Gio Reyna was called into action a bit earlier than expected for Borussia Dortmund in Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League opener, but kicked off his European campaign in style with an impactful performance.
Reyna registered two assists off the bench in Dortmund’s 3-0 group stage win over FC Copenhagen on Tuesday night. It was an impactful performance from the U.S. men’s national team attacker, who became the first American since 2010-11 to register two or more assists in a single UCL match.
“Gio produced a sublime performance with two assists. He gives us more flexibility,” Dortmund attacker Marco Reus said about Reyna postmatch.
Reyna replaced Thorgan Hazard in the 23rd minute and needed only 19 minutes to help Dortmund pad its first-half advantage. The 19-year-old set up Raphael Guerreiro, who slotted home the second goal for the Black and Yellow in the 42nd minute.
Reyna continued to be a threat in the final third for Dortmund, crossing into the Copenhagen box in the 82nd minute, allowing Jude Bellingham to cap off a 3-0 home win. It was Reyna’s fourth-career Champions League assist.
Reyna finished the match with 67 minutes under his belt, three chances created, and an 82% passing completion rate. It was his longest outing for Dortmund since March 20th, a 1-1 league draw with Cologne.
Dortmund will next travel to RB Leipzig in Bundesliga action on Sept. 10 before visiting Manchester City on UCL Matchday 2.
Really good to see.
It’s going to be genuinely fascinating to see how Berhalter meshes all these pieces together come September and I honestly have no clue how it’ll go.
We have some fascinating and highly promising components. Knitting that into a team that equals the sum of its parts is going to be the real challenge for Gregg. But you’d rather have his hand of cards coming into Qatar than any previous American World Cup coach, for sure.
Better than the Jurgen special hand of cards? 😁
————-Terrence Boyd————-
J. Green——————-Zelalem
Jermaine Jones — A. Morales
———Danny Williams———-
F. Johnson-Brooks-??-T. Chandler
————-Baby Klinsmann——-
Vas eez your problem?
Ha – Jermaine Jones will be 642 years old in November and not available due to a his recurring groin injury. Klinsmann may have used his one time FIFA change to not get called up for Germany by that time. Just kidding – on the Klinsmann thing. Hopefully the kid is doing well in his professional career, as our current crop of keepers isn’t setting the world on fire. Would be completely supportive of him if he does well between the posts for the USMNT. Hopefully Turner will see some tournament action for Arsenal.
so good to see after so long, smooth slick player maturing into himself. it’s all about fitness of course for him and all
Really good to see this for Reyna. McKennie with a goal for Juve. Pulisic brought off the bench and didn’t make much of an impact for Chelsea. Tuchels days are numbered at Chelsea. Dest with 30 plus minutes for Milan. CCV with 90 minutes against Madrid.
Mckennie scored today!
Back in the starting 11 😀
no need to push the issue, let him continue to slowly get up to speed with the rest of his teammates after missing almost the entire year last season. This way he comes into camp fully healthy, if he’s released by Dortmud, which is probably up in the air right now
It would be really hard for a club to block a call up when a guy is playing. Especially when you bring him on early as an injury replacement. I’m sure USA and BvB are working on minutes limits and training staffs are discussing his daily process. Gio will be there minus a major setback.
Johnny R – can a club block a call up for injury for a World Cup? I don’t think they can. Friendlies are a different subject.
It would be very interesting to see Gio come off the bench for the last 30 minutes against Wales or Iran to see if his speed and touch could make a difference and get the USMNT out of the group.
Ronnie – they can’t block a player from attending friendlies either, not if it’s an official FIFA window.
Of course, they can and often do lean all over a player privately, but that’s behind the scenes. If the player wants to risk defying them he can.
Midwest if there is a verifiable injury they can block call ups. Usually clubs and country work together. I believe if there’s a dispute FIFA steps in and has to rule. It would be hard for BvB to claim he can’t play if they’ve played him 65 minutes. They’ll probably ask for limited minutes and they’ll share his prematch and recovery plans.
And Johnny R – in response to your last post, you are likely correct about a player with a verifiable injury, but my counter is why would a nat team waste a precious roster slot on a verifiably injured player?
I think you and I are dancing on opposite sides of line where Gio may not be 100% fit, but at 75-80 is he better than others? That may be interesting.
Midwest: Given 26 man roster at the WC you 100% bring Gio Reyna even if he’s 75-80%. It sure seems he’s further along than that given he came on for an injured player yesterday. If there was any doubt you don’t bring him on in case he has to come off again. Reyna if his leg gets no stronger than it is today is and should be 100% a lock. You bring him in September to see where he is and in November because he is a difference maker.
MidWest Ref
“can a club block a call up for injury for a World Cup? ”
Right now it looks like Gio might not be fully fit for Qatar but he also won’t be injured enough to prevent a call up.
Whether he’ll be sound and in form enough to make calling him in a good idea is unknown.
When you had the World Cup at the end of the season, you saw national teams taking a chance by taking a recently injured but not fully fit Rooney or Beckham to the World Cup, hoping they could get enough out of them to get through. It didn’t work out too good.
Qatar is happening in mid season. Some of the players will return to tight races, so the clubs won’t be crazy about letting their not fully fit player going to Qatar and maybe having a relapse.
But if the player is not totally incapacitated I’m fairly certain that they can’t hold him back.
I’m sure BVB and the USSF have been in close contact about Gio.
Neither side benefits from Gio going to Qatar not really fit to where he is risking possibly aggravating his injuries.
Gio looks like he’s coming along but if he has a setback between now and then I wouldn’t be surprised to see him left at home to recover.
As they say in the NFL this looks like it will be a game time decision.