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Gio Reyna returns to Borussia Dortmund training

There might be light at the end of the tunnel for Gio Reyna after all.

Reyna returned to Borussia Dortmund training on Tuesday after a lengthy layoff due to a groin injury. The U.S. men’s national team attacker has been sidelined since the September international break, and after suffering a setback in October, has continued to miss time.

However, Reyna could very well be in Nuri Sahin’s squad this weekend when Borussia Dortmund faces Freiburg in Bundesliga play.

Reyna has endured a tough year overall after a disappointing loan spell last season at Nottingham Forest. Despite registering one assist in Premier League play, the 21-year-old struggled for consistent playing time in Nuno Espirito Santo’s squad.

Injuries have also kept Reyna out of USMNT contention as new boss Mauricio Pochettino continues his early days as head coach. The USMNT advanced to the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals after defeating Jamaica 5-2 on aggregate earlier this week.

Seventh place Dortmund has three matches in a seven-day period against Freiburg, Dinamo Zagreb (Champions League), and Bayern Munich (Bundesliga Der Klassiker) to close out November’s schedule.

A healthy Reyna could provide a major boost in Sahin’s squad as the Black and Yellow aim to move up the league table.

Comments

  1. Gio with 15 minutes today off the bench. Game was over at that point 4-0. No Campbell as Gittens and Duranville also made their returns.

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  2. Like a lot of USMNT players…….Gio Reyna needs to join a top team in Eredivisie (like Ajax or Utrecht) or a top 10 La Liga club. His style of play is not an asset to Dortmund and he seems to be getting stagnant in his development there. MOVE!!! Sometimes toughing it out like Mckennie at Juventus IS NOT THE WAY TO GO, especially for a young player. Dest left Barcelona, Pulisic left Chelsea, Tillman left Bayern then Rangers……..GET OUT OF DORTMUND KID. Being on the bench at Dortmund is an absolute waste of all that talent……

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    • I think looking mid table is more realistic. Even a team like Como even though they are towards the bottom of Serie A they generally have more or equal possession.

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  3. It’ll be genuinely fascinating to see what – if anything – Pochettino might do with Gio. One thing he’s constantly re-iterated is that players need to be playing regularly, so it might be that if Gio can’t find the field at Dortmund he won’t get called or at least likely won’t start with the USMNT. One thing that was telling is, Tyler Adams didn’t get a call this time around even though he was back at Bournemouth.

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    • what do you mean “if anything?” like he sucks? like you’re gonna sit him behind not just musah but also cowell and zendejas? are we about to get that status quo/dumb with this?

      what would make sense to me would be he’s (a) puli’s sub at 10, (b) starts instead of musah at CM/RF (assuming weah LF), or (c) is the sub for either wing. i didn’t think musah played that well. [nor did i think ream or scally did]

      bluntly, we were doing all our damage with the starters, the bench was crap. people were chuckling at “fresh faces” after the wins against weakened opposition, but we don’t know who the backup keeper is, the defense remains porous and would be exploited more by better opponents, and the bench attack was generally ineffective. for now, that is where reyna, balogun, and also some of the noobs like campbell, could do some damage. that and we’re in trouble if ream or scally are starting in a world cup. it was 4-2 not 4-0.

      but anyhow, point here is reyna only has to be better than some of the crap bench options getting minutes, which he clearly is, and while we got good play from LB/LF/10/9 i thought our RF impact was indifferent.

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      • I don’t think Gio “sucks” at all. I’m saying, if he’s not getting on the field, will he be in Pochettino’s plans? Coaches have their own evaluation system and a lot of them prize availability. We don’t really know what Pochettino favors yet. So let’s assume he does bring Gio in next window…who gets bumped? Aaronson? Tillman? Cowell? And that’s even before you consider Pochettino is likely going to get a look at Luna and Lucho at Camp Cupcake a couple months before he (maybe, if Gio’s even available) gets a look at Gio.

        Gio was sort of a necessity for Berhalter because without him we had exactly zero combination play and creativity up the middle. But did it appear our forwards were starved of service this window?

        Also, keep in mind Pochettino is on a highly truncated timetable. He’s only got a year and a half to get this group ready to host the World Cup, and the if availability or PT issues persist, I’m certainly not sure Gio’s a lock for the roster, especially if Luna or Lucho (or both, which I think is entirely possible) turn Poch’s head first.

        Are you sure Gio as he stands right now is ahead of either of those guys? Because I’m not.

      • IV,

        It’s pretty clear to me that if Gio’s playing time at BVB remains as skimpy as it sank to under Terzic, Gio will not be called up. Nor should he be.

        This has nothing to do with any of the other players, however good or sucky they are. And they have not been shit.

        If you want to play for the USMNT then you do what the boss asks, either win more PT at BVB or move yourself where you can get requisite playing time. If you can’t do that then fuck you.

        Gio deserves nothing. He needs to prove his doubters wrong and earn a call up.

        As for the oft cited example of Matt Turner, he’s a goal keeper and keepers are held to a different standard.

      • Q: are we really pretending like morris or busio or cowell is better than him? sorry dude, no. there’s talent and there’s less talent. are we gonna get that confused with reading club stats now? i don’t care if cowell has 10 goals in mexico, because reyna would probably have 15. i’d hoped this silliness was going away with GB.

        we learned better than club form in about 1990-something.

      • V: as with many players in US history, turner has played well many NT nights while being in career purgatory. the emphasis on career success begs the question whether it translates.

        as i said above, cut the crap, do you really believe any amount of club stats somehow “makes” cowell better than reyna? or suggests he has caught up to him on talent? we have seen zero hint of it on the NT. one guy performs. the other guy has one goal for the NT, period.

        you want to run this in a ditch you go back to the september/october B team bunch that were picked on form and continuity. we moved pulisic CAM and all of a sudden all the mediocrity we have been trying there looks like heck. ditto weah wid. you will see something similar when reyna comes back.

        wake up. this is a dumb, counter-productive discussion. using career form issues that don’t cross over as an excuse to run out a worse team.

        reminds me of when my adult league team ran off its best scorer because he had an attitude. then got relegated because we couldn’t score without him. oh, but we all got along while we did it……..

      • IV,

        “wake up. this is a dumb, counter-productive discussion. using career form issues that don’t cross over as an excuse to run out a worse team.”

        This is not a discussion.

        It’s IV jerking off and ranting for no particular reason.

        This is you making your usual made up fake news controversy so that you can show everyone how stupid they are and how smart you are.

        “as i said above, cut the crap, do you really believe any amount of club stats somehow “makes” cowell better than reyna? or suggests he has caught up to him on talent? we have seen zero hint of it on the NT. one guy performs. the other guy has one goal for the NT, period.”

        Since you were not paying attention, Gio has not been called in because he’s been hurt. That’s one reason why Cowell got called in instead of Gio

        You’re the only one who has suggested that Cowell is better or is to be preferred to Gio. You should run for office.

        It’s only today that Gio finally been back getting end-of-game-garbage time to shake off the rust. Hopefully in the coming weeks Gio will win Sahin’s trust, prove his fitness and earn a regular place.

        Just FYI, Pochettino said he wants his players playing at their clubs.
        And just FYI, Gio hasn’t been playing at his club.

        And guess what, if in the coming weeks Gio does not win more time from Sahin than he got from Terzic AND does not show that his fitness is where it needs to be to minimize the chance of re-injury, then maybe Gio gets the Adams treatment and doesn’t get called in for the next window.

        I expect Pochettino will be in touch with Sahin.
        I expect Pochettino to be as careful about calling injury prone Gio in as he was with injury prone Adams.

        “reminds me of when my adult league team ran off its best scorer because he had an attitude. then got relegated because we couldn’t score without him. oh, but we all got along while we did it……..”

        The USMNT is a professional team not an adult league team.
        The USMNT can’t get regulated as there is no pro/rel in the international game.

        It is good that you all got along well but I fail to see the relevance. Of course if you mean that Gio is being kept out of the USMNT because of his attitude, then you should know that he’s been injured and only came back just now.

        Whatever Gio’s attitude is or isn’t, a pulled groin will usually keep you from playing.

    • I don’t know how much I’d read into Adams not being called in. He’d only played 100 minutes over three weeks and Poch even commented about keeping him healthy.

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      • to me he’d barely gotten re-started, was not worth the fitness risk considering the summer history, and if he can stay healthy we get him 4 months more fit in march.

        that and i think we needed to tinker with the 6 slot in his absence considering he can’t stay healthy. people have fun at my “fresh faces” expense but what is tanner tessmann relatively speaking? and after trying a few such guys he edged ahead. i prefer that to “here, busio/johnny/morris, take it.” i think the 6 play has been lackluster, and i’d like to see maloney and others in the spring.

      • IV,

        “people have fun at my “fresh faces” expense but what is tanner tessmann relatively speaking?”

        He’s not a fresh face.
        Gregg first capped him in 2021.
        He was a prominent part of the Olympic qualifying team and has been on the fringes of the senior team for some time now.
        He’s had three seasons to develop further after his first cap.
        This was all before the new guy came on.
        He had not been mentioned as a #6 possibility until just very recently. Of course, I’m sure it was your idea and you will, of course, take credit for it.

        In those terms he’s not as “fresh” as for example, Cole Campbell is.

        $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

        The play at #6 has been lackluster whenever Tyler is absent. And with Tyler mostly MIA that means #6 has been a problem and has needed to addressed for maybe 5-6 years.

        You are not the first person to notice this.

      • Not that easy for Cole. Gittens, Adeyemi, and Duranville all back from injury in the next week or two are likely to take his minutes for BvB.
        ——————
        Wright, Dest, Adams, Sargent, Paredes, Yow, PAaronson also battling for those spots taken by Cowell, Zendajas, BAaronson, and Tillman. Add in some MLS guys like Ferreira, Luna, and Lucho Acosta(if citizenship comes thru) that will have January to impress. Lots of competition might mean having to dominate 3Bundesliga.

      • re campbell, who gives an eff whether he’s established for dortmund? we’re not calling guys for dortmund’s weekend XI. we’re picking 23 good players. as we saw with reyna and puli dude could be riding dortmund’s bench and be worthwhile to us.

        re some of the CF-as-wings, dude, we tried that from summer through october and in the negative sense, the results speak for themselves.

        also, i’d rather have dest wide than most of that list, if he comes back a semblance of himself.

        re acosta, i still say he has the same issue as the nicaraguan. that when he has a passport might not line up with when he has 5 years back in-country. he went down to atlas which arguably re-started his clock. he came back march 2021. 5 years is march 2026. i think he might be eligible for the Big Show itself but not much else. but with his upside i’d still take that risk even if he’s not well-integrated, as a bench option. i think we have a couple starters and a lot of bench getting by on “continuity” and “rep” as opposed to playing that well when it matters.

      • IV,

        “re campbell, who gives an eff whether he’s established for dortmund? we’re not calling guys for dortmund’s weekend XI. we’re picking 23 good players. as we saw with reyna and puli dude could be riding dortmund’s bench and be worthwhile to us.”

        You’re making stuff up again.
        Before they got their USMNT call ups, CP and Gio proved their worth with BVB’s first team a LOT more than Cole has to date.
        Bullshit is as American as rhubarb pie and sawed off shotguns but it should not be the basis for a USMNT call up.
        Asking Cole to have a nice run with the BVB first team is not too much to ask. If Pochettino wants to call him in anyway, that’s fine by me but I don’t see it as the matter of great urgency that you do.
        The world will not end if Pochettino does not call in Cole. It won’t. Hell, Pochettino doesn’t even seem overly worried about calling in Gio so Cole might be even further off.

        “re some of the CF-as-wings, dude, we tried that from summer through october and in the negative sense, the results speak for themselves.also, i’d rather have dest wide than most of that list, if he comes back a semblance of himself.”

        Most of that was under Gregg. Gregg ain’t here no more. In case you did not know he was fired. To the extent that it is possible everyone has a blank slate now.

        “re acosta, i still say he has the same issue as the nicaraguan. that when he has a passport might not line up with when he has 5 years back in-country. he went down to atlas which arguably re-started his clock. he came back march 2021. 5 years is march 2026. i think he might be eligible for the Big Show itself but not much else.”

        His immigration lawyers know best but Acosta’s time with Atlas need not have counted against his 5 years, if he maintained a residency in the US during his Atlas tenure. That can be as simple as keeping his house if he bought one when he was playing with DC, and coming back to the US occasionally. This is not impossible if you work in Mexico. They just need to know that you did not intend to leave the US permanently.

        “but with his upside i’d still take that risk even if he’s not well-integrated, as a bench option. i think we have a couple starters and a lot of bench getting by on “continuity” and “rep” as opposed to playing that well when it matters.”

        The current player pool has been together for four games. Using terms like “Continuity” and “rep” are a bit of a stretch at this time.
        So far everyone has played together reasonably well in the 3 games out of 4 that “mattered”.

        Unlike you, I see no need to hit the panic button just yet.

        Pochettino has to failed to meet your high standards and he’s probably not good enough to coach one of your select teams but he might yet be able to work his way out of your dog house with the USMNT.

        There is not much time left but I wouldn’t rush it just yet. One game does not necessarily give any player, team or set of tactics a comprehensive USMNT track record. There is plenty of time yet for this whole project to go tits up.

      • The big difference between Reyna/Pulisic they’d established themselves with Dortmund, Cole is likely out at this time. Pulisic earned a start at BvB before being capped and Gio had a goal. Cole only has 31 minutes. I hope I’m wrong and he continues to get minutes then I think he could be included in March. I think it’s going to be very hard to make your case to Poch that you’re better than Paredes if he’s starting and contributing in the Bundesliga if you’re in the 3Bundesliga. Or Wright who is starting and scoring in the Championship.

      • V: re personnel, there are about a half dozen dudes out there earning it every night. there are a few hit and miss. there are several who never amount to anything much. anyone but the guys who show it every night should be fair game and get position competition. period. you can play word games or say it’s too early but it’s true. you don’t stop tinkering until this thing shines. we have about 1 good half of 4 games under poch. keep polishing and tinkering. what it is, is too early to stand pat.

        re “nicaragua” have you forgotten what happened with the gold cup 3 or 4 years ago? we were supposed to play nicaragua. they had a player declared ineligible and forfeited games, because he had the passport but hadn’t been in nicaragua 5 years straight (he went to another country to play a year or so). getting the passport is not the only hurdle. FIFA will want 5 years playing here and he won’t have that until 2026 due to his brief stint with atlas.

        dude, we continued to call 4 CF on through october, which includes both caretaker and poch’s first window. not just GB this summer. and that’s splitting hairs about trivia. the question is whether it works using them as wings. we lost a lot and scored little. answer is no, dude. admit it.

        you said i was “making stuff up” then just disagreed with me without any facts in terms of the basic principle. fake news. we have called people straight from german II teams or age groups or off b.1 benches before — and done well by it. landon, mcbride, green. don’t waste my time. and don’t fib that i am making stuff up, just because you want to be a follower.

      • IV,

        “V: re personnel, there are about a half dozen dudes out there earning it every night. there are a few hit and miss. there are several who never amount to anything much. anyone but the guys who show it every night should be fair game and get position competition. period. you can play word games or say it’s too early but it’s true. you don’t stop tinkering until this thing shines. we have about 1 good half of 4 games under poch. keep polishing and tinkering. what it is, is too early to stand pat.”

        ???You’re making stuff up again.
        Do you want to show me where anyone said Pochettino is standing pat or should stand pat? Or that he already has his best 26 for 2026 and is all set to go? WTF is the matter with you.? Pochettino has barely gotten started.

        “re “nicaragua” have you forgotten what happened with the gold cup 3 or 4 years ago? we were supposed to play nicaragua. they had a player declared ineligible and forfeited games, because he had the passport but hadn’t been in nicaragua 5 years straight (he went to another country to play a year or so). getting the passport is not the only hurdle. FIFA will want 5 years playing here and he won’t have that until 2026 due to his brief stint with atlas.”

        So what? BFD More of your bullshit. There is no problem here.

        Lucho and probably the USSF have lawyers working on this as we sit here. It is up to them to sort this out. We are not Nicaragua and Pochettino has got too much going on to risk calling in some ineligible player. You must think Pochettino is a dipshit if you think he would risk calling in Lucho w/o being 100% certain he was eligible with everyone who matters. Especially because while Lucho could be a great addition he’s not worth getting sanctioned by FIFA.

        “dude, we continued to call 4 CF on through october, which includes both caretaker and poch’s first window. not just GB this summer. and that’s splitting hairs about trivia. the question is whether it works using them as wings. we lost a lot and scored little. answer is no, dude. admit it.”

        Did you notice how we’re currently down to 2 Center forwards?

        “you said i was “making stuff up” then just disagreed with me without any facts in terms of the basic principle. fake news. we have called people straight from german II teams or age groups or off b.1 benches before — and done well by it. landon, mcbride, green. don’t waste my time.

        $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

        So what? That does not mean it’s a good idea. Landon made his USMNT debut in Oct 2000 when he scored against Mexico. But that was Landon 24 years ago. Things were different then and well , it was Landon. Cole is not likely to have the same impact as LD did. When LD was called up he was already arguably the USMNT’s best soccer player, period.

        When McBride signed to play for Wolfsburg in 1994 he had already been capped by the USMNT back in 1993. I believe he was playing for the Milwaukee Rampage back then. That was 33 years ago. You might consider the possibility that things were very different back then. It is not 1993 anymore.

        Green did have a good , successful and very brief appearance at the 2014 World Cup. Then he faded into the obscurity of a mediocre career. You could argue that in the long run, the early call up did him and the USMNT no favors. Short term gain, long term loss. Who knows what might have happened if JK had just left him to learn his trade a bit more in Munich?

        Where you make stuff up and stain Cole with your bullshit is you cite CP and Gio as excuses to call up Cole . They are a better point of comparison for Cole because they both went through BVB and were both called up when they were teenagers but as has been pointed out to you many times and you won’t listen, CP and Gio both produced more than Cole has to date. So your excuses makes no sense.

        Now, I have nothing against calling up Cole per se and if it were 2000 shit yeah, I’d call him up ASAP. But it isn’t 2000 anymore. We needed LD then ASAP. You’re in a lather over Cole and it isn’t necessary. If he is going to be an important contributor to 2026 it should be clear shortly in time for Pochettino to bring him in. In 2024 we can wait a few months on Cole and let him let him develop in an organization that is really good at producing good young attacking players. He’s at a point where he needs to play as much as possible not sit on a bench behind older players. Right now your argument for calling in Cole amounts to
        “Because I said so”.

        “and don’t fib that i am making stuff up, just because you want to be a follower.”

        Follower of who or what? The Great Pumpkin?
        Of course you make stuff up. Your posts are there for all to see and they are full of false equivalencies and cognitive bias.

        In English, they call it “jumping to conclusions bias” which means you make judgments without having all the necessary information, often based on limited evidence, and reach unwarranted conclusions.

    • he won’t play for us again until march, assuming he makes that, and i think it would help him a lot to string some healthy club appearances then make a winter transfer out. he’s got about 4 months to get his body and career sorted.

      to me, transfer someplace warmer that will play him more than 10 minutes off the bench in the cold.

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    • Terzic lost confidence in Gio.
      The best thing would be for Gio to win a regular spot at Dortmund under Sahin. If he can’t do that then he needs a move.

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      • (1) dortmund was #2 in all of europe last year.
        (2) he keeps playing for time or making last minute loan deals. be smart. be decisive. quit working on hope.

        i think dortmund was a good place to develop. i think as a full blooded pro, on his best day he’s been like a 15 minute supersub guy there. get the heck out. it’s negatively impacting his role with NT. limited use off a bench in a cold weather location may also be some role in his injury history.

        venezia, spain, holland. not some team where he will get battered around physically. and i think england systematically underrates our players as puli has shown. my concern is his fee cost runs off a ton of the teams where he would start.

      • IV,

        ” it’s negatively impacting his role with NT. limited use off a bench in a cold weather location may also be some role in his injury history.”

        What Gio most needs is a steady run of games where he stays healthy and plays well.

        If Sahin is really going to give Gio a chance then BVB is where Gio is most likely to succeed in the near future. BVB is where he is most comfortable with the manager , the players, the style of play, the facilities etc. etc.
        If Gio can succeed there that would be the best option for now

        If not at BVB then he has to wait until at least the January window.

        A transfer then means a possible repeat of the Forest experience; he has to adjust to the new team, manager, maybe a new country etc.,etc. Such an adjustment may be chaotic, and take some time. Gio can’t afford that.

        BVB may be planning to move him in January (or the summer) anyway and that’s fine but in the meantime, for however long he remains with BVB, he needs to focus on impressing at BVB in a timely manner.

      • IV: I really don’t think money is that big of issue with a Gio move anymore. His salary is 2.5 million euros which is not cost prohibitive for Top 5 league clubs or even PSV. It’s basically the same as Busio, Musah, and Weah makes and similar to Pepi and Tessmann. His valuation by Transfermkt is only 12 million which puts him around the 15-20 million fee Dortmund was reportedly asking last January. That number wouldn’t be any higher given his play or lack of over the last year. One must also consider Dortmund got him for free so they don’t have to recoup a fee that they paid. We don’t really know what Sahin thinks of him, he got to camp late after Copa, played the first match and then got hurt.

      • JR,

        “We don’t really know what Sahin thinks of him, he got to camp late after Copa, played the first match and then got hurt.”

        Now is a good time to find out.

      • JR: when reyna was actually offered around the fee range i heard was E 15-20m. and BD had him extend to even get a loan. that’s more than TM says. as dynamo fan where we try and get players cheap, or sell them for too much, the market is not the theory, it’s a willing buyer and seller. if the seller has him priced wrong, he’s stuck, and a chunk of his market disappears.

        eg holland is not paying $20m for anyone.

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