U.S. men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter has yet to speak to midfielder Gio Reyna after their dispute surrounding last year’s World Cup and has consulted mediation experts in an effort to resolve the situation, he told Vanity Fair.
The relationship between Berhalter and the Reyna family was at the heart of a messy situation that led to Berhalter’s contract being allowed to expire at the end of 2022.
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Berhalter was reappointed as USMNT coach in June and admitted at the time that there was “work to do” to repair the relationship with one of the United States’ key players heading toward the 2026 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
More than two months later and ahead of Berhalter’s first matches back in charge next month, the U.S. coach said he is still approaching the situation with caution.
“It’s not something where you just pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, bud, here’s how it’s going to be.’ There is work to be done,” he told Vanity Fair for an article published Tuesday.
“We both want the U.S. to win the World Cup and be very successful and now it’s figuring out a way to cooperate to do that,” he added.
Berhalter, who said he has “had calls with almost every player,” added that he had talked with experts on mediation to prepare himself to handle the situation “in the right way.”
