The Swamp

We're kind of gumming up various threads with pretty specific USMNT talk, so thought it would be good to start this up.

Right now, it's all about the manager. I think a bunch of us are on the same page about needing change.

Here's a pretty comprehensive look at GGG returning from The Athletic. Includes a pretty mixed bag of player opinions on him.

https://theathletic.com/3986487/2022/12 ... -contract/

I was planning on setting up a shared doc with all of the 2022 squad and where everyone thinks they'll stand in 2026 in terms of starter, rotation/backup, bench or off the team entirely and then any names to watch. Thought it would be interesting to look back on at various points.

If you don’t already know what this says, I promise you you’d never be able to guess …



(He’s not blue check but it’s apparently been confirmed it’s his statement.)

Crazy that someone tried to blackmail GGG by outing him for kicking his wife 31 years ago while they were dating as 18 yo old college freshmen. FFS.

Yeah, what a dumb story.

And I can totally relate in terms of arguments and fights that you have when you are a teenager, as opposed to when you're a functioning, grown ass adult.

The speculation as a possible source for that is worth one raised eyebrow.

I have not read much speculation. US Soccer points to more than just Gregg getting contacted. That made me think British press or Iran. But with the internal squabbles, I wondered one of the dads. Maybe a player agent?

Mrs Reyna. Who was ggg’s wife’s roommate in college during those days…

tennbengal wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 10:37 am Mrs Reyna. Who was ggg’s wife’s roommate in college during these days…

Oh, shit. That would be something! Imagine if this happened in England, the tabloids would be nuts right now!

I regret not making my "its probably Claudio" joke yesterday. I have no idea Greggggggg's relationship with the players, but if they're anywhere from actively liking to cordial with, can Gio come back if any of this is true?

mister d wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 11:07 am I regret not making my "its probably Claudio" joke yesterday. I have no idea Greggggggg's relationship with the players, but if they're anywhere from actively liking to cordial with, can Gio come back if any of this is true?

Claudio was my first guess, but he seems to classy for that. GGG seems to have a great relationship with players, and his biggest strength was convincing guys like Musah, Pepi and others eligible for multiple national teams to chose the US. From what I've read and heard, GGG deserves a lot of the credit. When I first read about Musah, I didn't think there was a chance in hell he'd play for the US. He was eligible to play for England, Italy, and Ghana and he had more of a connection to all of the other countries. As I understand it, his mother was physically present in the US when Yunus was born, but he never lived in the US and they had no other connections.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 12:21 pm

mister d wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 11:07 am I regret not making my "its probably Claudio" joke yesterday. I have no idea Greggggggg's relationship with the players, but if they're anywhere from actively liking to cordial with, can Gio come back if any of this is true?

Claudio was my first guess, but he seems to classy for that. GGG seems to have a great relationship with players, and his biggest strength was convincing guys like Musah, Pepi and others eligible for multiple national teams to chose the US. From what I've read and heard, GGG deserves a lot of the credit. When I first read about Musah, I didn't think there was a chance in hell he'd play for the US. He was eligible to play for England, Italy, and Ghana and he had more of a connection to all of the other countries. As I understand it, his mother was physically present in the US when Yunus was born, but he never lived in the US and they had no other connections.

So farm it out to your wife instead?

Or she did it herself? Or there wasn't ever a blackmail/threat and Berhalter found this the best way to get it out there on his terms as a victim???????

I keep coming on here to type stuff like "there's no way someone, like a parent of a player, would do something like this." And I believe it as I start to type. And this is now the third time I'm doing that, and, yet...

AND YET...

Who the fuck would feel motivated to do this? It would be one thing if this had been witnessed by a fan or even an insider or a player at some point in the last, say, 10 years.

But the circumstances here are pretty insane. Something that happened in Chapel Hill when they were 19??!!

Something pretty insane is at play here.

Right. Its so ridiculous that the Reyna family would even consider this that I can't fathom it as blackmail as it was phrased. Anything from what I said above (which I also highly doubt) to a Reyna being pissed off and saying "maybe I'll just kick him" to literally anything in between.

Wow. It really fucking might have been Claudio.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-stat ... nt-sources

mister d wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 1:18 pm Wow. It really fucking might have been Claudio.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-stat ... nt-sources

yup. amazing.

This puts the USSF in a very bad spot. They may not want Gregg back, for a variety of reasons, but now it looks like they would be negotiating with terrorists which you can't do.

What a fucking mess.

Does this mean the discussion needs to get moved to the "More Backroom Deals than Tammany Hall" thread? This has youth sports written all over it.

This reminds me of the one time I got tickets to sit in the players' family section at an MLB game, at Candlestick in 1992. The Giants were playing the Expos, and one of the Expo's moms sitting behind us was complaining that her son didn't get enough playing time because the manager (Felipe Alou) was playing his son instead.

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 1:36 pm What a fucking mess.

Really. Yuck.

Isn't this where some former teammate of Claudia calls him and says "what in the world are you doing" ..
and
Adams, Weston or some other leader calls Gio and gets in his ear.

I mean Gio has to know you don't tell this story until you have someone ghost write your autobiography.

In all seriousness, this is when you call Bob Bradley in to straighten a bunch of folks out.

Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 1:39 pm Does this mean the discussion needs to get moved to the "More Backroom Deals than Tammany Hall" thread? This has youth sports written all over it.

This reminds me of the one time I got tickets to sit in the players' family section at an MLB game, at Candlestick in 1992. The Giants were playing the Expos, and one of the Expo's moms sitting behind us was complaining that her son didn't get enough playing time because the manager (Felipe Alou) was playing his son instead.

Real "tell Cersei it was me" moments here...

Rex wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 1:30 pm This puts the USSF in a very bad spot. They may not want Gregg back, for a variety of reasons, but now it looks like they would be negotiating with terrorists which you can't do.

Yeah, I was thinking this might work to Greggg’s advantage. Might look bad if they fire him, now.

My, but things are getting curiouser and curiouser…

GGG did really go out of his way to slag Gio. I guess the response of the parents was to that.

All of which leads me to say...FUCKING HIRE A COACH NOT A PART OF THE US SOCCER SYSTEM WITH NO ATTACHMENTS OR HISTORY

I could just as easily make the argument that well is so poisoned, it would be just as well to move on with a new coaching staff.

Not sure how the drama helps, unless the players love him to that extent. I don't get that impression. My impression is that he's... fine.

=-=-=-=-===

And you really have to wonder what Gio thinks of all this. I find it very hard to believe he would've sanctioned this. Can you imagine if your parents put your shit out there like this???

This is fucking nuts, either way (if he knew).

What the actual fuck.

=-=-=-=-==

ETA - And I have to say, while I think it's pretty deplorable she put this out there at all, it sure seemed fishy that this all over a drunken argument and a kick to the shins. 7 months of counseling for kicking your gf?

tennbengal wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 2:02 pm

Eh, if we're talking about what he put on Twitter, that was a joint statement. So this is saying that she lied too.

Well, yeah, Rosalind doesn't want the impression that she stayed in an abusive relationship. That's how this stuff works.

I didn't post that re: the who lied and when stuff, but more that the Reynas 100% did this in response to GGG going out of his way to slag Gio in the days after the Cup. Do we know yet why he did that?

tennbengal wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 2:26 pm I didn't post that re: the who lied and when stuff, but more that the Reynas 100% did this in response to GGG going out of his way to slag Gio in the days after the Cup. Do we know yet why he did that?

What makes this all so murky is that it's highly likely that GGG just made a naïve, boneheaded mistake. He truly felt it was off the record.

If he had really wanted to just roll the bus over Gio, he could've just allowed his staff to leak the story as anonymous stories to the a couple of outlets.

There are easy ways to get this out there that wouldn't have him being directly quoted like that.

Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 1:39 pm Does this mean the discussion needs to get moved to the "More Backroom Deals than Tammany Hall" thread? This has youth sports written all over it.

"I would have wanted and expected him to give the same grace to Gio"...

Yeah, super personal.

Yeah, sorry Reyna's... That's not going to cut it.

Also, if they'd just settled the fuck down and read the room... The vast majority of the coverage chided Gio for being, well, a teenager. But the other side of that was very harsh on GGG. Grown ass man airing out locker room dirt was a terrible look.

Just... shhhhhhh... You were winning the PR battle, dummies.

I know it's just temporary, but can't help but be stunned at Anthony Hudson being anywhere near a national team coaching position at any level. He was a disaster with the Rapids.

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 2:42 pmWhat makes this all so murky is that it's highly likely that GGG just made a naïve, boneheaded mistake. He truly felt it was off the record.

But it wasn't just the comments, it was the leadup where he's inexplicably benching one of his better players despite the families being close, right? Like the weirdness didn't begin when he "confidentially" aired Gio out.

mister d wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 3:30 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 2:42 pmWhat makes this all so murky is that it's highly likely that GGG just made a naïve, boneheaded mistake. He truly felt it was off the record.

But it wasn't just the comments, it was the leadup where he's inexplicably benching one of his better players despite the families being close, right? Like the weirdness didn't begin when he "confidentially" aired Gio out.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I was very much in the WTF camp with regards to Gio, who was seeing significant minutes at Dortmund before the tournament started.

I have a sneaking suspicion that GGG's propensity to over think things (I've said this a lot) had him thinking he "saw something" he needed to correct with Gio and told the "kid" (almost like a son, according to folks) he was going to have a limited role. Some kind of teachable moment or whatever the fuck. Gio rebelled and the rest is what is playing out now.

But, tb was talking about those comments so I was responding to that aspect. I honestly don't think GGG had the intention of publicly airing out like what occurred.