Alright, so earlier in the thread I alluded to other things going on but I wouldn’t print them. Some of that is trickling out in other forums so I’ll share a little more. I do not have the USSF and media sources I once had, so I’m not 100% sure of a lot of it, so take all of this with a grain of salt.
The real root of why a long simmering rivalry between close families, or at least part of it, spilling into the media, supposedly relates to the handling of Greggg’s son, not Claudio.
The narrative is that Gio’s mom went crazy and went public over Gio’s playing time. Some people have suggested a counter narrative that there were assurances at the top of US Soccer about the future of Sebastian Berhalter.
Gregg’s son played youth soccer for the Crew while his Dad was there, then one season at where (?), UNC, where both parents were playing legends and generous donors. He lasted one season, went pro, and signed where (?) the Columbus Crew, where his Dad was coach. He did not play much and then Dad left for the USMNT.
He played some more, apparently to get his value up, but there were no takers. Normally a college program drop out with no playing time and no MLS or USL interest would be dropped to free his spot for a TAM player in a position of need or a trial player. That didn’t happen. He was loaned to where (?) Austin FC. Where Claudio makes the hiring decisions.
He played a little at Austin but the roster is crowded and Claudio declined the option. He was returned to the Crew who did not want him and sold him to the Whitecaps in exchange for the minimum TAM allowed. I think it’s $50,000, but it could be a case of beer and a spare bus tire.
He played a few games for the Whitecaps, struggled and is now on the bench of the reserve USL team owned by Vancouver. He barely qualifies as a pro athlete at this point.
If you believe it’s a telenovella, it’s really the Berhalters who caused drama by flexing for their son privately and are upset both that their son isn’t playing but that his career is basically over and Gio is a world class name. And that Claudio could have and should have done the Berhalters a solid and kept him at Austin where he could “develop”. But Claudio betrayed Gregg and his son by making an honest judgment on the kids future.
Supposedly, that’s the motive that Gregg had for telling Reyna on the front end that he wouldn’t be playing in the WC, potentially costing him millions. Because Berhalter is pouting that Claudio didn’t play his son. There’s other stuff about the wives floating around and there’s other stuff I’m hearing too about their friends/rivals relationship.
And this is just the superficial stuff. I assume there’s more.
The problem is USSF has growing pains. The money and visibility has gotten big enough to get interesting but the pool of people running USSF is still limited to the inner circle that’s been around since 1988 basically. As we move past the 2002 generation running things, it’s a good opportunity to professionalize the USSF. The trouble is, USSF is run by a confederation of youth league leaders more worried about their marginal daughter’s chances at signing with Clemson and what they are cooking for dinner that night or restoring their grandfathers pickup truck. And they are easily manipulated by folks like Gulati, SUM, the Berhalters, Garber and others.
Listen to every word Wynalda says. You don’t want him running things. That would be a disaster. And he wasn’t completely right on this story, it’s clear he was manipulated by the Reynas, but he wasn’t wrong either. And he was called crazy for being way out front on this story. He shouldn’t have made the story about him, as usual. But he’s definitely right and has been right for 15 years that the Game of Thrones in USSF needs to end.
