Gregg Berhalter feels horrible for wife over blackmail scandal

Gregg Berhalter has expressed “sadness” in the wake of the recent controversy involving the family of his former teammate, Claudio Reyna, as well as his own loved ones, wife Rosalind, specifically.

When taking part in a Harvard Business Review event on Thursday, the U.S. Men’s National Team coach addressed a troubling incident from 1991 that was recently brought to light, in which Berhalter kicked Rosalind’s legs while they were in college.

“Our entire family is sad about these events. As we said in statement, this is not something we were prepared to hide from them and we will not hide from it now. The statement speaks for itself. We will just take it one day at a time and we look forward to the day that we can move forward from this,” Berhalter said, per CBS Sports.

The 49-year-old coach, who also stated his hope to stay on as USMNT coach, shifted focus to Rosalind, with whom he shares four children.

“I have a strong family. To me, it is about my wife. It is about feeling for her. It was her story. I feel tremendously bad that my profession had to bring this to the public light,” Berhalter said.

Earlier this week, Berhalter acknowledged the disturbing ordeal in a lengthy statement, where he alleged that “during the World Cup, an individual contacted U.S. Soccer, saying that they had information about me that would ‘take me down.’” He added it was “an apparent effort to leverage something very personal from long ago to bring about the end of my relationship with U.S. Soccer.”

“This is a difficult step to take, but my wife, Rosalind, and I want to clearly and directly share the truth. This is a story that belongs to us, but hopefully there are lessons from our relationship that can be valuable to others,” Berhalter said Tuesday.

On Wednesday — a day after Berhalter’s initial statement — it was revealed that Reyna’s wife, Danielle, had relayed details of the concerning incident to U.S. Soccer. The account was shared with U.S. Soccer sporting director Earnie Stewart after critical comments made by Berhalter about an anonymous player — later confirmed to be the Reynas’ son, current USMNT player Gio Reyna — became public. Gio Reyna sat out for most of the USMNT’s run to the Round of 16, as he reportedly clashed with the coaching staff.

“To set the record straight, I did call Earnie Stewart on December 11, just after the news broke that Gregg had made negative statements about my son Gio,” Danielle told Fox Sports.

Danielle, a former USWNT player, was roommates with Rosalind at North Carolina.

U.S. Soccer has launched an investigation in the wake of Berhalter’s statement.

Berhalter’s contract with the USMNT expired at the end of 2022. Though he has expressed interest in a return, assistant coach Anthony Hudson is set to lead the team at a training camp this month.