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As the U.S. men's national team nears playing in the summer's World Cup on home soil, HBO and docuseries creator Rand Getlin have looked to tell the story of the past four years for the USMNT in U.S. Against The World.
But through the first two episodes, it was easy to pick up on the most glaring of omissions: The Reyna-Berhalter scandal that rocked the program was barely mentioned.
The first episode gave a behind-the-scenes look the the USMNT's Round of 16 run at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. At that World Cup, then-head coach Gregg Berhalter informed Gio Reyna that he would have a limited role in the tournament. Reyna took that news so poorly that his behavior nearly resulted in him being sent home.
Theoretically, the Hard Knocks-style camera crew captured plenty of relevant footage for that story. We saw none of it.
And then, the second episode focused on the start of the 2026 World Cup cycle and Berhalter's return as head coach. But a key element of Berhalter's short-lived return was, oh, just arguably the biggest scandal to hit the USMNT program. Getlin elected against telling that story, and in a recent interview, he explained why.
Getlin claimed that the Reyna-Berhalter scandal was too complex of a story to be told in the structure of a team-focused docuseries. But if you're willingly avoiding the telling the tough stories in the interest of attracting new fans, the series becomes a PR project more than an actual work of storytelling.
That's disappointing because so much of the docuseries has been great thus far, and it's so compelling to see that side of the USMNT and the players. But the scandal was The Story of the start of the 2026 World Cup cycle.
It should have been featured in some capacity — ignoring the scandal was not the way to go at all.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: USMNT HBO docuseries creator defended Reyna-Berhalter scandal omission
Continue reading...
But through the first two episodes, it was easy to pick up on the most glaring of omissions: The Reyna-Berhalter scandal that rocked the program was barely mentioned.
The first episode gave a behind-the-scenes look the the USMNT's Round of 16 run at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. At that World Cup, then-head coach Gregg Berhalter informed Gio Reyna that he would have a limited role in the tournament. Reyna took that news so poorly that his behavior nearly resulted in him being sent home.
Theoretically, the Hard Knocks-style camera crew captured plenty of relevant footage for that story. We saw none of it.
And then, the second episode focused on the start of the 2026 World Cup cycle and Berhalter's return as head coach. But a key element of Berhalter's short-lived return was, oh, just arguably the biggest scandal to hit the USMNT program. Getlin elected against telling that story, and in a recent interview, he explained why.
Getlin claimed that the Reyna-Berhalter scandal was too complex of a story to be told in the structure of a team-focused docuseries. But if you're willingly avoiding the telling the tough stories in the interest of attracting new fans, the series becomes a PR project more than an actual work of storytelling.
That's disappointing because so much of the docuseries has been great thus far, and it's so compelling to see that side of the USMNT and the players. But the scandal was The Story of the start of the 2026 World Cup cycle.
It should have been featured in some capacity — ignoring the scandal was not the way to go at all.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: USMNT HBO docuseries creator defended Reyna-Berhalter scandal omission
Continue reading...
