Gio Reyna enjoyed an impactful October window with the U.S. men’s national team and the 20-year-old will now try and carry that production over to the international level.
Reyna is back with Borussia Dortmund ahead of Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League group stage trip to Newcastle United. After scoring twice in the USMNT’s 4-0 victory over Ghana last week, Reyna will aim for a similar impact in a crucial European match for Edin Terzic’s squad.
Reyna’s versatility has seen him used as an attacking midfielder and winger for both club and country in the past, but Terzic hinted at keeping Reyna more central in his squad going forward.
“Gio, like Marco Reus and Julian Brandt, feels most comfortable in the center,” Terzic told Sport1 in an interview. “We always try to take that into account. However, like Brandt, Gio is rarely found on the wings when he plays there. They open the wings and always move into the half spaces. Gio is definitely the most dangerous and can pose the most goal threat [there].”
Reyna has only made one appearance for Borussia Dortmund this season after a calf injury suffered in June’s Concacaf Nations League triumph forced him to miss the opening two months. However, after being an unused substitute in a handful of fixtures, Reyna did appear against Germany and Ghana before also featuring in a recent 1-0 win over Werder Bremen.
Borussia Dortmund will surely need Reyna’s productivity if it wants to earn its first Champions League win of the current group stage.
No one, I mean no US fan thought Gio was ever a winger. We all complained. Podcast, comment sections, tv shows, etc, all disagreed with GB’s position placement. The handful of people who understood what was going on were a lil positive. ‘You have to find a spot for your best young players!’ Traditionally, young players get put as either wingers in certain formations (4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, or 3-4-3) or wide midfielders in others (4-4-2, 3-5-2, 5-4-1). Gio started scoring in a winger position and we all quietly waited for him to get put in the midfield.
Valencia put Yunus on the wing at the beginning. I remember watching him score a very nice “winger style” goal from there.
Musah was always projected as a central midfielder but Valencia did that because, as you say, it’s easier for the new young players to start out on the wing.
It gets more complex as you move inward.
V and It’s, I think you’re both oversimplifying a bit. Both USYNTs and NYCFC’s youth teams played Gio as a W or even CF against players his own age. I’m sure some of that was to give their best player space were it might be easier to get him the ball and probably some physically he looks a lot more like a W or F than he does a AM. If you’re talking is he going to be an old school winger and make his boots white from running on the chalk and beat his man down the right to whip in crosses. No he’s not that. But can he cut in from the left on his right foot he bury shots or play off a striker to get in on the keeper, yes he certainly could do that.
JR
First of all I’m just relating what Valencia said about Musah being on the wing. And I thought that Yunus looked pretty good on the wing.
Second of all, you remind me that when Gio first came up he kind of looked a lean and wiry 17 year old.
Look at him today and I’d say he has filled out quite a bit. He would not be the first teenager to have injury trouble with their body changing.
Third of all, you’re right to remind us all that there you can’t judge a book by it’s cover or in this case, a winger by their body type, or even by their style. David Beckham was allegedly a right winger, (he did wear the #7) and did patrol the area in front of the right back. He had no speed or dribbling skills and was predominantly right footed but somehow managed to get exquisite crosses over from the right wing.
I don’t doubt Gio could be a very, very effective lining up as a nominal right winger but if I were the manager I wouldn’t see the point in limiting him. I have always seen Gio as a new version of Kaka. And remember that to Terzic, Gio is prize livestock . He’s being bred to be sold. BVB just sold, arguably, the two most dominant players in the game in Haaland and now Bellingham, almost in back to back years.
BVB are the epitome of the “selling ” club.
What is getting missed here is that no player exists in a vacuum.
Compared to the USMNT player pool, BVB has a very different player pool and different demands on that pool.
Gio is being looked at in one way by Gregg and in another way by Terzic.
It is to Gio’s credit that both managers appear to have plans for him.
Yes, Gio lined up at the wing never stayed outside during NYFC U16 run to the championship. Gio lined up at wing during U17 CONCACAF qualifying, never stayed outside, nor did he stay at the wing when the USA crashed out of the U17 WC. I watched these tournaments as they were going on except for U16. Gio stayed centrally every match and conducted every USA match. Who is Ricardo Pepi? Who is Ocampo (Sounders)? Who is Griffen Yow? Who is Gianluca Busio? Gil Fuentes? There are no wingers in a 4-4-2 which is what Valencia’s formation was Musah’s 1st year. Example- Demarcus Beasley is listed as a left midfielder in any and every USA match. You cannot find him listed as a winger anywhere for the USA. No USA game or match youth or senior. Maybe club football, not the USA. People keep pushing this notion he was a winger when US has used a 4–4-2, a 1950s formation. US players are either listed as left/right midfielders, midfielders, forwards, center backs, or fullbacks (not even right/left backs, just fullbacks). The reason for this is because of the formation the US has always used. The term winger came in the 1970s when the Germans created the 4-2-3-1 press formation.
Gio’s progression isn’t anything new? When he started getting first team minutes his Dad said playing more central suits him. Besides he is not to instinctual in providing defensive cover. I see Gio becoming a player who can grab the game and dictate the offense. Making everyone around him better
i think you’re treating all formations as equal and i think we have had a few years’ worth of seeing a naive version of a 433 isn’t good for team defense. and now that the 4231 has a better shape. to me it was very very odd for GB to pick so much of his 11 for defense and then naively array them in a 433 with pressing ideas.
also, pulling one of those items out, i think gio will give some chase and win some balls or force bad plays others can intercept. it is not his forte but are we seriously going to pick everyone on defensive ability? then not really play a defensive style? sorry but to me this isn’t set up to bunker and the front 4 (at least) should be primarily chosen for being productive attackers. he is definitely that. he is then serviceable on defense, which is all he needs to be. contrary to implication he doesn’t stand around on “d” like valderrama or adu. sorry, i know he’s not messi-level, but does anyone ask if messi runs hard on defense?
[that’s setting aside the paradox of picking wing forwards and AM for defense but the wingbacks can be vulnerable at defending or pushed too high to do their job right. like i keep saying, a lot of what we do is a muddle. teams that have attacking wingbacks tend to commit more to offense at defensive risk. teams that act like they want to be defensively stout usually don’t run out wingbacks who can’t consistently mark. what exactly is the identity?]
coming at this slightly different angle, GB’s affection for LDLT reflects a contradictory impulse to cut the 30 pass crap and just dribble the ball those remaining 30-40 yards upfield. to have a little bit of technical play involved and not just dual 8s plodding forward. once you go that direction reyna, puli, and even uncalled players like green are better at a playmaker/slasher role than LDLT is. to me LDLT–>reyna is GB working out within his head hmmm maybe i need that central technician after all. in which case from this pool he finally is getting close to the right front 4.
but anyhow, my point was i think it’s abundantly clear we need some sort of a central creative presence, and short of moving puli inside, obnoxious hypercriticality aside, this pool right now, reyna head and shoulders over the other 10 options. i can’t believe we’re still debating this when the real concern should be identifying some other swashbuckling types to sub in when he tires or is hurt. such that the coach is not tempted to revert back to the dysfunctional 433 every time he pulls gio.
JR
“Hmm so Berhalter isn’t the only manager that sees value in Reyna as a winger. ”
You say that as if Gio’s versatility is some kind of surprising shock.
Since he came up 3-4 years ago, BVB have used Gio as a winger and in midfield more than a little. He’s done well combining with guys like Reus, Haaland and Bellingham, all of whom are a cut above someone like Lletget and even Pulisic.
In the end what the manager at BVB thinks is irrelevant.
It’s what Gio can do for the USMNT. If Gregg, behind the scenes got word to BJ to feature Gio in the Nations League as a 10 that’s one thing. But if he did not then USMNT fans have a lot to thank BJ for.
V: yet somehow people are surprised when Gio plays in other spots and despite his success no matter where he plays we here complaints that he’s been wasted.
Hope he shows well. interesting that his coaches see him similarly
I think he doesn’t start because he is not 90 minute fit and never has been, and many coaches don’t like the fixed substitution knowing a player is not 90 fit. yes, it happens but you have to be THAT awesome whereas subbing a player into a game who is not 90 fit allows much more flexibility
so either Gio gets 90 fit OR becomes so awesome that coach starts him anyway knowing he’ll be subbed around 60-75 minutes. we’ll see
“They open the wings and always move into the half spaces. Gio is definitely the most dangerous and can pose the most goal threat [there].” Hmm so Berhalter isn’t the only manager that sees value in Reyna as a winger. Of course now if Gio has a bad game or two centrally for the US the mob will be complaining Berhalter doesn’t play him on the wing like Terzic.
—————————-
And yes I understand BvB has several other guys that can create centrally whereas the US has Gio and maybe Tillman.
“Gio is definitely the most dangerous and can pose the most goal threat….” Hmm so Berhalter isn’t the only manager that sees value in Reyna as a winger”.
Lol…..that’s funny because Gio Reyna is not even predicted to start…..so how “dangerous can he REALLY be for BVB. Is Edin Terzić just benching all that talent “just because”?
Dortmund Predicted line-up:
Goalkeeper:
Gregor Kobel
Defenders:
Marius Wolf, Mats Hummels, Nico Schlotterbeck, Ramy Bensebaini
Midfielders:
Emre Can, Felix Nmecha, Julian Brandt (possibly Salih Özcan)
Forwards:
Marco Reus, Donyell Malen, Niclas Füllkrug
Lets see if Gio starts against Newcastle today before you start hyping him up more than Terzic
bizzy,
You guys get all het up about starting as if that means everything.
Soccer is not strictly an 11 man game anymore.
What managers care about is not so much whether you go 90 or 45 minutes.
What managers care about is what you do in the time you are on the field.
It won’t mean much of anything if Gio doesn’t start vs. Newcastle.
What will matter is:
Does Terzic need to use him at some point in the game?
If he does, what does Gio do in the time he is on the field.
You want to speculate on what Terzic thinks?
https://prosoccerwire.usatoday.com/2023/10/24/reyna-best-position-dortmund-terzic/
“Gio Reyna may play as a winger sometimes for Borussia Dortmund, but that doesn’t mean he’s at his best when staying out wide.
That’s the opinion of Dortmund head coach Edin Terzić, who said the American is most dangerous when moving inside to occupy a position in the half space.
“Gio, like Marco Reus and Julian Brandt, feels most comfortable in the center,” the coach told SPORT1. “We always try to take that into account. However, like Brandt, Gio is rarely found on the wings when he plays there. They open the wings and always move into the half spaces. Gio is definitely the most dangerous and can pose the most goal threat [there].”
Terzić’s assessment is consistent with Reyna’s own view. In an appearance on Tim Ream’s “The American Dream” podcast this month, the attacker said that his ideal spot with the USMNT would be as a No. 10.
“If it was my ideal scenario, or game, it would probably be with two No. 6s and I’d be kind of a free-roaming No. 10,” Reyna said. “I think that’s where I’d find the space to create and score goals and get assists. So that’s kind of where I can be successful.”
Reyna saw the beginning of his campaign blighted by injury as he recovered from a fractured fibula suffered with the U.S. national team in June.
The 20-year-old is back healthy now and after a strong international break with the USMNT, he turned in a dynamic 30-minute appearance off the bench in Friday’s league win over Werder Bremen.
According to SPORT1, Reyna has now entered a crucial period in terms of his future at Dortmund. The attacker has a contract that runs through 2025, and the club has yet to enter discussions over a new deal.
Reyna will need to prove he can stay consistently healthy for the club to move forward with talks over a contract extension. Otherwise, Reyna may be sold in the summer when his deal enters its final year.”
In case you are wondering how Gio is doing lately, here is a passage from a BVB fan site:
by Brian Szlenk Straub1 day ago
Borussia Dortmund’s Giovanni Reyna had an impactful performance In the club’s clash with Werder Bremen this past weekend.
Borussia Dortmund fans having watched the Werder Bremen game this past Friday will have been overjoyed with the performances of quite a few players in black and yellow, but one in particular got more time than usual to strut his stuff and stamp his mark on a game this time around. US international Gio Reyna was brought on early in the second half, and his performance was an impactful one to say the least.
Reyna had quite an impressive international break with the US men’s national team, particularly in his country’s last game against Ghana, where he scored two goals. His performance seemed to really spark something in him, as once subbed on for Dortmund, he did his best to make the game his own. Much of Dortmund’s passing went through the young American, and he created a slew of chances for his side both centrally and out wide. Close to the end of the game in particular, Reyna was responsible for quite a few impressive plays, including some pinpoint passes into the box, and a very late switch to Adeyemi that offered the opportunity to cut the Bremen defense open.
Reyna’s impact on the pitch isn’t surprising in the least, not only because of the aforementioned good form with the national team, but also his contributions last year as a super sub. While he didn’t score or assist on this occasion, his presence on the pitch really opened additional creative avenues for the team to explore and added a level of depth we’ve seen less than usual of this season. Despite only having limited minutes on the pitch across the last year, the USMNT player’s numbers speak for themselves: 0.63 non penalty goals, 3 shots, and 4.63 shot creating actions per 90 minutes over the course of the last year make him one of the better attacking midfielders across Europe’s top five leagues.
What I found particularly striking, and impressive, about Reyna’s display on Friday was a deviation from his usual tendency to go down at the lightest of touches. it is something that Reyna has been criticized for in the past, but against Bremen we saw a player looking to stay on his feet and really try to propel his team forward without the help of the referee. It was a performance of maturity that will hopefully see the “American Dream” get more time on the pitch, as he has the skill set to really help Dortmund in the middle of the park, on top of being a valid goal threat for opposition sides to keep in mind when they face Die Schwarzgelben on the pitch.”
Terzic is saying Gio is more likely to score when he plays winger than centrally. Not necessarily that he is more likely to score than Marco or Brandt. Which is kind of a duh because you’d expect wingers to score more than your CMs even a #10 especially is they don’t have a long range shot threat.
JR
“Terzic is saying Gio is more likely to score when he plays winger than centrally.”
?? I thought Terzic said Gio is more dangerous when moves inside.
“Not necessarily that he is more likely to score than Marco or Brandt.”
All Terzic said about that was that like Gio, Reus and Brandt prefer to play centrally. He said nothing about Reus and Brandt’s rate of scoring.
” Which is kind of a duh because you’d expect wingers to score more than your CMs even a #10 especially is they don’t have a long range shot threat.’
What are you talking about ? Terzic wasn’t comparing Gio’s scoring rates to Marco and Julian’s scoring rates.
Last season these midfielder/wingers scored:
Gio 7 goals
Brandt 10
Reus 8
Mallen 10
Adeyemi 9 goals
They don’t tell you what “position” they were “playing ” when they scored.
dude, you’re the mob on this one. i have been arguing he’s a 10 for years based on skill set and our needs. you’ve been the one saying we have 8s instead, implying the system was well oiled, and saying he was a better wing, and shouting down those of us saying he’s been a productive CAM before. you now read this piece saying he’s more comfortable central and tends to take himself back there even when deployed wide, and still want to argue for him wide. then oddly suggest those few of us who have been arguing for the 10 position and reyna/puli in it, are fairweather folks who will move like a weathervane.
no. my deal is any thinking team with reyna, puli, and weah figures out some way to get all 3 on the field at one time rather than lets formation and pigeonholing dictate his lineup card for him. you’re not a very good coach if the only role for reyna at your world cup is 3rd string winger.
as i have said a lot lately, once GB started using LDLT as a CAM — a less talented attacker who gets shoved around on defense — his lacking usage of reyna same slot became absurd. if you start figuring out we need a technical mid to attack defenses and progress the ball downfield on the dribble instead of just pass, there are a list of better options for it than LDLT. the obsession is a tactical “tell.” as so often i think he’s bright enough to see the problem areas — eg he’s been tinkering with wingback lately — but he resists the superior solutions. he drags his feet. he tries to revert back. practical GB fights analytics GB.
US soccer will get better when they start seeing the germany/holland games rather than the ghana/oman blowouts as indicative of whether their choices are working. as long as the attitude is that we are supposed to lose the tough ones we will continue to do so.
to give the man some credit, he tripped over the 4231 recently. hopefully we see it for 90×2 in november. but i’d point out that formation is actually not that novel in the program, i think arena and klinsi both used it. and he’d drop the formation as soon as reyna went off.
but anyhow, my point was we need to start using “germany” type games as a test whether the tactics and personnel have in fact been correctly chosen, as opposed to assume the tactics and personnel are right and use the game as a chemistry exercise for a preconceived concept (we then fail). when we figure out a failed pop quiz suggests trying different techniques and studying more for the test we will get better grades.
You misunderstand the point was we weren’t playing with a 10 so it’s irrelevant that he’d make a good 10. Given the positions in Gregg’s 4-3-3 alignment the wing position that moved into the half spaces operated much more like a 10 and occupied similar spaces, whereas our 8s sat deep and provided cover for our FBs that were occupying the wide areas vacated by the wings. Playing Gio in Gregg’s 4-3-3 would have been idiotic, moving him further away and closer to the touch line.
JR
“Hmm so Berhalter isn’t the only manager that sees value in Reyna as a winger. ”
You say that as if Gio’s versatility is some kind of surprising shock.
Since he came up 3-4 years ago, BVB have used Gio as a winger and in midfield more than a little. He’s done well combining with guys like Reus, Haaland and Bellingham, all of whom are a cut above someone like Lletget and even Pulisic.
In the end what the manager at BVB thinks is irrelevant.
It’s what Gio can do for the USMNT. If Gregg, behind the scenes got word to BJ to feature Gio in the Nations League as a 10 that’s one thing. But if he did not then USMNT fans have a lot to thank BJ for.
V: I was replying to Bizzy questioning why Terzic doesn’t start him if he’s more dangerous than Brandt and Reus. When I hit reply to his comment I hadn’t even seen your post to realize I needed to direct my reply. I believe you and I read the Terzic comment the same way but Bizzy understood it differently. I will say there is a lot of nuance in the manager’s comments that could be misinterpreted since I’m sure it’s translated from German.
JR,
Yeah, bizzy hates Gio’s parent and all they revealed about how the USSF operates behind the scenes. Consequently, he wants Gio to crash and burn to make it all “right” for truth , justice and the American way but Gio isn’t cooperating.
What bizzy does not respect or maybe understand is that BVB are pretty damn good at finding raw young talent , nursing it along for a couple of years and then converting them into Euros.
Just to name some of the more recent ones, there was Dembele, some PA punk kid named Pulisic, Sancho, Gio’s uber driver, Erling and Bellingham. When he first broke through, most everyone felt Gio was going to be one of those kind of guys. It hasn’t quite worked out that way, yet, but mostly because of injury. In terms of the scandal, I get the impression that most of the people on that side of pond think the Desperate Housewives of New Jersey bit was weird but no big deal. Little league parents are an American thing right? Gio, as far a I know, does not have a substance problem or is not an accused rapist, like Man U’s Greenwood. Ryan Giggs eventually got out of his domestic violence charges, right? Something about Man. U. and how they treat women.
At worst Gio is an arrogant, teenage punk diva shitbag who thinks too much of himself. I guess no one who posts on SBI was a fucked up teenager? I was a perfectly behaved teenager. I had the good sense to wait until I was out of my parents supervision to go off the rails and nearly ruin my life. That way they could not catch or stop me.
Anyway it’s clear BVB still think they have enough time to build Gio back up to the price point they want.
Follow the money.