I must be missing something completely obvious here because there's a lot of pretzel logic defense of Berhalter and attacking of the Reynas. Honestly, I'd appreciate it if someone could point out exactly what I'm missing.
Berhalter unfortunately is very mediocre. Especially tactically both from the start and in game. Van Gaal, bless his Dutch sarcasm while dying from cancer, had to restrain himself from basically stating plainly yeah we're playing a junior varsity team tomorrow. It should be great fun.
I think those of us who have been watching the USMNT for a long time realize we're on the cusp for the first time of having a nucleus of players with world class technique, but we're still far short tactically. It's frustrating to watch. That's on the coach. They're getting world class instruction at Juventus, Chelsea, Dortmund, Bayern, but then they come to the USMNT and it isn't there.
USMNT I hope are using this team to entice an experienced name coach. They can get another plug and chug Berhalter whenever they need to. Here is Gio's first Dortmund goal at age 17. Find me a similar goal by any American not named Christian at any age in a top league and I'll buy you a latte.
You are missing something here. You are missing all of it actually.
This isn't about Berhalter the coach - he probably does completely suck and might not be the right guy - doesn't matter.
This started with a kid who not just according to Berhalter but the multiple other senior members of the coaching staff and team, was not holding up his end of the bargain when it came to acting like a professional player representing his country at a world cup. Berhalter did the one thing probably nobody has done to this kid in his entire life (definitely appears like his parents never did based on their actions) - hold him accountable for his behaviour. And Berhalter is the figurehead of this as he should be, but if you actually bother to read about what went down, this appears to - as mentioned already - have been a far greater discussion for multiple people involved.
His ability or goal scoring ability is totally irrelevant. He was coming off injury anyway so who knows how effective he was ultimately going to be.
So you think that on the flip side of this, Berhalter should have just fast tracked this kid into the starting lineup when he'd been goofing off all tournament like a spoilt, privileged d-ck, basically letting all other players know that either the behaviour is fine or it's fine if you are family friends with the coach? Can I ask a question - what do you do for a living? It's certainly not a leading a team or group of people is it.
Almost inconceivable someone would defend the Reynas here but there is always one or two I guess. And they always have a "career best" social media hype moment to justify it. Next.
I must be missing something completely obvious here because there's a lot of pretzel logic defense of Berhalter and attacking of the Reynas. Honestly, I'd appreciate it if someone could point out exactly what I'm missing.
Berhalter unfortunately is very mediocre. Especially tactically both from the start and in game. Van Gaal, bless his Dutch sarcasm while dying from cancer, had to restrain himself from basically stating plainly yeah we're playing a junior varsity team tomorrow. It should be great fun.
I think those of us who have been watching the USMNT for a long time realize we're on the cusp for the first time of having a nucleus of players with world class technique, but we're still far short tactically. It's frustrating to watch. That's on the coach. They're getting world class instruction at Juventus, Chelsea, Dortmund, Bayern, but then they come to the USMNT and it isn't there.
USMNT I hope are using this team to entice an experienced name coach. They can get another plug and chug Berhalter whenever they need to. Here is Gio's first Dortmund goal at age 17. Find me a similar goal by any American not named Christian at any age in a top league and I'll buy you a latte.
You are missing something here. You are missing all of it actually.
This isn't about Berhalter the coach - he probably does completely suck and might not be the right guy - doesn't matter.
This started with a kid who not just according to Berhalter but the multiple other senior members of the coaching staff and team, was not holding up his end of the bargain when it came to acting like a professional player representing his country at a world cup. Berhalter did the one thing probably nobody has done to this kid in his entire life (definitely appears like his parents never did based on their actions) - hold him accountable for his behaviour. And Berhalter is the figurehead of this as he should be, but if you actually bother to read about what went down, this appears to - as mentioned already - have been a far greater discussion for multiple people involved.
His ability or goal scoring ability is totally irrelevant. He was coming off injury anyway so who knows how effective he was ultimately going to be.
So you think that on the flip side of this, Berhalter should have just fast tracked this kid into the starting lineup when he'd been goofing off all tournament like a spoilt, privileged d-ck, basically letting all other players know that either the behaviour is fine or it's fine if you are family friends with the coach? Can I ask a question - what do you do for a living? It's certainly not a leading a team or group of people is it.
Almost inconceivable someone would defend the Reynas here but there is always one or two I guess. And they always have a "career best" social media hype moment to justify it. Next.
I've listened to enough Men In Blazers to know exactly what went down. I don't think you can separate out all of the drama of this issue and form an opinion on it without firmly putting it within the context of Berhalters and Gio's talents/results.
You are missing something here. You are missing all of it actually.
This isn't about Berhalter the coach - he probably does completely suck and might not be the right guy - doesn't matter.
This started with a kid who not just according to Berhalter but the multiple other senior members of the coaching staff and team, was not holding up his end of the bargain when it came to acting like a professional player representing his country at a world cup. Berhalter did the one thing probably nobody has done to this kid in his entire life (definitely appears like his parents never did based on their actions) - hold him accountable for his behaviour. And Berhalter is the figurehead of this as he should be, but if you actually bother to read about what went down, this appears to - as mentioned already - have been a far greater discussion for multiple people involved.
His ability or goal scoring ability is totally irrelevant. He was coming off injury anyway so who knows how effective he was ultimately going to be.
So you think that on the flip side of this, Berhalter should have just fast tracked this kid into the starting lineup when he'd been goofing off all tournament like a spoilt, privileged d-ck, basically letting all other players know that either the behaviour is fine or it's fine if you are family friends with the coach? Can I ask a question - what do you do for a living? It's certainly not a leading a team or group of people is it.
Almost inconceivable someone would defend the Reynas here but there is always one or two I guess. And they always have a "career best" social media hype moment to justify it. Next.
I've listened to enough Men In Blazers to know exactly what went down. I don't think you can separate out all of the drama of this issue and form an opinion on it without firmly putting it within the context of Berhalters and Gio's talents/results.
I can have an opinion on how Claudio and Danielle acted that is irrespective of Berhalter/Gio's abilities.
I don't get the criticism of Greg talking publicly about Gio's lack of effort. The greatest manager in history, Sir Alex Ferguson, often called out underperforming players in public.
Another example was Rashford being benched last week for missing a team meeting. Ten Hag was very public a out why Rashford was dropped, Rashford took the punishment like a man, and then came in as a substitute and scored the winner.
Greg was in the right to call out Gio. Gio should have responded by admitting it and then doing better. He didn't.
You are missing something here. You are missing all of it actually.
This isn't about Berhalter the coach - he probably does completely suck and might not be the right guy - doesn't matter.
This started with a kid who not just according to Berhalter but the multiple other senior members of the coaching staff and team, was not holding up his end of the bargain when it came to acting like a professional player representing his country at a world cup. Berhalter did the one thing probably nobody has done to this kid in his entire life (definitely appears like his parents never did based on their actions) - hold him accountable for his behaviour. And Berhalter is the figurehead of this as he should be, but if you actually bother to read about what went down, this appears to - as mentioned already - have been a far greater discussion for multiple people involved.
His ability or goal scoring ability is totally irrelevant. He was coming off injury anyway so who knows how effective he was ultimately going to be.
So you think that on the flip side of this, Berhalter should have just fast tracked this kid into the starting lineup when he'd been goofing off all tournament like a spoilt, privileged d-ck, basically letting all other players know that either the behaviour is fine or it's fine if you are family friends with the coach? Can I ask a question - what do you do for a living? It's certainly not a leading a team or group of people is it.
Almost inconceivable someone would defend the Reynas here but there is always one or two I guess. And they always have a "career best" social media hype moment to justify it. Next.
I've listened to enough Men In Blazers to know exactly what went down. I don't think you can separate out all of the drama of this issue and form an opinion on it without firmly putting it within the context of Berhalters and Gio's talents/results.
So you are basically saying that because Reyna is the "next superstar" and the magical offensive elixir for what was a struggling offensive unit, that he should have been given a free pass on his behaviour in Qatar.
That Berhalter should have just let him break team rules and protocol that all players (even ones more important than him) had to follow and rewarded him with playing time? Can you even comprehend how that looks for Berhalter especially as every single player on that team knows that he and the Reyna family are lifetime besties?
Look, that little d$ckhead still walked away with $294000 for basically doing f--k all and acting like a total non-professional all tournament. You can think what you want here - but you are completely wrong.
It's a tough call to discipline a superstar during the most important game/tournament.
Belichick decided to bench Malcolm Butler for disciplinary reasons . . . and Nick Foles torched his replacement for a Philly Superbowl title.
Did he deserve to be benched? Probably . . . would they have won if Butler played . . . probably.
Right - so we are also now sitting here and contending that Giovanni Reyna would also have been the "difference maker" in the R16 game vs the Netherlands that the US lost 3-1 in?
I think I'm done with this thread. The Reynas suck - all of them - especially the f-ing psychopath wife.
Right - so we are also now sitting here and contending that Giovanni Reyna would also have been the "difference maker" in the R16 game vs the Netherlands that the US lost 3-1 in?
I think I'm done with this thread. The Reynas suck - all of them - especially the f-ing psychopath wife.
Not just lost 3-1 but a game where Holland's goals were well worked and our goal was pure luck. No one American could have made the difference.
That goal is incredible. Unfortunately, his goals have been few and far between since he reached Dortmund. Can he do the work to stay on the field? Can he mature? Berhalter was wrong to subordinate him to inferior players before the Cup began. Reyna was wrong to act like an immature, pouting brat about it. His parents were wrong to go tell on Berhalter for his actions in 1991. The whole US Soccer program is too incestuous to produce the best national team. Berhalter may have been getting back at Claudio Reyna for not playing Berhalter's son at Austin.
Crazy and sad story all around, almost hard to believe. US soccer is a mess and the they have had disciplinary issues with McKinnie on multiple instances and Gregg still decided to start him every game despite a lack of match fitness to play 90 minutes. Even if Gio didn't look good in practice, after the injuries wasn't playing at a level to start, or attitude sucked, Gregg's coaching was objectively miserable during the WC and is not fit to coach a national team that made the knockout stages of the WC. His (including the entire coaching staff) performance was pitiful from the jump including terrible decision making on who they brought in the squad, choice of starting players, particularly for attacking players.
The crazy thing is the lack of fitness due to players being either out of season from MLS or not selected by their teams in Europe to play due to recent injuries or quality. They did have one of the fittest players in the EPL (Aaronson) but decided to use him in cameo appearances off of the bench. If Gregg somehow uses this story from 31 years ago coming out to swindle his way back on as coach it would be a complete joke.
This started with a kid who not just according to Berhalter but the multiple other senior members of the coaching staff and team, was not holding up his end of the bargain when it came to acting like a professional player representing his country at a world cup. Berhalter did the one thing probably nobody has done to this kid in his entire life (definitely appears like his parents never did based on their actions) - hold him accountable for his behaviour. And Berhalter is the figurehead of this as he should be, but if you actually bother to read about what went down, this appears to - as mentioned already - have been a far greater discussion for multiple people involved.
I am not as big of a soccer game as Weldon but think you are missing something. Rio only started goofing off in practice and acting like a turd after he was told he wasn't going to be playing a significant role.
Not knowing a ton about it, it seems to me that Greg tried to do what so many coaches do - prove how smart they are by doing something 'different.' He didn't put Pepi - the guy who 100% saved his job in quailfying with those goals - on the team and then decided to not play Reyna. Pepi 100% needed to be on the team.
Now I don't know enough about it but I do know Reyna is one of the most talented players. But he also plays midfield and our midfield of -Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah and Tyler Adams- was incredible in the world up. Did their great play vindicate Berhalter (I don't know and am seriously asking). Or could Reyna still have been given a role with those guys or played a different position?
This started with a kid who not just according to Berhalter but the multiple other senior members of the coaching staff and team, was not holding up his end of the bargain when it came to acting like a professional player representing his country at a world cup. Berhalter did the one thing probably nobody has done to this kid in his entire life (definitely appears like his parents never did based on their actions) - hold him accountable for his behaviour. And Berhalter is the figurehead of this as he should be, but if you actually bother to read about what went down, this appears to - as mentioned already - have been a far greater discussion for multiple people involved.
I am not as big of a soccer game as Weldon but think you are missing something. Rio only started goofing off in practice and acting like a turd after he was told he wasn't going to be playing a significant role.
Not knowing a ton about it, it seems to me that Greg tried to do what so many coaches do - prove how smart they are by doing something 'different.' He didn't put Pepi - the guy who 100% saved his job in quailfying with those goals - on the team and then decided to not play Reyna. Pepi 100% needed to be on the team.
Now I don't know enough about it but I do know Reyna is one of the most talented players. But he also plays midfield and our midfield of -Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah and Tyler Adams- was incredible in the world up. Did their great play vindicate Berhalter (I don't know and am seriously asking). Or could Reyna still have been given a role with those guys or played a different position?
I don't think I'm missing anything at all - in fact if this is the scenario - that Reyna just started goofing off after being told he wasn't going to be playing a significant role then it's actually even worse.
You answered your own question here when you stated that McKennie, Musah and Adams played exceptionally in the tournament. Berhalter, like any coach, has difficult decisions to make but ultimately needs to make them in the best interests of his team. Those decisions aren't always right but he's the coach - period. I can't imagine that any decision involving Gio Reyna was easy giving the family relationship etc but he made the call.
Now we get to Reyna - so you might be disappointed in this new and you've got two choices. You can either be a great team player - support your team by showing up in practice/whatever else, or you can pout like a spoiled little brat. He chose the latter. And the worst part about this is that we will never know if he had chosen option 1 here that here wouldn't have ended up on the field more. I'll tell you right now, if I told a player on my team that he may have a limited role in a tournament and he responds by behaving so bad the entire coaching staff is like "we need this kid out of here" then best bet there is almost zero chance he will play any meaningful minutes - can't trust him.
I don't understand why this is so hard for Reyna fans to get. Cool - he's scored some social-media classic goals - but last time I checked this is a team game and how you play and interact with your team is incredibly important.
I am not as big of a soccer game as Weldon but think you are missing something. Rio only started goofing off in practice and acting like a turd after he was told he wasn't going to be playing a significant role.
Not knowing a ton about it, it seems to me that Greg tried to do what so many coaches do - prove how smart they are by doing something 'different.' He didn't put Pepi - the guy who 100% saved his job in quailfying with those goals - on the team and then decided to not play Reyna. Pepi 100% needed to be on the team.
Now I don't know enough about it but I do know Reyna is one of the most talented players. But he also plays midfield and our midfield of -Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah and Tyler Adams- was incredible in the world up. Did their great play vindicate Berhalter (I don't know and am seriously asking). Or could Reyna still have been given a role with those guys or played a different position?
I don't think I'm missing anything at all - in fact if this is the scenario - that Reyna just started goofing off after being told he wasn't going to be playing a significant role then it's actually even worse.
You answered your own question here when you stated that McKennie, Musah and Adams played exceptionally in the tournament. Berhalter, like any coach, has difficult decisions to make but ultimately needs to make them in the best interests of his team. Those decisions aren't always right but he's the coach - period. I can't imagine that any decision involving Gio Reyna was easy giving the family relationship etc but he made the call.
Now we get to Reyna - so you might be disappointed in this new and you've got two choices. You can either be a great team player - support your team by showing up in practice/whatever else, or you can pout like a spoiled little brat. He chose the latter. And the worst part about this is that we will never know if he had chosen option 1 here that here wouldn't have ended up on the field more. I'll tell you right now, if I told a player on my team that he may have a limited role in a tournament and he responds by behaving so bad the entire coaching staff is like "we need this kid out of here" then best bet there is almost zero chance he will play any meaningful minutes - can't trust him.
I don't understand why this is so hard for Reyna fans to get. Cool - he's scored some social-media classic goals - but last time I checked this is a team game and how you play and interact with your team is incredibly important.
From an outsider's perspective, I find it difficult to really have a sense of how egregious Gio's actions were. The report on his behavior was given by Berhalter, who we know was in some sort of feud with the entire family. Maybe Gio acted even more poorly than Berhalter made out, or maybe Berhalter acted more poorly towards Gio than Gio's Instagram suggested. Who knows.
Regardless, this also reeks of terrible man management from Berhalter. Reyna has been battling injuries and fighting for playing time on a perennial Champions League side with no reports of poor behavior. He probably does feel more entitled to his position on the USMNT than at Dortmund, but I have to believe that better management could have kept him happy even if he wasn't going to be starting. 19 year-olds are going to be subject to acting like 19 year-olds. I think it's fine to fault them for that, but it's also the job of the 49 year-old coach to be aware of that and find ways to keep the talented young players on their game, no matter what. If GGG can't do that, he shouldn't be manager.
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Time for the US to get a real head coach instead of this imposte
I can think of a lot of reasons why Greg Berhalter shouldn't be the head coach of the US team and that was four years ago. It has nothing to do with his domestic dispute which happened last century.
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