Giovanni “Gio” Reyna US National Team Discussion

If you rewatch that sequence, you'll see Balo practically walking to close down the RCB seconds earlier. If he'd sprinted full speed, he would've tackled the ball away, the Paraguayan LCB would've never received it, and then would've never been in a position to make the pinpoint 70 yard pass into our set defense.

 

Nonsense, feels like half the coaches in Serie A have done it.

 

People need to stop thinking about a roster in terms of “best 11”. That’s for video games.

You want to have 26 players, 18 of which you can rotate depending on the matchup. You want to be able to deploy different formations with those players.

 

Donezo until he proves otherwise... especially with the form of Tillman in that role, and the pedigree of CP.

Yesterday was a fine step forward to proving otherwise. He was good. But the point that he might not be an ideal Poch 10 and the question as to how that will translate to "big minutes" once everyone is healthy (should that happen, of course) remains well observed, IMO.

 

I think it's totally logical for detractors to look solely at his club situation over the last several years and be skeptical. What's strange is when you read fairly clued-in fans who say things like "he hasn't done anything for the USMNT in years". I mean, he's fourth in all-time goal contributions among active USMNT players. He was tied for third in goal contributions in 2024. This year has been entirely about disruption of the player pool, and so Pulisic has one goal in 2025, Weah, Dest, Mckennie, have zero goals / assists. Reyna's got 2 games, 139 minutes and a goal and (let's face it) an assist.

Anyway, there's a reason he's the most controversial figure in the pool by a very long shot.

 

The idea that Gio should have pressed harder is patently ridiculous. He closed the ball down from a good 10-15 yards away making the play predictable. That is the objective of the press in that scenario. The pressing player wins the ball <1% of the time there. Gio did his job by preventing the pass to the open player in the middle of the field, and he did "hurry" the pass. There's no way to make a case that he didn't. Players aren't supposed to run full speed like chickens with their head cut off all over the field. That's not how the game is played.

 

I think with an in form Weston, Gio, Malik, Puli, Wright, Dest and even Adams you get several guys that can move around. Add Weah as well to formational flexibility

 

Goal celebration? He pointed to the crest ran to the corner after high fiving a teammate then celebrated with his team.

 

I think this is flawed thinking. He's in a great place to resurrect his career. BMG is clearly taking their time with him and integrating him slowly. Like you said, he didn't come in with a strong foundation of playing a lot over the last few years. It's clear that they value him and it's likely that they have big plans for him in a hopeful sense.

As far as his quality, that doesn't just evaporate, and he hasn't had a type of injury that derails a career. He's still on track to being a big time player for the US. He's never really been off that track, outside of the ugly drama that impacted his career at and after the World Cup.

There has never really been any reason to think that he's cooked.

Has anyone seen any data about his top speed this game? He was unanimously been considered the best player on the field. Can we put to rest the idea that he has to be running 100 mph in order to be a great player?

 

It should be the opposite. He's fine until proven otherwise. There is more than enough evidence to suggest he's a great player. He's 22 with a rough couple of years finally behind him. It's most likely that a little bit of patience is all that is needed.

How can he go from great player --> washed --> great player? It can't go that way, but people were so quick to jump to the conclusion that he was cooked when the reality is that he's a 22 year old who has shown buckets of ability and been in a bad club situation with some bad (but not major) injuries that have factored in. That doesn't equal washed, and he's got more than enough time to prove everyone who jumped to that conclusion wrong.

 

Apparently he was pointing to his chest and saying, "I told you so!"

Some people prefer kneeling and having a moment of silence before pointing to Heaven. Different strokes.

 

I love Wes and I see both sides, he’s just an unorthodox fit in this setup and if Poch felt he could be trusted enough with positional discipline he would have partnered him with Adams at some point, he’s never tried him there.

I hate him in the 10 role, space is too congested there and his touch far too loose, you are playing yo his weaknesses and away from his strengths.

So for me he is a casualty like Weah and is in the mix for one of these wide wing back roles and I’m going with Jedi, Dest, Weah, Wes and Arfsten in that order, but I see arguments for and against.

You might actually be convincing me he needs to start in that role particularly against better teams, he’s just such a set piece weapon as well, when dead balls become even more valuable…

I dunno, depth is a hell of a drug.

 

It’s not the same ballpark. Prior to the Gold Cup, Tillman did nothing for the US. One could see the skill, but nothing else, imo. He deserved the heat, it looked like he was dogging it and he had no production.
All Reyna does is produce consistently for the Nats. You’d think that would earn him some goodwill, but no, because it’s oddly personal.

I was never comparing Gio to Brendan. Only that it’s not enough for some that Gio does Gio things, he has to be everything. He’s held to a different standard.

I wrote this game was about Reyna showing he ‘still has it’ and isn’t physically washed. To act like that was never in question by you is odd because you were questioning whether he could even hang in MLS! It’s the most important takeaway because that nonsense can be put to bed now.

 

Kyle Martino called out the lack of pressure on the ball there from Reyna. He had just lauded the US for the intensity of their pressure on the ball the last 2 camps. Then after the goal, on the replay, "[Wouldn't you know it], just as I'm saying it, just no pressure on the ball". That's an exaggeration of course. There was pressure - let's call it kind of doing the minimum, but it wasn't the same kind of intensity Martino had been talking about. Not that Kyle Martino is the divine source of soccer truth, but just another data point.

 

There were 6 minutes between the goals. You’re acting like it was 2.

 

The idea that it's possible to have constant pressure on the center backs building out in possession near midfield (when it's 2v5 [excluding the keeper] in that half of the field) is wild. Kyle Martino saying something during color commentary does not make it so.

 

The CB had about 4 seconds to get his head up and look around. Gio jogs up, sees that the guy is taking a while with the ball, ramps up his speed to about 3/4 speed and then pulls up a bit as he closes in. It's not like it was terrible, maybe it was even "OK", but it's not the same level of pressure that Martino had been talking about and seeing from the US.

 

No one said it "obviously would never have gotten off" either.

The fact that you're pushing back against something that is obvious -- a lack of pressure on a competent passer can put your defense and team in really difficult positions, especially when it's a pro like Almiron flying in behind a relatively high-ish line -- is what's "silly". I mean the ********ing commentator immediately called it out on the replay. Again, pretty obvious shit here.

BTW... I don't even think you have to take the original statement to only be about this play, really, which I would agree is not some insane mistake. This is much more on Scally than Reyna, for me. But at the same time and taking the original post in good faith... Poch is a pressing guy. Poch needs the total team effort. And is this action in principle the kind of thing that might determine minutes? That's what the poster was asking, and it's 100% a reasonable question.

If you think he's harping on this play a little too much... how about say that, then maybe engage with the larger idea which is very obviously being communicated? But no, look what we get a lot of instead -- "haters", "pathetic", personal bias, blah blah blah. It's a ********ing joke. Engage with the idea. Or push back reasonably! Jumping to this kind of personal mind-reading bullshit is something that should be considered embarrassing.

Oh and BTW #2... would you look at that, in some of the resulting conversation there was good faith engagement with the idea! Even from you yourself! So, did we need the shitty posts too? That's my question.

 

Fair point, although I'm sure they would argue that he was out of form until they put him in!

 

It's just insane to expect pressure from 15 yards away. Gio did his job. The long ball should have been dealt with. I think the camera angle makes it look like he was closer than he was, but you can see that he's still a couple of steps away from being able to actually challenge when the ball is played. It's not like he had a change to challenge and pulled up.

Gio's pressure on the GK a couple/few weeks ago for BMG was an example of exceptional hustle where he actual did intercept the ball after tracking him from about 15 yards away. If we are going to hold Gio under a microscope for his hustle and pressing, that should not be overlooked. I don't think it's fair to continue this characterization that he's lazy or doesn't have the mentality to do it.

 

They aren't behind him. He's not playing. You don't know if his injury history is behind him. So it should very much not be the opposite.

We all know the skills, we've all seen them. On his best day, he's great. Among the best players in CONCACAF. With his track record you cannot count on him to even be available. That's the entire problem.

 

That doesn't mean he's washed. We should exercise a little patience instead of making wild claims like that.

Here are some players who USMNT fans thought had career altering injuries/injury histories:

Tyler Adams
Christian Pulisic
Tim Weah

At one time or another, each one of these guys was supposedly never going to the be the same. Add Gio Reyna to the list.