This World Cup isn’t quite over for the USMNT: We now know why Gio Reyna had such a limited role at the tournament. Andrew and JJ weigh in on the last 48 hours of leaks, leadership summits and Instagram responses. What now for both player and manager?
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42 Comments
What would Ted Lasso do?
Both Reyna and GGG are at fault, here. Yes, Reyna should have acted like a professional rather than a petulant 9 year old. However, GGG bares a large amount of blame; first by telling Reyna that he would play a limited role several day prior to the Wales match, then after the Wales game by going into full "cover his ass" mode by lying to the press that Reyna "had some tightness" as a reason rather than by just saying "no comment", and now by using this as a story in a meeting of 100 or so. All of this should be a deal breaker in going forward as the USMNT coach. All of this shows a remarkable lack of judgement by GGG.
Ads were a bit much on this one, I got 5 double ads in 15 minutes
Greggg is the worst.
JJ is spot on with the corporate mumbo jumbo….excellent discussion and perspectives.
Greg is the worst coach everything he’s done regarding Reyna was weirdo moves. Almost sabotage against Reyna ultimately the team.
Adams was voted Captain by the players the night before the first game. Before that day, Pulisic was often listed as the captain by groups covering the World Cup. The late vote seemed odd – and there was a strong push for Adams or bust. Regardless, Reyna, Scally and DLT were all on the outside looking in. GGG only brought in Reyna in the last game out of desperation.
GGG has behaved consistently in a manner dedicated to harming Gio. Bad juju.
GGG keeps his mouth shut and he probably stays as the coach. With this I find it hard to happen.
Think about this. They sent Weston Mckennie home during WC qualifying. They thought about sending Gio home but ultimately didn't. So objectively, whatever Weston did was much much worse. So let's not make this kid out to be the worst teammate ever. This shit happens and we move on. The only difference here is that Gio's issue was leaked.
I’m a huge Berhalter detractor. I just don’t think he’s a good coach or a good representative for the program in the media, but the amount of excuses for Reyna coming from the masses is a bit silly. Sure, he’s 20, but he’s representing the country and he’s acting like an entitled 10 year old. He’s incredibly talented, but he hasn’t done anything deserving of the entitlement that he displayed. The bit of his statement with accusations of others being “self serving” tells me everything I need to know. The boldness to make that accusation after his display while representing his country shows such an incredible lack of self reflection. I would be embarrassed to call somebody that if I acted in the way that he did. He’s a guy that puts himself before the group. I just hope he learns from this.
They are producing more content now than in Qatar! Being a former member of media, off the record should mean something. Berghalter should've kept that in house and Reyna should've behaved better.
They all act like this was not premeditated. Did you all notice how quickly the Athletics article came out after Greggs outing? Gregg and the USSF had this all planned out, the outing and all the leaks. So disappointed in our soccer federation and coach. Gregg and his cronies need to go and fast.
I was Berhalter out even before this only because I'm in the one cycle camp, but surely there's no way he stays after this right?
In regards to the orange hoodie….End of the college cup was unfortunate coming from an IU student, I was surprised by how many people actually were watching the game here (seemed to be a little World Cup affect). But props to Syracuse because it was a fun game to watch
Please start adding these YT videos onto the podcast feeds as well please. I beg of you! Excited to listen.
Question for the room! If GGG said to Gio before a ball is kicked that his involvement would be limited, does that mean that at a certain point he sat down and said to himself "yeah, Jordan Morris is a better option then Giovanni Reyna" 🤔 ? GGG probably until he was down 2 nile to the Dutch "I'm a genius, we're going to win and I haven't had to play Gio. I'll get to tell everyone about it during my payed leadership gigs. New sneakers baby!"
You guys are spot-on about the issue of telling Gio his role was going to be limited before the tournament even started. It's a terrible decision in two ways:
1. It shows that Berhalter is poor at player evaluation and finding creative and effective solutions to utilize his best players. There's no world in which Dortmund's coaching staff incorrectly rates Gio highly among all his club competition, but Gregg correctly rates Gio poorly with competition like Jordan Morris and Jesus Ferreira.
2. The fact that he told the player this expectation before what could be expected to be a dynamic competition is absurd. You never know if the players you personally rate higher will perform, or will stay healthy. So you therefore need all members of your team to believe they have an opportunity to contribute according to their talent, of which Gio has a ton. The only excuse for this (disregarding the poor player evaluation I noted in my first point) is if it was intended as a transparent way to help Gio know what his expected role was. However, even if that's the case, you tell the kid something like "I don't have you in the starting lineup against Wales, but depending on how the starters are performing and/or what is needed within the game, I need you ready to play. If the Wales game doesn't present the right opportunity for me to use you, I need you to stay ready because we'll be evaluating our lineup's performances game-by-game and opponent-by-opponent."
i am all for vibes too and Beerholder is the biggest downer
People on here are going to give Gio a pass just because they like him no matter what he does. If what we hear about what happened is true, then Berhalter did the right thing.
Really?? Not trying hard enough is a reason to try an send one of your best players home….after the coach told him that he wasn't going to be involved. It is amazing that you still take GG side.
Triple G is done as coach of the team. Terrible leadership skills shown in a leadership summit. He took the team where he was supposed to, he did the job he was hired for. For the next step, the team needs somebody with more international experience, heavier pedigree, good riddance and thank you!
Should there be a larger discussion around the way ggg mishandled the mass media at almost every turn this World Cup cycle? From distracting leaks, poor man management and poor communication through vague allegories that hindsight shows to be jabs at his own players, makes it hard for USSF as an organization to publicly endorse a coach like that if he’s so self-destructive in the press. Then on the other side, Reyna’s age and talent only work in his favor in terms of laying a more feasible path back to the good graces of the starting 11.
looking at the rest of the national teams, especially the ones that perform extremely well and make it far, it doesn't seem like a super tactician is always necessary. Idk why but looking at teams in knockout tournaments, man-management seems to be way more important than a super tactical genius (sorry pep). I understand Gio probably stepped out of line, but you have to 1 play a player that good and 2 try to keep him happy.
Corporate – Morality. The two do not mix. Berhalter must’ve been paid well. Too bad he’s such a $$$$$ grubber that he’d take the $$$$ and take the opportunity to throw a really young player who’s likely our most talented USMNT player under the bus. And screw The Athletic. They pretend to be ethical sports journalists… that no longer does not exists in sports journalism – AT ALL. In the not-so distant past there were a few- scant few, but a few – writers who wanted to write the truth, no matter what truth was. The ret – ALL OF THEM – were of the, if I sell out just ‘this much’ I’ll be morally good with that. The rest? They wrote solely looking to get paid – period. Today? I’ve not seen one sportswriter who doesn’t write solely for the come up. So, screw The Athletic, screw Berhalter for not only being a blatant $$$$ whore but doing so o he could slickly air out Reyna.
You cannot tell me that Berhalter knew that, at some point in the near future as assessments of the USMNT’s WC 2022 performance was mulled over, that Reyna’s pretty much exemption from playing wouldn’t have become a fairly major topic.
Berhalter wanted to get ahead of the story and place himself in a position as an , “I was just looking out for the team, the program and the U.S. Men’s Team going forward,” fake altruist. This sheisty, mean-spirited, self-centered move “should” be enough to have him removed from the program and looked on as a pariah – someone willing to low-key blame Reyna as the player whose attitude kept him off the field and, because of his talent and the chance that he may have been able to pull off a moment of brilliance, cost the USMNT from defeating the Netherlands.
What a petty, low move. Here’s to hoping the higher ups in the USMNT hierarchy realize this and get rid of Berhalter ASAP (not holding my breath, though).
Gio was wrong to act like a brat but he's young and these things can happen. He addressed the team which was good; hopefully he matures as he ages. Gregg should have kept it in-house and never should have spoke on the matter publicly. With his job, something like that will always get out even if he thinks he is speaking off the record.
Who cares, they scored 3 goals in 4 games. And barely scored in any of the friendlies leading up to the WC. Why is this dude still the coach and why would anyone have optimism for 26? Miss me with all this
I suggest that everyone go listen to the Total Soccer Show’s overview of the situation as they were able to provide a much more balanced viewpoint. The fact that Andrew and JJ can’t fathom why a coach might want to set expectations in a team at a high level tournament especially with sensitive players like Reyna is bewildering.
#GGGout!!!!!!
Can we please hear the Jay Z and Beyonce story on the next Pod👏🏾
I'm disgusted by all of this on the part of Berhalter and staff, but hardly surprised. What were hearing now – in drips and drabs – is the Berhalter narrative with the twists and turns we all saw. As USSF is very prone to do, we have good reason to think the narrative itself is "highly fictionalized versions of events". That's what happens in USSF when things go wrong – spin narrative like hell and smear the opponent.
Consider a different scenario. Berhalter makes a bad decision to minimize Reyna time and surprises him only after he's arrived in Qatar. It does not sit well. Bad decision to make and terrible execution. It also won't be popular with media, public or parts of the team. A story is concocted that its a health issue – there was tightness. Except Gio does not go for the forced cover and visibly so in a press conference. "I'm fine." The lie itself was dumbfounding in clumsiness since Gio had been playing for Dortmund recently just fine – as if USMNT had been taking laughably bad disinformation lessons from Vladimir Putin. Gio punched a hole in the smokescreen. So the next narrative is to amplify the sudden bad behavior part to deflect blame. We all heard the leak that players voted. That was false. Then it was some form of council. The council, by the way, is entirely beholden to Berhalter himself. So we go through the world cup until the last game before Berhalter brings on Gio for a half to salvage things. Imagine the conversation. "Hey Gio, I know we've ignored you and stuffed you in a locker, but things are going down the tube here and you might help salvage this. Be a good lad"
So after all is said and done, the media and fans still have questione. Its not going to go away easy. So like anyone with an ego needing to be beefed up, Berhalter has a go at a conference on "Leadeship" with an off the record "ooops" leak that Richard Nixon and DC politics would be proud of. We have arrived at the smear.
So before you think this is a tinfoil hat approach, think about how any abuse of power works. Think about a long history of USSF blunders and attempts to squelch dissent. Consider how hated Jay Berhalter was inside Soccer House and how GGG got his job. These things are not unrelated. The problem I believe was that GGG made one of his usual mystifying, maddening player decisions, and Gio wasn't a player to just suck it up and do what you're told. We know lies were involved (tightness) and Gio didn't tow the line. People who abuse power hate challenges. It slide all the way downhill from there. The locker room knows just how much is wrong and manufactured. It won't hold up. It's time to get rid of Berhalter.
Sorry guys, I think this is one of your first really poor episodes. You're spending 50 minutes (+ a LOT of google commercials) ranting about a bunch of supposition and guess work. This could easily been as simple as "Gio, I know you're expecting to start, but your time is going to be more limited (-based on injury concerns, projected match-ups, you're not playing well at the moment, who knows?)." Disappointment, perhaps immaturity, and petulance ensues. Perfectly reasonable and logical – but doesn't provide as much content I suppose..
You mentioned that Gio isn't Sean Johnson – but maybe he IS Jadon Sancho?
Maybe having a lifetime of pundits telling him how great he is contributed to this? Hopefully he'll mature and we'll all move on.
I don't think Gregg just went around telling players "oh hey, you will barely play". It could be a few things. Gio finds out he is not starting against Wales(which they notice these things in training), starts to act up, and then Gregg has to sit him down to have a talk with him. Or, Gregg tells him he is not starting against Wales and Gio takes it the wrong way that he wont play at all, etc. IDK, so many gray areas where all we can do is speculate. All we do know is that it is not normal for a coach to just tell players this before the WC, unless they have very specific reasons to do so. Gio must have been REALLY bad though for so many of the players and staff to want him out. I can imagine Gio was a black hole at training, in the locker room, in the video room, in the players lounge, in the hotel, etc. You don't contemplate sending your best player home for just a little acting up, it has to be pretty bad.
first time listening to these guys and they cooking 🧑🍳🧑🍳
First time watching on YouTube, feels surreal. No way you’re real people
Does Andrew admit he was wrong? Ill listen and find out.
"I can almost respect Greg" nope guess not can we stop, Greg LIED. Why was his role limited why did he LIE about an injury. Why did he play him when he DESPERATELY NEEDED A GOAL. Greg sabotaged Gio for whatever reason "limited role" why wtf, "tightness" lie.
If we are honest Greg has just benefited from having the greatest crop of talent maybe ever in US history. Im no Bradley or Klinsman fan but either would probably have done more with this squad. This job is to big now for just an average manager like Greg
You guys are good. If you build it they will come. Keep going.
I think Gregg detected a lack of respect from Gio of his coaching well before the tournament. So he sets him up with the “you are not going to play.” Then Gio sulks and the team jumps on him. Gregg is a douche bag. He set up a 20 year old for a hit. Double standard. Same thing he pulled on Brooks.
I, as well as many others, am torn about GGG….he did some really great things for US soccer. It feels like the majority of the players back him and respect him. That is all you can ask for when being a national team manager, Alex Ferguson said it best, "it's a terrible job, it takes a manager that the players respect, and even then getting them to go all in is a tough job." However, the reason why he is so unliked is because he doesn't have the edge you would expect from a top manager…for whatever reason he just lacks that appeal, and the players will grow and be difficult to handle as they are 4 years older. Every Rock band has to move on from the guy who took them from playing at pizza parlors to being an opening act….at some point you have to pursue rock and roll legend status…and the guy with the recording studio in his basement ain't gonna get you there!
I wish gregg make use of gio rena efficiently he could had be in semi finals
The secret to rena game is that he slow the ball tempo down and make his fellow players recuperate or recover to be better in second half so they won't run outta energy
This so genius how the world realize that rena could have push united states into semi finals but he did not get to play as much but broken his heart