NEW YORK: The personal bust-up between United States national team coach Gregg Berhalter and the Reyna family is “a sad and pathetic day for US soccer,” according to former international Heather O’Reilly.

Borussia Dortmund midfielder Gio Reyna, 20, did not start a match for Berhalter and the US at the World Cup in Qatar.

During a speech at a leadership summit in early December, Berhalter, 49, said an unnamed player was nearly sent home from the World Cup for “not meeting expectations on and off the field”.

After those comments leaked out, Reyna – capped 16 times by the US – revealed on Instagram he had apologised to his team-mates and Berhalter for his attitude.

Reyna’s mother Danielle responded by reporting Berhalter for kicking his wife, Rosalind, when they were teenagers.

The couple late reconciled, married and have four children.

Reyna’s mother said she reported Berhalter to US Soccer because it was “unfair” that “people were trashing” her son when the head coach had done something “much worse” at a similar age.

Her husband, and Gio’s father, is former US captain Claudio Reyna, who played for Rangers, Sunderland and Manchester City during eight years in the UK between 1999-2007.

Mrs Reyna won six caps for the US women’s national team and was the room-mate of Berhalter’s now wife at the time of the incident.

Berhalter’s contract expired on 31 December and it is not yet known whether he will be offered a new deal.

O’Reilly believes the spat could cost him his job despite leading the US into the World Cup knockout stage last month.

She said: “I would never condone violence or domestic violence, but this was 31 years ago, this was an incident that was reconciled – they [Berhalter and wife Rosalind] have a successful marriage of 25 years.”

Berhalter is under investigation by US Soccer after admitting the allegation.

O’Reilly said: “I think what the US national team did at the tournament was admirable but he did speak at the conference about a young player – and then that got leaked out because everybody knew that he was talking about Gio.

“He made a mistake. A mistake he probably regrets and then it obviously snowballed and he had no control over that snowball building.

“That is something I don’t think he can recover from because of all that’s come with it.”

###########