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Gio Reyna delivers hat-trick of assists in Borussia Dortmund romp

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Gio Reyna’s torrid start to the new Bundesliga season reached a new level on Saturday, as the young American midfielder delivered a hat-trick of assists in Borussia Dortmund’s romp over Freiburg.

The 17-year-old American delivered a pair of assists to fellow young standout Erling Haaland, and delivered another assist off a perfectly-placed corner kick in Dortmund’s 4-0 victory.

Reyna earned his third straight start for Dortmund on Saturday, and while Jadon Sancho’s absence from the squad drew the most attention heading into the match, attention turned quickly to the blossoming Reyna-Haaland partnership, which broke through in the 31st minute for the opening goal of the match.

Reyna delivered his second assist courtesy of a corner kick in the 47th minute, setting up Emre Can’s header finish.

Reyna set up Haaland for his third assist with a well-weighted pass that the Norwegian striker blasted home.

Reyna came off in the 80th minute to a standing ovation from the crowd at Signal Iduna Park.

Reyna and Dortmund head into the international break with six points, and will return to action on October 17 against Hoffenheim before beginning their UEFA Champions League campaign on Oct. 20 against Lazio.

 

Comments

  1. With Richards starting at RB for Bayern a possible line up could be:
    ———————CF——————— (I don’t care which)
    Pulisic———Reyna———Morris
    ———Adams———Wes————
    Dest——Brooks—Long—Richards
    It solves Adams having to play between the CBs in possession by allowing Brooks, Long (Miazga, EPB, Zimm doesn’t matter to me) and Richards to play as the three across. My concern would be though in possession that would put our weakest CB in possession in the middle.
    ———————————
    I know Robinson started today for Fulham so some will call for a backline of Robinson-Brooks-Richards-Dest but that puts Adams dropping deep in possession and limits our counter press. So much more fun to move the pieces around this October to last October.

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  2. Good for Gio. If you know Harland is going to score, pass him the ball and Gio is doing just that.

    On the US MNT side, who is going to score? Pulisic and Gio can get the ball to a striker in a good position, but someone has to shoot the ball on target.

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    • Personally believe the striker position is the biggest shortcoming in our player pool. Our young midfield is looking more impressive by the day, but we need a goal scorer out there. The Donovan/Dempsey goal scoring axis has never been replaced.

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  3. Almost torture to realize that we can’t have camps/matches in Oct/Nov. For the first time in seemingly forever, almost all of our best players and prospects are not only healthy, but playing regularly — and in a few cases doing unprecedented things. Frustrating stuff this 2020.

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  4. This is a watershed moment for US Soccer. My only disappointment in this season is the coaching staff that has to make the best use of all this talent. I hope GB is up to the task.

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    • So your complaint is the staff isn’t good enough because they didn’t get the results you wanted because we have all these great players, yet with exception of Pulisic those players weren’t available for the matches you were disappointed in. Even Pulisic has improved greatly since the pandemic break. Tyler has been healthy for one window under 3G, Reyna has never been available, Weah has not been healthy since U20 WC, Brooks has been largely unavailable under Berhalter, Altidore was unavailable all fall. We can argue about roster selection with Roldan vs Holmes or Morales vs Bradley but that’s like an argument of Chevy vs Toyota. He’s now got two Mercedes to slide into those spots. Berhalter secures Dest when the Dutch came for him, he elevated Cannon when few thought he could play, he brought in Aaronson last fall whose now rumored headed to Salzburg.

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    • I’m not sure how anybody could make a firm judgement + or – of Berhalter’s regime considering the minuscule sample size and circumstances he’s operated under: upheaval in US Soccer organization, strange protracted delayed hiring, injuries, pandemic with so little time with the team.

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  5. Glad BvB and Reyna both rebounded from last weeks game. They looked confident and played freely (interchanging). Was a strong performance all around.

    On the USMNT front, it doesn’t really matter (positionally) where Reyna and Pulisic start the game, both are going to shift around and find pockets of space by pinching in at times and going wide at others.
    The key is going to be who gets partnered with them. Who’s going to emerge first…another wide player (Uli, Weah, etc…) or is it going to be another central player (Aaronson, Holmes, etc…). If a Central player than Reyna shifts to the opposite wing as Pulisic. If it’s a winger than Reyna shifts inside.

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      • I am aware of Cardoso and actually think he could be a surprise inclusion at a camp, but think he’s a backup to Adams at CDM.
        When I referenced another CM…I was thinking more of a creative CM. Holmes, Aaronson or Ledezma could be options, but it’s a race for who develops (Steps forward) first…the ACM or the Winger options.

    • The real question is who plays up top? Who is going to finish the attacking moves outside of Pulisic? Who can we count on to get in the box and be the difference?

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  6. If this match, doesn’t cement Reyna as a number 10, then nothing will persuade the fans, who say, he’s a winger. He’s been playing the same way since NYFC academy @ 16. I don’t care if he had a bad U17 WC tournament, the dude has got crazy expectations, both parents are former US national team HoFs. He’s playing with adults and making it look easy! #USMNT

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    • Where he starts isn’t as important as his freedom to move. With Rues starting for Sancho, Gio started wider this week. At times he spread wide providing width and letting Witsell and Bellingham use the middle. At other times he was directly under Erling. Just like Pulisic he isn’t a traditional winger but he does like to get into wider positions and cut inside. Against weaker opponents you could play him as a #10 with CP and Morris wide and a CF. Against a stronger offensive team you can play him as an inverted winger with CP under the CF and add another CM behind Adams and Wes.

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      • Wuz up with the inverted winger narrative, you keep trying to push ? You don’t call a midfielder on the touch line, an outside mid?! On defense, wingers tuck in, on offense, they are out wide. Wingers come inside all the time, players move around in formations all the time. Fullbacks do most of the crossing in today’s game. CP has been playing LW as pro, since Dortmund, and most of fans, like myself, thought he would make a great CM, for USMNT. That experiment failed in the GC, especially against Mexico. He was going 1v4, or 1v5, in the GC @ CM(10). The times he was the most effective, is when he was outside cutting inside, from left to right, explosion in and around the 18. Reyna has been playing central for years, and has become a great orchestrator of the offense, like today’s match. It does matter who plays what position!!

    • An inverted winger looks to cut inside almost exclusively and comes central when the ball is opposite just as Pulisic plays for Chelsea. When CP was at BvB he played 80% of the time as a RW because he operated much more as a traditional winger trying to get to the endline the majority of the time under Tuchel. With Chelsea, Pulisic plays on the left so he can cut in on his right foot. It’s hard to put Reyna’s position as a spot in the US formation, there seems little chance we’re switching to a 3-4-3. The point is when we’re in the final third where do we want CP and Reyna, I’d rather have the defense spread with threats on both sides but that can change if Weah or Ledezma develop more this year. By the way as U19s Pulisic played most of his matches as a 10 and Reyna as a wing, people change positions as they develop. The rumor is Barca is talking about making Konrad a LB.

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