DOHA, Qatar – Gregg Berhalter, Head Coach of the United States Men’s National Team reportedly said at a leaders’ summit on Tuesday that he was considering sending a player home World Cup 2022 because the player “clearly fell short of expectations on and off the pitch”.
According to several reports, the first by Tom Bogert of MLSsoccer.com, the player was Gio Reyna. Reyna, 20, was expected to be at least a key contributor off the bench for USMNT in Qatar, but only played eight minutes in the group stage.
Speaking at the HOW Institute for Society’s Moral Leadership Summit in New York shortly after returning from Qatar, Berhalter – according to a slightly edited transcript published by Charter Bulletin – said that “as staff, we sat together for hours thinking about what we were going to do with this player. We were ready to book a plane ticket home, it was so extreme.
Berhalter said he and the team’s management group – half a dozen experienced players, including Captain Tyler Adams – were “ready to” send the player home. But instead, the player finally apologized to the group. “And from that day on,” Berhalter said at the summit, “there were no more problems with this player.”
Shortly after Berhalter’s comments spread through American football circles, Athletic reported that Reyna, who had shown an alarming lack of effort and intensity in training during the team’s first week in Qatar, apologized to her teammates before a video session between games .
His lack of intensity in a Thursday 17 November scrum against local club Al Gharafa SC sparked questions within the squad over whether he was protecting himself against injury, according to The Athletic. The following Monday, Reyna’s lack of involvement in the USMNT opener against Wales sparked a flurry of questions among fans and the media. Berhalter, in her post-match press conference, said Reyna had “a bit of [muscle] tightness we were guarding against,” but also tactically explained Reyna’s absence. Reyna, speaking to Yahoo Sports that evening, acknowledged the tightness but said he “definitely felt 100%” come game day. Three days later, Berhalter said it was a “coach’s decision” not to play him.
According to The Athletic, Reyna reacted in frustration to her ‘DNP’ in the opener and continued to show insufficient effort in training – at which point players and coaches confronted her about it.
Berhalter, who did not name Reyna at the top, said of the anonymous player: “What happened is we’re going to have another conversation with him, and part of the conversation was about the way we are going to behave from here there will be no more infractions.
“But the other thing we said to him was, ‘You’re going to have to apologize to the band, but you’re going to have to say why you’re apologizing. It’s going to have to go further than just, guys, I’m sorry And I prepared the leadership group with that. I said, ‘OK, this guy is going to apologize to you as a group, to the whole team.’ And what was fantastic about all of this was that after he apologized, they stood up one by one and said, ‘Look, that hasn’t been good enough. not met our expectations of a teammate and we want to see change. They really took ownership of this process.
Reyna played eight minutes against England and then zero against Iran. Berhalter, when asked about his lack of involvement ahead of the team’s Round of 16 game against the Netherlands, offered a tactical explanation.
“I think a lot depends on the timing and the circumstances,” Berhalter said. “If you look at how the games went, we took the lead and had to keep it later in the games. The only game where we didn’t have that scenario, we actually put it on to help win victory. So that’s just how we can use him in the most effective way. Really talented player, and we’re looking for the right moment. But he can definitely help his team.
Reyna then played the entire second half of a 3-1 defeat against the Dutchwhich eliminated the USMNT.
Since then, he has played and scored for his club, Borussia Dortmund, in a friendly match.
It’s unclear why Berhalter chose to detail the situation with the anonymous player just three days after the USMNT was eliminated. A US football spokesperson claimed in an email that the summit was “explicitly unofficial” – meaning Berhalter might have believed his comments would not be published. (Video of the summit has not been released.)
US Soccer and Berhalter are currently deciding to extend the coach’s contractwhich expires after the 2022 World Cup.