US men’s national team defender Tim Ream shut down rumors of Gio Reyna’s fallout with the American side during the World Cup, explaining: “For us, it’s a non-story.”
Following the team’s elimination from the international tournament, head coach Gregg Berhalter revealed Giovanni Reyna was nearly sent home due to a lack of effort in training and pre-tournament friendlies. He explained the Borussia Dortmund player’s tumultuous behavior as ‘clearly not meeting expectations on and off the field’, forcing the staff to come together and deliberate for hours on his future with the team.
Consequently, Gio Reyna didn’t start any of the USMNT’s four matches in Qatar, playing just seven minutes against England in the group stage before coming off the bench for the second half of the 3-1 round-of-16 defeat to the Netherlands.
Reyna took to social media to address the situation from his perspective, adding: “I apologized to my teammates and coach for this, and I was told I was forgiven. Thereafter, I shook off my disappointment and gave everything I had on and off the field.”
And Ream’s recent take supports the explanation Reyna provided.
“We addressed it in camp and [Gio] did what he had to do, and obviously came on against the Netherlands and played a solid 45 minutes for us and helped to kind of drag us back into the game. For us, that’s it. That’s the end of it,” he said on an episode of Indirect podcast.
It is unclear this situation will affect Gregg Berhalter’s future with the team. Several reports claim the USSF is currently negotiating a contract extension for the head coach, though he may also be exploring opportunities elsewhere.
The USMNT return to action next month when facing Serbia on January 25 and Colombia on January 28 for a pair of friendlies in Los Angeles.
Credit: 90min.com
