It was the big elephant in the room, Gio Reyna and his lack of playing time at the World Cup, it was Eric Wynalda who first ‘reported’ that the Borussia Dortmund star and manager Gregg Berhalter were not seeing eye to eye, now it seems it was much worse than that.
According to the Athletic, Gio Reyna has been identified as the player in question where Gregg Berhalter mentioned that one player on his 26-man roster was almost booted out the team. Gregg Berhalter spoke at the HOW Institute for Society’s Summit on Moral Leadership and stated, “In this last World Cup, we had a player that was clearly not meeting expectations on and off the field… 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.”
It was reported that Gio Reyna had not trained with enthusiasm upon learning he was not going to start in the World Cup opener against Wales in Qatar and held a bad attitude during the tournament and eventually was called out for it by the team and staff. There have been conflicting reports that Reyna and USMNT captain Tyler Adams had to be pulled apart during a training session.
Gio Reyna and his future on the USMNT
Gregg Berhalter went on to state that the player in question, all are reporting it as Reyna, did apologize to the staff and team and would eventually play 45 minutes against the Netherlands in the round of 16 to go along with only seven minutes against England in the group stage. Upon his return to Borussia Dortmund, Reyna did score in a friendly match as the European club seasons are set to kick off after the World Cup.
For Gio Reyna it is a black eye to the legacy his family has at the national team level, especially for Claudio Reyna who represented his country in three World Cups. Claudio was team captain for two of them and in 2002 was named to the World Cup all-tournament team, the first American to do so.
While extremely talented Reyna was just getting back from injury when Berhalter took the player to the tournament in spite of his injury history, but by no means was he a out and out starter and the USMNT had learned to play without Reyna leading up to the tournament, getting the most from Tim Weah and Brenden Aaronson during that time.
For Gregg Berhalter it could be viewed as a certain vindication of his decision to sit Reyna at the tournament, but also could also be an indirect message that his time as coach of the USMNT is coming to an end.
While Reyna will surely be back on the national team at some point, his standing on said squad took a severe blow as Reyna was seen as a future leader on the USMNT.
While Gregg Berhalter has to make a big decision in the coming weeks, Reyna mustrethink his train of thought during one of the most important moments of his playing career, it’s hard to blame Gregg on this one, and shocking to see that kind of response from a kid whose last name is Reyna on the USMNT.
