People Behaving Badly: The USMNT Edition

A side story: Many, many years ago, I was a goalkeeper on a soccer team. When the season started, I had plenty of room for improvement. I put in the work, and by mid-season, I was on equal footing with the regular starting goalkeeper and had even surpassed her in some areas. 

Yet, I still spent every game on the bench. And it sucked. My mother saw how much sitting out every game hurt me. But I told her in no uncertain terms that this was my battle, and I was the only one who would fight it. She was not to speak to my coach or any of the varsity staff. No talking to any administrative staff. No interference of any kind. 

Mom agreed to my terms, but I knew it wasn’t easy. There were several games when she had to retreat to her car to keep from saying anything. But she never interfered.

Now, I’m certainly no Giovanni Reyna. But right now, I am struggling to understand his parents’ behavior. 

Before I move on, let me be clear: the ONLY victim in this whole sordid soap opera is Rosalind Berhalter. Full stop. 

Of all the avenues Danielle and Claudio Reyna had to support their son, they chose to deny Rosalind Berhalter agency over airing a domestic violence incident that happened between her and her boyfriend (now husband) more than 30 years ago.

This was never Danielle Reyna’s story to tell.

I’m not even going to get into why Gio didn’t get playing time during the 2022 Men’s World Cup. The stories about Gio were a swirling vortex of conflicting accounts, none of which ever really passed the sniff test.

Then, after the USMNT was eliminated from the competition, Gregg Berhalter essentially outed Gio for not putting in the work to earn regular playing time and having a bad attitude. That he gave Gio and the team the space to work it out themselves does cast them in a positive light. However, it’s something that should have stayed within the team. 

It doesn’t matter that Berhalter was under the impression that his comments would be “off the record.” Once those words left his lips, they were very much ON record and subject to being leaked.

When his remarks inevitably appeared in a Charter Newsletter, anyone who had been following the USMNT during the 2022 Men’s World Cup needed only two seconds to figure out which unnamed player he was talking about. 

Naturally, that put Gio Reyna on the defensive. He posted his response on his Instagram profile, saying, in part, “Coach Berhalter has always said that issues that arise with the team will stay “in house” so we can focus on team unity and progress… I am focusing now only on improving and growing as a soccer player and a person. I hope that going forward each person involved in U.S. Soccer focuses only on what is in the best interest of the men’s national team so we can enjoy great success at the World Cup in 2026.”

It should have ended there. 

Instead, Giovanni’s mother got upset that people on social media were saying bad things about her kid. So, she reached out to a family friend, Earnie Stewart, who happens to be the Sporting Director for the US Soccer Federation. Danielle Reyna thought it was unfair that her son was being dragged when his coach (and longtime close family friend) behaved so much worse at the same age.

But this was not Danielle’s (or Claudio’s) fight. Instead of recognizing that and giving their son the tools he needs to handle these situations, they escalated it in the most ugly, public way.

Danielle Reyna had no reason to drag up a painful, traumatic incident from 31 years ago without Rosalind Berhalter’s consent. 

Once again: this was never Danielle’s story to tell. 

And the irony is, she didn’t learn a thing from Gregg Berhalter, thinking these remarks would stay in the room. 

Or maybe she and Claudio didn’t care who ultimately got hurt.

Once information about the domestic violence incident was disclosed, Earnie Stewart and the federation had an obligation to open an investigation. After the federation all but ignored horrific allegations of abuse in the National Women’s Soccer League, the USSF could not gloss over these domestic violence allegations. Even if they are three decades old no police report was filed.

More importantly, why wasn’t this raised as a concern in 2018 when Berhalter was hired to coach the senior men’s team?

Danielle Reyna claims that she disclosed the 1991 incident to Stewart in the hopes that, somehow, he could put an end to the trash talk about Gio on the internet. At best, it’s incredibly naive. But it comes across as a pissed-off parent weaponizing a terrible domestic violence incident—that didn’t happen to HER—in an effort to poison the well against her kid’s coach. 

Instead of poisoning the well against Gregg Berhalter, Claudio and Danielle Reyna poisoned the well against their own son. 

I hope that Giovanni Reyna learns and grows from this incident and feels strong enough to tell his parents to let him (an adult!) handle his own business. 

I hope Gregg Berhalter understands that, whether well-intentioned or not, locker room stuff should stay in the locker room unless all parties involved want to release a statement.

I hope Danielle and Claudio Reyna do a lot of soul searching. And apologizing.

Most of all, I hope Rosalind Berhalter is surrounded in love and support. She didn’t deserve any of this.