#USA 🇺🇸 manager Gregg Berhalter forced to deny story that he told Gio Reyna to lie about being injured

WRONG 

USA coach Gregg Berhalter says ‘that’s not who I am’ in response to rumour he forced Borussia Dortmund superstar Gio Reyna to ‘lie’ about being injured

USA manager Gregg Berhalter has been forced to deny a story that he told star midfielder Gio Reyna to lie about being injured.

Reyna has played just seven minutes at the World Cup, as a second-half substitute against England, a stark contrast to his impact at club level.

The 20-year-old is one of the Bundesliga’s young stars for Borussia Dortmund, but hasn’t had the same impact yet for the US in Qatar.

That seemingly agitated former international striker Eric Wynalda, who then made a startling string of allegations on a Twitter Spaces Chat.

“With Gio Reyna out of the line-up right now, which has been a massive controversy within the team,” Wynalda said.

“Even his own teammates are wanting him on the field and it seems to be [causing] internal strife with the [team] and manager Gregg Berhalter.

“I don’t know how much I should comment on that, but I’ve been trying to console Gio’s father, Claudio, for the last couple of hours, well, the last couple of days with everything that’s been going on.

“He was fit to play, Berhalter did lie to the media and say that it was an injury, ask the player to kind of go along with that story, which caused a rift between the two of them and now he’s on the bench which is really unfortunate. The situation should have been handled very differently.”

Due to the profile of individuals involved, the situation unsurprisingly came up at a press conference ahead of the US’ final group game against Iran.

He said: “Speaking of the four-year journey, right, there’s also been four years of interacting with you guys [the media].

“What I’d say is: I’ll leave it to you to decide if I asked Gio to lie about it.

“That’s just not who I am. That’s not what I represent.

“So if you have to take Eric’s word or my word or whatever, feel free, but I know what happened, that’s not what I represent.

“Like every other person, Gio is a member of this team that we care deeply for and we know can help the team. It’s a matter of when he can help us and how he can help us.”

Following the press conference, Wynalda then offered an apology of sorts, saying he didn’t want the issue to become a distraction.

“The first thing I need to clear up… it’s simply been two dads talking about a kid,” he began.

“[Claudio Reyna and Berhalter] text messaging saying, ‘man I really wish we could see the kid [Gio Reyna] on the field, I really hope he can get some more time’.

“That’s it, if anyone is putting the two together as if I’m getting information from Claudio Reyna and then including myself in the conversation, I need to dispel that immediately.

“This is one of those classic cases where it’s not what I meant to say. The other words I wish I could take back is ‘asking Gio to go along with it’. No, he’s just expected him to go along with it, would have been a better way to present that. I’m not suggesting that he physically asked Gio, ‘hey I need you to lie for me.’

“That’s not what happened, and that’s not what I was trying to portray. So if there’s a retraction out of that: it is misleading and I really hate the fact that that question needed to be asked to our national team coach ahead of a game of that magnitude. I don’t want it to be a distraction.”

Despite the debate, Reyna was again an unused substitute against Iran, as Christian Pulisic’s first-half winner sent the US through to the last 16 where they will face the Netherlands.