Gregg Berhalter, withdrawn from his position as United States coach, time to shed light on a former case of domestic violence, “remains a candidate for the position of coach” of the United States men’s soccer team after the end of the investigation, its federation (US Soccer) said on Monday.
“Given that investigators have concluded that there are no legal impediments to his hiring, Gregg Berhalter remains a candidate for the post of head coach of the men’s national team,” US Soccer said in a statement. communicated.
The three-month investigation, awarded to an independent law firm in January after the Federation was alerted to a 1991 dispute in which Berhalter kicked his future wife, Rosalind, as they were already dating, in college, concluded that he had not committed any other acts of violence. Even before the start of this investigation, Berhalter had recognized the incriminating episode, calling it “shameful”.
The technician led the United States to what was considered a successful World Cup campaign last year, with the team reaching the round of 16 in Qatar. But an acrimonious row between Berhalter and Borussia Dortmund star Giovanni Reyna, who was hardly used in Qatar, came to light when it emerged the player was nearly sent home due to his lack of involvement in training.
Blackmail and vacancies
Following this bickering, the old story of domestic violence dating back several decades was exhumed by the parents of the player, furious that their son was publicly criticized after the World Cup. Giovanni’s father, Claudio Reyna, is a former USA captain and Berhalter teammate.
Implicated, the coach for his part denounced blackmail, while acknowledging having kicked his girlfriend, Rosalind, when he was 18, during the dispute. The affair short-circuited the manager’s nomination process launched a week after the elimination of the United States, when Berhalter’s coaching contract expired on December 31.
It was his assistant during the World Cup, Anthony Hudson, who was also responsible for supervising a national training camp in January. Although Berhalter can now apply to take over his position, US Soccer has stressed that it will not hire a coach until it has appointed a new sporting director, a position that oversees all national teams.
In fact, Earnie Stewart, also a former teammate of Berhalter and Reyna senior, left his post in February. The Federation also noted that the report “identifies the need to review US Soccer’s policies regarding appropriate parental conduct and communications with staff at the national team level.”