Gio Reyna looked set become the second American player to lift the Bundesliga title on Saturday. That is until defending champions Bayern Munich snatched its 11th-consecutive league crown in the final minutes of the season.
Jamal Musiala’s 12th league goal of the campaign propelled Bayern Munich past Cologne 2-1, snatching the title from Dortmund on the final day of the season. Despite fighting back to earn a 2-2 home draw with Mainz, Edin Terzic’s squad fell just short in ending their drought to capture the league title.
Reyna registered two assists in the defeat, ending his season on a high note individually.
Dortmund were their own worst enemy on the day, conceding twice in the opening 25 minutes to Mainz at Signal Iduna Park. Andreas Hanche-Olsen’s headed finish in the 15th minute boosted the visitors in front 1-0 before Karim Onisiwo extended Mainz’s advantage to 2-0 not long after.
Sebastien Haller’s missed penalty kick prior to Onisiwo’s goal summed up a dismal first half for the Black and Yellow.
The arrival of Gio Reyna to the pitch in the second half helped Dortmund get back into the match through. Reyna’s one-two pass with Raphael Guerreiro was finished off the Portuguese international to cut Dortmund’s deficit to 2-1.
However, despite Bayern being pegged back by Cologne in the second half, Musiala’s 16th tally in all competitions this season boosted Thomas Tuchel’s squad in front 2-1 with only minutes to play.
Niklas Sule tied things up for Dortmund 2-2 in the 96th minute, but it was the closest that the hosts would come to a complete turnaround.
Reyna delivered a strong final performance of the season, finishing with seven goals and four assists in 30 combined appearances for Dortmund. The 20-year-old will now head into potential U.S. men’s national team duty for the Concacaf Nations League Final Four in the United States.
I didn’t say he should start, I said he had a chance to win the starting job. He can either do so by upping his game in the off season and winning the job outright or he can get into the starting lineup if a player ahead of him gets injured.
I think itâs one of two things. Either the injury is lingering and medical has said use only when absolutely needed. Or two heâs informed the club he is leaving in the summer so theyâve been developing his replacements. The poor defense to me doesnât hold because his replacements donât defend much either. The âwhat isnât broke donât fixâ doesnât hold for me because heâs been better in his limited minutes than those getting time and he often comes in when they are desperate, like today. Of course the other possibility is attitude but there hasnât been any rumblings of that at BvB.
“The âwhat isnât broke donât fixâ doesnât hold for me because heâs been better in his limited minutes than those getting time and he often comes in when they are desperate, like today. ”
You could be right. I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes at BVB.
But what I can see is that Gio has a different job from the guys who start ahead of him. This edition of BVB are chokers and not what you’d call 90 minutes consistent as evidenced by how they just pissed way the title. Like Gio they are young and not very experienced.
By the time Gio comes in the game has changed and they need help.
The guys ahead of him are not as good at exploiting that change as Gio is.
There are some things you can’t coach or teach.
The baseball analogy of the reliever vs. the starter, while flawed, has its merits in that relievers:
1. Have a different mindset
2. Are, physically. fresher
3. Present the opposition with a different problem ( better fast ball, different off-speed pitch, etc.) to solve.
Many great relievers were failed starters and could not pitch effectively for more than an inning or two. But used as relievers they have what is needed.
In soccer, the super sub instant offense role has long been recognized as a specific job.
In English football one of the original supersubs was David Fairclough. Over seven seasons and 154 games with those great Liverpool sides of the late 70’s, Fairclough scored 55 goals, with 18 coming in 62 outings as a substitute.
Other more recognizable notables were Ole Gunnar ( 18 goals as a sub in the EPL and 28 goals as a sub for Man U. in all competitions), Jermaine Defoe (24 goals as a sub in the EPL) , Chicharito (19 goals as a sub for Man U.) and Olivier Giroud (20 goals as a sub for Arsenal and Chelsea).
Gio is very young and may yet become the superstar that most but not all USMNT fans would like him to become.
Still, it is possible that Gio has found his niche and this is all he will ever be. My take is you can make a great living at a high level for a long time doing that.
If you are a USMNT fan who supports Gio you can see this as one more thing for his tool box that makes him a valuable asset.
If you are a USMNT fan who dislikes him because he is a spoiled brat diva shitbag you can see this as evidence that he is not played more because the coaches dislike him as much as Gregg did.
I don’t have to coach or manage Gio so for me it’s all a matter of perspective.
It seems to me the USMNT can use a consistent high level late game supersub like Gio. That’s what is known as game changer.
bears noting he produced what he did in 989′ total minutes — just under 11 full games’ worth of time. his league rate is a goal every 84′ (plus the assists today). he would be easily into double figures if he had normal minutes. they didn’t lose and often won the games in which he scored. he isn’t having a bad year, he’s crossways with a coach.
some of the fanboys seem to act like the coaches and team are primary and the players an afterthought. that the big clubs understand soccer better. chelsea should have corrected that assumption. i remember dortmund getting similarly cute benching pulisic his last year there when they blew a title lead at the half post. they aren’t infallible, some of the staff are smart and some are dunces. a team of studs tends to flatter anyone out there to coach it.
“i remember dortmund getting similarly cute benching pulisic his last year there when they blew a title lead at the half post. they arenât infallible, some of the staff are smart and some are dunces. a team of studs tends to flatter anyone out there to coach it”
Some coaches are good and some are bad? They are not infallible? Do Cindy and Crocker know this? You should contact them.
As for Pulisic, at that point he was a recovering injured player who had been pushed off the team by Sancho.
More to the point he was also what you most despise , a player on LOAN from Chelsea.
Mentally the Dauphin county Messi was either at a SHEETZ back in Hershey PA or looking forward to sunny London.
Reyna should have been brought in sooner. Hopefully Terzic will be giving him more starts and minutes next season
Starting Gio is problematic because of his low work rate, nonexistent defending, and his penchant for picking up injuries. Nobody sane questions Gio’s ability with the ball at his feet, but I agree with Terzic that Gio is best-used as a specialty piece you bring in off the bench, much like a 6th man in basketball or an ace reliever in baseball.
There’s no shame in that…but unless Gio either picks up his work rate and defending – substantially – becomes just so amazing on the ball that like Kevin De Bruyne that you simply cannot take him off and must find a way to get him on the field regardless of his deficiencies, and shows he can stay healthy for long stretches, Gio does not seem likely to start a ton.
You are 100% correct, 2tone.
he’s gone. period. it’s like some neocon fantasy that our players should stay in bad situations and fight it out to show they have moxie to compete for jobs. reality is most teams don’t want expensive backups and a player as productive as he was with so few minutes will have a line of suitors. if they had changed their mind they would have upped his minutes.
Not necessarily. Dortmund was having a great season and I can see how the manager would continue with an “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” philosophy. Reyna is only 20 has been battling injury and has been dealing with drama off the field and yet still managed to get decent minutes and cobble together a good season, so Dortmund aren’t going to sell him unless they get a beaucoup offer, and there doesn’t appear to be one according to the 100% reliable transfer rumor mill. On Gio’s side I think he is going to want to stay because he really isn’t that far off from being a starter. He certainly can compete for and win the starting job and he is only one fortuitous injury from a major upgrade in minutes even if he doesn’t get the job outright.
AlexH,
Just because you excel at instant offense off the bench it does not mean you should start.
That’s lazy thinking.
BVB already had 11 good starters. Consistent instant offense off the bench? That’s pretty hard to find.
They are different jobs.
And Gio ,for as long as he’s been around, is still 20 and still learning. Look at his body now and a few years ago, it looks like he’s still growing into it. He wouldn’t be the first young player to get hurt while figuring how to adjust to his changing body. There are a lot of examples out there.
This season was the first season in a while that he has been healthy and it was interrupted by Qatar. In addition, the BVB Gio came back to at the start of the season was a very different team from the one where he previously had had a lot more PT.
Jude is more dominant. Erling is gone and there were a lot of hot , young players doing really well in role that Gio previously occupied.
It makes sense that BVB didn’t necessarily want to disturb a winning hand. However, they also didn’t “lose” Gio completely, so this instant offense off the bench role is a good solution for now. And to Gio’s credit, he’s done a lot with it.
Quozzel talks about diva shitbag Gio not being a good defender and not having the requisite “work rate”.
Paul Ariolla has tons of both and I doubt he’d play 2 seconds for BVB. I don’t doubt that Terzic has some version of Paul on the bench but they aren’t bringing in that guy in to do what Gio is doing.
Why ? Because Gio has something you can’t teach or coach.
Defense and work rate? That’s something you can set up the team to do better at. Manchester City are good at finding a way to keep De Bruyne on the field. And Manchester United are pretty good at protecting Christian Erikssen when he’s on the field. Another diva shitbag.
I’ve never heard of anyone accusing either player of being a good defender. But with Pep, Kevin’s part of a very organized system and if he does not play his part in it, Pep won’t play him.
I’m pretty sure BVB’s system is not as well organized. I mean how many of Barca’s attacking players in their heyday were lauded for their defensive ability?
Defense is a team thing. Offense is as well but every once in a while it really benefits from the kind of individual spark that a guy like Gio has.
Guys in Gio’s role are either kids learning on their way up or veterans being able to contribute on their way out.
It seems BVB sees Gio as on the way up. With al the turnover, Gio might find a lot more opportunity next season. But if BVB are looking to offload him,, he’s done wonders for his sale price.