Alexi Lalas believes Gregg Berhalter didn’t drop Gio Reyna from the United States World Cup starting line-up due to his reported bad behavior – despite the 19-year-old being a surprise omission in Qatar.
USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter spoke at a summit last Tuesday, revealing that he almost dismissed a player from the national team due to a lack of effort in the run up to the start of the tournament. According to US Soccer (via The Athletic’s Paul Tenorio), Berhalter’s comments were supposed to be ‘explicitly off the record.’
It has since been revealed that the player in question was supposedly the benched USMNT youngster and Borussia Dortmund winger.
Further reporting from ESPN found that the squad almost sent Reyna home, with the phenom barely surviving a 13-12 team vote to stay in Qatar.
USMNT boss Gregg Berhalter reportedly clashed with Gio Reyna at the World Cup in Qatar
Analyst Alexi Lalas has offered his view – he doesn’t think Reyna was left out due to the clash
American soccer pundit Alexi Lalas predicting – with the former USMNT defender tweeting about Reyna’s absence on November 30.
‘I’m sure there’s a story…always is,’ Lalas wrote. ‘Eventually we’ll learn the Gio Reyna WC story. It might be as simple as he’s not deemed good enough for the moment, plus he has a history of being fragile physically. But I’m not losing sleep over him not playing. Gregg must have his reasons.’
After the latest development surfaced, Lalas responded to his own tweet, saying, ‘Well, seems we now know some of the story.’
Lalas responded to multiple Twitter users asking his opinion on the situation, the decisions made by Berhalter, and what things look like inside a split locker room.
After one user said he thought Reyna’s attitude was handled, ‘perfectly’, Lalas responded that liking someone isn’t necessary to winning.
‘Ideally, everyone loves each other,’ the FOX commentator said. ‘Rarely happens. Cliques, egos, & personality clashes abound.
‘But players have incredible capacity to compartmentalize, ignore, or accept almost anything. Winning trumps all. I don’t have to like you, I just have to believe you can help me win.’
Following yesterday’s reports, Lalas took to Twitter Monday morning to share his thoughts
Reyna was restricted to only substitute appearances during his time with the team in Qatar
When one person asked when Lalas would ‘stop giving [Berhalter] the benefit of the doubt’ he replied that it wasn’t so simple.
‘I guess it just comes down to whether one believes the #USMNT at the World Cup would have been better with Gio Reyna playing more.
‘I believe Berhalter (or any coach at a WC) plays the players he thinks gives the team the best chance to win, regardless of any baggage.’
Lalas further stressed this point when a Twitter user said any coach would ‘have your best players on the field.’ Alexi responded, ‘It’s actually not simple, because Gregg Berhalter may have a different opinion as to what are his “best” players.’
Lalas also said that the report published by The Athletic does not change his original thoughts on Reyna’s benching.
Reyna saw about seven minutes of action vs. England & played the second half against Holland
‘No. This isn’t [youth soccer]. Gregg Berhalter isn’t going to jeopardize #USMNT success to die on some romantic hill.’
‘If Berhalter thought that Gio Reyna would have helped the team win, he would have played him more. If he thought Gio was too much of a problem, he would [have] sent him home.’
Lalas also dismissed the idea that Berhalter ‘made decisions knowing it hurt his team’s chances of winning…[it’s] ridiculous.’
Lalas is no stranger to attention or to controversy inside of a locker room while at a World Cup.
At the 1998 World Cup, Lalas repeatedly and openly criticized then-USMNT boss Steve Sampson which led him to getting benched for the entirety of the American’s fruitless trip to France.
He routinely castigated Sampson in the press for personnel decisions, formation changes, and tactics as the US crashed out of that World Cup finishing dead last.
Berhalter spoke up about his time leading the team at a summit in New York City last week
Lalas (22) was benched at the 1998 World Cup for openly criticizing coach Steve Sampson
While Reyna wasn’t explicitly named by Berhalter at this summit, the Dortmund youngster’s agent Dan Segal addressed the report.
‘It is disappointing and disrespectful for certain parties to be commenting on private team matters publicly, especially when some do so without full knowledge of the facts and others do so in a self-serving manner.
‘At this point, our view is that nothing more is gained by those associated with the national team turning on each other, and we plan no further comment on this matter.’
US Soccer has not said if they will re-negotiate or re-sign Berhalter once his contract expires at the end of this year.