BERLIN (AP) — Former United States coach Jurgen Klinsmann said the fallout from the public feud between coach Gregg Berhalter and the family of young star Gio Reyna “obviously doesn’t bode well” for American soccer.
Klinsmann, who coached the men’s national team from 2011 to 2016, said Wednesday that he felt the problems between Berhalter and Reyna could have influenced the team’s performance at the World Cup in Qatar. The United States advanced from the group stage before being eliminated with a 3-1 loss to the Netherlands in the round of 16.
“They have done well,” Klinsmann said in an online call with reporters. “But they weren’t able to step up and make something happen.”
Berhalter used Reyna for just 53 minutes in the tournament. The American coach said in a forum on December 6 that he almost sent a player home for lack of effort.statements that were clearly about Reyna, the son of former US captain Claudio Reyna.
The Reyna family responded by notifying the US Soccer Federation. that Berhalter had kicked the woman who would later become his wife in 1991, prompting the federation to commission an outside law firm to investigate. He was also conducting a personnel review of the team’s performance over the four-year cycle.
Gio Reyna, who plays for German team Borussia Dortmund, said he was “devastated” ahead of the tournament when Berhalter told him his role in Qatar would be very limited.
“I fully recognize that I let my emotions take over and affect my training and behavior for a few days,” Reyna said. “I apologized to my teammates and the coach for this, and they told me I was forgiven.”
Klinsmann said that the stories that emerged after the World Cup were “sad to see” because the team had needed full concentration “to make something happen (but) it wasn’t the case.” There were problems, there were problems and they couldn’t solve those problems during the tournament.
Klinsmann said the US men’s team should aim for the semifinals of soccer’s biggest tournament.
“This is the dream. This is the goal. And I think that’s where we’re still a little bit away,” said Klinsmann, who won the World Cup as a player with Germany in 1990. He then coached Germany to third place in the 2006 World Cup.
Klinsmann said the United States needs the 20-year-old Reyna, “an incredible, talented player who already showed at a very, very early age in her career or at a stage in her career that she can make a difference.”
Klinsmann called the US hosting the 2026 World Cup with Mexico and Canada “a gift from God,” and said the US Soccer Federation needs to “figure things out” in the coming months. .
“You want to have a team there that is capable of going very far in the tournament,” Klinsmann said. “And Giovanni Reyna will definitely be part of that team.”
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