The former USMNT striker even said he blamed himself for his wife’s infidelity
Before the Reyna-Berhalter affair last year, there was an even bigger scandal that rocked the U.S. men’s national team to its core.
Two months before the 1998 World Cup. USMNT coach Steve Sampson shockingly cut midfielder and team captain John Harkes from the squad. It took 12 years for the true reason for the decision to be revealed: Harkes was having an affair with his teammate Eric Wynalda’s wife, Amy.
Harkes has never publicly spoken about the issue, while Wynalda has occasionally mentioned the affair. But the ex-USMNT striker went into much more detail than he has previously in an appearance on the CBS Sports show “Kickin’ It” this week.
Among several details, Wynalda revealed that he blamed himself for the affair, and even went as far as lobbying Sampson to not cut Harkes from the team.
“We would go on trips with the national team and our wives would be there,” Wynalda said. “And if I’m truly being honest, and why did this all happen, is I got injured, my focus was getting healthy. I did not have time for my wife, this was too important. And that’s kind of where it happened. I wasn’t there, I wasn’t present.
“So I look at it from a different perspective, and a lot of people think I’m crazy. But John and I were such close friends, and then a lot of people said, ‘That must make it so much worse, so much more painful,’ and I think there’s a part of me that’s just more forgiving then most.
“I went to the coach and said, ‘I know what happened. He needs to be on the team.'”
Asked if he believed the affair had happened when he first learned about it, Wynalda replied: “I did believe it, and it made sense. John [and I], we went on vacations together with family. We were as tight as you can get.”
Wynalda and his wife Amy divorced in 2003, while Harkes stayed together with his wife despite the affair.
Wynalda said that he was glad his former teammate managed to keep his family together, while insisting that the entire scandal wasn’t as bad as it was portrayed.
“It wasn’t as painful as people make it out to be,” the 55-year-old said.
Watch Wynalda discuss Harkes affair
In the late 1990’s, USMNT teammate of Eric Wynalda, John Harkes, was found to be having an affair with Wynalda’s wife.
Wynalda discusses the impact on his family, forgiveness, playing with Harkes after finding out and more 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/s0VeEH43Hm
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) June 12, 2024
The USMNT officially has its World Cup controversy
You’re not playing at a World Cup without some controversy, so it’s time to offer congratulations to the U.S. men’s national team for officially making it as a soccer nation.
The USMNT’s issue is the status of Gio Reyna, who has surprisingly played just seven minutes out of a possible 180. Even with the quality Gregg Berhalter has at his disposal on the wings, Reyna was widely expected to have played a more important role in Qatar than he has.
Reyna’s lack of playing time has sparked some speculation on whether he has an injury or if something else is up. Former USMNT forward Eric Wynalda thinks he knows what’s going on, offering claims of “a rift” between player and coach on social media following the team’s 0-0 draw with England.
Wynalda alleged “a massive controversy within the team” in a Twitter Space hosted by the LA Times, adding that there is now “internal strife with the manager, Gregg Berhalter.”
“I don’t know how much I should comment on that,” said Wynalda, before immediately commenting on that. “I’ve been trying to console Gio’s father, Claudio (his former USMNT teammate), for the last couple of hours and days with everything going on.”
Wynalda went on to allege that Berhalter “did lie to the media” in saying that Reyna was injured. “He asked the player to go along with that story, which caused a rift between the two of them and now he’s on the bench, which is really unfortunate,” said Wynalda. “This situation should have been handled very differently.”
If true — and that “if” is massive given the off-the-cuff nature of these quotes — Wynalda’s claims would be fairly explosive stuff. Reyna is among the best USMNT players, and given that he’s only 20 years old, he figures to be a foundational part of the squad for many years to come. In particular, Wynalda’s allegation that Reyna’s teammates are also upset with Berhalter over the lineup choices would point to a real problem for Berhalter and U.S. Soccer.
There was some confused messaging on this topic coming out of the team’s draw with Wales. Berhalter cited sporting reasons to explain why he opted to bring Jordan Morris on for the final minutes rather than Reyna, but also said that Reyna had felt “tightness” in the days leading up to the game.
With Reyna’s unfortunate injury history, it wasn’t surprising to hear that he had suffered some kind of knock, but Reyna told reporters that he “felt ready to go” after acknowledging “a little bit of tightness over the last few days.”
Tactically, it’s not all that difficult to parse how the USMNT has ended up leaving Reyna out of the starting 11. Berhalter’s 4-3-3 formation against Wales only had two positions that Reyna truly fits into, at least as long as the game state doesn’t dictate major risk-taking in central midfield. The starters in the spots that made sense for Reyna were Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah, two of the team’s other attacking stars.
Against England, Berhalter switched to a 4-4-2, adding to the number of spots where Reyna would be at his best, but those places went to Pulisic, Weah, Weston McKennie (a player that will start in any formation), and Haji Wright. Reyna is a bigger talent than Wright, but he can’t lead the line in the same way; they’re not really in direct competition with one another.
There are angles you could take to circumvent this: a move to a 4-2-3-1 formation, or shifting Weah into a center forward role. All of those would be big decisions, though, just as Berhalter is making a huge choice when he leaves Reyna out.
Things are different once you turn to Berhalter’s substitutions. The USMNT made five moves against Wales. Reyna’s not a perfect fit in the midfield when the USMNT plays 4-3-3, or as a striker, but it was possible to adjust and make room for Reyna, and Berhalter didn’t do it. Even taking a generous read, that’s a curious choice from the manager.
(Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)
Fans took issue with Berhalter bringing Jordan Morris on, but the coach’s post-game analysis — that the game had become so direct that Morris’ straight-line speed and physicality were more suited to the situation — does hold some water. Still, it’s not like Reyna is slow or easily pushed around, and you can argue that Berhalter over-thought that particular choice.
Against England, there was another head-scratcher: Berhalter went 77 minutes before making any substitutions, even as the team began to show fatigue.
It’s hard to quibble with Brenden Aaronson coming on for McKennie, though that is certainly a spot that Reyna would have fit into with no issues. Reyna had to wait until the 83rd minute to take the field as a forward as Berhalter stuck with the 4-4-2 look that had flummoxed England, giving him little time to make much of an impact.
It is strange that Reyna hasn’t played more. Berhalter is facing the most bizarre World Cup ever, slammed right into the middle of the European club season, and has minutes to manage. Reyna is one of his best players, and has declared himself fit, so it stands to reason that he’d have seen more playing time.
On the other hand, it just so happens that the USMNT is deeper on the wings than they are anywhere else. Aaronson is right up there with Reyna in terms of talent, and he’s not starting either. Coaches call this a “good problem,” but it is still a problem, because you have more players who rightly feel they’ve earned time than you have starting positions to give out. Someone’s going to be unhappy when the lineup comes out.
It could also be that fans and ex-USMNT forwards are overreacting in act two of a three-act story. Berhalter has repeatedly talked about how you have to tackle the whole group stage, and Tuesday’s match against Iran — who figure to play out of a low block — stacks up as the best game of the trio for Reyna’s clever, shifty style of play. Reyna, if he ends up playing a major role against Iran, could be Berhalter’s “Chekhov’s Gun,” particularly if the USMNT gets the win they need to advance.
If not, though, the choice to bring one of the best young players the USMNT has ever had to a World Cup, not use him very much, and struggle for goals is the kind of thing that tends to take up a lot of time when your employer brings you in for a performance evaluation.
