Allegations against U.S. Soccer manager Gregg Berhalter have surfaced from the mother of one of the players, midfielder Gio Reyna. Danielle Reyna informed the governing federation about a decades-old domestic violence incident involving Gregg Berhalter and his now wife.
As reported, U.S. Soccer has commissioned Alston & Bird to probe the incidents which reportedly occurred in 1991. The allegations report an incident in which Berhalter kicked his then future wife legs during an argument when they were students at the University of North Carolina. U.S. Soccer released a statement indicating that Alston & Bird would not only be investigating the allegations against Berhalter, but also “potential inappropriate behavior towards multiple members of our staff by individuals outside our organization.”
Berhalter made a statement confirming that he did indeed kick his future wife in the legs during an argument outside a bar in college that did not involve the authorities. The couple later reconciled and have now been married for 25 years and have four children.
The ties between the Berhalters and the Reynas cannot be ignored. Claudio Reyna and Gregg Berhalter played youth and high school soccer together and played on the men’s national team from 1994-2006. Behalter released a statement on Twitter indicating that the information was released by someone who wanted to “take [him] down.” There could be some weight to this, as Danielle Reyna indicated that she brought these claims after Berhalter declined to give her son Gio significant playing time in the World Cup last month.
The timing of this scandal is also a inconvenient for Berhalter, whose contract as the men’s team manager expired on December 31, 2022. There has been no indication by U.S. Soccer whether Berhalter’s contract would be extended or not, however it was recently announced that assistant coach, Anthony Hudson, would lead the team during a training camp in January.
