Gregg Berhalter has returned for a second spell in charge of the USMNT, and there is one player who has not been included in the team's upcoming camp.
That person is none other than Giovanni Reyna, who, along with his parents, became the center of an unpleasant scandal during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Reyna's parents took umbrage to the lack of playing time given to their son during the tournament, and tried to use their influence to bully Berhalter to amend that. When that failed, they resorted to blackmail by exposing an alleged incident between Berhalter and his wife when they were in college. However, their underhanded and bare knuckle tactics backfired on Reyna's parents miserably.
Although Berhalter resigned, the Reynas were also exposed, with many slamming the couple for behaving quite akin to some overeager parents in American kids' club soccer - except on on a bigger stage with more nefarious purposes.
In any case, Berhalter was eventually brought back in from the cold after an investigation proved him innocent of any wrongdoing, while Reyna's father, Claudio, is no longer in his position as a footballing executive.
Notably, Behalter recently admitted in an interview that he has not yet spoken with the younger Reyna, who plays his club football for Borussia Dortmund. The youngster is currently battling his way back to full fitness following another injury, and all eyes will be on Berhalter to see if Reyna, should he recover, be included for the USMNT's games in October where they will face Germany and Ghana.
Here are the players called up for national team camp ahead of the USMNT's matches against Uzbekistan and Oman in September:
Goalkeepers: Ethan Horvath (Nottingham Forest), Matt Turner (Nottingham Forest), Drake Callender (Inter Miami)
Defenders: Tim Ream (Fulham), Kevin Paredes (Wolfsburg), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Mark McKenzie (Genk), Kristoffer Lund (Palermo), Sergiño Dest (PSV Eindhoven), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace), Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United)
Midfielders: Weston McKennie (Juventus), Yunus Musah (AC Milan), Ben Cremaschi (Inter Miami), Malik Tillman (PSV), Johnny Cardoso (Internacional)
Forwards: Christian Pulisic (AC Milan), Tim Weah (Juventus), Folarin Balogun (Arsenal), Cade Cowell (San Jose Earthquakes), Brenden Aaronson (Union Berlin), Ricardo Pepi (PSV)
