Gio Reyna’s long-awaited return to make a Borussia Dortmund Matchday squad came to an end Tuesday with the American attacker dressing for the first time this season.
Reyna was an unused substitute in Borussia Dortmund’s 2-0 UEFA Champions League group stage loss to Paris Saint-Germain. The 20-year-old had been sidelined since June due to a calf injury that he suffered on U.S. men’s national team duty.
Reyna had returned to Dortmund training in recent weeks and now look set to play a part during the fall and winter schedule. The USMNT attacker last featured in a 2-0 Concacaf Nations League Finals victory over Canada, a match where he registered two assists before being substituted off at halftime.
Edin Terzic’s squad fell 2-0 at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday, conceding a pair of goals nine minutes apart. Kylian Mbappe’s penalty-kick finish paired with Achraf Hakimi’s goal gave PSG three points in Group F play.
Reyna will seek his season debut on Saturday when Borussia Dortmund hosts Wolfsburg in Bundesliga play. The Black and Yellow are seventh in the league standings, despite remaining one of four clubs that are unbeaten through four matches.
I suspect it is important to call Gio in as soon as possible just to get over the initial discomfort.
As for injury: If he is injured, he should not play. But if he has recovered, I am not sure he is more likely to get re-injured in a friendly than he is to get injured in training or when playing for Dortmund. I do not really see that as a big issue, if he was healthy enough to play for the Dortmund U-23s, and is still training, he should be good to go within fitness limits (say 45 minutes) for the USA.
AlexH,
I would be fine with calling Gio in just before they decide on the Copa America roster.
And if he’s not ready for that then I would wait until they call people in for the 2026 World Cup.
If he’s going to reach his full potential he’ll do it at his club and hopefully, that’s the shape he’ll be in when the time comes. If he’s not ready for either competition then don’t call him in.
He’s important for those two competitions, otherwise we don’t need to risk him.
Germany and Ghana are meaningless friendlies? You do realize that we don’t have WCQ next cycle so what exactly are we saving him for?
They really are meaningless. They are too far removed from official matches to learn much that will still be relevant at the time, and winning or losing has no effect on our teams qualification for anything. In such a situation, there is no way we should play our top players if they are not 100% fit. Gio needs a run of good health to get minutes with his club. That more than anything will pay more dividends in the long run, than throwing him in the mix next break.
worse, GB has repeatedly called hurt players on call sheets over the years. and i don’t mean listed on friday tripped on sunday. i mean tripped on sunday listed monday. that i expect a NT manager to be as or more on top of than your average SBI reader. it’s either that or he’s playing chicken with whether a player is recovered or not. which is a dumb use of a friendly call sheet, particularly considering the coach may then feel constrained to a MLS replacement if he waits too long.
Johnny gets hurt on the 29th around 8:00 PM eastern the roster is announced the next morning. They haven’t even finished the scans by then. Behind the scenes they’re talking to his club and informing Venezia that a Tessmann callup is possible. Everyone knows what’s likely to happen but when the roster announcement isn’t binding like it would be in a tourney there’s no reason to jump the gun and leave a guy off before he’s for sure out. Everyone was screaming about why is Luca on the roster, he’s hurt. Then he played 90 for Celta and started vs Uzbekistan so Gregg has a lot better medical info than you or I have.
If he’s fit to play for BvB he needs to be brought in. This avoidance needs to be over. I don’t even care if sees the field but there needs to be some meetings.
They are only meaningless if Gregg lets them be.
In terms of cohesion for our core players, many of whom should probably not be called in, you’re right these October games don’t mean a whole lot.
But you know who else might benefit? That’s right your inexperienced USMNT manager, Uncle Gregg Berhalter.
Uncle Gregg and his core did a nice job in Qatar. Supposedly, one reason they re-hired Mr. passive-aggressive was that the USSF expected this core to grow and get better going into 2026. That’s reasonable because many of them are now at better club situations and look to be playing a lot of tough games and becoming even better players as a result.
But Gregg isn’t sharpening his skills, working to correct his coaching flaws.
He’s sitting around talking to conflict resolution counselors or Vanity Fair or coaching a lot of these “meaningless” games mostly against crap opposition or , if he’s playing a Germany, in a friendly where the intensity meter is turned off .
His skill, his “instrument” is his coaching mind and he needs to keep that instrument as sharp as he can. Coaching tough competitive games, like he will do in Copa America, would be the best but at this point if these cheezy cash grabs are the best he can do then he needs to keep at it coaching as many games as he can working on his considerable flaws. Regardless of who he calls up, it is vital to keep those genius juices flowing in his fertile soccer brain.
He might soon be matching wits with the likes of Carlo Ancellotti, who I hear is not bad. He might even be better than Caleb Porter.
Gregg needs the practice.
JR: are you really suggesting we do a rushed call up to speed the meeting/confrontation on a lockerroom issue? like we need to pick a fight? what kind of dynamic is that? how does that help? it’s not like he’s actually avoiding anything. he’s been out for dortmund too.
to me, coach and player have issue over player practice effort level. player suffers injury. if my deal is i want to see full speed player at training i wait until he is fully fit so that when he is called back it’s “no excuses.” that and as i already said a couple times, just a dumb risk. this isn’t a long camp, it’s a week. you want a fit healthy player. he’s not even seeing a senior field yet. this isn’t the world cup, what’s the real rush?
IV you missed the part where I said I don’t even care if he sees the field apparently. That includes if he doesn’t train. They are both adults figure it out, if you need a mediator, a priest and a lawyer in the room fine but figure it out.
i would only risk a hurt player at a world cup. i would only play a recovering injured player at a world cup or if we were in an elimination game to qualify. everything else is a rehearsal for the world cup, and relatively meaningless, at least for risk-taking purposes. i do not need reyna for an october friendly window more than i need to risk his long term health and availability for the world cup in 3 years. he is dressing, yes, but not even getting minutes. and we want him not just seeing the field but fit.
along somewhat similar lines, i feel like we need to reduce the amount of games we take super seriously in the first half of the cycle for purposes of personnel and tactical experimentation. i would rather have a well-informed idea i have the right players picked and tactics implemented, than be arriving at year 4 or even the world cup not sure if my tactics are sound, which strikers, centerbacks, or backup keepers should be on the plane. i think we should take at least one of the summer tournaments fairly seriously but be less obsessed with winning every little friendly at the expense of being sure strategy and personnel are well-sorted. GB has a bad tendency to try and pick his winners off paper/first day of practice as opposed to watch the games.
I honestly hope that Gregg does not call Gio for the next window. He needs to get fully fit before risking his health on meaningless friendlies.
AlexH,
I would be fine with calling Gio in just before they decide on the Copa America roster.
And if he’s not ready for that then I would wait until they call people in for the 2026 World Cup.
If he’s going to reach his full potential he’ll do it at his club and hopefully, that’s the shape he’ll be in when the time comes. If he’s not ready for either competition then don’t call him in.
He’s important for those two competitions, otherwise we don’t need to risk him.