Reyna was close to being sent home from World Cup
American midfielder Gio Reyna almost was sent home from the World Cup in Qatar because of a lack of hustle in training, for which he later apologized.
U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter revealed the team’s concerns about a player when he spoke last week at the HOW Institute for Society’s Summit on Moral Leadership in New York.
“In this last World Cup, we had a player that was clearly not meeting expectations on and off the field,” Berhalter was quoted as saying. “One of 26 players, so it stood out. As a staff, we sat together for hours deliberating what we were going to do with this player. We were ready to book a plane ticket home, that’s how extreme it was. And what it came down to was, we’re going to have one more conversation with him, and part of the conversation was how we’re going to behave from here out.
“But the other thing we said to him was, you’re going to have to apologize to the group. It’s going to have to go deeper than just ‘Guys, I’m sorry,’” Berhalter went on. “And I prepped the leadership group with this. I said, ‘OK, this guy’s going to apologize to you as a group, to the whole team.’ And what was fantastic in this whole thing is that after he apologized, they stood up one by one and said: ‘Listen, it hasn’t been good enough. You haven’t been meeting our expectations of a teammate and we want to see change.’ They really took ownership of that process. And from that day on there were no issues with this player.”
While Berhalter didn’t identify the player, several media outlets reported Sunday it was Reyna, who turned 20 the week before the World Cup.
“Just before the World Cup, coach Berhalter told me that my role at the tournament would be very limited. I was devastated,” Reyna said in a statement Monday. “I fully expected and desperately wanted to contribute to the play of a talented group as we tried to make a statement at the World Cup.
“I am also a very emotional person, and I fully acknowledge that I let my emotions get the best of me and affect my training and behavior for a few days after learning about my limited role. I apologized to my teammates and coach for this, and I was told I was forgiven. Thereafter, I shook off my disappointment and gave everything I had on and off the field.”
Reyna, a son of former U.S. captain Claudio Reyna and former U.S. women’s national team player Danielle Egan, missed most of Borussia Dortmund’s 202122 season because of leg injuries.
• Forward Gyasi Zardes and Major League Soccer’s Austin team agreed to a three-year contract.
Zardes, 31, has 97 goals in 267 regular-season games for the Galaxy (201317), Columbus (2018-22) and Colorado (2022), including nine in 26 games after the Rapids acquired him from the Crew in April.
The Leuzinger High graduate has 14 goals in 68 appearances for the United States.
Murphy centerpiece of three-team trade
The Atlanta Braves acquired catcher Sean Murphy from the Oakland Athletics as part of a threeteam deal that also sent catcher William Contreras to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Oakland acquired veteran catcher Manny Piña and pitching prospects Kyle Muller, Freddy Tarnok and Royber Salinas from Atlanta and outfield prospect Esteury Ruiz from Milwaukee. The Brewers also acquired right-handers Joel Payamps and Justin Yeager.
Murphy, 28, led American League catchers in hits (114), doubles (28) and extra-base hits (46) this past season while batting .250 with 18 homers and 66 RBIs in 148 games. He won a Gold Glove in 2021.
Contreras, 24, made the NL All-Star team as a designated hitter in 2022. He hit .278 with 20 homers and 45 RBIs. He made 57 starts at catcher and 31 at DH.
The Brewers boosted their bullpen with the addition of Payamps, who had a 3.23 ERA in 41 games with the Kansas City Royals and Athletics last season.
Muller, 25, was rated as the Braves’ top prospect by MLB.com and Baseball America.
Ruiz, 23, had a combined 85 steals and a .974 OPS while playing in the San Diego Padres’ and Brewers’ farm systems.
• The Toronto Blue Jays agreed to a $63 million, three-year deal with righthander Chris Bassitt.
Bassitt, 33, had declined his $19 million option with the New York Mets.
He went 15-9 with a 3.42 ERA in 30 starts after the Mets acquired him in a trade with Oakland at the end of the lockout.
Bassitt is 46-34 with a 3.45 ERA in 136 career games over eight seasons.
Left-hander Sean Manaea agreed to a $25 million, two-year contract with the San Francisco Giants.
The 30-year-old Manaea, who spent his first six big league seasons with Oakland, went 8-9 with a 4.96 ERA over 158 innings in his lone campaign with the San Diego Padres.
• The Minnesota Twins agreed with catcher Christian Vázquez on a $30 million, three-year contract.
Vázquez played for Boston and World Series champion Houston this season, hitting .274 with nine homers and 52 RBIs in 119 games. The native of Puerto Rico was traded to the Astros on Aug. 1.
The 32-year-old Vázquez broke into the majors with the Red Sox in 2014. He hit .262 with 54 homers and 266 RBIs in 698 games for Boston and also won a World Series ring there in 2018.
Swiatek chosen as WTA Player of Year
Iga Swiatek was honored as WTA Player of the Year for the first time after rising to No. 1 in the rankings in April and remaining there for the rest of the season thanks in part to two Grand Slam titles.
Swiatek, a 21-year-old from Poland and the WTA 2020 Newcomer of the Year, led the tour with 67 match wins and eight titles. That included a run of six trophies in a row during a 37-match winning streak that lasted from February to July and was the longest undefeated stretch in women’s tennis in a quarter of a century.
She ascended to the top of the rankings after Ash Barty suddenly retired at age 25 and relinquished that spot. Swiatek later won her second major championship at the French Open in June, then claimed the U.S. Open title in September, making her the first woman with two Slam trophies in one season since Angelique Kerber in 2016.