‘The investigation is still ongoing’ was the repeated line from US Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone, US Soccer CEO JT Batson and sporting director Earnie Stewart when asked multiple times about the situation surrounding Gregg Berhalter in a frustrating press conference.
With the investigation so young and still ongoing, the three revealed little on the scope of the inquiry, the timeline, or any other details beyond what was released in a statement yesterday.
Stewart said the process for making a decision on the next head coach is still in progress and that it’s his responsibility to ‘make sure there’s a pool of candidates to consider.’ He later added, ‘making the right choice over a speedy choice is always going to be better in my mind.’
Berhalter, the now-out-of-contract USMNT coach, revealed Tuesday that he had physically abused his now-wife Rosalind back in 1991. He also said that someone outside the organization had threatened to ‘take him down’.
Earlier today, former USMNT midfielder Claudio Reyna and his wife Danielle – the parents of out-of-favor midfielder Gio Reyna – admitted to reporting the incident to US Soccer.
Claudio Reyna (No. 10) and Berhalter (No. 3) played for the USA between 1994 and 2006
Berhalter’s US Soccer contract officially expired at the end of last month after the World Cup
Possibly the biggest takeaway from the press conference is that Berhalter has not yet been eliminated from consideration for the job – in spite of not yet receiving a renewal for his contract that expired at the end of 2022.
Stewart seemed to shrug aside any concerns over the recent poor performance of head coaches of national teams in their second World Cup cycle.
‘I think it has a lot to do with the individual that you have in front of a group,’ he said. ‘Once you step on the field every single day, and you see a coach, doing better, and taking that group there every single time and keeping the group – being able to motivate them at every aspect of the game – I mean, that’s where my attention goes to, when I look at, when I look at coaches.
‘What I do believe is in consistency and continuity in the way that you play, in the way that you do things, and making sure that once players come into camp, that they have a recollection of what happened last time. So that consistency and continuity is really important. That doesn’t necessarily always have to happen with the same coach. But it does make that process easier.’
Cone added her thoughts, saying ‘I think looking at it as a four-year coach or a two-cycle trip coach is oversimplifying. It’s a lot of what Ernie laid out. It’s there’s a lot of characteristics that make a coach successful. And you can’t just look at how long they’ve been at the helm.
‘You have to look at all the details… and so that is one of the reasons why we’re doing a full technical review as we do after each major tournament.’
Berhalter was forced to go public about kicking his wife Rosalind during an argument in 1991
All three turned aside questions on personal feelings, including Stewart, who was a teammate of both Berhalter’s and Reyna’s on the men’s national team and whom Danielle Reyna described as a ‘close friend’
FOX Soccer commentator Alexi Lalas asked the three if they would have a problem with Berhalter continuing, with Batson answering for the three, saying they weren’t comfortable answering that question.
They also sidestepped any suggestion that what took place was an attempt at extortion or blackmail, repeating that the investigation was still underway.
That investigation is ‘completely independent,’ according to Cone and doesn’t have a set timeline in place.
Ex-USA captain Claudio Reyna (back left) and his wife Danielle (right) – Giovanni Reyna’s (bottom right – aged 5) parents – admitted to reporting Gregg Berhalter’s domestic violence incident to US Soccer
Reyna, Austin FC’s sporting director, and Berhalter played soccer at youth and high school
The USSF also said that these incidents will not impact Gio’s availability to be called up – with Stewart saying, ‘Every player that has a US passport and is in our camps will 1) be selected and 2) be available for our games, because we ‘re here for US Soccer and performing at the best standard that there is.’
In his statement yesterday, Berhalter mentioned that once the incident occurred, he told his family. That led to a question from reporter Mark Zeigler who asked if this extended to Jay Berhalter – who was the Chief Commercial Officer of the US Soccer Federation at the time of Gregg’s hire.
‘I’d imagine this is something that Alston & Bird will be reviewing, but none of our current leadership was aware of this,’ Batson revealed.
Gregg Berhalter and Claudio Reyna have a close history. They grew up playing youth soccer and high school soccer in New Jersey and their wives were roommates, friends, and teammates on the women’s soccer team at the University of North Carolina.
‘This is not a positive time for soccer in this country and for our Men’s National Team. And it’s a tough time for the families involved,’ Cone said.
‘And I’m just hopeful that we can find a solution to this quickly and move forward with our men’s team, as well as for US Soccer in general to be able to move forward.’
The pair played soccer on the same team at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, New Jersey
‘This is a developing story. More to come.
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