USMNT Talk

The amazing talent Gio Reyna had had not scored in consecutive games in more than 2 years before doing so last week.
Then he finally broke that streak, and coach Gregg Berhalter Edin Terzić DNPd him the very next game, as Dortmund defeated Team Aspirin 2-0 today while Reyna sat as an unused substitute.

Since the people who have recently provided Gio game reports didn't bother today I thought I'd fill in.
You know, as a public service, and not being a smartass or anything.
Just because we’re doing updates. GGG doghouse players ripping it up again.

 
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Funny USMNT valentine messages. I think you have to click to Reddit to see the whole set. They're not all bangers but generally good or better.


Also from the comments:
Roses are red, I'm Claudio's son, but if you sit me out, you'll deal with my mom. ❤️

ETA: Also someone said please don't make one for Tim Ream.
 
I realize way too many people were willing to give the Reynas a pass because Berhalter is literally "Hilter" but you can't excuse what the findings were. Claudio's bizarre (imo) exit from the club has a bit more context to me.
 
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I realize way too many people were willing to give the Reynas a pass because Berhalter is literally "Hilter" but you can't excuse what the findings were. Claudio's bizarre (imo) exit from the club has a bit more context to me.
Are a lot of people giving the elder Reynas a pass?

I thought they came out looking horrible but that the prevailing view was that Gio mostly did things right after his initial bad attitude.
 
Are a lot of people giving the elder Reynas a pass?

I thought they came out looking horrible but that the prevailing view was that Gio mostly did things right after his initial bad attitude.
Elder Reynas look really bad after this. Even if the damage is done, I feel like it ultimately sets them back 100x further than what they tried to do to Gregg and his wife. Still don't like Gregg as a coach, but I do respect that he knew he fucked up, admits it, owns it, and looked/looks for ways to be better.
 
I realize way too many people were willing to give the Reynas a pass because Berhalter is literally "Hilter" but you can't excuse what the findings were. Claudio's bizarre (imo) exit from the club has a bit more context to me.
"Hilter"???

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Are a lot of people giving the elder Reynas a pass?

I thought they came out looking horrible but that the prevailing view was that Gio mostly did things right after his initial bad attitude.
What's interesting is that he was interviewing for the USMNT GM role at the beginning of 2019 (he took the Austin job at the end of 2019).

Can you imagine if he had been GB's boss this whole time?
 
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Yeah, this really confused me. I don't remember anyone ever saying that. That's just way too far, and frankly disrespectful to Berhalter.
I was just riffing on BxLio's typo. He wrote "Hilter" instead of "Hitler."

Monty Python had a famous sketch about Hitler turning up in a boarding house in suburban London and trying to win a seat in parliament to ignite a comeback. In the sketch he tried to hide his identity by using the name "Hilter".

There are fewer things in this world funnier than John Cleese imitating Hitler.

fawlty towers funny walk GIF
 
I was just riffing on BxLio's typo. He wrote "Hilter" instead of "Hitler."

Monty Python had a famous sketch about Hitler turning up in a boarding house in suburban London and trying to win a seat in parliament to ignite a comeback. In the sketch he tried to hide his identity by using the name "Hilter".

There are fewer things in this world funnier than John Cleese imitating Hitler.

fawlty towers funny walk GIF
ooooh. maybe it wasn't a typo in his original post then at all? hah
 

"Everything that happened with Gregg, first of all, has been handled in an extremely childish manner. I think we've seen what's been going on. I think it's childish, it's youth soccer, people complaining about playing time. I don't want to go too far into that, but I think Gregg has been extremely unfortunate to get into the position he is in now."
 
In hindsight after hearing/reading everything that happened at the WC, I think that GB was actually too lenient with Gio and family. He should have sent him home. They were a massive distraction to the club at a time when there should be no unnecessary distractions. It’s the f’ng World Cup. It was primarily his crazy parents’ awful behavior, but they should have learned that their actions have consequences, even if it’s hurting your own kid who you foolishly thought you were helping. And while he was being misdirected by his parents, you also can’t have a player not fully committed, displaying a poor attitude, and interfering with chemistry. There’s no room for drama. Apology or not, he should have been on a plane home. And that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t play a large role in US soccer going forward, but he shouldn’t have played any further role in Qatar, and his parents should disappear forever for everyone’s sake, especially their kid.
 
In hindsight after hearing/reading everything that happened at the WC, I think that GB was actually too lenient with Gio and family. He should have sent him home. They were a massive distraction to the club at a time when there should be no unnecessary distractions. It’s the f’ng World Cup. It was primarily his crazy parents’ awful behavior, but they should have learned that their actions have consequences, even if it’s hurting your own kid who you foolishly thought you were helping. And while he was being misdirected by his parents, you also can’t have a player not fully committed, displaying a poor attitude, and interfering with chemistry. There’s no room for drama. Apology or not, he should have been on a plane home. And that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t play a large role in US soccer going forward, but he shouldn’t have played any further role in Qatar, and his parents should disappear forever for everyone’s sake, especially their kid.
I get this point. Ultimately, however, you have to treat Gio as his own person, even if his parents are being insufferable. If Gio responds positively, makes his apologies, and then dedicates himself to the team - if he deals with all the things he can control in the right way - then he gets to stay in the fold.
"Everything that happened with Gregg, first of all, has been handled in an extremely childish manner. I think we've seen what's been going on. I think it's childish, it's youth soccer, people complaining about playing time. I don't want to go too far into that, but I think Gregg has been extremely unfortunate to get into the position he is in now."
I certainly agree with CP on this. I wonder if this is going to cause any problems between him and Gio. It's one thing to say privately that his parents are behaving like bad U-12 soccer parents. It's another to do so publicly - even if everyone knows it's true.
 
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I get this point. Ultimately, however, you have to treat Gio as his own person, even if his parents are being insufferable. If Gio responds positively, makes his apologies, and then dedicates himself to the team - if he deals with all the things he can control in the right way - then he gets to stay in the fold.


I certainly agree with CP on this. I wonder if this is going to cause any problems between him and Gio. It's one thing to say privately that his parents are behaving like bad U-12 soccer parents. It's another to do so publicly - even if everyone knows it's true.
Good points. I just think that the family’s actions were so intertwined here, the damage was being done regardless of the division of blame. Even after his apology, he looked checked out and angry, wouldn’t even celebrate with his teammates. I am not sure they really forgave him, or just thought it was best to accept it and move on. In fact, some of the ill will seems to run so deep that his old buddy CP is still bothered by it so much that he is willing to call it out publicly, regardless of how that may affect Gio. That screams bad feelings in the locker room even after an apology. I just think that GB’s job was to minimize distractions and maximize the chances of succeeding. He may have been too diplomatic to the team’s detriment. Tough one though as I do mostly blame his folks so I get what you are saying.
 
I get this point. Ultimately, however, you have to treat Gio as his own person, even if his parents are being insufferable. If Gio responds positively, makes his apologies, and then dedicates himself to the team - if he deals with all the things he can control in the right way - then he gets to stay in the fold.
There's a discussion about this on Reddit and I'm coming down on the side that says logically you should be able to separate Gio's place on the team from his parents, but people don't always work rationally. I bang my head against that wall every day, lol.

If you had a teammate with (1) parents who had an inside channel both with the coach and team management, and they (2) clearly and unambiguously abused that position, all the while (3) the teammate refused to work hard and pouted and moped, and 4) you see a toxic irrational fanbase taking the side of the assholes against a coach you like, well, you just be inclined to say the hell with the whole family.

That said I still think
- it's best to bring Gio back with a fresh start and a short rope, even though
- Gio probably deserved to be sent home back then, but
- not sending Gio home and having everything all come out afterwards worked out perfectly for Berhalter and horribly for the Reynas.

Is Gregg that Machiavellian? Could he possibly have just pretended to take the high road by letting Gio stay in Qatar, and then go to the conference afterwards and all but arrange the leak, betting correctly that the Reyna's would take the bait and destroy themselves? I'm not quite believing this, but the way that leak happened, not anonymously, and not coming from an attendee, but via an "oops" official conference organizer publication, always seemed a bit off to me. It wasn't just some tweet that failed to be properly vetted either. They published an entire summary of the conference that included exactly what they promised GB would remain secret. If he wasn't in on it the conference failed him utterly. Except it was also exactly what he needed in the situation.
 
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A couple nitpicks on some good posts.

1. No doubt what happened with Gio & his family were a distraction, but sending him home would have created a much bigger distraction. Think about the last two months, blow it up about 20 times, compress it into a week, and then put it in the middle of a media scrum at the biggest sporting event on the planet.
2. GB was certainly not being a grand strategist with how things played out. No matter how pissed off he was at Claudio & Danielle, he still had (has) 35 years of history there. He's not going to plot to get Claudio fired and embarrass them both. I am sure he just wanted them to go away for a while until they could sort things out.
 
i dont know, if im one of the 2 most talented players and am told im going to have a very limited roll, i would be pissed. If GGG said he was going to use Gio as a super sub when we need a goal late to come on and be our scoring threat late, maybe we wouldnt be in this situation. but telling someone so talented, we are bringing you to the biggest event in the world and before any game is played you will have a limited role is just bad coaching.
 
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i dont know, if im one of the 2 most talented players and am told im going to have a very limited roll, i would be pissed. If GGG said he was going to use Gio as a super sub when we need a goal late to come on and be our scoring threat late, maybe we wouldnt be in this situation. but telling someone so talented, we are bringing you to the biggest event in the world and before any game is played you will have a limited role is just bad coaching.
The thing is, we don't know what "limited role" means. It could literally mean:
use Gio as a super sub when we need a goal late to come on and be our scoring threat late,
Especially to someone who sees themselves as one of the 2 most talented players.

We also don't know what GGG actually said to Gio. We know that Gio said GGG told him he would have a limited role. But did GGG say that exactly? Or did he explain what the role was he had for Gio and Gio interpreted that as a limited role?