CHESTER, Pa. — Many of the U.S. men’s national team players spoke about Gio Reyna’s improved focus during the last week of training. That improved focus led to one of Reyna’s best performances in a USMNT shirt yet.
Reyna scored the USMNT’s opening goal and also played a key role in their go-ahead goal during Saturday’s 2-1 home friendly win over Paraguay. The Borussia Moenchengladbach midfielder earned SBI USMNT Man of the Match honors for his impactful showing at Subaru Park.
Reyna only needed four minutes to break the deadlock from Chester, heading a Max Arfsten cross off of the crossbar and into the back of the net. It marked Reyna’s first international goal in 20 months.
Despite Paraguay equalizing only five minutes later, Reyna would have a vital say in the final scoreline.
After being played into the Paraguay box by Cristian Roldan, Reyna’s low pass forced a mistimed clearance from Gustavo Gomez. Folarin Balogun would clean up the play in the 71st minute, making it 2-1 to the USMNT.
The 23-year-old Reyna played 75 minutes in the match, creating two offensive chances, winning four duels, and making one interception.
Reyna edged Balogun, Arfsten, and Tanner Tessmann for Man of the Match honors.
What did you think of Reyna’s performance? Do you him retaining his starting spot against Uruguay on Tuesday? Do you think this kickstarts Reyna’s season abroad?
Share your thoughts below.
Winners:
Poch: winning without his best lineup against a decent opponent. Since switching to the 3-4-3, 3-1-0 all against opponents who have qualified for WC.
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Balo: had really one chance all match and took it well.
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Reyna: wont get credit for the assist but scored and was in great spots all night. Maybe more importantly he played 75 mins.
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Losers:
Scally: obviously is behind Dest and Weah as a WB, and showed tonight he’s not really comfortable playing as a RCB. Freeman was much better when he came on.
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MRob: he wasn’t bad, but his passing left a lot to be desired. Had a chance to claim his spot and looked ok.
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Ref. Christian Corado: I suppose the best Concacaf refs are set to do the qualifying finals Tuesday but boy he was not up for this one. Inconsistent. You could see in the first 15 minutes there was going to be a scuffle at some point and sure enough there was.
If Reyna gets back to his best I think the biggest fight for a WC place will be between Luna and Zendejas. And for me I think right now Zendejas has more to his game than Luna.
Was good to see him smiling again. Overall good performance from him. I do think he has the ability to go at defenses on the dribble a bit more. Now we shall see how he does against Uruguay.
If you’re talking about Gio, I would be surprised if he plays significant minutes vs. Uruguay.
This is the most amount of minutes he’s played in ANY game in a long time.
If he comes up lame with a pulled hamstring then the whole thing is back to square one again.
Gio needs minutes but against a nasty Uruguay on short rest, I hope they are very careful with him.
We found out that he still knows how to play soccer, still has some talent. We can see and have heard that he is getting along with the group, who all seem to be pulling for him.
All we really need now is for him to continue to build up his fitness.
I’d send him back to Germany tonight.
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