Ot - usmnt

[BobC]

Originally Posted by echappist

Did he really, or is this hyperbole?

Also, there is a WC 2022 thread now.

Lastly, on-topic, there's a chance the next Copa America will be hosted in the U.S. Ecuador apparently withdrew the bid. Would be a good time to see how far the team has progressed, etc. I also hope I might get a chance to spectate.

Copa possibly here & World Cup in 2026 as well. I'm itching to go watch some matches.

[wc1934]

***??????
Lots of discussion about Reyna not playing in WC - fitness - commitment?

Then rumors about Berhalter being blackmailed - apparently years ago he kicked/abused his girlfriend/ now wife.
Now it appears that Reyna's parents (Claudio - ex captain) may have been behind the blackmail.
What a $hitshow!!!

[Beldar77]

Originally Posted by wc1934

***??????
Lots of discussion about Reyna not playing in WC - fitness - commitment?

Then rumors about Berhalter being blackmailed - apparently years ago he kicked/abused his girlfriend/ now wife.
Now it appears that Reyna's parents (Claudio - ex captain) may have been behind the blackmail.
What a $hitshow!!!

this ^^^^^^ is a typical week at Barca or real madrid

[wc1934]

Originally Posted by Beldar77

this ^^^^^^ is a typical week at Barca or real madrid

hahah - then there is hope for the USA

[echappist]

Originally Posted by wc1934

***??????
Lots of discussion about Reyna not playing in WC - fitness - commitment?

Then rumors about Berhalter being blackmailed - apparently years ago he kicked/abused his girlfriend/ now wife.
Now it appears that Reyna's parents (Claudio - ex captain) may have been behind the blackmail.
What a $hitshow!!!

I just saw reports of this and was hoping not to be reminded of it.

$hyteshow sums up my thoughts. Just so much ugh. Berlhalter should have never shared the Gio benching in the first place (after the U.S. was knocked out). I see it as an overall harmless mistake but not enough t justify what Claudio Reyna has subsequently done.

The dredging of old issues, especially if one that has been a non-issue for decades, is just sheer pettiness. If Berlhalter is to be believed and if no further incident has taken place, a good 30 years have elapsed.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by echappist

I just saw reports of this and was hoping not to be reminded of it.

$hyteshow sums up my thoughts. Just so much ugh. Berlhalter should have never shared the Gio benching in the first place (after the U.S. was knocked out). I see it as an overall harmless mistake but not enough t justify what Claudio Reyna has subsequently done.

The dredging of old issues, especially if one that has been a non-issue for decades, is just sheer pettiness. If Berlhalter is to be believed and if no further incident has taken place, a good 30 years have elapsed.

The whole thing is really not good. For anyone.

I am sure there is more to follow. Probably nothing good for the Reyna family.
From what I read is what Claudio's wife, who was GB's wife's college roommate, who submitted the complaint.
I suspect that GB, fairly or otherwise, is done.

[wc1934]

Originally Posted by echappist

I just saw reports of this and was hoping not to be reminded of it.

$hyteshow sums up my thoughts. Just so much ugh. Berlhalter should have never shared the Gio benching in the first place (after the U.S. was knocked out). I see it as an overall harmless mistake but not enough t justify what Claudio Reyna has subsequently done.

The dredging of old issues, especially if one that has been a non-issue for decades, is just sheer pettiness. If Berlhalter is to be believed and if no further incident has taken place, a good 30 years have elapsed.

Totally agree - why did the Reyna's wait all these years and now use extortionary tactics to keep their kid on the team. Those actions are disgraceful.

And for now Berlhalter has been relieved of duties.

[Louis]

What a soap opera:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/64168700

[verticaldoug]

My cousin was a NCAA Women's Coach for many years. She would give the same speech every year to incoming 1st year players and their parents. I am coaching you to not just be the best player you can be, but to be an adult who can deal with life. If you have a problem, come talk to me. Parents, if your daughter has a problem, encourage her to come talk to me, but I will not negotiate with you.

Every year, the AD would get at least one letter saying the coach should be fired. She had won a couple national championships at the time, so was safe.

This is essentially what happened to Coach B.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The culture of drinking and violence has definitely existed in college sports for years. It really started to get attention after the Duke Lacrosse incident with the strippers, and the UVa incident where a young woman on the lacrosse team was killed by her lacrosse playing boyfriend in a drunken rage.

There has been a big push on dealing with relationship violence at both the collegiate and high school levels in recent years. It is probably better now.

This incident was 1991 with 1st year college students involving alcohol. It doesn't appear they kept it a secret and Coach B has said he sought counselling. They are still together and there are no reported incidents after.

This is what you want. A person with a problem to get help. After they have gotten help and change, you don't punish them....

If anything, Coach B can become a real advocate for change and continued support for dealing with relationship violence in sports. That seems the right approach here.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think the Reynas have taken toxic bulldozing parenting to a new low.

https://www.theguardian.com/football...na-family-feud

[yinzerniner]

Originally Posted by Beldar77

this ^^^^^^ is a typical week at Barca or real madrid

I read this comment at Defector, but it still holds true. The Reyna BS shows that America is finally becoming a real soccer (football) country!

Originally Posted by wc1934

Totally agree - why did the Reyna's wait all these years and now use extortionary tactics to keep their kid on the team. Those actions are disgraceful.

And for now Berlhalter has been relieved of duties.

Just to add onto the s#*7 sandwich, it wasn't even to "keep their kid" on the team, it was purely petty revenge tactics after it got out that their kid was rightfully denied playing time because he wasn't being a productive or good teammate. It was after the US was eliminated, and spurred on by Berlhalter's speech that unintentionally disclosed why Reyna was mostly kept on the bench. The irony of Berlhalter's speech is that it was mostly supposed to be a positive one for Reyna - that he was acting immaturely and learned his lesson, and that going forward he will be better given his immense talents and career to come. Operative quote:

But the other thing we said to him was, you’re going to have to apologize to the group, but it’s going to have to say why you’re apologizing. It’s going to have to go deeper than just ‘Guys, I’m sorry.’ And I prepped the leadership group with this. I said, ‘Okay, this guy’s going to apologize to you as a group, to the whole team.’ And what was fantastic in this whole thing is that after he apologized, they stood up one by one and said, ‘Listen, it hasn’t been good enough, You haven’t been meeting our expectations of a teammate and we want to see change.’ They really took ownership of that process. And from that day on there were no issues with this player.

To be fair, Berlhalter was never relieved of his duties. His contract was up at the end of 2022 and it was widely understood that it would be re-upped, but this has obviously slowed if not stopped the renewal. So the gambit "worked" but to what end? If anything the actions of the parents hurt Berlhalter with a contract but most likely not his career, at the cost of their own reputations/standing and will ultimately set back if not permanently damage their son's promising if still nascent career.

[Waldo62]

To me, the Reyna family comes off the worst. Gio pouted hard, Claudio threatened to go public with allegations against Berhalter during the World Cup because Gio was benched, and now mom Danielle really stepped into it with both feet. Claudio can forget ever coaching the USMNT, Gio's USMNT career is in jeopardy because of his own and his parents' actions, and as for Danielle.......

[goonster]

Originally Posted by yinzerniner

it was purely petty revenge tactics after it got out that their kid was rightfully denied playing time because he wasn't being a productive or good teammate.

That's not the right timeline. Gio was told he'd see limited time due to Gregg's lineup decisions (i.e. not "for cause"), then he pouted and slacked off in training, before apologizing and being welcomed back into the fold.

So, yes, there was a disciplinary issue, but that wasn't the underlying cause behind the lack of playing time, and he was never "benched." I have not heard an account to the contrary, from a reliable source who'd be in a position to know.

Gio is young, healthy, and playing at a high level club where he's in a good position to see his stature grow. Gregg achieved his objectives for this WC cycle, IMHO, and we are awaiting the outcome of an investigation. The Reynas? Oof . . .

[yinzerniner]

Originally Posted by goonster

That's not the right timeline. Gio was told he'd see limited time due to Gregg's lineup decisions (i.e. not "for cause"), then he pouted and slacked off in training, before apologizing and being welcomed back into the fold.

So, yes, there was a disciplinary issue, but that wasn't the underlying cause behind the lack of playing time, and he was never "benched." I have not heard an account to the contrary, from a reliable source who'd be in a position to know.

Gio is young, healthy, and playing at a high level club where he's in a good position to see his stature grow. Gregg achieved his objectives for this WC cycle, IMHO, and we are awaiting the outcome of an investigation. The Reynas? Oof . . .

According to The Athletic the pouting began even before the Nov 17th friendly.
https://theathletic.com/3991695/2022...egg-berhalter/

So maybe my original stated timeline was a bit off, but even though he wasn't a starter we don't know exactly how much playing time he might've gotten if he had a proper attitude but it certainly would've been more than he eventually earned. When a coach references almost sending him home because of his attitude/effort that certainly has to lessen the chances of him earning quality minutes.

But what isn't up for debate is that the Reynas immediately went into scorched earth mode the moment Berhalter told Reyna he would have a limited role, to wit:

The messages from Claudio began after his son, Gio Reyna, was informed he would have a limited role at the tournament.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-s...cident-sources

Gio is an immense talent and will most likely be the face of American soccer post-Pulisic. But given this information it's easy to see why he had such a garbage attitude, and hopefully he can separate himself from his parents as his career progresses. He's still very young, and by all accounts he took responsibility once confronted, learned his lesson and hasn't been an issue since.

[goonster]

Sorry, I did not read the Athletic article, as I'm not a subscriber.

Bottom line, I think, is that what happened in the team was fairly normal stuff. If anything, this squad was unusually close-knit, united and motivated, by the standard of the WC teams, especially considering that the qualifying campaign was not exactly smooth.

I thought that the "play Gio" tantrums and "Gregg out" discourse on Twitter, during the WC was weird. I mean, if there's a better coach who will take the job, by all means, hire them. But this WC went about as well as could be expected for the U.S., before all this BS drama kicked off . . .

[wc1934]

Originally Posted by goonster

Sorry, I did not read the Athletic article, as I'm not a subscriber.

Bottom line, I think, is that what happened in the team was fairly normal stuff. If anything, this squad was unusually close-knit, united and motivated, by the standard of the WC teams, especially considering that the qualifying campaign was not exactly smooth.

I thought that the "play Gio" tantrums and "Gregg out" discourse on Twitter, during the WC was weird. I mean, if there's a better coach who will take the job, by all means, hire them. But this WC went about as well as could be expected for the U.S., before all this BS drama kicked off . . .

I agree - early on, pre-qualifiers and qualification, I was not a Berhalter fan - re: decisions, formation, players etc.
However, I now see that he was able to maximize the teams potential.
If he is ousted, Europe awaits him.