Gregg Berhalter and Jesse Marsch: An ‘ultra-competitive’ USMNT relationship plays out in public

Managers make decisions and pundits critique them — in international football, that’s nothing new. During an episode last week, he was asked about Berhalter’s selection of midfielder Gio Reyna, who has barely featured for Nottingham Forest since joining the Premier League club on loan in January. Even though he has hardly played?” he said, referring to the manager’s complex backstory with Reyna — one that involves the coach’s private criticism of the playmaker during the Qatar World Cup going public and the subsequent falling-out with the midfielder’s family after mother Danielle reported Berhalter to U.S. Soccer for kicking his wife in 1992. “And this is an example of where, OK, things haven’t worked out exactly the way Gio planned when he was moving to Nottingham Forest, but that doesn’t take away from his quality,” Berhalter said. “And by the way, our job when I do this, so I’m new to this media thing, and I do it because I want to continue to be part of the game, and support what’s going on with U.S. Soccer, as a fan of U.S. Soccer and of MLS and everything else… I don’t think I’m always right but I have opinions based on my experiences, the players I know, and what I’ve seen watching.” The split between the pair runs even deeper, as the two have traditionally been allied to two influential figures in the U.S. game who did not always see eye to eye.