I’ve seen several people suggest that Gio’s current limited playing time is due to match fitness concerns. This doesn’t make sense to me. Didn’t he go the full 90 against City back in November? He hasn’t been injured since then. Why is he only able to go 30 now?
I do wonder if there's been a decline in injury, or he's still recovering. Reyna's completed 1.01 dribbles per 90, which is well below average, over the past year. If you look just at the 2022-23 season (excluding some games where FBref doesn't have data), it's down to .8 per 90. Very poor. Is it a rounding-into-form thing? Since November, it's down even further -- .58 per 90. The basement. Reyna's never been a dribbling monster, but back in '20-'21 he was dribbling 1.7 times per 90 -- above average. It's weird. Something's up, I think. What's a bit puzzling is that his rates of attempted dribbles (comping November to January vs. the '20-'21 Bundesliga season) are basically the same. Reyna seems to think he can take on guys as effectively as always, but he's not pulling it off.
Match fitness and athletic timing. Hard to get back after basically a year on the shelf, but he has youth on his side. I have a feeling after he went 90 his bio markers that all the clubs track now said "too much stress" and the physios recommended a slower return. You can train all you want, run the beep test and such but nothing stresses the body like the level of a pro game at the highest levels. So it's important to make sure that if Gio does go 90 again, he's got the right bio mechanics in place not to rip out that hammie during an 80th minute sprint. I mean he still might, but better safe than sorry. The new training and metrics they track will give him the best shot possible no doubt.
Today Welt had an article about the Gio Reyna affair: https://www.welt.de/sport/fussball/...eyna-Der-BVB-feiert-Amerikas-Suendenbock.html BVB celebrates America's scapegoat Giovanni Reyna experienced a messed up World Cup, where the US national coach confronted the 20-year-old. In Dortmund, on the other hand, Reyna has not played as well as he's playing now for a long time. Without his goals in the past two games, BVB would have lost four points. And Reyna wants more. [...] Reyna is currently responsible for those special moments. Although the attacking player comes off the bench as a technical boost, the effect his substitutions have was decisive for coach Edin Terzic's team to be able to end a disappointing first half of the season at least successfully.
Interesting article. The word play in the first sentence caught my eye. They used a form of the word ‘treten’ to say that the Coach retaliated against Gio (not confronted, as is translated above). The verb is ‘nachtreten’. The most common meaning of ‘treten’ (without the nach) is to step or kick. I think the choice of words is more a coincidence rather than a dig at the Greg kicking incident.
From todays press conference. 🎙️ Edin #Terzic: „Gio hatte keine leichte Phase, knapp 1 1/2 Jahre musste er mit Verletzungen kämpfen. Er hat zweimal das Siegtor geschossen, ist unfassbar gut in engen Räumen und kann schnelle Entscheidungen treffen. Noch ist er nicht bei 100%.“ pic.twitter.com/gaYc7cXLU5— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) January 27, 2023 (Google) Edin #Terzic : "Gio didn't have an easy phase, he had to fight with injuries for almost 1 1/2 years. He's scored the winning goal twice, is incredibly good in tight spaces and can make quick decisions. He's not at 100% yet."
Here’s another article. I am busy and just skimmed it but is similar to the other. My Dortmund buddy sent me a picture of the print copy this morning https://www.sueddeutsche.de/sport/giovanni-reyna-bvb-mainz-matchwinner-abrechnung-1.5739635
As always, I appreciate your thoughts on YA and your insights about the teams they play on. Furthermore, I appreciate the honest but thoughtful views on the US team. And you're not alone in seeing the YA forum as a place where there might be boutique sized conversations about the US team. The thing is, that last bit is unrealistic. YA regulars who want their own USMNT discussion here usually say they don't want to have anything to do with the, um, more fully-throated discussions in the main US forums and would rather talk about that sort of stuff in the cozier, saner environs of YA (nevermind that non-YA people regularly refer to YA with terms like "crazy," "insular," and *ahem* "train wreck.") However, I guarantee you that if we build a US team conversation in YA, the people who like to talk about that stuff will come here to talk about it, YA forum regular or not. That means either the mods spend time chasing interlopers out or YA regulars get used to every YA thread being about the US team, pretty much all the time. Or both. I also guarantee anyone reading this that I will not spend any time telling people who aren't YA regulars (assuming it's even possible to make that identification in any sensible way) they can't talk about USMNT, even though these other people can. It's neither feasible nor fair, IMO. I will let the other YA mods (@TheFalseNine @dark knight ) say what they want about this. I also doubt very(!) much that the majority of YA regulars would be happy with: the inability to discuss a player's club career without constantly triangulating off of the USMNT issue du jour USMNT focused posters trying to exclude non-USMNT focused posters (including people with local knowledge about YA players' clubs) a moderating ethos based on "we don't need your kind 'round here" instead of "you're welcome here as long as you post within these guidelines" Finally, the facts are that Gio is blurring the lines. He's entitled to be his whole self while he conducts goal celebrations (and long may he do so). I do think how he's bearing up, responding, etc. is fair game as far as reading those things out of his club performances goes. My bolded comments were meant to tell people that, but also to stop them from talking about the other people involved. There is a forum that is entirely dedicated to that for those who want it. It's fascinating stuff, even if you can't help feeling disappointed about the particulars.
Oh no, they were talking about the kicking incident before, I'm quite sure they're implying it. Thing is, there is no word in English to suggest both "payback" and "kick" so I settled for "confront."
I'm trying my best but it's impossible to keep the two separated when the media in Germany covering Gio and his role in BvB are also talking about what happens between him and Berhalter and the USSF. I should note that there was, recently, a "war" in the German federation --following Löw's resigning-- with plenty of drama, several factions, and what not. So they're focusing a lot on the US drama now to sort of show it doesn't happen only to them.
I've always said that it's an arbitrary distinction we make. It's not like there's something inherently wrong with making the connection. So I appreciate the effort on your part.
There's *always" another FA messing up big time: Georgi Ivanov, the technical director of the Bulgarian Football Union, defended his comments that no players of “other skin color” should play for the Bulgarian national team https://t.co/jHdhMkZBoR— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 27, 2023
poor choice of words but are there any good bulgarian players that are black?? the demographics of bulgaria are not very diverse, especially in terms of skin color. taking issue with the trend of national teams opportunistically naturalizing and using any and all players they can regardless of how tenuous the affiliation is.....is something that is something else, imo (the USMNT does it as well as many other national teams in this era...to great effect)...doesnt have to be racism to not like that. of course, if there are bulgarian citizens being kept away from the bulgarian national team because of skin color it is horrific....but if a national team makes it a priority to develop players internally instead of using naturalization through diasporatic/immigration connections like, for example, qatar.....I think it is wise.
I disagree on one thing - I kinda don’t give a ******** about appeasing and making the life easier for someone who is here because it’s a “train wreck”.
MNTN&A: These God dang Euro clubs are destroying our national team by ruining our best players careers! YA: Actually,they ate simply finding their level in the game...(cogent analysis follows) MNTN&A: THIS PLACE IS A TRAINWRECK !
Nachtreten is mainly used as a sports analogy. When the loser of the fight is already down but the other party throws in one last punch.It is seen as unfair play.
Yeah, that rings a bell. Kicking him when he's down, so to speak. But it also means to kick someone in retaliation, like if you get fouled and soccer and then retaliate with a late kick (after kick). Either way, clever little jab there at our USMNT soap opera!