Tag: gio reyna

The Americans Abroad Five: What could have been for Dortmund and Reyna

The American excelled off the bench again, but it couldn’t prevent a devastating outcome

It has not been the greatest season overall for Americans in Europe’s top leagues (more on that in a future post), and the final weekend of play fittingly contained plenty of agony — and a couple silver linings.

The world headquarters for sports agony this weekend was the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund, where the home side was in prime position to clinch its first Bundesliga title in 11 years. All it needed to do was win against mid-table Mainz, a team with nothing to play for.

Reader, Borussia Dortmund did not win against mid-table Mainz, a team with nothing to play for.

Despite the devastation for Gio Reyna and co., it wasn’t a complete wash for Americans Abroad — or even in Americans in Germany — this weekend.

Let’s look back on a weekend filled with the highest highs and lowest lows for some Americans Abroad.

The Americans Abroad Five: Balogun already setting American records

Balogun has more goals this season than every USMNT player in the top five leagues combined

If it wasn’t already apparent, Folarin Balogun emphasized this weekend just how big of a coup his commitment to the U.S. national team was.

Balogun scored his 20th Ligue 1 goal of the season for Reims, a milestone that no American man in a top-five European league had ever reached. The previous high-water mark was the 17 goals Clint Dempsey scored with Fulham in 2011-12.

Not only is Balogun a clear upgrade on any American striker right now, he has reached a level this season that very few forwards across Europe’s top leagues have been able to match.

Did we mention he is still just 21?

Let’s kick off this week’s Five with a look at the now-confirmed USMNT forward.

Terzic: Reyna ‘not making it easy for me’ with goals off the bench

The USMNT attacker leads the Bundesliga in goals per 90 minutes

Borussia Dortmund manager Edin Terzić has said Gio Reyna’s consistent goalscoring off the bench is giving him the proverbial problem every coach wants to have.

Reyna has started just one game since the World Cup but has scored in five of his 10 substitute appearances since the Bundesliga restarted in January.

The 20-year-old scored again in Saturday’s 5-2 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach, taking his average to 1.06 goals per 90 minutes — best in the Bundesliga among players with more than 500 minutes.

Dortmund, which is just one point behind first-place Bayern with two games to go, has won 13 of 17 games since the World Cup. With attackers like Donyell Malen, Julian Brandt, Karim Adeyemi and others firing on all cylinders, Reyna’s lack of minutes has more to do with the successes of others rather than his own failures.

Speaking after the win over Gladbach, Terzić said that the USMNT attacker continues to push the players ahead of him.

“Gio in particular is not making it easy for me to always only be bringing him on [from the bench],” the coach said. “He pushes the others every day. We want to have that performance mindset in the team. Karim and Donny know that they need to keep stepping on the gas.”

Overall, Reyna has scored a career-high seven Bundesliga goals this season, despite starting just four games in the league.

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The Americans Abroad Five: So, who’s getting relegated?

Several USMNT players are battling to avoid the drop as the season winds down

Last season’s crop of top-flight Americans Abroad saw their ranks thinned significantly after a number of relegations.

Some moved on to bigger and better things (Luca de la Torre), some dropped down a division and thrived (Tanner Tessmann and Josh Sargent), while some saw their personal stock sink along with their team (George Bello and Gianluca Busio).

This season appears to be mercifully lighter when it comes to Americans facing the drop in major European leagues, but there are still some notable names who could be sent packing to the second tier in the coming weeks.

This weekend saw some significant movement, both good and bad, for the relegation-threatened Americans Abroad. Let’s start the Five with a look at a vital weekend in the race to avoid the drop.

The Americans Abroad Five: Carnage, carnage everywhere

It was the kind of weekend where those who played envied those who didn’t

This has not been the greatest season overall for Americans Abroad, and this weekend was a nice little encapsulation of that sad reality.

It was the kind of weekend where those who played envied those who didn’t. Where, in one day, three of the best performing Americans in Europe were lost for the season. Where more shocking performances left some top USMNT players staring relegation right in the face.

It was carnage. And relief may not be coming anytime soon.

Let’s look back on a truly ugly weekend in the Five.

The Americans Abroad Five: Paxten Aaronson is ahead of schedule

The 19-year-old got rave reviews after his first extended Bundesliga minutes

When Paxten Aaronson signed with Eintracht Frankfurt, the club made it clear they weren’t expecting much from the teenager this season.

“We’ve got a very clear plan for how we want to gradually and carefully build him up,” said Timmo Hardung, head of first team football at Eintracht. “And part of that is he’s coming to us in January to start getting used to everything here so that ideally he’s ready to hit the ground running in the new season.”

Things had pretty much been going according to that plan in Aaronson’s debut half season, as he made just two brief cameos before this weekend’s game against Borussia Mönchengladbach.

But with Eintracht down a goal in the second half, head coach Oliver Glasner opted to hand the 19-year-old his first extended opportunity as he replaced Rafael Borré on 55 minutes.

The returns, early as they may be, were promising.

The younger Aaronson’s first real taste of Bundesliga minutes leads off this week’s Five.

Gio Reyna scored another winner off the bench — until Dortmund blew it

The USMNT forward continues to do more with less at Dortmund

Gio Reyna continued his habit of clutch goals off the bench for Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, but what should have been a stoppage-time winner was only enough for a point after Stuttgart found a 97th-minute equalizer.

Reyna hadn’t seen the field in Dortmund’s previous three games as he battled illness, but he made the most of his chance after he was brought on in the 82nd minute against 10-man Stuttgart.

With the game tied 2-2 in stoppage time, Reyna collected a rebound from a blocked shot, took a composed first touch and then rifled home from 10 yards out to give Dortmund the lead.

The visitors looked to have collected a massive three points in the title race but just as the final whistle neared, some slack marking allowed Stuttgart to equalize at the death through Silas.

Dropping two points will be a bitter pill to swallow for Dortmund, which had a man advantage for more than a half after Konstantinos Mavropanos was sent off in the 39th minute.

Dortmund also missed a golden opportunity to go level on points atop the Bundesliga table with Bayern Munich, who only managed to draw 1-1 against Hoffenheim on Saturday.

Instead, the Bavarians maintained a two-point advantage in first place.

For Reyna, the goal continues a trend of doing more with less, as he now has four goals in his last seven Bundesliga appearances — only one of which has been a start.

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The Americans Abroad Five: Ricardo Pepi is playing hardball

The USMNT striker is taking a risk as he aims to escape Augsburg

Ricardo Pepi could have kept his grievances behind closed doors. He could’ve quietly asked Augsburg to let him leave and hoped his wish would be granted.

But Pepi, and his agent Jaime Garcia, have decided that quiet isn’t the way they want to do this.

In an explosive interview with Voetbal International, Garcia and Pepi put all their cards on the table. They don’t just want to leave Augsburg, they want the world to know just how awful the club’s been to them.

As much as they’d like it to be, leaving Augsburg isn’t all up to Garcia and Pepi. It was only 16 months ago that Augsburg invested a club-record $20 million into Pepi, and signed him to a contract through 2026.

They have an asset on their hands, albeit a disgruntled one, and are under no real pressure to let him go unless a suitable offer arrives.

But will such an offer come? Pepi’s big gamble leads off this week’s edition of the Americans Abroad Five.

Gio Reyna will miss massive Bayern Munich clash with illness

The attacker misses out after starting both games for the USMNT over the international break

The Bundesliga title race may well come down to Saturday’s massive game between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

But unfortunately for Gio Reyna, he won’t be able to play a part.

At his pre-match press conference on Friday, Dortmund manager Edin Terzić confirmed the American was sick and would miss Der Klassiker at Allianz Arena.

“Unfortunately, Gio Reyna and Thomas Meunier will be out. Gio has a cold and has been lying flat since yesterday. Thomas Meunier complains of back problems and had to stop training yesterday,” Terzić said.

There was some positive injury news for Dortmund as well, with Terzić confirming Gregor Kobel and Julian Brandt will be fit for the game, while Karim Adeyemi and Youssoufa Moukoko will be game-time decisions.

The already-huge game became even more intriguing when Bayern surprisingly sacked Julian Nagelsmann over the international break and replaced him with ex-Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel.

Terzić admitted the move left him and his staff scrambling somewhat, saying that it “obviously changed our preparation a little bit” for the game.

“We don’t know how much Thomas Tuchel will continue on with what Julian Nagelsmann did in the last few weeks, or whether he brings in completely new ideas,” Terzić added.

“But what hasn’t changed is that they still have a top manager on the bench and a top team on the field.”

Dortmund enters the match in first place, just one point ahead of Bayern in second.

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USMNT player ratings: Pepi and Reyna shine in narrow El Salvador win

The U.S. got over the line against El Salvador, but it was far from an easy night in Orlando

The U.S. men’s national team didn’t enjoy quite the same level of dominance on Monday as they did three days prior — but they got the job done anyway.

Days after a blowout win in Grenada, the USMNT was pushed hard by a well-organized El Salvador team in Orlando. But ultimately, Ricardo Pepi came off the bench to deliver the decisive moment in a 1-0 win.

The victory sees the USMNT reach the CONCACAF Nations League semifinal as they’ll look to defend their title from 2021.

Here are our ratings from a tense evening at Exploria Stadium.