The parents of a soccer player from the U.S. Men's National Team are facing potentially serious allegations of attempting to blackmail the coach into playing their son in the recently completed World Cup — supposedly leveraging an incident which took place in the 1990s.
According to the L.A. Times, Danielle Reyna, the mother of American forward Giovanni Reyna, told a number of media outlets she and her husband, Claudio Reyna, recently reported a physical altercation to Earnie Stewart, U.S. Soccer's sporting director.
The alleged incident occurred in 1991 and involved current U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter and his now-wife, Rosalind.
Danielle Reyna was reportedly driven to report the coach to U.S. Soccer for two reasons: A dissatisfaction with her son's playing time in the World Cup, and Gregg Berhalter publicly referencing "internal issues" in Qatar, when speaking of an unnamed player.
Reports say Berhalter was miffed about the unnamed player's lack of sufficient intensity while training with the U.S. team in Qatar.
Eventually, the player was revealed to be Giovanni Reyna, who nearly got sent home before the USMNT had been eliminated, according to reports.
"I did call Earnie Stewart just after the news broke that Gregg had made negative statements about my son Gio at a leadership conference," said Danielle Reyna, according to the Times. "I have known Earnie for years and consider him to be a close friend. I wanted to let him know that I was absolutely outraged and devastated that Gio had been put in such a terrible position, and that I felt very personally betrayed by the actions of someone my family had considered a friend for decades."
Danielle Reyna continued: "I want to be very clear that I did not ask for Gregg to be fired, I did not make any threats, and I don't know anything about any blackmail attempts."
Back in 1991, Danielle Reyna was the roommate of Rosalind Berhalter at the University of North Carolina, when the alleged confrontation with Gregg Berhalter occurred.
In a lengthy Twitter post, Gregg Berhalter acknowledged the incident from 1991 with his now-wife, Rosalind.
"One night, while out drinking at a local bar, Rosalind and I had a heated argument that continued outside. It became physical, and I kicked her in the legs," Gregg Berhalter tweeted.
"The lessons learned from that night over three decades ago became the foundation for a loving, devoted, and supportive relationship, which we honored and celebrated with our 25th wedding anniversary this past weekend," Berhalter added.
Here is page 1 of Berhalter's Twitter message, and here is page 2 of the post.
Berhalter's statement then prompted Danielle Reyna to admit to reporting the 1991 abuse allegations to U.S. Soccer.
"Without going into detail, the statements from yesterday significantly minimize the abuse on the night in question. Rosalind Berhalter was my roommate, teammate, and best friend, and I supported her through the trauma that followed," Danielle Reyna later told ESPN.
In a Tuesday statement, U.S. Soccer confirmed it had opened an investigation into the blackmail allegations.
On a parallel track, the soccer body also said it would conduct a "separate review" regarding Berhalter's coaching future with the USMNT program.
"We appreciate Gregg and Rosalind coming forward to speak openly about this incident," the organizational statement read. "Consistent with our commitment to transparency, we will share the results of the investigation publicly when it is complete. U.S. Soccer condemns violence of any kind and takes such allegations very seriously."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.