(Reuters) – U.S. forward Christian Pulisic described the bitter dispute between team mate Gio Reyna’s family and Gregg Berhalter as “childish” and said the former coach is “extremely unfortunate” to not still be in charge.
Berhalter, whose contract expired on Dec. 31, remains a candidate to be rehired after an investigation by a law firm determined he did not improperly withhold information of a 1992 domestic violence incident involving his now-wife Rosalind.
The investigation came about after Berhalter criticised U.S. midfielder Reyna, who he said had not met expectations at the World Cup in Qatar, with Reyna’s mother Danielle informing the federation of the 1992 incident.
“Everything that happened with Gregg, first of all, has been handled in an extremely childish manner,” Pulisic, 24, told ESPN on Thursday. “I think it’s childish, it’s 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.”
Chelsea winger Pulisic also urged U.S. Soccer to speed up the coaching appointment to build on the team’s run to the World Cup last 16 under Berhalter.
“Do I feel like we should just wait and wait? I don’t think it’s necessary, because we are not in a phase like we were after not qualifying (for the 2018 World Cup) where we needed a complete rebuild,” Pulisic said.
“We don’t need a bunch of new guys coming in.”
Interim coach Anthony Hudson, who served as Berhlater’s assistant, named Pulisic and Reyna in his 24-man squad for this month’s CONCACAF Nations League matches against Grenada and El Salvador.
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
