U.S. men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter said he and Gio Reyna spoke over Zoom “weeks ago” and called it a “positive conversation” ahead of Reyna’s return to the U.S. team from injury — and his first camp since Berhalter was re-hired.
It will be the first time the manager and player have been together since controversy unfolded after the World Cup. The issues began with Reyna’s behavior at the tournament in Qatar and Berhalter alluding to those problems during comments at a leadership conference, albeit without mentioning Reyna by name. That eventually led to Reyna’s parents, U.S. Soccer veterans Claudio and Danielle Reyna, providing information to then-U.S. Soccer sporting director Earnie Stewart about an incident 30 years ago in which Berhalter kicked his then-girlfriend, now-wife when they were freshmen at the University of North Carolina. That prompted an investigation into Berhalter that stretched for months. Berhalter was cleared for employment at U.S. Soccer in March and eventually re-hired as manager of the national team in June.
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“First of all, the conversation was a positive conversation,” Berhalter said. “Appreciative of him taking time and being able to connect and really, for us, it’s about aligning on how we’re moving forward. And I think we did that. The exact contents of the conversation I’m gonna leave private, but we’re in a good spot to prepare for this camp and to really, in my opinion, treating this very similar to how we did with (Folarin Balogun) in last camp, is build him up, build his minutes up so that he goes back to Dortmund in a better place and using him on the field in a way that he can return to Dortmund ready to go. So that’s going to be important for this camp.”
Berhalter coached his first camp back in the job last month in friendlies against Uzbekistan and Oman, but Reyna was out with a hairline fracture in his right leg that he suffered in the CONCACAF Nations League final on June 18. Reyna still has not played for club or country since suffering that injury, however he has been on the bench for Borussia Dortmund.
While he reiterated multiple times that the conversation was positive, Berhalter acknowledged that it “will take time” to mend the relationship.
“There’s a difference between a Zoom call and being in person, but I think that both intentions are positive,” Berhalter said. “And the idea is that we work together for the team to be successful. And I think we’re both prepared to do that. So I think that although it may take some time, we’re both aligned with what we want to accomplish.”
Considering the fact that Reyna has not played any minutes since June, Berhalter reiterated that this camp will be used to find him minutes and “build up in a safe way (so that he can) go back to Dortmund and really propel him to make a big impact for his club.”
The question is what position Reyna plays, though the roster announcement may have hinted at the plans. In the previous cycle, Reyna played as a winger in Berhalter’s 4-3-3 system. He slid inside to a No. 10 role under interim managers Anthony Hudson and B.J. Callaghan, and looked comfortable in that spot. He was listed as a midfielder in this latest roster announcement.
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Berhalter said Reyna is capable of playing as, “a midfielder, attacking midfield and winger” and that he can be used in any of those spots with the U.S.
“We’re going to be creative with the minutes we want to certainly get him on the field and work through both the Germany game and seeing what position he plays and then in the Ghana game, same thing, seeing how we can get him in different positions throughout the camp on the field.”
(Photo: ANP via Getty Images)
