United States midfielder Giovanni Reyna is a national disgrace.
Reyna was nearly sent home from the tournament after he showed a lack of effort in both training and in a pre-World Cup scrimmage against Qatari club Al Gharafa SC, according to ESPN.
Throughout the entire World Cup, the 20-year-old didn’t start a single match for the U.S., but did manage to play in the second half of America’s 3-1 defeat to the Netherlands in the Round of 16. ESPN’s sources also told them that Reyna issued an apology to the team for not giving his all for his country.
After United States manager Gregg Berhalter spoke in New York Dec. 6 at the HOW Institute for Society’s Summit on Moral Leadership, his words were later printed in a Charterworks newsletter. Berhalter said that the U.S. “had a player that was clearly not meeting expectations on and off the field. One of 26 players, so it stood out. As a staff, we sat together for hours deliberating what we were going to do with this player. We were ready to book a plane ticket home, that’s how extreme it was.”
🚨 The USMNT players voted on whether to send Giovanni Reyna home or not, after he reportedly was “clearly not meeting expectations on and off the field” 😳😳😳
Voting results:
– Stay: 13
– Go Home: 12WILD 🤯
via @jasonrmcintyre pic.twitter.com/Fk6e97xgou
— 🇺🇸 USMNT vs Haters (@USMNTvsHaters) December 12, 2022
Why on earth would you not give your 110% support in the FIFA World Cup for your country?
And for a country of the United States of America that had a lot of hype coming into the tournament?
The deeper I dig into the story, the more I think maybe this had something to do with the relationship between him and Berhalter, as well as Berhalter’s relationship with the entirety of U.S. Soccer — from what I read on blogs and social media, it’s a bit toxic. But even if all of that is true, why wouldn’t you still give your all to your nation, why would you want to waste one of the only World Cups that you’re going to be in? (RELATED: Neymar Unsure If He’ll Play For Country Again After World Cup Loss)
Quite frankly, I don’t give a damn how bad Reyna’s relationship is with Berhalter, it obviously didn’t affect any of the other players on the roster. All Reyna has me thinking is that he contributed to us getting bounced from the World Cup, because when Reyna plays and gives his full effort, he’s quite a talented player. We totally could have used that.
Instead, we’re out here dealing with nonsense that has nothing to do with the glory of being a World Cup champion.
We can deal with Berhalter later, but as far as Reyna is concerned, he’s a national disgrace.