Newly reappointed U.S. men’s national team head coach Gregg Berhalter took to the podium on Friday excited of his opportunity to continue his hard work with the program, but one key relationship will need repairing sooner rather than later.
Berhalter’s relationship with USMNT attacker Gio Reyna is certainly high on the 49-year-old’s to-do list as he prepares to take over from interim head coach B.J. Callaghan after the Concacaf Gold Cup. Reyna was reportedly nearly sent home from the 2022 FIFA World Cup squad due to a lack of effort in training, Berhalter revealed at the HOW Institute for Society’s Summit on Moral Leadership in December.
Berhalter’s contract would later expire on December 31, 2022 before in January, U.S. Soccer announced it would launch an investigation into Berhalter following a 1991 altercation involving him and his wife Rosalind. Gio’s parents Claudio and Danielle Reyna were linked to the revealing of Berhalter’s domestic incident to U.S. Soccer following their son’s lack of playing time at the World Cup.
Reyna has since made three starts for the USMNT in 2023, including playing 75 minutes in the USMNT’s 3-0 Concacaf Nations League semifinal victory over Mexico on Thursday. He has scored four goals and registered one assist in 16 caps under Berhalter’s tutelage, including winning the 2021 Nations League Final.
Berhalter understands the importance of repairing his relationship with Reyna, knowing his long-term potential remains very high in the USMNT squad.
“I’d certainly acknowledge that there is work to do,” Berhalter said Friday in a press conference with media. “And Gio is an important player to this team. He’s an extremely talented individual. And I have the obligation and the commitment to coach him like I coach every other player. I want to get the best out of him, we want to get the best out of him.
“And we know that if we can unlock his talents, he’s going to be a game-changer for this program,” Berhalter added. “So there’s work to do, and part of it is working together with Matt [Crocker] and trying to rebuild the relationship that we know will be important moving forward.”
Reyna has Sunday’s Nations League Final vs. Canada to prepare for before enjoying a much-needed break after a lengthy club season with Borussia Dortmund. The 20-year-old enjoyed a positive third season in Germany, scoring seven goals and registering four assists in 30 combined appearances for the Bundesliga’s second-place finishers.
Edin Terzic’s squad has two European friendlies in July before heading to the United States for preseason matches against San Diego Loyal, Manchester United, and Chelsea. The Bundesliga season kicks off on the weekend of August 18-20, giving Reyna currently two months before the 2023-24 campaign begins.
Berhalter isn’t expecting to meet with Reyna in the near future, but is targeting a conversation later this summer after the 20-year-old receives a playing break.
“With Gio, I think the most important thing for him right now is to focus on playing in a final and winning the final,” Berhalter said. “I can imagine after that he wants some vacation and meeting with me is not the priority. It’s for him to get rest and prepare for the upcoming season. We’ll have time to do that. It is a priority, but we’ll have time to do that before the September window.”
Reyna transfer listed by Dortmund for 20 million euros. That’s a bargain for a player who has a ton of upside. I expect to see many top teams coming in for Reyna.
Now we know why Dortmund was using Reyna sparingly.
I’ve been saying that for several months. It was the only thing that made sense.
Yeah I don’t think he fits Terzic plans. I would love to see him in Serie A. Would it surprise any though if Man City try to snap him up? He and Haaland link up really well and De Bruyne isn’t getting any younger.
I’m wondering why it was leaked just a few days ago that he was going to club America then not going to club America, then this announcement right before the game.
Did GB get tired of sitting in the penalty box and tell ussf to crap or get off the pot?
I think yes and no. We heard Gregg and some of the other candidates had other offers. I think they would have liked to have waited until after NL to announce but when Marsch’s team put out he was out, that sent reporters scurrying and once that happened they had to get it out to the public. My guess is Marsch’s agent told reporters off the record and then it was a race to see if they could get confirmation. I doubt USSF wanted it released right before kickoff so all the players were asked about it. Can you imagine the poor PR guy “Gio you aren’t going to want to do interviews tonight?” , ” Why not? ” “Umm because they aren’t going to ask you about the match.”
I don’t think so, I think there’s a lot more behind the scenes that will come out eventually, and I think they told GB to hang tight, stay under the radar and it’s yours…
Something about this stinks, and while some may say at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter, but he’s got 2 other fences to mend with Pepi and Zack- that talk of the guys in the locker room recently, just seems so scripted .. And I just don’t think this guy is our best option when we’re hosting the world cup. I don’t like it
Pepi already said today “I think it’s great to be honest. It’s great for the squad. I think what happened between us stays behind us.” I know conspiracy theorists think Gregg is some Machiavellian figure that lords over the players scripting their every word for fear of retribution. Pepi and all these guys are pretty media savvy, he could have given a more blah answer. I don’t think any coach that has ever had to cut a player is going to hold a grudge for player hanging up the phone on you after you did it. Honestly the worst is when they don’t and it’s just awkward because you’ve just crushed them and there is nothing you can say that’s going to make it better. As for Zach I think that’s probably the easiest one, they have a long standing relationship and Zach isn’t naive he knows he isn’t playing up to his standard. Was ticked, of course but it’s not an end the relationship.
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If you listen to Tenerio who broke the story. It sounds they had done their interviews and the Club America offer maybe pushed the timetable because they were close losing Gregg and if lost Gregg the next guy might also have offers. Crocker said the players were involved throughout. Weah and Pulisic obviously believe in Gregg, their established they don’t have to butter him up but they were definitely out there putting on the pressure. We want Gregg that was their message. I said to Bizzy, I think they sat down and set the qualities based on they were happy with job Gregg had done and wanted a coach in that style of not just his on field tactics but his off field community building and development of players. Well duh when you are looking for someone like Gregg, Gregg was the best.
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Realistically you’ve got Gregg vs Viera, Henry, Marsch, Perez, and MLS guy. Maybe Viera has a case but then you’ve got he’s got to mend fences with Richards for not playing him. Let’s face it at both Palace and Nice he had some moderate success and then got fired. Henry had moderate success at his stops. Mattarazzo and Perez are known for taking bad teams and getting them mediocrity. Marsch is one dimensional, more so than even Gregg. If those were really all the names I get it, even if I thought they should go to someone else. Only Parlow Cone was around during Gregg’s tenure. Batson took the job in Sept., Gooch is new (and had been critical of Gregg as an analyst, Crocker is new (and was thought to be a Marsch supporter) so it’s not like people can claim it’s all Gregg cronies. I hope it works, I hope Gregg has learned, and I hope he finds a way to integrate more European based players without alienating their clubs.
JR, I don’t buy it.
John razor: You may be right on what the players said. But then why hire Crocker to “search” if it’s all about what tim and christian want? Even if GGG has learned, and shows it… Still a weird waste of time. I think it’s mostly a PR stunt that removed some good ol boys only to keep the guy fans and many pundits hated most
Bac: fair enough
Quaker: I’m not saying they used the criteria set by Tim and Christian. I think this Sportsology group sat down with Cindy and JT Batson and asked for criteria. That landed them Crocker. They then added Crocker’s input. So you had a bunch of like minded people creating the ideal candidate (but the qualities were all based on Berhalter’s strengths). I don’t think there was this wide ranging conspiracy to do this as window dressing. There’s way too much money involved being wasted. They just simple liked what Gregg had done minus not scoring enough goals and wanted another coach like that. I just don’t think these big names fans threw out were realistic. They weren’t going to pay 10-15 million and that left them with guys with moderate success like Viera, Henry, Perez, and Marsch. The talent also isn’t going to attract the biggest names the guy that hardly plays at Chelsea, the guy that hardly plays at Dortmund, and the guys that got relegated at Leeds isn’t going to inspire guys to give up Champions League teams for that.
Craig Burley had a similar rant on the selection process. I didn’t see it until today but wanted to give full disclosure. If you wanted someone with all Gregg’s qualities why didn’t you just hire Gregg in March and be down with it was his point.
yes, i think. if you remember what all happened it was the press kept reporting berhalter to ______ rumors, and then after the america one hit the net suddenly we started hearing dolo (re?) commit to LAFC and marsch say he wasn’t getting it. i think GB sensed with the lack of a serious candidate plus the key player recommendations he was getting, he was in the driver’s seat, and he pushed the process along by threatening to dump out for plan B. whether plan B was that real or not.
i think it says something about the pool under consideration if berhalter could dictate the process after everything that happened. i get GB applied. i expected a bunch of domestics and former MLS. that struck me as the assistant pool or also rans. but there was no top end of serious coaches. so he could not just get the job but literally puppeteer the process.
i mean, if zidane and mourinho and wenger and luis enrique are up for the job, who cares if GB threatens to go coach america? it only works in a particular weaksauce context.
related point, i am inclined to believe GB got his glowing player testimonials in the context of the applicant pool. i believe the players probably chatted off stage about who they knew was in the pool and decided to back a lesser evil, sensing there was no “top end” to the applicants and they could not force one. that might reflect more of a poor player opinion of or indifference to marsch, matarazzo, vieria, henry, dolo, etc., than confidence in the guy they nominally supported.
i find it very hard to believe they literally think this is as good as we can do but for whatever reason that has been stowed for the cycle. i think they sensed that if they got on the wrong train they might be in reyna and scally’s situation.
personally i think it’s lazy or cynical. surely if it’s not zidane they are aware of some smaller name but high quality european coach we could have snuck into the pool and gotten behind. cheaper or looking to make their name. you back GB you make limited actualization of team potential. it’s a half-ok political move against worse choices. it’s not an optimization choice. they may regret that come 2026. the tune may change, and might in a coded way go against cone or crocker as opposed to GB specifically.
Interest is a two way street. Last time we heard big names like Lopetegui, Martino, Rodgers, I think even Big Sam all expressing interest publicly. This time crickets from the “name managers”. You never know with this silly season stuff but the original reports on Berhalter to Club America were from established Mexican media. I doubt Berhalter controls them so those reports seem true.
* BREAKING NEWS *
“Water is wet!”
Gregg absolutely needs to leave all of his grudges and favoritism at the door. He is the first USA coach that is truly blessed with lots of talent at every position group. He needs to make his team a true meritocracy which will avoid a lot of political drama and instill hunger in both is regular players and those aspiring to be regular players which will benefit US soccer both at the national and club levels. He never struck me as the guy that can do that, but hopefully he proves me wrong.
Is he the coach who will maximize our talent and take the team to new heights? Based on past performance, he’s got a lot of improving to do. I’ve never said he is a bad coach. What I’ve always maintained is that there are a number of better coaches available. USSF’s decision to stay with him says to me that they are satisfied with “pretty good.”
It will be fixed. Both are professionals.
What will be interesting to see is how Musah is used the next three years. IMHO he is a 6 not an 8. He has the defensive chops and the ability to get out of tough spots with his dribbling. Has the speed. Should be interesting to see how that plays out. Ready made replacement for Adams who has injury prone issues due to how he plays.
2tone, I agree that 6 seems to be better spot for Musah although the sample size is pretty small. He also didn’t get gassed and IMO he has trouble playing 90 minutes at 8 and seemed to wear out in qualifying windows with multiple games in a week.
“Whenever I play with the US, I play as an 8. That’s when I have my best games. I love that position really.” -Yunus Musah on Afternoon Footy on CBS Golazo Network when asked what is his best position.
(1) i don’t think you get how some of these players might have cynical interest in locking down a starting position regardless where they really believe they should play. saying you want to play wing or 6, in our context, means giving up starting likelihood for a position competition with adams, weah, pulisic, or reyna. he has every reason to say i’m an 8. one time in men’s league i was starting at forward, but not getting much service or scoring, and watching the defense suffer. i decided, let’s fix the defense, play me in the back. how many players do you think give up the marquee slot to be a workhorse, or to risk being more helpful but in a bench role?
(2) you have a bad habit of mirroring the coach. the coach is weird. to me anyone looking at the guy objectively says his tool kit is those pinballing runs, wide power, or physical play in the middle. to me that is a 6 or wing toolbox, regardless where some silly coach plays him. just like dest has a wing’s skill set and not a back’s. so, let’s be real. 6 fits his skill set. unless what we are really doing is running a klinsi empty bucket where he’s out there to defend more than play the nominal 8 slot he is in. which, a lot of the time, is what i think. imo he is out there to either defend by possession or play physical mid defense. as such any of GB’s supposed mids have to be seen as “part 6.” they are moderately effective AMs.
the real question is do we want to allocate some technical offense to the AM position or are we bothering with precision central creativity. because musah is a banger and mckennie is a box crasher. when we can’t string a MF pass it’s that’s not their skill set. our skill is wide.
JR, you’re making sense up and down this thread imo, here as well
IV, Musah and McKennie can drive thru the middle, look vs. England, but one example. but it has to be set up, not just played in there without creating the opportunity first, leading to the turnover and counter. the USMNT has improved a LOT in this area since not qualifying for 2018 with that team which got burned repeatedly making that very mistake
Were the coaches at Arsenal weird, was Gattuso weird? Is West Ham weird for wanting him to replace Rice? You think Musah fits your tactics as a RM. Berhalter doesn’t use those tactics so he needs Musah’s skills somewhere else. Has Musah been great for Valencia as a wide player? Has he been more effective for the US in CM?
couple things (1) in terms of why this should be done and over, not only did he serve his shaming, but it’s already been used as an infamous example at a leadership conference. if you act in public like your actions solved the issue, the flip side is you should be acting like your leadership 6 months ago was sufficient — as you portrayed in public. otherwise you start to sound like the dog with a bone we wanted rid of.
(2) along similar lines, at times — thursday, grenada — this team has looked liberated, happy, and productive in his absence. crocker’s recent comments suggested his re-entry was being delayed so they could have a sit down and discuss tactics. setting aside my skepticism of the man getting the job, if he wants the job back and to do anything good with it, perhaps he needs to be different the second time and not the same dictatorial force. when i hear this stuff, this “i am the boss” kind of attitude, i am not sure he’s had sufficient reflection and evolution on why this only went so far and whether the players react well to his control freakiness. that if he wants this to succeed he needs to let go a little. the player served his sentence already, let go. maybe every player doesn’t need 100 reads and a constraining build up.
far as i am concerned, loosen up or get lost. this is step 1.
The Mexico performance has to have complicated Berhalter’s view of Gio. He was excellent in the center, bringing much needed creativity and not lacking in other qualities. Musah was also excellent in Tyler’s spot, and our three player front line was creative, spaced correctly. quick and dynamic, and this is only the first game. So what to do, once Tyler is back? Simple to me. Move him to right back, and keep the lineup the way it is all the way to the WC. (Dest is good, but not good enough against top class attackers. We have enough scoring. Need defense on flank. TA would do well there, or anywhere).
To be fair we tried the same midfield actions in March, we’ve just gotten better at them. We’ll see how it works against a low block. Mexico played more defensively but we’re not in a low block. I expect Canada to sit very deep and try to score on the counter with David, Davies, and Buchanan. With Miller and Victoria as their CB they can’t leave much space behind their backline. The problem is Tyler, he’s not as technical. Some teams pressure him others like Netherlands just sit off and just dare him to find a pass.
Is Beerholder going to squash whatever beef he has with Brooks too? You can’t tell me Aaron Long is a better defender than JAB.
there is no “beef,” it’s a coach’s decision. he’s a very specific player, one position, and fits a particular game mode. he can’t be moved to AM (like reyna) or from LB to CB (ream) to revive his fortunes. he’s not good enough to drive a tactics change. and he’s a little old.
re him vs. long, personally my answer is nunya. i didn’t like him or about half the gold cup backs. they all seemed to be picked circularly for having been picked before. begs the question in logical terms. this is where i get into we seem under this regime so eager to keep “zardes” experience around to chase “gold cup” even if in 3 years the whole gang is gone which means they couldn’t exactly have been the money tree. risk averse is the phrase that comes to mind.
Well my confidence in your soccer knowledge went out the window when you said Ream can play left back. He cannot and never could. I can show you numerous games where he failed. He did surprise me greatly with his CB performance in the WC though. Brooks should have a place with the full team as a CB and Beerholder should be bright enough to recognize that.
not sure where you’re getting that from. i was not a ream LB fan, not in more than half a decade.
ream was exposed for foot speed as a LB. he reminded me of johnny spector out there getting torched while people hoped for some offense. he revived his relevance by becoming a stay at home CB, and we managed to keep most of the world cup — save perhaps holland — from turning into a track meet he would lose.
For all those disparaging Long, they might want to look at how well he has performed this year at LAFC. The last game against KC was a good example. LAFC has had a lot of injuries and a lot of games as a result they were losing the midfield badly in the first half. Whether he was instructed to by Dolo or whether he did it on his own, he played counter to LAFC’s usual script by playing long balls out of the back. In the 2nd half, he returned a long ball from the KC keeper and one-timed it forward to Vela who scored. Did he pick out Vela and set him up or was it just dumb luck, either way, it won the game. Defensively he did well even though his defensive help was young players in the first half before Murlilo and Hollingshead came on.
Probably not, Owen. Why ? Because GB is a prick. He’s also a sh*te coach.
I’d pay to see Gregg and Claudio/Gio put beef aside. Box it out, Berhalter vs Reyna in a charity boxing 🥊 🥊 match :D. FORMER USA MAN NATS 🇺🇸 VS 🇺🇸
how about “i will do what it takes to fix this.” “work to do” is such a weasel phrase.
Conflict is a two way street. Berhalter can’t fix it alone. Both did wrong both must work to fix it.
But blaming one person for everything makes me feel better
no, that’s malarkey. or do you forget? reyna served his time in the penalty box for his actual “foul.” his foul was loafing in practice. he was shamed, benched, and then GB played him more in the elimination game. that’s time served.
the kid doesn’t serve the parents’ high sticking penalties. or are we mixing and matching who said what? the kid doesn’t serve some endless continued kissup period. he already did his penance for his issues. he has been capped several times since then. he played well and hard the other day against mexico. GB doesn’t get to bash him or use him as a parent pinata for a few more months. the team is past it. coach needs to get past it.
if the idea is he has work with the parents to do, that bridge was probably already blown up. nor can he probably go back to being uncle greg. half the problem here is the parents even seemed to matter. so we go back to player and coach. coach already beat up on player for perceived loafing. coach already benched player. coach already got him to apologize and try harder.
we’re done. period. sorry but he needs to get over it and do his job. reyna then needs to hold up his end, yes. that’s not any added work beyond the soccer. do your soccer job and most everything will be fine.
and while doing your soccer job maybe be attentive to how the new coaches have tried using reyna, which avoids him getting buried behind weah all night. or maybe even pay attention to most of the game we just watched. reyna doesn’t need to crawl to him. he needs to evolve. as crocker implied.
Joe: what has gio done to GB since the world cup? zip. that gio loafed in practice has already been resolved with internal shaming. that shaming was supposed to remain in-house. that shaming has been served. setting aside the parents, gio’s issue was soccer, he changed the soccer. he has been repeatedly played since then. that should not be following him around. the coach might even note reyna has been played differently since his period in charge. hmmm maybe if i play him new position, i don’t have to be worried about him loafing in practice. problem solved. you then watch out for backslides, yes, but if you are being an objective coach, reyna doesn’t get any special negative attention.
sorry but this sounds like someone still with a bit of a grudge. his grudge with the player was a soccer issue. that soccer issue was addressed 6 months ago. we’re done.
quit borrowing trouble. this is like reminding your significant other of a fight you had. if the fight got resolved and you hugged and kissed after, get over it. the way you show you are over it, here, is treat him like any other player. does pulisic or balogun get to loaf? no. so you just watch everyone like a normal coach, and figure out ways to get him on the field. he will then feel like he’s neither being messed over nor still some sort of emotional special case.
be a professional.
and if he thinks he’s ever going back to being uncle greg, that ship’s sailed. in which case they don’t need to have some special sit down. player hustles in practice, coach uses him appropriately. that’s how this gets solved meaningfully. words aren’t going to replace each side doing their job. so save the words. treat him like any other player and expect professionalism back.
IV: by your argument Berhalter has been “punished” too so they shouldn’t have to talk at all. Got it thanks.
JR, in fairness to Gio, it was fixed and then Gregg spoke about it and broke it again. Gio made one written statement after that amd it was probably written by a lawyer and has been completely silent since.
Tele: Was it fixed though? Look at the videos of the team celebrating at the hotel after beating Iran and tell me it was fixed. Gio fixed his behavior during training by Gregg’s statement that was mistakenly released by the organization hosting the event. Gio did just enough to get to play but clearly hadn’t bought in. His “punishment” as IV called it was a band aid. The wound of Gio putting himself above the team was still there. Perhaps Gio had conversations with Bj and Anthony or even Crocker or Gooch before March but Gregg hasn’t heard those words from Gio. And Gio needs to hear words from Gregg. You can’t fix a fracture like the one that occurred between Gregg and Gio without work. Gregg can’t just fix it, that’s naive. They need to come to some sort of agreement on what they need from each other going forward. They both need to establish the norms for their relationship, when this happens how do we respond to each other, how do you communicate criticism to each other in ways that are respectful and productive. It can’t be Gregg saying I promise not to talk about you at leadership conferences and Gio saying I won’t have my mom call your boss when I don’t start. That’s not going to work. Trust has been broken on both sides.
JR, I think you are jumping to conclusions. The media specifically showed pictures of Reyna to make it look like there was a rift still because that made a story. They could have done the same for any other player most likely. Maybe Gio doesn’t celebrate victories the way you want him to buy it is not uncommon for any player to be less satisfied with a victory when they feel they didn’t contribute. Unless you have information I don’t have, the only two people I know that spoke publicly about it were Ream and Roldan and they both said Gio apologized to the team before the Wales game and the situation was resolved. Gregg actually said the same thing. Should Gregg now have to apologize to the whole team for betraying the trust of the locker room to resolve the issue? Should he have already apologized to Reyna? Has he? Should Reyna be responsible for that actions of his parents and should he have to apologize for them? By all accounts Reyna has already apologized to the team for his actions. What more do you want him to do?
Tele: the media didn’t “specifically show Gio” they showed the team celebrating. It was fans that started noticing everyone else is celebrating and Gio is sulking in like his dog just died. They were showing the shot of Pulisic racing back from the hospital to celebrate with his teammates. You are right we don’t know what he’s thinking at that point. Maybe he’d just talked to mom and dad and was mad that they wouldn’t let it go. If someone close to you betrayed your trust but apologized would it be over you’re right back to trusting them. No, you’ve forgiven them but you need time to regain that full trust. The group has had to two camps to regain some of that. Berhalter hasn’t. They both were wrong they both have work to do. And no it’s not Gio’s fault what his parents did, but his parents are still in this situation. They lost their “friends at the top” but they’re still going to be around and wanting to be at games that’s a situation that Gio is going to have to work thru even if it’s not his fault. I said what Gio and Gregg are going to do. They’re going to sit down and work out how they move forward but if it’s a one way street it’s not going to work. By your logic Gregg just needs to walk into the first meeting in September and say “Hey guys I’m sorry I talked about Gio at a private leadership conference, I won’t do that again so again super sorry about that.” And everything will be fixed.
JR: sorry, not the case. GB just arguably leveraged the US with an america job report for maybe even a few coins more, got himself hired. GR is not yet some established star. as we know from qatar, GB controls if GR even sees the field under him, and has shown he will sit him if he wants. GR’s competing power is “exit,” refusing a callup, which while it might make him feel better in some ways, is laden with its own downside of dropping out. as know from after, the reynas cannot get GB fired on their own. who has the power and who doesn’t?
so GB can extract what he wants and GR just has to roll with it. GR cannot make GB do a thing back. GR cannot get GB fired for not making nice.
what just happened got so nasty can we not play pretend they have some oprah moment. in this situation the well duh solution is professionalism. they each show up for their job, do their respective jobs, and communicate professionally to get the job done. i have played for coaches i don’t like or with certain teammates who bullied me or i didn’t get along with. but as long as people are behaving themselves, unless one wants to be petty or counterproductive, what you do is shut up and be teammates. we communicate about switches or passes or chasers or soccer stuff. i get to yell at them if they loaf and vice versa. i don’t make a special case of them and they of me. if they want to tell me good game after, fine.
this is how soccer actually works. i cannot see how these 2 are ever pals. how could they trust each other. so they are co-workers. the job is now to be professional and make our business #1, to work together and not actively undermine each other to the detriment of the whole. part of that, to me, is he gets over the fixation and treats him like any other co-worker.
otherwise he needed to work someplace else and we needed to hire someone else.