USMNT Talk

[Gotham Gator]

I have latched onto a couple of tidbits to spin them into massive speculation of my own!

GB's talk to the leadership summit mentioned problems "on and off the field". Dogging it in practice and a scrimmage is "on the field" and - as mentioned - is not really enough to have someone sent home. So, what is the "off the field" part?

Twellman mentioned that there was no player vote, but there was a staff vote, and that it included "fitness personnel". Why are fitness personnel - and presumably other non-coaching staff members - voting on whether to send a player home?

Rampant speculation part: Gio's attitude extended to disrespectful treatment of others within the team framework, potentially including teammates and staff.

 

[adam]

What a mess.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1602168314473680896

So shortly after Reyna’s agent releases a statement that there’s more to the story but not denying any facts that were mentioned including the vote Twellman say he spoke to 3 other player agents who deny there was a vote.

Separately, the account of Berhalter’s remarks about the situation come from a leadership summit he attended last week. Multiple outlets report that Berhalter claims he was told that everything at the event was confidential and off the record. But the organizers published a summary of his remarks on their own, hours before the Athletic article was coming out. Miscommunication? is Gregg lying? Did the organizers do him dirty? What a dumpster fire.

ETA: Twellman's first line is a reference to being accused that he is doing PR work for Berhalter and US Soccer. Because the Berhalter-Out faction has decided that

• there was a vote
• having a vote is itself a scandal
• which proves Gregg is unfit to lead
• the vote split shows he lost half the locker room, and
• the players who voted for Gio to leave were all MLS players and players who competed with Gio for minutes
• and therefore by claiming there was no vote TT is acting as hose scribe for USS

The Berhalter-In faction has decided that

• there was a vote
• which was good leadership because
• involving the players by making Reyna apologize to them forced Reyna to realize this was not just between him and the coach
• and the vote forced everyone in the locker room to take ownership of team cohesion

Oddly, the one thing they both agree on is there was a vote.
Me? I wasn't there, and there are so many conflicting stories right now I'm reserving judgment.

I’ve been on the GGG out vote. This news that there’s a rift with one of the best players on his team (so strange bc Gio grew up with his family, but there’s obviously something bad going on and family feuds happen too), pretty much disqualifies GGG from managing the USMNT another cycle. I won‘t say this is because GGG is necessarily unfit to lead. But why go forwarded with an existing rift if you dont have to? There’s a reason managers don’t take national teams 2 cycles if you don’t win a WC. There’s bound to be hard feelings from losing and if an approach didn’t work, it’s time to try another.

On a side note, now there will always be a ”what if” thought about this WC if Gio had gotten serious minutes, especially after Sargent went down. Shame…

 

[Gotham Gator]

Not clear I'd describe this as a "rift".

It seems there was a problem, and it involved more than just GB. Gio's teammates had a problem with his behavior too.

It also seems likely that the problem is resolved - at least for the time being. Gio was called out, apologized and saw extensive action in the last game. Hopefully, it is now water under the bridge, the same way that McKennie's issue in 2021 is now firmly in the rearview mirror.

 

[mgarbowski]

I was in favor of moving on from Berhalter once the WC ended, and that's still true. I hope this doesn't make anyone at USS think they need to stand by him. Assuming his account is largely true, they should make some supporting statements as they announce the change. If his account is not mostly true, of course he has to go.
I also can't wait until we hire some established coach with top level experience in Europe or South America, and we still end up with a team made up of 30-40% MLS players and a new focus for people's backup quarterback theories.

 

[NYCFC_Dan]

I have zero issue with what they decided with Gio. If they felt he wasn’t working hard enough for whatever reason they’re right for benching him. If there’s an injury involved that he didn’t want to diagnose we’ll likely never know.

On the other hand I’m very disappointed that the US camp decided to leak this story. I would imagine the players are just as disappointed With Gio’s effort as they are with their coach talking about something that happened within the locker room thus drawing attention to them for the foreseeable future.
All of these players will be questioned on this by reporters for the next year.

I do like how Gio’s camp responded. Especially given the additional reports discrediting a lot of the early reports.

 

[JayH]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1602371387301281835

 

[Kenny]

I think it's pretty obvious that Gio behaved like an entitled prick. I myself saw it on the field during his limited playing time, when he didn't receive a pass, or the pass was not a good one, he'd throw up his arms and pout. You also saw it in that clip of them coming back to the hotel. Who needs that shit when you're trying to build and bond a team in already-adverse circumstances, especially from an injury-prone kid who hasn't proven jack yet.

That said, it sounds like he patched it up to his teammates satisfaction, and the tweet he just put out sounds sincere and contrite. Lord knows I thought I knew everything as a 19/20 yo kid while actually knowing nothing, so I give him every chance to turn the page and grow.

 

[JayH]

I think the kid suffered enough from having his dreams of playing a vital role crushed, to then suffering the further consequences of behaving immaturely and emotionally, and then having to live through the disappointment of the tournament itself as it played out under these circumstances. To then unnecessarily be subjected to viral scrutiny (and I am sure embellishment and conjecture) and character assassination is just cruel.

I don’t excuse the way Gio acted and am sorry he didn’t conduct himself better. But if Gregg leaked the story intentionally to explain his decisions or inadvertently because he was sloppy - I have a big problem with that. (And I have always been in the Gregg-neutral camp).

 

[adam]

The big take I’m getting out of this is GGG decided before they even got to camp he wasn’t playing the kid. This isn’t a maturity thing, I’m 44 and if I was in that situation I’d be pissed too. Especially considering his talent level. And as a coach, you have to understand that and let the kid blow off some steam, not get on him more for being upset he won‘t play in the biggest games of his life. That’s a lack of empathy and also you want your players pissed they aren’t playing. If GGG thought this was a way to motivate him, then he didn’t understand him at all. This just pisses me off further that Gio didn’t play this WC & that GGG can’t handle his players/personalities. Let’s just move on and go get a top guy like Pooch and spend the next 4 years prepping for the most important WC in USMNT history. This will all be forgotten in a month or two once we do that.

 

[Kenny]

I heard (on a podcast) that GGG was under the impression that his presentation was off the record and only for the ears of those present at the seminar. You could argue he should have known better, that these things can tend to get leaked, but not sure how hard I hold this against him. I am also in the Gregg-neutral camp.

Let’s just move on and go get a top guy like Pooch

Assuming you mean Poch nothing would please me more but I have to think there is no way Poch would be interested in an international job, much less this one.

 

[moogoo]

The big take I’m getting out of this is GGG decided before they even got to camp he wasn’t playing the kid. This isn’t a maturity thing, I’m 44 and if I was in that situation I’d be pissed too. Especially considering his talent level. And as a coach, you have to understand that and let the kid blow off some steam, not get on him more for being upset he won‘t play in the biggest games of his life. That’s a lack of empathy and also you want your players pissed they aren’t playing. If GGG thought this was a way to motivate him, then he didn’t understand him at all. This just pisses me off further that Gio didn’t play this WC & that GGG can’t handle his players/personalities. Let’s just move on and go get a top guy like Pooch and spend the next 4 years prepping for the most important WC in USMNT history. This will all be forgotten in a month or two once we do that.

totally agree. and now it's been made public cause GB decided to share things that should remain within the team, especially if Gio was truthful in saying that GB said that it would. GB shouldn't have said a thing no matter where he was or what he was asked.

now the poor kid has to deal with all this negative attention. hope he is mature enough to handle it in stride and have a successful 2nd half of the season, but who knows. this kind of thing can weigh on you...

 

[Gotham Gator]

It was going public even before GB gave his talk. The guys at the Atlantic had the story ready to go this morning and moved it up to Sunday once the talk was leaked.

 

[Davo15]

I was just listening to something on Sirius the other day, one of those times where they straight broadcast talk radio from the UK, and they were talking about players that excel in training but never brought it come match day and vice versa. I'm pretty sure the guy talking had played for Stoke and he was relating that the coach (I think it was Tony Pulis ) referred to some players as "Mid week internationals" because they could dazzle and show off in training but could never repeat the performance in an actual match in front of fans. Conversely there were other players who could be low effort/ lackadaisical in training but that were match winners come game day. If Gio was pouting/failing to put in effort on match day that's definitely an issue, I don't necessarily care about his effort level in training if he performs when the whistle blows and it counts.

 

[mgarbowski]

Very good discussion IMO by three former players. Critical of both Gregg and Gio. Gregg is criticized mostly for talking about it publicly even if it was meant to stay confidential. They hit Gio because (1) they claim to have noticed his attitude issues before the WC, and (2) they have contacts on the team that further support the claims. They also pretty much reject the idea that you make special allowances for talented players who act poorly in practice or the locker rooms. In fact they suggest that while Gregg in the end probably poisoned his relationship with players by what he said at the conference, he almost certainly had gained respect by what he did to confront Gio earlier. Long segment. video is queued up for when it begins:

 

[adam]

I was just listening to something on Sirius the other day, one of those times where they straight broadcast talk radio from the UK, and they were talking about players that excel in training but never brought it come match day and vice versa. I'm pretty sure the guy talking had played for Stoke and he was relating that the coach (I think it was Tony Pulis ) referred to some players as "Mid week internationals" because they could dazzle and show off in training but could never repeat the performance in an actual match in front of fans. Conversely there were other players who could be low effort/ lackadaisical in training but that were match winners come game day. If Gio was pouting/failing to put in effort on match day that's definitely an issue, I don't necessarily care about his effort level in training if he performs when the whistle blows and it counts.

 

[JayH]

It was going public even before GB gave his talk. The guys at the Atlantic had the story ready to go this morning and moved it up to Sunday once the talk was leaked.

True. But it doesn’t excuse Gregg from disclosing it. It’s bad if he didn’t know they had the story, and it’s still bad if he did and thought he might as well still talk about it. And separately it raises the question as to who was speaking to the Atlantic, whether it was Gregg or other staff or others (can’t recall if the article alluded to the source).

 

[mgarbowski]

It was going public even before GB gave his talk. The guys at the Atlantic had the story ready to go this morning and moved it up to Sunday once the talk was leaked.

The talk was last Tuesday Dec 6. He likely had no idea the article would come this week.
FWIW, the event organizers report I linked yesterday now says the event was confidential and their publication was greenlit in error, so either they’re backing Greg’s play or he did in fact have a promise of confidentiality.

I think he really wanted to talk about it because it’s been gnawing and he thought this was safe, but that was ridiculously naive and arguably unprofessional for someone with his experience and position.

 

[FootyLovin]

I think he really wanted to talk about it because it’s been gnawing and he thought this was safe, but that was ridiculously naive and arguably unprofessional for someone with his experience and position.

I coach a lot of senior executives up to and including CEOs in large companies. Their jobs are lonely. They hire me at times in part so that they can have an outlet to talk about things that are eating at them that they know they can't talk about anywhere else.

If he promised explicitly or implicitly that he wouldn't speak about it, then he flat out failed. Hire an executive coach. Go see a psychologist. Talk to a priest or rabbi. But anyone and everyone in US soccer should have been off limits. That's again, if he promised not to discuss.

 

[JayH]

I wish Patrick would have discussed Mix during an off the record presentation.

 

[JayH]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1602376161237106688