going out of his way to bum rap the program. Claudio being a respected Man City alum also has lots of connections in Europe and I am sure that lots of US coaches with European aspirations would love for him to put in a call on their behalf.
The last thing the federation should want to do is hold Gio’s position on the team hostage to whatever the hell it is that is going on right now.
snow plough parenting to the extreme…another ultimate expression of our American system of sports, just like the Rick Singer parents, etc.
wow, how a parent actually really thought they could manipulate the national team at the World Cup…that reveals some truly narcissistic and grandiose BS. Shameful is just the tip of the iceberg for what this is. What about the other players on the team, what about them? the ones who actually did the qualifying and EARNED THE MINUTES!!! EARNED THEM
so sick of these kind of parents, having coached their kids or having my kids on teams with them…the worst of the worst
It’s tragic comedy worthy of stage production produced by a stab in the back
oh Mr. Shakespeare…….
Reynas wife just released a statement that it was her that called Stewart. She said it was after that leadership conference so I don’t know about the blackmail business…
Either way this is just a really had look for everyone
That doesn’t help your son or the USMNT Mrs. Reyna. I don’t see a coach coming to coach the USMNT now. It will be a hard sell to coaches knowing you could have someone like this when they don’t like decisions made about their sons involvement with the national team playing time.
Gio Reyna needs to get a head of this.
First, the fact that the Reynas’ accusations are causing all of this turmoil is on the USSF. The accusations would not have caused a ripple if the USSF just basically said “Nope, this happened 30 years ago, wife forgave him, not our issue.” The fact that the USSF sought to pursue the allegation is what made the controversy.
Second. Gregg did a rotten thing when he outed Gio publicly for what was supposed to be a private team matter. He has suffered no consequences for this so if this is the Reynas’ way at getting back at him, then I am all for it. If somebody did that to my kid and didn’t suffer consequences or even apologize for it I would be looking or ways to get even as well.
Yet again that line of thinking does not help anyone involved.
This happened because parents made a decision.
USSF has to seek an investigation. If it came out that USSF knew and did nothing then the organization gets investigated. Not that hard to understand. These organizations have to report.
i thought it was the wife — a tweeter had noted she and ms. berhalter played together in college, and who else would know this happened — and was going to post as much as guesswork last night, but i saw goff’s piece and figured the facts were on their way out and so read what they are when they get published.
we and USSF have a right to know this even if it’s old. what to do with old is a community decision and not a reason it should be allowed to get buried as it apparently was. did USSF know and ignore or was it not disclosed. you can then put that together with the “moral leadership” gaffe and how you otherwise thought this was run and make an informed decision. i agree it’s petty to bring it up now and not when he was being hired but i also can see the irony of “moral leadership” in this context.
to me the coercion is the potential problem. if the reyna(s) just dropped the dime and let USSF decide what to do with it, that’s transparent and their right. if they said fire him or we release this, that does start to walk over to blackmail. ironically it’s about whether they leveraged NOT telling us what happened to get the practical result they wanted. ironically2 if they used blackmail methods, the reynas made themselves the story and not the boss, and perhaps complicated any effort to have the coach changed. i don’t get why they couldn’t just drop this public — GB having broken spades at the morality conference — and let it have its natural effect. this reads like one or both got on the phone with their old teammates stewart and mcbride and maybe started twisting arms. and so another US soccer generation at each other’s throats. just great,
That Mrs. B and Mrs. R were teammates in college – 30 years ago – makes this even worse. Now Mrs. R is bringing in her old teammate when her dispute is with the Coach. Just crappy all the way around.
Claudio said he talked to both Earnie Stewart and McBride in Qatar about his frustrations about Gio…..there is no telling how he framed his anger/frustrations with those 2, but I’m sure it wasn’t pretty
Here’s the statement from Gio’s mom.
It’s worth noting that just about everyone involved here have been “friends” for a very long time.
Given the circumstances it sounds like your normal internal incident among friends going out of control.
Shit like this happens all the time.
I bet a lot of people here have stones they can throw at this glass house.
When your dirty laundry gets out into a public forum like SBI it can get pretty screwy. My take is this is nobody’s fucking business. Then again they say you shouldn’t go into business with your friends if you want to keep them :
“Danielle Reyna was a roommate and soccer teammate of Rosalind Berhalter at UNC. ”
“To set the record straight, I did call (U.S. Soccer sporting director) Earnie Stewart on December 11, just after the news broke that Gregg had made negative statements about my son Gio at a leadership conference,” Danielle Reyna said in a statement. “I have known Earnie for years and consider him to be a close friend. I wanted to let him know that I was absolutely outraged and devasted that Gio had been put in such a terrible position, and that I felt very personally betrayed by the actions of someone my family had considered a friend for decades.
“As part of that conversation, I told Earnie that I thought it was especially unfair that Gio, who had apologized for acting immaturely about his playing time, was still being dragged through the mud when Gregg had asked for and received forgiveness for doing something so much worse at the same age. Without going into detail, the statements from yesterday significantly minimize the abuse on the night in question. Rosalind Berhalter was my roommate, teammate and best friend, and I supported her through the trauma that followed. It took a long time for me to forgive and accept Gregg afterward, but I worked hard to give him grace, and ultimately made both of them and their kids a huge part of my family’s life. I would have wanted and expected him to give the same grace to Gio. This is why the current situation is so very hurtful and hard.”
Vac, I think it was Jim Rockford that once mused “But, hey, what’s a little blackmail between friends.”
Mr. V, so Gio’s mom gets involved??? good grief that alone is impossible to defend, let alone what she actually did, which is pathetic
Tele57
“Is there anything you won’t do for money?”
“Rockford: Well, there’s two things.
I won’t kill for it and I won’t marry for it. Other than that I’m open about anything.”
Mr. bum,
“Gio’s mom gets involved??? good grief that alone is impossible to defend”
That’s true. Nothing is more vicious than a mother attacking to protect her cubs. Very tough to defend w/o bear spray or a 10 mm., preferably both. That’s why you should be careful around moose and bears and, yes, even human moms. I can think of a lot of moms who would not apologize one bit for doing what Danielle is doing. Not one bit. Nor should they .
” let alone what she actually did, which is pathetic”
Pathetic and unprofessional?
Sure but then again, you’re not Gio’s mom.
And you don’t know Gregg as intimately as the Reynas do.
It’s possible he’s a real big dick in real life and has pulled stupid shit before. I have no idea.
They have a whole different spin on this than you or I would.
Again, I have no inside info, but the way she is acting it seems like a it’s coming from a deep well of anger. That takes time to build up. And Danielle’s reaction in particular, calling up old friend Earnie and ranting at him, ( Earnie, why do you put up with this shit? Why don’t you fire that c++ksucker?) seems reasonably spontaneous.
You’ve never had a friend put you uncomfortably in between like that? You’re lucky.
Gregg’s wife has had time and the incentive of 4 kids to love and forgive him for whatever happened.
But if Danielle was really her best friend, then she too suffered from whatever Gregg did to his wife, her roomate and team mate. Friends and loved ones suffer when their loved one is attacked. Boring but true.
And Danielle had less reason, less incentive to forgive Gregg.
And now he’s fucking with Gio? As I’ve said before, Gregg did not have to out Gio at that Leadership thing. As many have said , Gregg clearly did that because he wanted to get the heat off of him about all the Gio controversy. And this excuse that he never named him directly? That’s what they call a George Santos defense. And maybe Gregg meant well. Regardless, he threw Gio under the bus rather carelessly. And yes Gio may have deserved it for causing Gregg so much aggravation but that’s not the point.
You expect more from a real Leader and a supposed family friend.
Hurt my kids and I come after you. It’s that simple.
Danielle and Claudio are not stupid or unsophisticated, they knew that their actions would get out and not be forgiven.
But they don’t care because, and I’m sure you’ve seen your share of bad movies, “You don’t fuck with my family!”
Cliche as it may be, there’s a lot of families that feel that way.
This will hurt the Reynas and maybe Gio.
But they will all survive it. Gio is the most consistently talented USMNT attacker ( an American version of Kaka) that I’ve seen. He could have a great career even without his national team. It didn’t hurt Benzema that much. And am I implying that Gio could be in that category of player? With a little luck, sure.
I think the Reynas may have felt that what they could not survive was letting anyone, even a friend, attack their son and not defend him.
And just remember, who knows Gregg Berhalter and how he thinks, better than them? Certainly no one on SBI. I don’t see Gio as a direct part of this and he may be horrified by what his parents did but eventually he’ll have to understand that they did it because they couldn’t do otherwise.
You’re likely going to accuse me of defending the Reynas. They don’t need or want my defense because I sincerely doubt they give a shit what anyone else thinks.
They have already had one son die. That’s as bad as it gets. This controversy? This is nothing.
They have two sons and a daughter left.
It seems to me that they sure as fuck weren’t going to let anyone attack any of their surviving kids. Some things are more important than the USMNT.
Vac, should I be embarrassed that without any research I know that quote came from the Season 1 episode called “The Big Ripoff”?
Tele57,
Embarrassed? Fuck no. Wear it proudly.
Just read on ESPN it is Claudio Reyna. Really low way to advocate for your son’s playing time. Much cleaner for US Soccer to move on from Berhalter but at the same time I don’t like Gio Reyna cry baby. I don’t care if he ever plays for the national team again.
Ahhhh f*ck.
Oh boy that is not good. This is now a bad issue. What coach is going want to enter this crap show and coach the USMNT now?
2tone,
“What coach is going want to enter this crap show and coach the USMNT now?”
Pretty much anyone.
But a good one? That’s a little harder.
You just have to pay a little more and maybe give up a little more control.
They’ll just have to put a little more effort into their ” exhaustive search” than they did the last time.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usa/story/4844539/reynas-told-us-soccer-about-past-gregg-berhalter-domestic-violence-incident-sources
Wow. Just… wow. If that’s true, then that’s a really low way to respond to your son being told he’s not starting.
Gio is a talented player, I hope he didn’t know anything about this.
I’m tired of people whining about cancel culture. Domestic violence is not nothing. Sure we all made mistakes at 18, but most guys didn’t kick their girlfriend.
They kind of have to investigate this given incidents this year with some of the women’s coaches. If it was just the one time, then I agree with pretty much everyone here that this should have zero influence on his employability 30 years later.
What should have influence are his performance, and his airing of internal team business at that leadership conference.
Due process is a thing for a reason. Everyone has a right to their day in court.
look i get in certain political circles due process has ironically and inconsistently become a touchstone, and in theory it could have mattered here, but the authorities aren’t chasing him and he admits he did it. that’s not due process. that’s what does USSF do with this information. is it too stale or always relevant.
tyler deric in houston was an emerging GK force who had been in NT camp and then he had a domestic situation with his wife and he was suspended and later busted down to our then-farm affiliate, even though his wife refused to testify and the DA eventually pled him to deferred adjudication. these days he plays in the minors, his career blew up, NT trajectory over. granted, GB’s was decades ago and she effectively waved it off. but times have changed, we have a female USSF president, and in my marriage and probably 99% of my friends’ we have managed decades never laying a hand or foot on anyone.
IV: you’ve forgotten a few details Deric had two incidents with the same women, one in 2015 (dragging woman by her hair) and then in 2017 (head butting). I couldn’t find anywhere that Deric ever dressed for any level of the NT. In 2015 Tyler Deric was 27 and he was 2019 when suspended by MLS after the second incident which would have been pretty late for GK to get his first cap so it probably affected his Dynamo career but not NT career. Deric played for Houston after both incidents for stretches. Competing with Joe Willis likely affected his career more than his off field problems.
JR: now you don’t know what you’re talking about, on multiple levels. incident 1 with deric was not domestic, it was a bar situation where teammates were involved and did the same thing. he soon returned to play for HD. incident 2 was domestic. that took years to play out. that resulted in indefinite suspension. ironically it worked out akin to berhalter in the sense the significant other eventually refused to testify and he pled to a lesser offense and deferred adjudication — no guilty plea.
once the process took the turn towards a plea deal, he was allowed to play for RGV, our affiliate. but what you miss is he was never the same player. you pretend he was beaten out by willis. no, he wasn’t. before incident 2 he was beating out willis and something like 0.3-0.5 better on GAA. we won more games and he had better numbers in front of the same defense. what ACTUALLY happened is he came back a shell of himself after the forced layoff. only then did he put up worse numbers than willis, which generally shocked the fans here. but before his meteor crashed he was a darned good keeper here and in NT camp as a roster cut one time. has willis ever been, even now? exactly. fwiw willis was not as skinny or mobile as he is now, when he was here. he was kind of an immobile gafferidden oaf here. this is an evolved willis you see.
but my point is in a somewhat similar current situation the player got suspended. i want to say there was something similar with a player in austin as well, who was suspended, briefly allowed back, then shipped out. the real question is not does the situation have a penalty — it does in MLS — it’s whether we give him a pass on that penalty for the 30 year movement of time and fact he’s married to the victim.
IV: Do some research. When talking to the press in 2017 Deric’s attorney brought up his 2015 assault arrest for attacking the same woman. The woman later claimed she made it up and Deric had to complete relationship counseling that ended in June of 2017. Just months before he was once again arrested for assaulting the woman. Now certainly 1991 is a different time than 2015 or 2017, and the two victims are certainly different people but the cases really don’t appear comparable.
————————————
I searched again and found no evidence of Deric being called to a camp.
Lots of things are “not nothing” Speeding can kill people, making some improvised pyrotechnics with the knowledge acquired in lab can burn down a neighborhood , serving beer at a party with minors present can also kill people lead to sexual assault etc.. Kids in college do all of these things and I don’t think that any of it should come back and ruin somebody’s career 30 years after the fact. Especially when the victim does not seek redress.
If it was just the one incident 30 years ago, then I agree 100%. People make mistakes, and 1 mistake shouldn’t ruin a career. Often times, domestic violence isn’t just 1 incident. Presumably, that’s something that this investigation will find out. If it was just the 1 time, then this is a nothingburger with extra nothing sauce.
Hitting women is utterly inexcusable. Picking Jesus over Pepi is, as a soccer decision, also pretty darn inexcusable. But… yeaaaah… publicly litigating the personal issues of a drunk teenager from 1991 years ago because you don’t like their coaching in 2022 is also pretty &#$*! sick.
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GGG can’t come back. (See prior posts, and others here, and the internets generally.) Sadly, GGG may be cooked, period. He may have a very, very hard time getting ANY management jobs after this.
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Whoever perpetrated this character attack has to be publicly exposed and discredited. I truly hope it was a rogue fan who came upon some random personal information.
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IF it was an agent, or some PR person associated with an agent, they must be canned. Their clients need to drop them like a bag of hot bricks.
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IF this was a player… or someone closely associated with them… They have to be out of the team. Have to be.
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If you’re a manager, how could you bring anyone associated with this person (or persons) into camp even ONCE and not expect this trash to bite you in the rear? How are you going to know which decision of yours will be met with public character assassination? How can you really coach with this sort of BS hanging over your head? For this reason alone, please, please let it not be a Reyna.
Given that it was an incident in Chapel Hill, I’d guess no Reynas are involved. (Claudio was in Charlottesville at UVA at the time).
I mean, this could be done electronically… but I can’t even begin to speculate. I just hope it wasn’t Reyna or his agent.
Aaaaaand it was apparently Claudio Reyna. Christ.
yeah, as discussed above re hudson as sub coach, is he and his staff are so non-standard and basically underqualified it’s either head coach a top 15 NT or be manning a radar tower in northern greenland or alaska. unlike bradley or marsch they won’t be writing their own ticket, they would get jobs at the level ramos or mastro took — about what GB had before. hudson and the staff would get USL or college type work. hints at the level of nepotism, subjectivity, nonsense.
This is beyond absurd. I, like Gregg and his now wife, was a freshman at UNC in the fall of 1991. Gregg addressed his actions far more maturely and appropriately that I would have at the time. And, based on the steps he took, Rosalind not only forgave him and resumed dating him 7 mos later, but married him.
Lord help us all if inappropriate crap we did at 18 is the measuring stick for employability at 49+. (Especially where said inappropriate crap was acknowledged, addressed, and never repeated.).
+1
I could care less about Gregg but what coach in their right mind would ever take the job of USMNT coach if they can get canceled for something that happened 30 years ago between themselves and somebody who obviously no longer thinks that it is even an issue? The USSF is a political poop parade that is undermining the future of its team for something that is way way way in the past.
I hope they make the person’s name public..
Like him or not that’s a low rent move to blackmail him with his job
I want a new coach because I think we need a new coach, this should have zero influence on the decision to keep him or not
USSF should move onto finding a new coach. Not because of the allegations/instance of abuse 25+ years ago, but for how poorly he’d done as a Manager. Grade the goals/achievements USSF had when he was hired:
WCQ = C He squeaked into 3rd spot based on Goal Differential.
WC Group = C+ Made it out of a weak group in 2nd Place (1-2-0)
Gold Cup = B Won the final, but had a # of games it was in ? we’d make the final
Nations League = B Won the final, but had a # of games it was in ? we’d make the final
Beat Mexico = A- Only really noteworthy achievement. But hind site raises the question how poor Mexico was this past cycle.
Noteworthy Wins = C+ Only noteworthy points were the Tie against England
Noteworthy Loss = C- Lost & Tie to Canada in WCQ, Lost to Panama (1st since 2011)
Recruitment = B+ (Musah: A, Most weren’t expecting him to commit, Dest: B/B-, Was part of our youth teams…shouldn’t have been difficult)
Overall Grade = C/C+ (Poor player selections, Poor Tactics, Poor substitutions)
Nothing to see here. This is not a story. He should not get another cycle because he hit his ceiling as manager and 8 years is way too long for the same coach. How about JC Osorio?
Unfortunately, there is something here. Regardless of the source and the intent behind the disclosure, USSF has to investigate the allegation. there are a number of reasons: the gender (comp) issues recently litigated; the reported misogyny that appears to be rampant through the women’s pro league; and just the general times.
Can you imagine the blow back related to – lets say Hope Solo and her getting booted from the WNT – if this isn’t fully investigated? To cut off an anticipated counterpoints – anything dealing with Hope Solo over the past few years is entirely different than this. My point is that those who feel she was given a bum deal, will go apesh+t if these 30-year-old allegations about a male are not investigated.
Next, I feel badly for GB, but more so for his spouse who worked through this 30years ago. I believe that these claims are substantially stale and bear no relevance to his current contract or position. I applaud GB and again more so his spouse by coming forward and taking away the power from this cowardly attempt at blackmail. I can’t imagine the dumb things I did 30 years ago being brought out today.
I am very interested to know what the circumstances are behind the other claims related to information about others at USSF. I hope that USSF determines who is behind this and we get a full report of who disclosed and appropriate sanctions – either within or outside of the USSF. If it is someone within USSF that person should be banned for life for this despicable conduct.
Last, I do not believe that GB should have his contract renewed. My main reason: the US has not fared well with a second cycle coach. However, in my world, these disclosures may hamstring the USSF in any decision not to renew GB as the coach. Public perception is a huge deal these days. USSF cannot afford to be seen as terminating GB due to these recently disclosed 30-year-old allegations. Further, the USSF cannot give the perception that whoever did this was successful. Ironically, if the goal of the person doing this was to get GB out, they may have shot themselves in the foot.
Cancel Culture is Cancer Culture. I’m so tired of our society rewarding this kind of behavior from cowards that have now been given power for the first time in their life.
I want a better coach based on performance, not cancel culture. Everyone made mistakes 20 years ago.
it’s not 20 years ago, it is 30 years ago.
Bizzy, blackmail is a felony. If the findings were in fact that attempts to blackmail US Soccer staff were made, USSF would almost certainly have to report it to the authorities as I am pretty sure it is also against the law not to report a crime with an organization like USSF being more susceptible to legal ramifications from not reporting than specific individuals. Both USSF and GGG are likely trying to get out ahead of something that is likely going to become public through law enforcement I suspect. But maybe not …
GB should be fired because he sucked as a coach and he made the US National Team worse, not better. That is THE only reason he should be fired. It is truly pathetic that we are going back on a coach when he was 18 as if he hasn’t done anything different and positive since then. It is ridiculous. I can’t even believe this crap made the news. Truly pathetic that this is what our society is now running with, with multiple cases of issues in the extreme past coming back to bite you. We can give criminals who murder people second chances, but a coach who acted abusively while drinking and whose wife stuck with him after is now a reason we look back on a coach in consideration of firing him. Truly bs simp culture crap.
Exactly. In a way your punishing the victim again (his wife).
If he was a habitual wife beater that’s one thing, or if there were multiple occurrences even. However for a single isolated incident where the victim forgave him? I wanted a new coach, but not like this.
I would want to know if GGG failed to disclose anything during his hiring process. Did he fail to disclose a DV arrest in a case that was ultimately dismissed and sealed? Lying on your job application is a good way to get fired.
Personally, I think he has to go. The USSF can’t keep a head coach who has admitted to even one instance of physical abuse towards an intimate partner while trying to repair its image in connection with gender issues—ie, USWNT pay vs USMNT pay.
I should have read the full statement first. Not authorities involved. But I still think he has to go.
US soccer is also investigating who the people are who are black mailing not only Berhalter but other US soccer officials.
More importantly, what sayeth Waldo about this?
Waldo already stepped in it when he first reported issues between GB and Gio in camp, and then backtracked realizing it caused dissention while the MNT still had games left, and has then claimed (I thought) justification. I have always been on the fence about Waldo as a reporter/commentator, but his recent decision-making process has left a lot to be desired.
“In the fall of 1991, I met my soulmate. I had just turned 18 and was a freshman in college……”
End of story, full stop. Done, case close. GB is under investigation for what he did to a woman…..at 18…..who ended up happily marrying him???? What the @#$&?!!!!
This is absolutely ridiculous……
Yep. Have a feeling the U20 coach will be leading the January camp. With u20 and u23 eligible players and a few overage players.
Completely agree. What a sad little person to try to use something like this to influence who is manager. Who would ever want to coach USMNT if something they did at 18 yrs old gets them fired after being forgiven long ago for the incident.
agree
some folks really want him out even tho the results didn’t fire him