This week, the sentiment is pretty much exactly the same.
Reyna’s injuries have limited his time on the field to fits and starts over the past year, but he is again trending in the right direction after scoring his first goal in 14 months this weekend.
With a month until the World Cup starts, the U.S. attacker once again is resembling something close to his best.
First league start of the season, first goal of the season
After suffering another injury setback last month, Gio Reyna seemed very unlikely to have a day like Saturday so quickly.
But less than a month after he was taken off against Saudi Arabia, seemingly putting his World Cup in jeopardy, Reyna started and scored for Borussia Dortmund in a 5-0 shellacking of Stuttgart at Signal Iduna Park.
For Reyna, it was his first Bundesliga start of the season, his first goal in 14 months, and a massive confidence-booster with less than one month until the U.S. kicks off its World Cup campaign against Wales.
With Dortmund already up 2-0 in the first half against Stuttgart, Youssoufa Moukoko found Reyna at the edge of the box before the American got the ball on his right foot and fired home into the side netting.
Reyna’s celebration said it all, a mixture of happiness and relief as he took a big step toward full fitness and a major role in Qatar.
Now Reyna must build on Saturday’s performance and, more than anything, accomplish what he hasn’t been able to for some time: stay healthy for a long stretch.
Too many USMNT arrows are pointing down rather than up
The U.S. men’s national team came into September’s international window hoping to find clarity and belief, but after two dispiriting performances, they certainly didn’t get the answers they wanted.
If anything, more players saw their stock drop, and in many cases there’s no recourse beyond hoping they go back to their clubs and tear it up. Gregg Berhalter has plenty to chew on over the next several weeks, but he was probably hoping to have more “good problems” than what he’s looking at right now.
Who hurt their chances of playing a major role at the World Cup? And who seems more important today than they did a few weeks ago? Let’s check the markets and see where the individuals are trending.
Stock down: Aaron Long
We have to start with the fact that the USMNT, against two very different systems, struggled with progressing the ball from their back line into the midfield. There were multiple causes for that problem, but the one that stood out more than the rest was that the center backs were both inaccurate with their passes, and very predictable with their intentions.
Walker Zimmerman wasn’t at his best, but for Long, the possession side of things was a major source of concern. Injuries to Chris Richards and Cameron Carter-Vickers didn’t help, and Berhalter ended up subbing Long off in both games to get a look at Mark McKenzie.
The fact that Long started both games seems to indicate that Berhalter holds him in esteem, but it’s not like he lacks for competition. With Richards vying for time in the Bundesliga and all of McKenzie, Carter-Vickers, and Palmer-Brown all getting regular minutes at European clubs, Long’s form with the New York Red Bulls will need to be much sharper than what we saw in this window to ensure his place on the plane to Qatar.
Stock up: Matt Turner
There’s a lot of talk at the moment about whether Berhalter simply prefers Steffen to the extent that the starting goalkeeper job is a settled issue. That seems unlikely, but either way, Turner was the best USMNT player in this window, and there’s not much more someone can do than that.
The worry for Turner coming into this camp was that he’d played just one competitive match since moving to Arsenal this summer. Those fears of lost sharpness or confidence ended up being unfounded, as Turner was precise, fundamentally sharp, and kept Japan from walking away with a bigger margin of victory. He had less to do in the second friendly, but still responded well when called upon.
Based on recent play with the USMNT, it’s Turner that should have the edge to start against Wales on November 21. If Steffen is going to win that job, he’s going to have to impress with Middlesbrough in very short order.
(AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Stock down: Gio Reyna
Reyna’s place in the USMNT squad isn’t in question, and when healthy, he’s obviously one of the best players in the entire pool. Berhalter is frankly lucky to have Reyna and Tim Weah possibly vying for one spot (we hear you, play-Weah-centrally advocates, but it really doesn’t seem like Berhalter is interested).
But despite some initial success with Borussia Dortmund’s cautious approach to his season, Reyna was once again having to come out of the game due to what Berhalter said post-game was some muscle tightness.
Dortmund boss Edin Terzić has since announced that Reyna’s recovery time is less than two weeks, which is the good news. The bad news is that on a team with several other key players who aren’t exactly the most durable, it’s now worth wondering whether the USMNT can lean on Reyna as a starter in a World Cup match. At the very least, they need to enter each game with a very specific plan on how they’ll adapt if he pulls up.
Stock up: Joe Scally
It’s not that Scally was a revelation against Saudi Arabia. Rather, the fact that he managed to get high and wide in the attack on a regular basis meant that he had to be accounted for, which had a positive ripple effect for the USMNT going forward.
The USMNT doesn’t function well without a fullback taking care of this task, and with Antonee Robinson missing out due to injury, no other fullback in camp was able to reliably get to the right places at the right time. Berhalter gave this responsibility to Sam Vines against Japan, and then to DeAndre Yedlin on the other side against Saudi Arabia, before Scally’s movement allowed for some more familiar patterns of play to take hold.
It wasn’t a good camp for the USMNT fullback pool in general, so Scally — who has had something of a difficult time getting call-ups, despite being a reliable starter at Borussia Mönchengladbach — is benefitting from simply not doing too badly while others disappointed. But then, that’s kind of the story of this entire international window, and being a player who didn’t run into some kind of problem means Scally’s odds of being on the final 26-man roster should be better today than they were two weeks ago.
Stock down: Ricardo Pepi
Progress isn’t linear, and anyone hoping that Pepi finally breaking his long goal drought meant that he’d come roaring into this USMNT camp was disappointed by how he struggled to really get enough touches to be a factor against Saudi Arabia.
(AP Photo/Jose Breton)
Some of that was simply the entire team struggling to break into the attacking third with consistency, and there’s only so much Pepi can do to fix that. He’s not a channel-running No. 9, and he’s not going to drop off the front line as a false nine either. If the team can’t get out of their own end, he’s not going to be involved.
But the real reason Pepi’s stock fell a bit is that Jesús Ferreira came in, and the USMNT attack instantly started finding angles it hadn’t been seeing earlier. Ferreira has taken some flack for jumping too early for a header against Japan, and he didn’t bury any looks against Saudi Arabia, but the entire attack was more lively once he came on. Not to get too into the weeds on modern soccer thinking, but an attack that is creating chances is believed to be better for winning games than a team that can’t get out of second gear going forward.
With Ferreira seeming to be the best fit for the players around him, Jordan Pefok being the hot hand as a finisher, and both Pepi and Josh Sargent skewing towards being best as pressing forwards, it feels like Berhalter has to sort through some tough questions. There’s a really good case to be made for there only being one spot for Pepi and Sargent, given that they’re the two most similar players in this group.
For Pepi, the best cure would be to light it up over the next few weeks at Groningen. If his profile becomes pressing/target man who is also scoring regularly, the questions here are not nearly as pointed. It’s just that, like we said, progress isn’t linear, and one goal in nearly a year could be a blip rather than the start of things to come.
Terzić gave a relatively positive update on the 19-year-old, saying he’ll miss two matches but isn’t expected to be out much longer.
“Gio Reyna, Gregor Kobel, and Marco Reus will not be available to us yet [for Saturday’s game against FC Köln]. Gio has a strain and will be out for seven to 10 days,” Terzić told the media on Thursday.
“We hope that he’s available to us after the Sevilla game,” Terzić added on Reyna, referring to Wednesday’s Champions League match against the Spanish side.
Reyna missed a large portion of last season as he battled various muscle injuries, and has been slowly brought back into the fold by Dortmund in 2022-23.
The Borussia Dortmund attacker missed a large portion of the 2021-22 season with a series of muscle injuries and has been brought along slowly by his club side this season.
How much does club form really matter for Gregg Berhalter?
How much does club form matter for the U.S. national team?
To a certain extent, a lot. Gregg Berhalter would find it hard to call up any players outside his core group who aren’t at least getting regular minutes with their club side.
But as this past week has shown, Berhalter also has a pretty clear idea of which players fit his system and which don’t — and no amount of club success is going to change that.
To wit, let’s look at the examples of two strikers in Europe who have experienced vastly different fates over the past year, and what their USMNT status says about club form.
But there were still plenty of noteworthy performances, led by the return to form of a player who can be a difference-maker in Qatar if he’s fit: Gio Reyna.
There were also some significant moments for three players squarely on the bubble for the World Cup roster, as well as a potential new lease on life for one of the USMNT’s biggest stars.
But Borussia Dortmund head coach Terzic felt confident enough to put Reyna in Tuesday’s Champions League match against FC Copenhagen when Thorgan Hazard went down injured in the first half.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s league match against RB Leipzig, Terzic said that although he will still be cautious with Reyna — who has yet to start a game this season — he is starting to see signs the USMNT star is getting back to his best
“[With] Gio Reyna one could see the joy,” Terzic told a press conference. “We’ve had to be patient with him over the past few weeks. This will continue to accompany us because we do not want to take any risks. But it’s incredibly good how he accelerates the game and brings in his creativity.”
Reyna had his longest shift of the season, and things went well
Gio Reyna is making strides at just the right time for Dortmund, and for the U.S. men’s national team.
After replacing the injured Thorgan Hazard early in their Champions League clash with FC Copenhagen, Reyna looked sharp drifting in from the left flank, picking up two assists in an authoritative 3-0 win. According to TruSportsMedia and Dortmund, Reyna is the first USMNT player to record two assists in a Champions League game.
After Marco Reus broke the deadlock seven minutes earlier, Reyna set up Raphaël Guerreiro for a crucial second goal. In the 42nd minute, Dortmund’s pressure eventually forced an aimless pass from Copenhagen. The ball found Reus, who fought through a tackle to touch the ball on for the onrushing Guerreiro.
The Portugal left back surged forward and played a one-two with Reyna, who drew center back Davit Khocholava and goalkeeper Mathew Ryan before calmly cutting the ball back for Guerreiro for a tap-in.
Dortmund spurned several chances to finish the game off, before Jude Bellingham gave them a three-goal margin on another assist from Reyna. Nico Schlotterbeck stepped out of the back to pick up a loose ball and lead a Dortmund charge, and this time the flood of yellow shirts breaking forward were in harmony. A scintillating one-touch passing sequence ripped Copenhagen’s defense open, and Reyna carried the ball into the area before rolling a pass towards the penalty spot for Bellingham to fire home.
Dortmund has taken things very slowly with Reyna due to a lengthy, frustrating injury history. It’s his third appearance of the season, but previously after a 28-minute appearance as a substitute against Werder Bremen on August 20, he was given a week off to make sure he recovered properly. His next match was on September 2, a seven-minute cameo in a win over Hoffenheim.
The fact that Dortmund was willing to bring Reyna on in the 23rd minute of a scoreless Champions League game, and just four days after he had last played, is a very positive sign for his World Cup prospects. Reyna’s place within the USMNT is only in doubt due to a succession of injuries; if he stays healthy for the next two months, he’s locked into a spot on Gregg Berhalter’s roster as a probable starter.
After a lost season, the USMNT attacker is being brought along in extremely deliberate fashion
Borussia Dortmund is doing everything possible to ensure that Giovanni Reyna doesn’t suffer a repeat of last season.
Reyna suffered multiple serious muscle injuries in 2021-22, resulting in a mostly lost season that saw him make just 12 total appearances.
After a full offseason of rehab, Reyna is being introduced back into the fold in an extremely deliberate fashion.
The 19-year-old has been in the squad for just two of the club’s five total games so far this season, and progress has not been linear.
One week after making his season debut off the bench for Dortmund, Reyna was again left out of the squad for Saturday’s 1-0 win at Hertha Berlin. According to coach Edin Terzic, Reyna was omitted after aa minor complaint before the match.
“With Gio, it’s a special situation,” Terzic said after the game. “Gio has been struggling with injuries for almost a year now. He kept fighting back and was then quickly disappointed again when the injuries kept returning.
“He actually trained very well this week. We have a very specific program tailored to him. But he didn’t feel good before the game. And when he feels that, then there’s no point in risking the next setback.
“But we will continue to build him up carefully in the hope that he will fully join in training from next week. We’d rather give up one or two appearances than risk having to do without someone for months.”
With the World Cup coming up, USMNT fans won’t be too upset about Dortmund’s extreme caution. But at some point in the near future, seeing Reyna back healthy for an extended period would also be nice.
