#BerhalterOut: We Now Have A Report That The USMNT Almost Sent Gio Reyna Home From The World Cup
[Source] - Multiple sources close to the U.S. men’s national team have provided details to The Athletic that help explain attacker Gio Reyna’s lack of involvement at the World Cup.
The sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, said that Reyna showed an alarming lack of effort in training ahead of the U.S.’s opening match of the tournament against Wales on Nov. 21, including in a scrimmage against Qatari club Al Gharafa SC on Nov. 17. Reyna’s lack of intensity in the scrimmage — sources described him walking around throughout his time on the field during what was otherwise an intense session — caused significant frustration within the team.
Oh what the fuck - and that goes for everyone involved. It says it was unclear if Reyna was trying to protect an injury or just frustrated because he knew he wasn't starting against Wales. Either way that's dumb. If you're trying to protect an injury tell the staff hey, it's not worth it for a tune up against some bum ass club team. But more importantly we now have some sort of answer as to what the hell happened with Gio Reyna at the World Cup.
It's a disaster.
It's a disaster for all involved. You could argue that Reyna is our most talented player. 20 years old, son of a US legend, plays at a high level but typically injured. That's who Reyna is but now he's going to get this label of bad teammate or something along those lines. Frankly, I don't care what he did in a scrimmage against a club team because that match doesn't matter. I care about why he's not playing in matches that do matter.
I even agree with Gregg (to a degree). That he didn't have to use him in the Iran game once we were up 1-0. I still would have, but the point remains. You can't use him for next to nothing against Iran and England. What's more troubling is this:
“In this last World Cup, we had a player that was clearly not meeting expectations on and off the field,” Berhalter said. “One of 26 players, so it stood out. As a staff, we sat together for hours deliberating what we were going to do with this player. We were ready to book a plane ticket home, that’s how extreme it was. And what it came down to was, we’re going to have one more conversation with him, and part of the conversation was how we’re going to behave from here out. There aren’t going to be any more infractions.
That is such a bad look. You can't get to the point of having to send Reyna home. I don't care. There's gotta be some sort of meeting - which Reyna apologized during to the team and then turned the corner. This is where it's a bad look for Gio and a bad look for Gregg. You have to find a way to utilize our most talented player more. That's especially true when we look back at the World Cup and realize our biggest problem was not scoring. He's a threat. We could have used that at some point before we were down 2-0 to Netherlands.
But this is a bigger picture thing now. The biggest positive we heard about Gregg as a manager was this group was so close, everyone bought in, he got them together, that sort of stuff. Now you have a leak that one of your stars was almost sent home. I don't know how you run it back. Again, thanks Gregg for getting us to this point, but we need someone to get us past the round of 16. We need someone who knows how to deal with guys who are playing in Europe because that's what we have now. It's not an MLS lineup.
Let me be very clear here: Gio can't act like a whiny bitch, Gregg's gotta find a way to get our best players on the field. That simple. The report is a bad look for Gio more than anyone else. Another reason we can't run back the same squad in 2026 (or 2024 Copa America).
PS: It's complete bullshit that Aaron Long was someone who Reyna had to sit down with. Fuck outta here with that.