The selection of USA is close to closing the return of Gregg Berhalter as coach of the stars and stripes team, The Athletic portal assured this Thursday.
Although they are still negotiating the last details, The Athletic indicated that Berhalter’s return as US coach “imminent” after a several-month soap opera about the present of the team and with its future position in the 2026 World Cup that the US will organize together with Mexico and Canada.
After the scoop on The Athletic, the Univision network confirmed with its own sources the return of Berhalter, which was also revealed while the US and Mexico played this Thursday in the semifinal of the Concacaf Nations League in Las Vegas (USA). USA).
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As US coach from 2019 to 2022, Berhalter won both the Gold Cup and the first edition of the Concacaf Nations League in 2021 (he defeated Mexico in both finals).
Berhalter also qualified a very young US team for the Qatar World Cup 2022where he fell in the round of 16 against the Netherlands, but the coach also found himself at the center of a strange scandal.
End to turbulence?
The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) revealed on January 3 that it had a investigation since they learned of an alleged incident of sexist violence in December perpetrated by Berhalter.
The coach, whose contract expired after Qatar 2022, published a statement that day in which admitted that in 1991 he had a heated argument with his then girlfriend and now wife Rosalindwhich he ended up giving “a kick in the legs”.
“There are no excuses for my actions that night. It was an embarrassing moment that I still regret,” he said.
In that same statement, Berhalter maintained that it was during the Qatar appointment that a person spoke to the USSF claiming that they “had information” about him that “would end” his career in the national team.
A day later the identity of that person was known: Danielle Reyna, mother of Borussia Dortmund player Gio Reynawife of former player and former captain of the national team Claudio Reyna and who has known the Berhalter couple for decades.
gio reyna and Berhalter had a highly commented confrontation during the World Cup since, according to the player’s testimony in an Instagram message, the coach assured him before the tournament that he would have a “very limited” role
The young and talented footballer responded with disdain and minimal effort in training, so much so that after the World Cup he apologized to his teammates and the coaching staff.
During the tournament, Claudio Reyna made clear his frustration about his son’s situation in the national team, telling the federation’s sports director, Earnie Stewart, and the general manager of the men’s team, Brian McBride (both are already outside the organization chart).
But what raised the level of the Reynas’ offensive against the coach were the statements that Berhalter made on December 11who assured that he was about to send a player home during the World Cup due to his lack of commitment.
Berhalter did not mention Gio Reyna but it was evident that he was referring to him, so much so that Danielle Reyna decided to take action on the matter and that day he told Stewart over the phone what had happened in 1991.
“I found it especially unfair that Gio, who had apologized for acting immaturely about his minutes on the pitch, was still being dragged into the mire when Gregg had asked for and received forgiveness for something far worse than he did at his own age.” Danielle Reyna said in a statement.
To curl the curl, Danielle Reyna was a roommate and very close friend of Rosalind Berhalter in 1991 while Claudio Reyna, Gregg Berhalter’s teammate on the US team at the 2002 World Cup, was the best man at the Berhalters’ wedding.
In recent months, while the Federation decided who would be the next coach, Anthony Hudson took over the US bench on an interim basis until a couple of weeks ago, when he left for Al-Markhiya SC in Qatar.
In this way, the US team now has a new interim coach: BJ Callaghan.
