MY ACCOUNT
Christian Pulisic has expressed sympathy for Gregg Berhalter amid what he considers a “childish” saga involving Giovanni Reyna’s family and the erstwhile United States head coach.
Berhalter’s contract with US Soccer expired at the end of December, with the governing body putting any decision on his future on hold amid an investigation into claims he kicked his wife in a 1992 altercation.
The allegation – which Berhalter has admitted to – was brought to US Soccer’s attention by Reyna’s mother Danielle, who was angered by Berhalter’s treatment of her son at last year’s World Cup.
Reyna had limited playing time at the tournament, after which Berhalter suggested the Borussia Dortmund youngster was almost exiled from his squad due to poor behaviour.
US Soccer has appointed Anthony Hudson as interim boss, but it also confirmed Berhalter remains under consideration for a new deal when announcing the findings of the investigation this week, and national team winger Pulisic sympathises with the coach.
“I’m not here to appoint the next manager – it’s not my job – and whoever it is, I’m going to play and give it 100 per cent,” Chelsea’s Pulisic told ESPN.
“Everything that happened with Gregg, first of all, has been handled in an extremely childish manner. I think we’ve seen what’s been going on.
“I think it’s childish, it’s [like] youth soccer, people complaining about playing time. I don’t want to go too far into that, but I think Gregg has been extremely unfortunate to get into the position he is in now.”
The USA earned plaudits for their energetic performances as they reached the last 16 in Qatar last year, having failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Asked whether the team required major changes, Pulisic said: “I don’t think it’s necessary. We are not in a phase like we were after not qualifying, where we needed a complete rebuild.
“We don’t need a bunch of new guys coming in. We have a strong core in my opinion, people have seen that and we need to carry on with that.
“It’s a tough one for me because we should continue that as soon as we can and build off this World Cup, which I think had a lot of positives in it. We want to get going with that as soon as we can.”
