In the Gio Reyna-Team USA World Cup controversy, there are no winners

DOHA, Qatar — The worst part of the revelations that Gio Reyna was nearly sent home from the World Cup for poor behavior, first reported by The Athletic and confirmed by FOX Sports, is that we’ll never know what could’ve been.

We’ll never know if Reyna, the 20-year-old who was arguably the most purely talented player on the United States squad that lost to the Netherlands in the round of 16, could’ve helped the Americans beat Wales in their World Cup opener had he accepted his role as an impact substitute behind starting wingers Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah. We’ll never know if the behind-the-scenes drama prevented the U.S. from reaching their full potential and possibly going a game or two further in Qatar. We’ll never know if Reyna, had he been dedicated to the cause and swam in the same direction as his teammates, could’ve played a bigger role for his country and used the power of the World Cup to vault himself into the mainstream American consciousness.

With Pulisic and Weah — the only two U.S. scorers in the group stage — justifiably ahead of him, Reyna was told he wasn’t a starter and didn’t take the news well. After being confronted for his lack of effort in training before the match and his general attitude before and after that game, Reyna apologized to his teammates and remained with the team. But it would be wrong to think it didn’t have an impact.

"We were ready to book a plane ticket home, that's how extreme it was," U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter, without explicitly naming Reyna, told the HOW Institute for Society’s Summit on Moral Leadership last Tuesday in what was supposed to be an off-the-record discussion. "What it came down to was, we're going to have one more conversation with him, and part of the conversation was how we're going to behave from here out. There aren’t going to be any more infractions.

"But the other thing we said to him was, you're going to have to apologize to the group, but it's going to have to say why you’re apologizing," Berhalter continued. "It's going to have to go deeper than just ‘Guys, I'm sorry.’ And I prepped the leadership group with this. I said, ‘OK, this guy's going to apologize to you as a group, to the whole team.’ And what was fantastic in this whole thing is that after he apologized, they stood up one by one and said, ‘Listen, it hasn’t been good enough, you haven’t been meeting our expectations of a teammate, and we want to see change.’ They really took ownership of that process. And from that day on, there were no issues with this player."

Reyna didn’t play against Wales. He didn’t start any of the Americans' three group stage games or the knockout match against the Netherlands. With the U.S. trailing 2-0 to the Dutch, Reyna came at halftime and played the final 45 minutes but was mostly ineffective in the eventual 3-1 loss. 

More than a week later, the fallout continues. In a statement to The Athletic, Dan Segal, Reyna’s agent, appeared to take aim at the coach.  

"Gio obviously did not have the experience anyone hoped for at the World Cup," Segal wrote. "The situation, relationships and interactions among parties are far more complicated than what has been reported. 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."

Reyna later released his own statement on Instagram.

"I hoped not to comment on matters at the World Cup," the post read. "It is my belief that things that happen in a team setting ought to remain private. That being said, statements have been made that reflect on my professionalism and character, so I feel the need to make a brief statement.
 
"Just before the World Cup, Coach Berhalter told me that my role at the tournament would be very limited. I was devasted. I am someone who plays with pride and passion. Soccer is my life, and I believe in my abilities. I fully expected and desperately wanted to contribute to the play of a talented group as we tried to make a statement at the World Cup.

"I am also a very emotional person, and I fully acknowledge that I let my emotions get the best of me and affect my training and behavior for a few days after learning about my limited role," Reyna continued. "I apologized to my teammates and coach for this, and I was told I was forgiven. Thereafter, I shook off my disappointment and gave everything I had on and off the field. 
 
"I am disappointed that there is continuing coverage of this matter (as well as some highly fictionalized versions of events) and extremely surprised that anyone on the U.S. men's team staff would contribute to it. Coach Berhalter has always said that issues that arise with the team will stay "in house" so we can focus on team unity and progress. I love my team, I love representing my country, and I am focusing now only on improving and growing as a soccer player and a person. I hope that going forward each person involved in U.S. Soccer focuses only on what is in the best interest of the men's national team so we can enjoy great success at the World Cup in 2026."

There are no winners here. Not the U.S. team, which needed all the attacking help it could get. Not Berhalter, who was put in the difficult position of having to hold Reyna accountable internally while shielding him publicly, but whose cryptic comments not surprisingly leaked, bringing the controversy to light. And certainly not Reyna, whose reputation has been severely damaged.

The U.S. team took special pride in being tight-knit, with Berhalter and his players routinely referring to their bond as a "brotherhood." Reyna’s behavior clearly tested that unity, no matter how well it was or wasn’t handled. At the least, it made the setting inside and outside the camp needlessly uncomfortable and awkward.

The Berhalter and Reyna families have been close for decades — the U.S. coach and Reyna’s father, U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer and two-time World Cup captain Claudio Reyna, were high school teammates in their native New Jersey. Their wives were roommates at the University of North Carolina. One source told FOX Sports that plans for Berhalter’s wife, Rosalind, and Gio’s mother, Danielle, to travel to the games together in Qatar were scrapped because of the flare-up. Another source spotted Claudio Reyna powwowing with U.S. Soccer sporting director Earnie Stewart and men’s national team general manager Brian McBride at the team’s hotel.

The Americans didn’t need those distractions. Successful World Cup teams don’t have passengers. Camaraderie is even more crucial for squads, like the U.S., that can’t rely on talent alone. Morocco, which on Saturday became the first African nation to reach the final four, has proved that by beating heavily favored foes Belgium, Spain and Portugal in Qatar.

Berhalter went to huge lengths to foster a positive environment within the American squad and by all accounts he succeeded. That helped them overcome this episode, but it would be silly to think it didn’t take a toll, that it didn’t hurt them to some degree.

We’ll never know exactly how much.

Read more from the World Cup:

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• World Cup Now: Biggest takeaways from France's win over England
• Highlights: Morocco ousts Portugal, reaches semifinals
• Soccer writer Grant Wahl dies at World Cup match in Qatar
• World Cup 2022 odds: Lines for remaining teams to win in Qatar
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• Golden Boot Race Tracker: World Cup 2022 top goal scorers
• World Cup Daily: Argentina, Croatia advance after exciting finishes
• World Cup 2022 highlights: Croatia comes back to stun Brazil in PKs
• Neymar tied Pelé's all-time record for goals scored in Brazil's loss
• Brazil ousted on PKs as Croatia pulls off dramatic stunner
• As soccer's popularity grows, so does World Cup tradition with sticking power
• Best of the World Cup so far: Top goal, save, player, team and more

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Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.