US Soccer Coach Gregg Berhalter And Gio Reyna Have Not Spoken Since World Cup

US Soccer coach Gregg Berhalter and Borussia Dortmund midfielder Gio Reyna have not spoken since the World Cup. This means that the two have not had contact since the dispute between the Reyna family and Berhalter. This dispute included controversy over Gio Reyna’s playing time, and the Reyna family’s attempt to use a domestic dispute between Berhalter and his wife against him.

Gregg Berhlater told Vanity Fair in an interview that he has yet to speak to Gio Reyna since the World Cup controversy between them. Berhlater admitted that there was “work to do” to repair their relationship.

“It’s not something where you just pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, bud, here’s how it’s going to be.’ There is work to be done,” said Gregg Berhalter. “We both want the U.S. to win the World Cup and be very successful and now it’s figuring out a way to cooperate to do that,” he added.

Berhalter also said that he had talked with experts on mediation to prepare himself to handle the situation with Reyna “in the right way.” Speaking at a leadership conference after the 2022 World Cup, Berhalter recounted how he nearly sent an unnamed player — later identified as Reyna — home for poor behavior.

This drew an angry response from Reyna’s parents, Danielle and Claudio, both former U.S. internationals, who informed then-U.S. Soccer (USSF) sporting director Earnie Stewart of a domestic violence incident involving Berhalter and his now-wife Rosalind when the two were in college.

An investigation followed, with the USSF accepting Berhalter’s explanation and steps he took to make amends, which allowed him to return as coach. The U.S. will play Uzbekistan in St. Louis on Sept. 9 before taking on Oman in St. Paul, Minnesota, three days later. Berhalter will name his roster for those games on Wednesday.

“We started this process of how to set expectations a little and figure out how we’re going to move forward together,” Berhalter said of his relationship with Reyna. “Some of it will involve him, some of it will involve us, and eventually, hopefully, it leads towards Gio being comfortable in the team, comfortable that he’s being evaluated fairly and coached fairly and held to the same norms and standards as everybody else.”

Gio Reyna has yet to play since suffering a calf injury in June’s Concacaf Nations League final victory over Canada. He returned to training with German club Borussia Dortmund last week but was not in the squad for the Bundesliga draw with VfL Bochum on Saturday, meaning he might not feature for the U.S. next month.

But at some point, Gio will be fit enough to be selected. We can only speculate how the dynamic of player selection and game time for Reyna goes with Berhalter back as coach after the Reyna-Berhalter controversy. For the sake of the US national soccer team, let’s hope that this situation gets resolved.