Gregg Berhalter admitted he has not spoken to US men’s national team player Gio Reyna since the 2022 World Cup, explaining “there’s work to do” to repair the relationship.
Tensions first arose in Qatar after reports confirmed Berhalter benched Reyna for matches against England and Wales due to inadequate attitude during training sessions. But the strain between the two parties strengthened in December, when the head coach called out the player for his poor efforts on and off the field.
Reyna’s parents, Danielle and Claudio, retaliated against Berhalter for his comments by going to then-USSF sporting director Earnie Stewart to highlight a domestic violence incident involving Berhalter and his now-wife Rosalind.
U.S. Soccer launched a full independent investigation into the matter, forcing Berhalter to step away from the organization and Anthony Hudson, and later B.J. Callaghan, to serve as interim managers.
But the coach has since been cleared by USSF, and reappointed as head coach. Since his return to the helm, Berhalter insists more needs to be done when it comes to mending his relationship with certain players on the team, especially Reyna.
“I would certainly acknowledge that there’s work to do. 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 if we can unlock his talents he’s going to be a game-changer for this program,” Berhalter said.
“So there’s work to do and part of it is working together with Matt and trying to rebuild the relationship that we know will be important moving forward.”
Berhalter added he has not spoken with Ricardo Pepi or Zack Steffen either.
“I have not spoken with them and like the Gio case, I think there’s a number of individuals that you want to speak with. Ideally what you have is alignment with everybody, and all we’re doing is trying to be great together and it needs the relationships to be good. It needs the players to be focused on what we’re doing and there’s certainly time for that in these upcoming months.”
Callaghan will continue to lead the Stars and Stripes through the Nations League and Gold Cup campaigns before Berhalter officially takes over in August.
