Finally, a kind word and a mature stance in the ugly standoff in American men’s soccer. Gio Reyna, all of 20 years old, has been chosen for the national squad in two matches later this month, as well he should have been. “As far as we’re concerned, Gio is a part of our program. He’s a good guy and a top talent and he is evaluated like any other player,” said Anthony Hudson, the interim coach of the national team. Reyna was the most controversial American player on the U.S. squad in the disappointing World Cup last fall. Apparently, he contributed to his bad standing by moping when thwarted. He is, did I mention, only 20. But the so-called adults and leaders came off worse. This is one of the saddest stories in the history of men’s soccer – involving two teammates from the 2002 team in South Korea that made the best standing ever by the U.S. in a World Cup. Claudio Reyna played the best match I ever saw from him on the national team – distributing the ball, holding the defense together from midfield. He was brilliant as the U.S. humbled Mexico – dos a cero -- in the round of 16. Gregg Berhalter nearly scored in the quarterfinal match against Germany, but a German defender just happened to stick his arm in the path of the close shot by the American defender. The referee ruled that the defender did not commit a hand-ball infraction – but several former German stars at the match later said the U.S. should have been awarded a penalty kick. (In his best Lawn Guyland sarcasm, American coach Bruce Arena grumped, “That’s nice.”) Reyna and Berhalter. Two decades later, Berhalter was the coach of the American World Cup squad in Qatar last fall, making the decisions, including telling young Gio Reyna, a promising player in the Bundesliga, that he was not likely to get much playing time because…because….well, it’s not clear. How to Lose a Promising Young Player, by Gregg Berhalter. Reyna has had injury issues, and apparently his attitude went downhill from there, and he played bits of two American matches. Meantime, his parents, Claudio Reyna and Danielle Egan Reyna, herself a former national player, were grumping in the stands, telling people they knew bad stuff about Gregg Berhalter, and if it ever got out…. What the Reynas knew was that when Berhalter was in college, he was dating Rosalind Santana, a member of the college women’s team, and the two 18-year-olds had an argument in a bar, and she slapped him, and he kicked her in the legs, and the brawl was broken up by a stranger. Berhalter told school officials, sought counselling, and the following fall Santana contacted Berhalter and they have been married for two decades. Berhalter’s judgment about Gio Reyna may have been questionable, given the young player’s swivel-hipped instincts in cutting through defenses. However, Berhalter’s judgment as a leader was even worse. After the World Cup, Berhalter was invited to speak in a private meeting of business people – officially off the record – and he discussed “leadership” decisions he had faced including a certain player who acted up during the World Cup. Needless to say, word got out. This is how to lose face with players, forever. Finally, finally, the so-called leadership of the U.S. Soccer Federation contacted a legal firm to investigate all aspects of the Reyna-Berhalter incident. The report came down this past week, finding no legal faults by anybody, leaving the decisions up to the federation. What should happen now? Berhalter is technically a candidate to regain the job. I can’t say I was impressed with his coaching during the World Cup mission, and in my opinion the blatant allusion to Gio Reyna in a business speech makes him a poor candidate for a second term. (His personal life, his marriage, an incident 20 years ago, is not an issue, as the legal report points out.) And what about Claudio and Danielle Reyna, who apparently were bad-mouthing Berhalter all over Qatar during the World Cup? Unhappy parents are part of every level of soccer, but I think Claudio Reyna, deservedly a member of American soccer hierarchy, had a responsibility to behave better. And then there is this: While Claudio was playing the best soccer of his career in the 2002 World Cup, Danielle Egan Reyna was a personable presence around the team hotel in Seoul, pregnant with their second child, who in November of that year would become Gio Reyna. Nearly a decade later, the Reynas’ first child, Jack, came down with a lethal form of brain cancer, glioblastoma, and he died in July of 2012. The other day, when the legal report came out, I went online and found a touching article about the Reynas’ terrible loss. I would suggest anybody should read this before forming an opinion about the Reynas – what they have been through, how they describe Jack, the ideal big brother for Gio and two subsequent children. Also, please note that this beautiful article was written by one of best writers ever to cover soccer, Grant Wahl, of Sports Illustrated. Last fall, during the World Cup in Qatar, Grant slumped over and died at his desk in the press tribune. https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/12/12/claudio-reyna-family-jack-death-giovanni-dortmund#gid=ci0254f6cdc0022511&pid=jack-reyna-giovanni-1jpg Part of Grant’s legacy is this description of the humanity of the Reyna family. Also, I would propose reading the words of the aforementioned Anthony Hudson the interim coach. He does not have a public reputation as player or coach, but he sounds like an adult who knows a thing or two about leadership, and that is no small thing. “We had the issue at the World Cup that we dealt with internally, that we dealt with as a group,” Hudson told Mike Woitalla of the valuable site, Soccer America, adding, “There was a positive response from Gio after that … and we all moved forward. “The World Cup ended, and beyond that it became a very, very, complex situation that we see as separate from Gio, even though he’s impacted by it. ... But as far as we’re concerned, Gio is a part of our program. He’s a good guy and a top talent and he is evaluated like any other player. We made the roster decisions based on what gives the team the best opportunity to win these games, and we brought him in because we think he can help us do that.” Gio will be with the U.S. squad in two Concacaf Nations League games at Grenada on March 24 and vs. El Salvador in Orlando March 27. After all that has happened, Gio Reyna deserves the chance to grow up, to go forward, to find open space, no matter who the coach is. ### THIS JUST IN: FRIDAY, MARCH 17 In Soccer America Daily, an article by Paul Kennedy, "Christian Pulisic backs Gregg Berhalter in face of 'childish' controversy." Pulisic, who has learned patience from his time with Chelsea, speaks positively about Gregg Berhalter's chance to return as coach: "Everything that happened with Gregg, first of all, has been handled in an extremely childish manner," Pulisic said. "I think we've seen what has been going on. I think it's childish, it's youth soccer, people complaining about playing time. I don't want to go too far into that, but I think Gregg has been extremely unfortunate to get into the position he's in now." https://www.socceramerica.com/publications/article/95566/christian-pulisic-backs-gregg-berhalter-in-face-of.html?edition=29569 The report commisioned by the US Soccer Federation:
https://ussoccer.app.box.com/s/ycsf3xneaqbph329kilqy5upmk45sotbussoccer.app.box.com/s/ycsf3xneaqbph329kilqy5upmk45sotb
Andy Tansey
3/16/2023 12:00:46 pm
This Lawn Guy Land former soccer dad, coach and ref smiles in wide wonder about how emblematic the soccer Mom and Dad antics related here are of U.S. Soccer, relative to the rest of the world, and how that speaks to the wherewithal of the U.S. program. Imagine Mom or Dad pleading your playing-time case to the Jamaica HS coach? I rarely had trouble with players. I had more trouble than I should have with soccer Moms and Dads.
GV
3/16/2023 01:51:28 pm
Andy: It's a new world. A decade ago, I went to a very low-key kiddies game in our town (to see a grandchild) and somehow got asked to call the sideline (no offsides, nothing complicated), Okay. A father started heckling the coach of his kid's team. Then the father bolted towad the bench and started jawing at the coach. I figured somebody had to do it, so I got between the two of them and talked them down. Mission accomplished. Imagine: 8-year-old soccer!
Ed Martin
3/16/2023 12:53:23 pm
Great. Article GV. Glad you “ARE BACK!”
GV
3/16/2023 01:58:25 pm
Ed, thanks for the note. Yes, a nice agent for the website sorted things out. (They started charging a bit....worth it to keep me busy,) 3/16/2023 03:12:23 pm
Great column, George. I wouldn't have given Berhalter an extension based, in part, on the issues to which you refer. Fabio Capello, when he was the manager of A.C. Milan, was having a problem with Gianluigi Lentini-at that time the world's most expensive player-who had a thing for whining publicly and in the press about his coach. Fabio once told me that one of his fundamental principles is that a coach NEVER speaks ill of a player in public and only addresses any "issues" in private, or in the context of the dressing room if necessary. Anything else, according to Capello, and the manager loses credibility and the players' respect. And only if a player criticizes you publicly first, do you have a right, a duty actually, to respond and to defend yourself and the club. On this point, Berhalter clearly screwed up and damaged himself. Should he somehow be allowed to continue in the job, he will have some work to do to regain the trust of his players. Lastly, Gio Reyna is still a kid, a precocious one for sure, but he's still only 20, after all. If anyone deserves a second chance, it is Gio. And he has expressed regret and demonstrated awareness that his own behavior was mistaken. As for his parents, life is-hopefully-long. They have done great things in the sport and raised a good family. They have suffered the loss of their first-born at a young age. Of course they screwed up, humiliated themselves, put the Berhalter family through a very difficult time and made Gio's life way more difficult than it had to be. But even they, at some point, will be deserving of reconciliation, after expressing contrition and appropriate penance. Hopefully that will also come when the time is right. 3/17/2023 10:01:50 am
George and John have it right. Leave the game to the players and coaches ; just enjoy watching your kid. One of a few post game comments should be' "did you enjoy yourself?"
GV
3/17/2023 03:26:40 pm
Alan, very good points. The only time I ever coached kids was when our youngest was in a local baseball league -- deliberately low-key, everybody bats, girls were welcome, adults pitched to be hit, not to get outs, etc I bought into the program. But....as I look back....I didn't do enough tro create team spirit, with a drill or a cheer, something to bring kids together. But if a weak hitter made contact, a lot of kids understood and cheered...Some of better athletes moved into soccer or lacrosse....it being Long Island. GV
Randolph
3/16/2023 05:10:09 pm
George and John,
GV
3/17/2023 03:32:49 pm
Randolph: In Heaven, would I get close enough to take a shot on goal? I was a defender and felt forbidden to move up. Then I saw Roberto Carlos and Paolo Maldini....Who knew? GV 3/16/2023 05:41:08 pm
George,
GV
3/17/2023 03:37:40 pm
John, great to hear from you. The official report seemed fair and complete -- and so were the articles by Woitalla and Paul Kennedy in Soccer America.
Randolph
3/16/2023 08:21:03 pm
John,
GV
3/17/2023 03:45:45 pm
Randolph, so you had a conversation with John Prine. Was he open to talk with you? You met him at a football game -- and he was open to chat. How cool, I have seen a documentary on his life up north (although I think of him as a Kentuckian)...he and Steve Goodman talking about "City of New Orleans" -- an amazing song. I was under the impression the inspiration was a story in the NYT about the railroad trip. Fact is, creative people take inspiration from other creative people. Wish I'd met him. GV
Randolph
3/18/2023 05:36:53 pm
George,
George Wilson
3/17/2023 12:50:56 pm
Good afternoon everyone!
GV
3/17/2023 03:49:28 pm
Geo: What do you think about Pulisic's endorsement of Berhalter?
George Wilson
3/22/2023 08:12:13 pm
I think Pulisic is doing the professional thing and showing leadership in a moment that is needed. I think that at the club level there is an increasing amount of US nationals that have top level coaches- do they really think Berhalter can match the level they bring?
John McDermott
3/17/2023 12:58:48 pm
Christian Pulisić has come out strongly in support of Gregg Berhalter continuing as coach of the US National Team: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6NYun1ATyo
GV
3/17/2023 03:50:35 pm
John, interesting. I had already posted the clip from Paul Kennedy.
Josh Rubin
3/20/2023 02:53:58 pm
Two great topics - John Prine and overinvolved youth soccer parents. We had tickets to see Prine in June 2020, alas. Thankfully we'd seen him before. We lost a lot when covid took him.
GV
3/20/2023 03:14:20 pm
Josh, nice to hear from you. I agree with you....I mentioned in a comment, above, a local baseball league (set up, now that I recall, by a retired military officer with a vision for letting the kids play.) Parents were discouraged from shouting advice to their kids. I remember one father, with a booming voice, telling his son, "Be a man!" It gave the boy the shakes...youth soccer sets up advice on every bounce.... GV
Josh Rubin
3/20/2023 03:28:17 pm
Thanks, George. And yes, so important to get all those extra voices out of the kids' heads so they can just experience and feel the game for themselves. My favorite moment as a "coach" involved one kid who had figured out already how to play striker, position herself, etc (she went on to a pretty good travel team career through much of HS) and another who complained "no fair! How come she doesn't have to come back and help with defense?" I said "I'm going to play the two of you together on offense in the next quarter. Whatever she does, you do. If she stays up, stay up. If she comes back, come back. If she heads towards the goal, do the same." Sure enough, the two of them combined for a bunch of goals. Having two actual strikers in AYSO U-10 turned out to be quite an advantage, but even better was seeing her start to figure the game out. And none of that was prompted by her parents. Comments are closed.
|
QUOTES
Measuring Covid Deaths, by David Leonhardt. July 17, 2023. NYT online. The United States has reached a milestone in the long struggle against Covid: The total number of Americans dying each day — from any cause — is no longer historically abnormal…. After three horrific years, in which Covid has killed more than one million Americans and transformed parts of daily life, the virus has turned into an ordinary illness. The progress stems mostly from three factors: First, about three-quarters of U.S. adults have received at least one vaccine shot. Second, more than three-quarters of Americans have been infected with Covid, providing natural immunity from future symptoms. (About 97 percent of adults fall into at least one of those first two categories.) Third, post-infection treatments like Paxlovid, which can reduce the severity of symptoms, became widely available last year. “Nearly every death is preventable,” Dr. Ashish Jha, who was until recently President Biden’s top Covid adviser, told me. “We are at a point where almost everybody who’s up to date on their vaccines and gets treated if they have Covid, they rarely end up in the hospital, they almost never die.” That is also true for most high-risk people, Jha pointed out, including older adults — like his parents, who are in their 80s — and people whose immune systems are compromised. “Even for most — not all but most —immuno-compromised people, vaccines are actually still quite effective at preventing against serious illness,” he said. “There has been a lot of bad information out there that somehow if you’re immuno-compromised that vaccines don’t work.” That excess deaths have fallen close to zero helps make this point: If Covid were still a dire threat to large numbers of people, that would show up in the data. One point of confusion, I think, has been the way that many Americans — including we in the media — have talked about the immuno-compromised. They are a more diverse group than casual discussion often imagines. Most immuno-compromised people are at little additional risk from Covid — even people with serious conditions, such as multiple sclerosis or a history of many cancers. A much smaller group, such as people who have received kidney transplants or are undergoing active chemotherapy, face higher risks. Covid’s toll, to be clear, has not fallen to zero. The C.D.C.’s main Covid webpage estimates that about 80 people per day have been dying from the virus in recent weeks, which is equal to about 1 percent of overall daily deaths. The official number is probably an exaggeration because it includes some people who had virus when they died even though it was not the underlying cause of death. Other C.D.C. data suggests that almost one-third of official recent Covid deaths have fallen into this category. A study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases came to similar conclusions. Dr. Shira Doron, the chief infection control officer at Tufts Medicine in Massachusetts, told me that “age is clearly the most substantial risk factor.” Covid’s victims are both older and disproportionately unvaccinated. Given the politics of vaccination, the recent victims are also disproportionately Republican and white. Each of these deaths is a tragedy. The deaths that were preventable — because somebody had not received available vaccines and treatments — seem particularly tragic. (Here’s a Times guide to help you think about when to get your next booster shot.) *** From the great Maureen Dowd: As I write this, I’m in a deserted newsroom in The Times’s D.C. office. After working at home for two years during Covid, I was elated to get back, so I could wander around and pick up the latest scoop. But in the last year, there has been only a smattering of people whenever I’m here, with row upon row of empty desks. Sometimes a larger group gets lured in for a meeting with a platter of bagels." --- Dowd writes about the lost world of journalists clustered in newsrooms at all hours, smoking, drinking, gossipping, making phone calls, typing, editing. *** "Putting out the paper," we called it. Much more than nostalgia. ---https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/29/opinion/journalism-newsroom.html Categories
All
|