World Cup 2022: US player Giovanni Reyna reportedly almost sent home during tournament
Jack Birle
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U.S. men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter reportedly almost sent midfielder Giovanni Reyna home from the 2022 World Cup due to a lack of effort in practice.
Berhalter mentioned he almost sent home a player from the tournament last week. The player in question is Reyna, according to the Athletic.
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“In this last World Cup, we had a player that was clearly not meeting expectations on and off the field. One of 26 players, so it stood out. As a staff, we sat together for hours deliberating what we were going to do with this player. We were ready to book a plane ticket home, that’s how extreme it was,” Berhalter said at the HOW Institute for Society’s Summit on Moral Leadership on Tuesday.
Speculation began immediately after Berhalter made the comments with the Athletic, followed by several other sports outlets reporting Reyna had shown lackluster effort during a scrimmage with Qatari soccer team Al Gharafa SC and in other practice sessions. The situation with Reyna, 20, reportedly became “untenable” and was “addressed multiple times.”
Eventually, Reyna apologized to the entire team for his lack of effort, and the issue ended there, per the report. Reyna played for the entire second half of the game against the Netherlands after only playing near the end of the team’s game against England.
Reyna’s agent, Dan Segal, said he was “disappointed” the situation had been reported publicly in a statement to the Athletic.
“Gio obviously did not have the experience anyone hoped for at the World Cup. 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,” Segal said to the outlet.
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The United States was eliminated from the 2022 World Cup in the round of 16 after losing to the Netherlands 3-1. The U.S., along with Canada and Mexico, will host the 2026 World Cup.