American midfielder Gio Reyna made history on Saturday, becoming the youngest American to ever play in the Bundesliga.
The 17-year-old winger came on as a 72nd-minute substitute in Borussia Dortmund’s clash with Augsburg and helped Dortmund complete a dramatic comeback, rebounding from a 3-1 deficit to post a thrilling 5-3 victory.
Reyna entered the match with Dortmund leading 4-3, and had a hand in the buildup on Dortmund’s fifth goal, which helped Norwegian teen sensation Erling Haaland complete his impressive second-half hat-trick.
Reyna’s debut comes just days after he was formally promoted to Dortmund’s first team. The New York City FC academy product turned in a strong showing at Dortmund’s winter training camp, expediting his promotion to the first team.
Reyna set a new record as youngest American to ever play in the Bundesliga, breaking the record previously held by Christian Pulisic, who also made his Borussia Dortmund debut as a 17-year-old.
If Reyna continues to see minutes off the bench for BvB I’d love for him to get a call for the March Friendlies in Europe.
There is still a long way to go, but there are some very promising signs with some of these young players emerging and taking real strides. We’ve got a nice group of players who we can build around for the next 10 years:
Pulisic, Adams, McKennie, Reyna, Weah, Sargent, Dest, Steffens
–
We still have some holes to fill, but things are looking very promising with some of the following making progress in Europe….
Robinson & Gloster hopefully @ LB
Richards, EPB, CCV Miazga fighting it out for CB spots
Ledezma as an attacking CM and Llanez & De La Fuente as future options at wing.
Otasowie & Cappis potential backups at the CDM spot.
–
Still not many options at the striker position, but most of the other positions are looking fairly good. Hopefully there will be a couple names/options that will emerge from the MLS ranks (Ferreira, Pomykal, etc…) who can add even more depth to the growing pool.
Excited to see young Reyna getting minutes at Dortmund. He had a “hockey assist”.
Gio has that confident arrogance that is what the US lacks, he is only 17 but knows he is as good as anybody.
When he had the ball he looked good.
Very exciting. I hope he is as good or better that CP10!