Giovanni “Gio” Reyna US National Team Discussion

But even in American sports players generally climb the pyramid of best high schools to best colleges/conferences to the best league. There’s a reason an elite HS football player chooses Alabama over UC Davis.

Now if someone wants to say Europe didn’t work out for Caden Clark or the Ered didn’t do much good for Mihailovic, I’d agree. But that’s a talent gap issue and doesn’t apply to Puli and Gio. Just saying Puli and Gio didn’t play enough so they should drop well below the level their individual quality represents makes no sense in a sporting context. But if you've followed Landon's comments about Puli not going to Milan and on the Kickin It podcast it's pretty apparent Landon can't relate to a willingness to fight for mins in a more competitive environment.

 

LD:

 

Well, I'm convinced:

• In the pressure packed environment of a Cashgrab Cup,
• Against CONCACAF fodder ranked #62 in the world,
• With mighty foes from massive clubs like Indy 11, Las Vegas Lights, and that awesome Jamaican club "Mount Pleasant,"
• With them sitting deep to protect a lead, so Gio had acres of space and enough time to fill up an hourglass,

Gio Reyna can be Steven Gerrard.


Got it.

 

Gio doesn’t have the positional sense or tactical sense to play quarterback. At least not now. Maybe in 5 years. Right now, he’s an impulsive and reactive player whose value is being involved in attaching sequences in and around the 18.

Berhalter hitched his wagon to the “play Gio central” model in the Copa America and Gio never showed up. He had no influence on the games whatsoever until Berhalter pushed him into the wing against Uruguay, He still didn’t have an influential game, but at least he contributed there.

 

Gio was also Player of the Tournament at the 2023/2024 Nations League.

Few showed up at Copa America.

When Gio is healthy and "in form," he's one of the most talented players in the pool.
So is Tillman. Can Gio get back to that, or is he "damaged goods?" I don't know. We'll see.

I'm not sure if Pulisic, Tillman, and Reyna have ever started a game together. Maybe that's not really possible as all three are most impactful centrally (in my opinion). But the way the modern game is going with injuries, etc. we need all three to be "the man" when called upon. All three have a role to play. As will others like Weah and Aaronson.

Pulisic has gone thru periods of small injury problems and/or a lack of form. Thru our first ten 22 WCQers he had 1 goal and 0 assists. Supposedly our best player. It was bad enough that there were whispers on this forum about whether he should be a starter. Pulisic had zero goals and zero assists in the 23/24 Nations League as well.

We cannot count on Pulisic to be great every game. We NEED Gio. We NEED Malik.

 

Most high level wrestlers believe they’ll only make gains by training with people that can push them. They’re extremely sensitive to who their training partners are, believe cream rises, and that the process will produce the best version of their wrestling selves.

Probably doesn’t translate well to soccer, due to the 100% subjective nature of determining who’s better…and that must be excruciating for soccer players. I’d probably just want to play because of it, development be damned.

 

He missed 3 of them through injury and came off the bench in another 3.

He contributed 5 goals in 7 starts and 3 sub appearances in 2022 WCQ. It's difficult to get assists when you don't have a reliable goalscorer.

In 2 whole games? My God it's a crisis!

I think the problem early on was he put too much pressure on himself, especially when no-one else was contributing much.


But he's not expected to score a ton of goals as he's not a striker. He has 53 G/A in 76 games or 0.88 goal contributions per 90 minutes played. That's outstanding.

I think Gio puts too much pressure on himself as well and when everything clicks he's very, very good, but when it doesn't he's awful. I don't think he trusts the players around him.

He has got a ton of talent I just hope he gets to express it consistently.

 

Could be also that he was in Europe himself when it was a lot more "nasty" as Klinsmann used to say. Omar went over for a trial in Bundesliga and they dragged him off the plane, put him to work and ripped his ACL. There was more of a NHL "bad boy" mentality in Euro soccer 20 years ago.

 

I think in an individual sport training probably has a bigger impact compared to training for a team sport. So may variables in a team sport especially a fluid one like soccer. But I suspect if you asked a wrestler if they would rather have a terrific training partner then sit on the teams bench or a so so partner but actually wrestle matches.....well we know the answer to that!

 

Wrestlers, yes. Elite wrestlers, no. That’s why I’d choose play over development. Never been elite.

 

All points taken.

 

His coaches need to simplify his game. “This is your area of the field. These are the three things we expect from you there : X, Y, and Z. Focus on getting your eyes up and understanding the players around you. Your defensive responsibilities are: A and B.”

That’s it. Keep it simple and put him in a facilitatory role as a right wing who plays pinched in. Put he and Dest over there with Adams supporting their side of the field and Robinson ready to pinch in to support Adams when there are counter attacks up that side.

Gio doesn’t need more responsibilities with more complications, he needs less. He needs his game simplified where he can focus on his strengths and start building out his bag from there.

 

Yeah, it was me who called him a moron, I think anyway.

 

Are you seriously going to tell me an elite wrestler would rather have great training and not wrestle matches????????? Not buying that no way. What would be the point?

 

They believe they’ll wrestle matches…that’s why they’re elite. The only difference with Gio’s situation is that a wrestler has an objective way to prove that he’s better than his teammate. I’ve always admired the mental toughness of athletes, but I truly believe that the mental toughness of guys like Gio and Pulisic is massively underrated.

 

I don't think any of what you said is false, but I will say this: I believe that the biggest difference in Pulisic's play has been a change in mentality (for lack of a better term). His game seems to be more mature and he seems to be trying to do less. Before, he was trying to carry the team and rarely succeeding. Now is is trying to do less and achieving more; often carrying the team.

 

Let me also add this, after hearing what Donovan said Gio was a bad example for the point he was trying to make. Donovan was trying to make a point about how he didn't think the Europe at all cost mindset was the best because you could A)End up in a bad league that won't get you noticed B)End up in a bad situation and C)You need to be playing at the end of the day.


The issue here is the argument makes more sense if you talk about guys like Jonathan Gomez, Justin Che, Alex Mendez, ect. Not about a guy like Gio who broke in and played well at Dortmund as a 17 year old and is now not playing because of injuries and MAYBE (stressing maybe) attitude/work ethic/defensive issues.

 

Spot on old chap.

 

It's not like Donovan just happened to be making the point which would be "an argument that makes more sense it it was about Justin Che" and made the mistake of choosing to mention Gio Reyna as a bad example, he was discussing Gio Reyna and made that point specifically about Reyna which makes absolutely no sense. Same as when he said pretty much the exact same relating to Pulisic which was an even dumber point when it comes to Pulisic than it is for Reyna!

 

If he joined MLS for a season or two, with plans to turn it into a move back to Europe, I wouldn't be against it. But hammering it out isn't the worst idea.He wouldn't be all that challenged in MLS, IMO.

 

It makes sense if youre trying to justify your own career decisions lol

 

How challenged is he riding the bench at Dortmund? LOL

 

Gio will make his own decision based on realistic options ultimately. I don’t think the angst is needed every time the suggestion is made that a good American should play in MLS.

 

Maybe Claudio can get a GM job in Eredivisie. I don't think he'll get more opportunities in MLS.