ESPN FC’s Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens discuss the controversy between player Gio Reyna and USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter and how he was close to being sent home from the squad at the World Cup.
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23 Comments
Staff voted not the players, please try to be accurate
What kind of coach puts a vote to his team like that, punk move
Americans wanted to use democracy in Qatar, what a surprise
Gab is spreading false rumors! There was no 25 man vote. There was a vote amongst the staff and maybe the included the player leadership council.
Where did we get this vote from? I feel like that may be fabricated.
Reyna should’ve behaved more professionally, Berhalter should’ve kept it private. As a younger professional, it shouldn’t follow him and to his credit he’s accepted responsibility for his behavior. However, as a coach Berhalter shouldn’t have been so naive as to assume it was “off the record” and frankly it may have been a mistake to just tell a kid before games even started that he wasn’t going to be playing much. Should Reyna have had a bigger role? Duh. Should he have had a better attitude? Probably. But all of this together just proves this coaching staff needs to go. Sounds like both parties are at fault, but in the end it wasn’t handled well from the start by leadership and they bare the responsibility of that. Im proud of how well our team did, but you do wonder how much of an impact this all had across the board. Which again, leadership bares that weight and should be held responsible.
This is ridiculous….He should have been told when he was called to join the team not at the World Cup. Or considering he played maybe max 45 minutes a game leading to the World Cup after 12 months of being injured should not have been on the roster at all. ?,,,,It should have been clear that he was there for the experience only and not to play…. Berhalter is not up to par. Our best players are in Europe, being coached by the best coaches….and they come home to BERHALTER? go figure
Well to be fair, I could see the players that knew they were probably not getting a lot of playing time coming into the WC probably felt some type of way that Reyna was being a diva in training, and maybe that's the large contingent of players that voted to send him home. I get it, if I'm a player that is training hard even though I know I'm not getting PT, I'd think he's toxic too.
BUT, squad players are not Gio Reyna who is arguably the most, or second most, talented player on the team. So him finding out he won't be getting PT is different from Jordan Morris finding out he's not getting a lot of PT.
I do think there is something to be said for Berhalter being so rigid in his system that he can't be flexible enough to scheme to get his most talented players on the field. There is a difference between the talent pool on the club level compared to a national team, specifically the USMNT, where the talent gaps are larger than club teams. I think the US need a manager that is going to put the most talented team on the pitch and not think you're gonna out-system opposition to success in international competition. There's a reason why it's often the usual suspects in the final and semifinals of international play, better talent. Scheme/system only gets you so far in those settings.
Super bad journalism. I vote to send you home. Also, you need to stand up in front of the team and apologize.
The biggest issues I see with all this are the fans. The reaction from fans has been terrible and the mental gymnastics fans are playing to blame it all on GGG and absolve Gio because he's our supposed best talent is insane.
Most objective reporters and outsiders side with the coach. At the end of the day. The coach dictates the lineups. Not the players. Something USMNT fans seem to have a problem with.
espn with shitty news sources again, the players DID NOT vote
The vote didn't happen by the players.
those MLS players voted no real quick 😅
Was it not already reported that the vote was amongst the coaching staff not the players?
I think Greg is simply a naive idiot that needs to rely on dramatic distractions because his on field tactics are dead and boring. And don’t even bring up the he won concacaf argument and advance in the WC because that’s bare minimum for our expectations!!!
OK you guys are DRAGGING this
Why are still reporting on a debunked player vote?
You had a full week to get the facts straight…please do better.
Poor journalism there was no players vote
Poor journalism here.. player vote didn't happen and that was cleared up days ago.
I heard that the "vote" senario wasn't true. At least I hope it's not. Berhalter is the adult here and by giving the vote to the team, he pretty much tore the team in half. Additionally, Gio and the entire staff and team know they don't want him there. Gregg lost the locker room by doing so. Yes Reyna fkd up with his attitude, but he manned up and apologized. But on the big picture, Berhalter could've explained his tactic to Gio much better and managed how and when to let him or at least feel he's a vital part of the team. You don't tell him you're not playing much before the WC even starts. The vote was a very very stupid thing to allow, this guy is an moron, he doesn't have a clue on how to manage an Nation team. He leaked this on purpose to wipe his hands clean as if Gio gave him no choice.
He is a psycho. Has to go.
These guys obviously did not see Gio Reyna's statement on his Instagram. 🙄