We finally know why midfielder Giovanni Reyna hasn’t played much for the United States men’s national team during the 2022 World Cup. According to multiple reports, Reyna showed a lack of effort while in the tournament and was even close to being sent home.
USMNT’s head coach Gregg Berhalter detailed the situation during a recent public appearance, saying that his team “had a player that was clearly not meeting expectations on and off the field.” He didn’t name Reyna during the speech, but it didn’t take long before several media outlets reported it was the Borussia Dortmund star he was talking about.
“As a staff, we sat together for hours deliberating what we were going to do with this player,” Berhalter added. “We were ready to book a plane ticket home, that’s how extreme it was.”
Reportedly, the issue was Reyna’s performance during the training sessions and scrimmage match against Al Gharafa SC. Both the coaching staff and players noticed he was not giving his 100 percent, and that ended up affecting his playing time during the tournament.
Reyna, who was touted as one of the 2022 World Cup breakthrough stars, didn’t play in the two group-stage games and only played seven minutes in the third against England. He was also left on the bench for the Round of 16 game against the Netherlands but ended up playing the entire second half as the USMNT looked for a way to get back into the game.
