The other positive is that one of the reasons Favre seems to like him so much is how mature/mentally strong he is for his age and how well he seems to deal with pressure. So hopefully one of the biggest hurdles that derails so many promising careers won’t be an issue for him.
??? on his play vs Mbappe. I thought Sancho had a good game. Heavily involved in the numerous quick counters.
It's a major factor in performance, not just opportunity, although that helps outcomes. Some make it mostly about the byproduct of the poor scouting system in the US that these are the profiles of many national teamers. And while poor football scouting exists, look at how many 2nd generation NBA players there are now too. It's over 5% of the league. The genes, tutelage, passion, and poise from being around professional squads pay huge dividends. So we see a Pulisic, Weah, Reyna, Ferreira, etc.; emerge out of the system. Sucks that Alex Morgan and Servando Carrasco had a girl.
The thing I like the most about Gio is that he's smart with the ball. That goes beyond technique. We sorely need a thinking man in the NT.
I thought the opposite. Sancho looked terrible in the first 12 minutes. I thought he played below his customary game.
Yeah. I don't miss a single minute of BVB ball as they are one of my favorite Bundesliga teams and Sancho wasn't even close to his average in yesterday's game. Of course, it is only really noticeable because he is normally the best player on the pitch. Every player has a down game now and then... at least when Sancho does it generally doesn't hurt the team much because a D or C Sancho is still better than most player's A games. I have seen enough from him this season to at least entertain the notion that he might become the best player on the planet in the near future. Of course, his teammate Haaland may have a say in that.
I think of Reyna as in that grouping of types (not talent) like Pirlo, or Riquelme, who were just really clean, but not beat 5 guys on the dribble types. That soft sells the living hell out of both of them, and I'm not comparing them as players in terms of talent, Pirlo's one of my favorite players to watch of the past 25 years, and Riquelme in his prime was a sublime pleasure to watch as well, Reyna was never at either of those levels, but what I mean, is both of those guys could hold the ball like nobodies business and pick out beautiful passes, Reyna was more conservative with his passing (hence spongebob square pass) but was just like them in terms of possession and could pick out a pass better than just about any other American at that time other than maybe John O'Brien, and at times, Mathis who were also exceptional at it, but had a much, much, much briefer period at peak form compared to Reyna (who played at a good to very good level for around 7 or 8 years compared to O'Brien's 1, and Mathis's 2 or 3).
The game has probably passed Pirlo and Riquelme by but yea, I feel lucky to have watched those conquistadors strut their stuff
cannot deny that the genetics favor Gio. but he has the same soft touch on the ball dad did and he is bigger. pretty easy to see why BVB wanted this young talent.
Maybe not over a career but he certainly had his moments. All tournament team at a World Cup in particular.
Little early but is his little brother a prospect? Edit: nvm looks like he was at NYCFC also. http://www.hudl.com/profile/11806255/Joah-Reyna
I think it's been mentioned that he's better than Gio was at his age (though that generally means little in the overall scheme of things).
Uhm, lemme guess, they measured Haaland's time when he was in full flight? And compared the time to runners who start at a standstill.
Yeah. The World Record for 100m dash is 9.58 seconds (Bolt). But top teams (USA and Jamaica) routinely have runners clock under 8.9 seconds for their respective legs of the 4x100m relay, and that’s even with the mechanics of the relay exchange.
Let's not forget that record could be closer to 9.13 had Usain not celebrated. Still mad at him for that. He ran a perfect sprint and then mucked up his time with that momentary lapse of history
Favre reiterates his earlier comments on Reyna. First a journalist asks him to expand on Haaland's goals against PSG, and the coach mentions that Reyna set him up well, "very precise"...then replies to a follow-up question to describe Reyna's development and possibility to make the starting 11 that "things will come gradually...yes, we've seen how good he was since the US tour, if you don't see his quality you must be blind. Very clever, very intelligent."
^^^^^^^^^ As much as you want to see him crack the starting 11, probably a good thing he continues coming on as a super sub. Keep bringing him on as the first sub at the 60 minute mark. Things are going so perfectly for him now. His time will come where he will be penciled in as a starter.
I agree with this. I noticed in his early experience that some of the older players wouldn't give him the ball in critical moments when Gio put himself in good positions to contribute. The most encouraging thing I have seen about this young guy is that those kind of slights seem to just make him fight harder to make an impact. Mental toughness...it's something that US players used to have in abundance, but haven't seen a lot of until this recent group of what are essentially kids who came up somewhat together (Pulisic, Adams, McKennie, Reyna, Dest, Weah, Pomykal, etc.).