Rising star Reyna renders coach replaceable in this rift
When Joe
Torre was in charge of the Dodgers more than a decade ago, he more than once joked that Matt Kemp was the kind of player who could get a manager fired.
Kemp was an unproven 23-year-old at the time. Primarily a basketball player through high school, he hadn’t played as much baseball as other major leaguers his age, but his talent was undeniable. Torre’s light-hearted remark was acknowledgment of the manager’s responsibility to help Kemp realize his potential.
U.S. national soccer team coach Gregg Berhalter has his own Matt Kemp and his name is Giovanni Reyna.
Like Kemp then, Reyna has enormous upside, more than any attacking U.S. player before him.
Like Kemp then, the 20-year-old winger is temperamental.
Like Kemp on the Dodgers then, how Reyna develops will have a significant impact on the future of the U.S. national team, only it doesn’t have the option of trading him.
Now, with Berhalter out of contract at the end of the year, it’s obvious what U.S. Soccer must do next.
The federation has to look for a new coach.
More than a week removed from USA’s World Cup elimination, Reyna’s limited role in the tournament continues to be a subject of controversy, but this isn’t about what transpired in Qatar or who was responsible. This is about the World Cup this country will co-host with Mexico and Canada in four years and the reality that the U.S. will have virtually no chance of advancing into the latter stages of the knockout rounds without Reyna on board.
Reyna has known Berhalter his entire life —