Ex-USMNT star Herculez Gomez slams Gregg Berhalter for his treatment of Gio Reyna at the World Cup

Former USMNT forward Hérculez Gómez has criticized Gregg Berhalter for his treatment of winger Gio Reyna at the World Cup, insisting the head coach failed in his “only job” of keeping private affairs inside the team’s locker room.

Your only job is the collective. Your only job is to treat that locker room as a sanctuary,” said the former LA Galaxy, Puebla and Seattle Sounders FC striker on ESPN’s Fútbol Américas program.

Giovanni Reyna’s statement, Gregg Berhalter’s own words of keeping things at home betrayed right there. I haven’t been to many symposiums. I can’t imagine you’d tell a large number of people “Shhh! Keep this between us.”

‘What do you get out of it? By pointing to a player without naming him, knowing, because we said this, someone will speak. He’ll come out and then he’ll have to come out like this and say, ‘Oh, too bad. I thought that was off the record. I said off the record.”

It’s a betrayal, Sebi. She betrayed that wardrobe. And if I’m another player in that locker room, how could I trust him again?

Berhalter revealed the team’s concerns about a player he did not name when spoke last week at the HOW Institute for Society Summit on Moral Leadership in New York. Excerpts from his comments were later published in a Charter Works newsletter, which discusses management and workplace trends.

“In this last World Cup, we had a player who clearly didn’t live up to expectations on and off the pitch,” Berhalter said. ‘One of 26 players, so he stood out. As a team, we sat together for hours deliberating what we were going to do with this player. We were ready to book a plane ticket home, that’s how extreme it was.

‘And it came down to we’re going to have one more conversation with him, and part of the conversation was how we’re going to behave from here on out. There will be no more violations.

“But the other thing we told him was, you’re going to have to apologize to the group, but he’s going to have to say what you’re apologizing for. It’s going to have to go deeper than just “Guys, I’m sorry,” Berhalter continued.

‘And I prepared the leadership group with this. I said, “Okay, this guy is going to apologize to you as a group, to the whole team.” And what’s great about all of this is that after he apologized, they stood up one by one and said, “Listen, this hasn’t been good enough. You haven’t been living up to our expectations of a teammate and we want to see a trade.” They really took ownership of that process. And from that day on there were no issues with this player.”

While Berhalter did not identify the player, multiple news outlets reported on Monday that it was Reyna, and a person familiar with the matter confirmed the identity to DailyMail.com on condition of anonymity because no announcement was made.

‘Just before the World Cup, Coach Berhalter told me that my role in the tournament would be very limited. I was devastated,” Reyna said in a statement Monday. ‘I was hoping and desperately wanted to contribute to the game of a talented group as we tried to make a statement at the World Cup.

“I’m also a very emotional person, and I fully recognize that I let my emotions take over and affect my training and behavior for a few days after learning of my limited role,” Reyna said. I apologized to my teammates and the coach for this, and they told me that I was forgiven. From then on, I shook off the disappointment and gave everything I had on and off the pitch.’

Charter published an editor’s note Sunday that said: “Berhalter’s comments were … erroneously approved for publication by someone representing the event organizers.”

“There was never any intention for the content to be made public or for the identity of the player to be known,” Berhalter said in a statement.

“It was the strong team culture that allowed us to resolve the issue and emerge in a stronger, more unified position,” Berhalter said.

Reyna, the son of former US captain Claudio Reyna and former US women’s national team player Danielle Egan, missed most of Borussia Dortmund’s 2021-22 season due to leg injuries and He hasn’t played a 90-minute game this season because his condition was monitored.

“I am disappointed that there is continued coverage of this matter … and extremely surprised that anyone on the US Men’s Team staff would contribute to it,” Reyna said. Coach Berhalter has always said that any problems that arise with the team will stay ‘at home’.

Reyna turned 20 the week before the World Cup and did not play in the Americans’ first 1-1 draw against Wales on November 21, raising doubts for Berhalter.

Reyna appeared in the last eight minutes of the 0-0 draw against England four days later, did not play in a 1-0 win over Iran on 29 November and featured in the 3-1 round of 16 loss to the Netherlands in the start of the second half with the Americans trailing by two goals.

Berhalter said after the first match that Reyna felt “tension” after a November 17 friendly against Al-Gharafa, but did not specify where. Reyna said after the Wales game: “I felt ready to play.”

Eric Wynalda, Claudio Reyna’s former teammate, told the LA Times in a Twitter Spaces interview before the England game that there were “internal disputes with the manager” regarding Gio Reyna before later apologizing.

“He was fit to play,” Wynalda said. “Berhalter lied to the media and said it was an injury, he asked the player to accept that story, which caused a rift between the two.”

Berhalter said on November 28: ‘I’ll let you decide if I asked Gio to lie about it. That’s not who I am.

So if you have to take Eric’s word or mine or whatever, feel free. But I know what happened.