A simmering feud between two of the most high-profile families in American soccer spilled over into a full-blown scandal this week as out-of-contract United States men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter went public with details of a decades-old domestic violence incident that was recently brought to the attention of U.S. Soccer by the wife of one of his closest friends.
Danielle Reyna, the wife of U.S. soccer legend Claudio Reyna and mother of budding U.S. star Giovanni Reyna, announced Wednesday that she disclosed details of a 1991 incident — which involved her college roommate and Berhalter’s wife of 25 years, Rosalind — to U.S. Soccer Federation sporting director Earnie Stewart, triggering an independent investigation commissioned by the USSF.
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The whole ordeal is one of the most bizarre episodes in American soccer history and one that appears to have been set into motion by something usually associated with youth sports: parents’ anger about their kid’s lack of playing time. Except, in this case, one of the parents (Claudio Reyna) is a former USMNT captain and National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee who played at four World Cups, and is a childhood friend and former teammate of Berhalter.
There’s a lot to unpack, but let’s look at how this all unfolded and what’s next for those involved.
Anthony Hudson, a Berhalter assistant for the past two years, will serve as the interim coach for the games, having previously served as the head coach of Bahrain (2013-14), New Zealand (2014 to 2017) and MLS side Colorado Rapids. Hudson, it should be clear, is not a serious candidate to become the permanent head coach. His appointment has everything to do with short-term availability and continuity, with other U.S. youth national team coaches filling out the staff.
It’s unclear when to expect a permanent coach to be hired. Before that will happen, U.S. Soccer executives said Wednesday that a full review of the men’s program will be completed, along with the independent investigation into Berhalter’s domestic violence incident. They were unwilling to attach an estimated timeline for how long those processes will take.
“Obviously, we need to speed this along so that we can name who is going to be the head coach of the men’s national team and start gearing up for World Cup ’26,” U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said. “So, we want to move quickly, but not rush.”
In the same news conference, Stewart allowed for the possibility that Berhalter could be rehired. In Thursday’s chat with the Harvard Business Review, Berhalter expressed his desire to be the coach for the next cycle.
While both parties haven’t ruled out his possible return, from a practical standpoint there is very little possibility that will happen. The last thing U.S. Soccer wants is for the unwanted noise of the past month — and particularly this week — to extend into the future, and if Berhalter were to be rehired, it would buoy the topic for the foreseeable future.
Even before the domestic violence incident surfaced and the drama attached to its coming to light, there were plenty of reasons for U.S. Soccer to move on from Berhalter. While he accomplished many of the key objectives — including a good showing at the World Cup, where the team advanced after going unbeaten in the group stage — nothing about his track record indicates he’s fit to lead a team deep into a World Cup.
And with a talented core group that should be at or nearing their athletic prime in four years, that should be the goal. The team has CONCACAF Nations League matches against Grenada and El Salvador in March, but those games aren’t important enough to rush the hiring process, either. It seems realistic, however, that a new coach could be in place by this summer’s Gold Cup, which begins June 26.
