On Tuesday, U.S. men’s soccer national team head coach Gregg Berhalter tweeted that he got into a physical argument in 1991 with his then-girlfriend and now-wife Rosalind Santana (now Berhalter), kicking her in the legs. Berhalter said then that someone threatened to “take me down” during the World Cup by revealing this information to U.S. Soccer. And on Wednesday, ESPN reporters Jeff Carlisle and Kyle Bonagura reported that the someone in question who brought this to U.S. Soccer was Claudio Reyna.
Reyna played with Berhalter on the USMNT from 1994-2006, including with both in significant roles at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He’s currently the sporting director for MLS’ Austin FC. And, perhaps most notably here, he’s the father of current USMNT player Gio Reyna. Gio Reyna (who this report does not list as involved in these discussions about Berhalter’s past) was given a limited role by Berhalter in this year’s World Cup, and Berhalter even discussed potentially sending him home at one point. So the elder Reyna (seen above in a photo on Austin FC’s site) might have had some reasons to go after Berhalter. Here’s what Carlisle and Bonagura wrote on what Reyna (and his wife Danielle, who was also involved in the eventual call here, and who was a four-year teammate of Santana’s at North Carolina) did:
Former United States men’s national team captain Claudio Reyna sent multiple messages to U.S. Soccer executives during the World Cup threatening to reveal sensitive details about USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter’s past, multiple sources told ESPN.
The messages began after his son, Gio Reyna, was informed he would have a limited role at the tournament.
U.S. Soccer did not receive any details about the claims until Dec. 11, when an executive was informed in a call with Claudio Reyna and his wife, Danielle, that Berhalter, 49, had a past domestic violence incident, sources told ESPN.
U.S. Soccer has hired law firm Alston and Bird to conduct “an independent investigation into the matter” on Dec. 11, which is the day of that call. In a statement Tuesday, the organization also mentioned that through the process of the ongoing investigation, they “learned about potential inappropriate behavior towards multiple members of our staff by individuals outside of our organization. We take such behavior seriously and have expanded our investigation to include those allegations.”
There are a lot of elements involved in this. One is that Berhalter’s contract expired at the end of 2022, and his future with the national team is uncertain (U.S. Soccer announced Wednesday that current USMNT assistant Anthony Hudson will lead their January camp in California). Another is that the Reynas were seemingly aware of this incident long ago (unless they somehow just learned of it), and only brought it to U.S. Soccer after their son received disappointing news from Berhalter (and, as per this report, did so with threats to take it public, and as per Berhalter, with a threat to “take him down”).
Back when Berhalter was hired, Claudio Reyna called him “an exciting choice for the national team job.” And as recently as February, Reyna described their relationship as “good friends” to Grant Wahl, and offered plenty of praise for him. Also, Claudio Reyna was in Qatar during the World Cup, and was the only former player tabbed as part of the United States’ Presidential Delegation at the closing ceremonies. So his decision to bring this to U.S. Soccer during the World Cup in vague terms, and in detail afterwards, comes with a lot of awkwardness.
Beyond that, this seems to add to the already large amount of issues discussed around Gio Reyna and his future with the national team. And it also presents some potential issues for Claudio Reyna and Austin FC. It adds up to one of the stranger sagas around U.S. Soccer, and that’s saying something.
[ESPN]