It has been a rough end of 2022 and a complicated start of 2023 for the Reyna family, to say the least. A major scandal broke after the USMNT’s World Cup performance in Qatar that involved youngster Giovanni Reyna. Coach Gregg Berhalter decided to discipline him after he showcased poor judgement in a training session. The player later apologized for his actions but he was still non-participant in the World Cup. His parents decided to take action and made some very personal revelations about the manager’s personal life with his wife.
When they were young, the Berhalters got through a domestic violence situation where Gregg was the abuser. This was aired by Gio Reyna’s mother and Claudio Reyna supported her for spilling the beans. Eventually, she also backtracked on her accusations but the damage was done. This affected the Reyna family’s reputation that Claudio worked so hard to build from the ground up throughout his career. As a result, one of the consequences is that he just stepped down as Austin FC’s director due to the pressure from all this drama.
Heads are rolling in the USMNT
Although the controversy was not mentioned in the Austin FC statement, it is pretty clear that this was one of the reasons it happened. Claudio Reyna also released his own official statement about his resignation. He wrote: « I am grateful that [owner] Anthony Precourt and the organization have given me the opportunity to scale back my role and responsibilities while continuing to contribute to the success of a club that I love. I take great pride in what we have accomplished but am looking forward to a less all-consuming work pace that still permits me to assist ongoing club development. »
The news was preceded by another two major players’ heads rolling within the USMNT and U.S. Soccer. They lost their own sporting director and also the general manager earlier on Thursday. There is currently an investigation into the accusations made against Gregg Berhalter and the Reyna family’s involvement in all of this. Austin FC confirmed they are keeping Claudio Rayna as a special advisor and parted ways amiccably with him.
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