The CONCACAF Nations League has witnessed many top performers over its inaugural three editions, but Gio Reyna finished the 2023-24 edition as the best.
Reyna earned Player of the Tournament honors on Sunday night as the U.S. men’s national team defeated rivals Mexico 2-0. After delivering an impactful performance off the bench in last Thursday’s semifinal victory over Jamaica, the Nottingham Forest attacker started and scored one goal as the Americans lifted the title for the third-straight edition.
Despite coming into USMNT camp with only 39 minutes of action since his loan move to England, Reyna looked full of confidence in the final third.
“The kid’s unbelievable, honestly,” said USMNT captain Tyler Adams on Reyna. “So many people talk about the noise that surrounded him and everything that he went through. But at 21 years old, every single one of the players on our team has gone through a situation like that. Maybe not as extreme, of course, because it was surrounding a World Cup and we didn’t play in a World Cup at 21.
“He’s got that grit, he’s got that intensity, and when he plays like that every night, he’s gonna be playing at a big club very soon,” Adams added.
Reyna’s volley in the second half padded the USMNT’s lead at 2-0 after Adams’ sensational 30+yard missile broke the deadlock before halftime. The 21-year-old also won three duels and drew two fouls from his midfield position, battling constantly with the Mexico midfielders throughout the night.
Reyna now has three goals and five assists in 10 career Nations League appearances, being a part of three title-winning teams. After previously featuring as a winger in his early USMNT days, his shift to midfield could be what truly makes Reyna a long-term contributor for the program.
“He can unlock defenses and he just has these qualities that are really good,” Berhalter said about Reyna. “I also believe, and I’ve said this before, that he can be a midfielder. I think that’s the next evolution for him because he can control the tempo so well and he can make final passes when he gets the ball in pockets in transition and he’s a good finisher.”
The goal for Reyna will now be to take his strong form back to England where Nottingham Forest could use his services. Nuno Espirito Santo’s squad have dropped into the relegation zone after being docked four points by the English Premier League for breaking financial rules and overall have failed to win their last five matches across all competitions.
An in-form Reyna will certainly be on Santo’s mind as Nottingham Forest resumes league play this Saturday against Crystal Palace. Meanwhile, Reyna’s international schedule will continue this summer as the USMNT aims for a strong showing at the Copa America.
A lot of good recognition in these threads of what it takes to be an elite team. You need all 11 on the pitch to do their job. One mistake and it’s a house of cards against these great teams. But I still see this team as above past US teams because of the possibility of being one of those teams. One player I really like lately is McKennie. Seems to be processing and reacting well.
I agree that McKennie has improved. He has gone from seeing good possibilities for penetrating passes and then flubbing the pass to connecting on more of those passes. I would say it is a case of knowing what to do and then improving the technique to actually do it.
Given the choice, I would prefer the player who sees things that he can’t quite pull off to one who can dance prettily with the ball, but does not see the game very well.
Juve potentially looking to move Weah in the off-season. Don’t think he is really suited as a wingback. Hopefully he goes somewhere and starts to gets a manager that believes in him. I do think RW will be a position that another player can make it a competition. Paredes, Cowell, Yow, and Taylor Booth are all players that could put pressure on Weah the next couple of years leading up to the WC.
Oh, the Reality Fairy is coming, and this particular fairy is a sadistic bitch…but I’ll give credit where credit is due: Berhalter (or somebody in US Soccer) did something incredibly smart: he scheduled friendlies against Brazil and Colombia – and in that order – before Copa America starts. Which means the Fairy is going to be imparting many of her harsh lessons before the tournament instead of in the middle of it.
When I coached Academy kids, I’d often comment that if I had the opportunity to, I’d see if Barcelona’s youth academy wanted some. Yes, yes, I’d tell my parents: they’re likely going crush us…but getting your butt handed to you in painful, lopsided, embarrassing fashion is also the only way to get better. So never pass on a chance to play the best when they’re available. You don’t get better by dunking on the local AYSO rec team. You have to learn where the bar is, what you can and cannot get away with, and you’ve gotta dial up your players’ speed-of-thought and pace-of-play. So step up. Take your beating. Then take the next one, and the one after that. And eventually – if your kids are talented enough – they’re going to begin competing at this newer, tougher level.
We are, I suspect, about to get our own lessons…and exactly the same lesson Germany gave us a few months back. Playing Jamaica and Mexico, as we discovered, does not prepare you to play Germany…only playing Germany prepares you to play Germany. (And then, you might remember, we blasted Ghana right off the field.) Unless Brazil shows up hung over, we are not going to beat Brazil that first friendly…in fact I think they’re going to whump us good and proper and leave us humiliated and crestfallen. And our fans and talking heads are of course going to panic and squawk loudly.
I don’t think we’ll beat Colombia either. On paper we’re better, at least in the midfield and at striker. (It’s about a push at defense…they’ve got guys from Crystal Palace, Villareal, Osasuna, Bologna, and Hellas Verona, and Santiago Aras was with Atletico Madrid before he dropped back to MLS and then the Saudi League.) But they’re dialed up and seasoned as a group in a way we aren’t…yet, precisely because they do play the likes of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay all the time. But my goal would be: compete. Let’s see if we can raise our level and start punching at theirs. I think Brazil is going to pants us – there’s probably no getting around that – but as long as we’re punching and competing with Colombia in the second friendly I’ll be satisfied regardless of result…because then, I suspect, we’re going to actually be ready for Copa America.
So: yeah. We’re the biggest fish in a small pond. Awesome. Yay, us. But the real sharks are coming. And that’s where we find out which parts of our program are really ready for that top tier. And we’ll be a lot better for it.
Sorry, this was supposed to be a response to Dave P’s post below. Apologies. Bad quozzel. Horrible thread etiquette.
You know I’m going to squawk. I can take a hard loss to Brazil because I’m not delusional, but if we don’t get out of a group with Bolivia and Panama I’m going full Daffy Duck.
Quozzel,
I agree, we are about to learn some real truths about the USMNT.
It’s interesting that you think we are better, albeit on paper, than Colombia…yet, we you don’t think we will beat them…on home soil.
Additional nugget of info…Colombia is currently on a 19 game unbeaten streak, which includes CONMEBOL WC qualifying games.
When Bob Bradley was coaching youth teams. He said what basicly agrees with what you said about playing better teams to learn hard lessons and that speed of thought is essential to compete at a higher level. I think he believed that players would acquire the skills when their soccer brains were more fully developed. He viewed it as all a process.
The US was supposed to play Brazil and Argentina last fall instead of Oman and Uzbekistan but Conmebol changed their qualifying schedule so the US was left taking any available squad. Gregg has historically used the pre-tourney friendlies to work on specific ideas for the tournament and not necessarily cared about winning. See pre-GC 2019, pre-NL 2021, pre-WC. So don’t expect the US to sit back pragmatically against Brazil or Colombia. Expect them to stubbornly build out of the back even if they are repeatedly turning it over to continue to high press even if Brazil is dribbling thru it.
US u23’s tied France 2-2. It was a pretty even match for the most part. Both teams had more chances to score. Cowell and Yow to the rescue at the 86th and 88th minutes. Cade Cowell gave Mitrovic a look like you should have played me from the start when he scored. I love that mentality.
Morris struggled a bit and Bajarkterivic Gabe the ball away to many times.
Aaronson was good throughout at LW. For me he needs to be played at CAM fir this team. Need more creativity in the middle. Almost had a goal off of a diving header in the first half.
Barjakterivic probably needs a bit more seasoning and I expect to see him with the U20 team. Only 18.
Mcguire had some chances but didn’t capitalize.
I don’t know man. There’s so much smoke being blown up our *sses from US soccer and their media arm. One quote from the captain gets amplified in a story title and we’re supposed to think a consensus prima donna is now gritty.
Can we just keep it negative? We were ten seconds away from losing to Jamaica at home with their key players missing in a competitive tournament. All of the pictures would have been of us staring at our shoes, not holding trophies. Everyone knows Mexico is not that good, and concacaf is not that good. We have real issues. We’re not going to solve them by kissing our own butts.