U.S. men’s national team head coach Gregg Berhalter has said he apologized individually to all of his players after he unwittingly revealed that he nearly sent Gio Reyna home from the World Cup.
Shortly after last year’s tournament in Qatar, Berhalter gave a talk at the HOW Institute in which he said he nearly sent an unnamed player home from the World Cup. Later reporting from The Athletic, and then an Instagram post from Reyna himself, confirmed that the 20-year-old was the player in question.
Berhalter believed that the event was off the record but his comments were published by the Charterworks newsletter, setting off a firestorm that ultimately resulted in one of the biggest scandals in U.S. Soccer history.
Having now returned to his position after six months away, Berhalter told reporters on Wednesday that he immediately tried to make amends with his players after his comments got out.
“I sent a note to each and every player to apologize for this getting out in the way that it did,” Berhalter said. “It was never about names, it was more about an example of our strong team culture. And I felt that if it hurt one player, then it’s worth apologizing to the entire group. And that’s what I did.”
Berhalter has said he’s yet to speak directly with Reyna since his return as head coach, with the Borussia Dortmund forward left off the USMNT’s September roster as he continues to work his way back from injury.
The USMNT coach said he’s looking forward to eventually speaking with Reyna, adding that he has yet to do so because he is trying to approach the situation carefully due to past events.
“For this, it’s just being a little bit more thoughtful, a little bit more sensitive to the past,” Berhalter said. “And I look forward to having conversations with him. I look forward to watching his progress and hopefully him getting back on the field and then for us, hopefully being able to include him in the October camp.”
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