Giovanni “Gio” Reyna US National Team Discussion

Bringing up Messi in a football comparison argument is like bringing up Hitler in a political argument; whatever point you're making doesn't even matter, even if there's some truth in it, you're going to lose most everyone.

Like you might say about Poch, the wrong strategy.

There's simply no room for him in the 11. Obviously. However, very much agreed that having his talent on the bench is compelling.

 

This

 

Reyna scores first Borussia Monchengladbach goal in loss to Augsburg

 

We just need Pulisic to get off the schneid.

 

While it is not impossible that one player can elevate a team that is not really expected to be strong to the point where said team may be playing in the quarter finals of a major tournament even though that team would not even progress without the player but that rarely happens it the real world simply because, except for very rare exceptions, it is actually pretty easy to negate any one player. Pulisic is, when playing well, a player that can dominate a match but even a halfway good team can, and usually does, negate the effect of any one player.
The hardest type of players to negate are those that are very good at winning the ball close to goal and then making a shot very quickly and/or holding the ball in a crowd and finding tan open player. That is not Pulisic. in fact we have no players that have shown the ability to preform in that way. Our entire team is mostly built on the idea on playing as a team with no single player dominating. That is we are an average "team" with zero true stars that can create on their own and that means that the loss or gain of any one player is nearly meaningless to our team's performance.
To play anywhere close to good/great soccer we need the best they can produce out of at least 5 or 6 of our best players.

It would not surprise me if we ended up being grouped and neither would it surprise me if we advanced to the quarters. That is no matter who plays or does not play.
I would prefer something like the second option but we are so dependent the team playing well as a team that what happens in the locker room may be as or more important than what actually happens on the field.

I kind of wish our coach was more the cheerleader type than a strategist or tactician. To win we need to play with real emotion and that should start with the coaching staff.

Oh. I do think that there is one thing that could help that involves Pulisic and that is "turn him loose." That is come up with a system that allows Pulisic to roam a bit and create as he sees fit. Much of the time we hamstring our best players by putting them inside too restraining a box. Most of our team actually works pretty well under that kind of constraint but Pulsic is not one of them and neither is, I believe, McKennie. If they were similar players I would say they should interchange freely but i do not think that would work but giving both a great deal of freedom just might be the ticket to getting the most out of both of them.

But our defense is so weak and our goalkeepers so undependable that freeing up even one player might be too great a stretch.

if the choice is between playing unimaginative soccer and losing by one goal to good teams and playing wide open and either winning or losing by three I choose the latter. Playing conservative cannot result in anything better than loosing early in the knockouts or even being grouped.

 

We need more offensive sparks than what we have in the core players. Two on the fringe that could help in this regard are Reyna and Zendejas.

 

I tend to agree with this.

 

It is an old maxim and a very sound one, that he that dances should always pay the fiddler.

 

Reyna unleashed an outrageous finish for the final goal in the US's 4-1 win over Paraguay today.

Vindication for people who thought he should be in the squad.

(And he was still in the wrong back in 2022. But it's not 2022 anymore, and Reyna didn't deserve a death sentence)

 

Yeah, that's why he was brought. But damn, can he play a full 90?

 

Well……… glad Bach are gonna have some good phone calls about a loan I think

 

Did anyone catch the sprint speeds?

 

I doubt he'll get the chance.

 

We can only hope!

 

beautiful.

 

I’ll take it.

 

What an outrageous goal! With the outside of his boot -- who does that?!

 

That was the most arrogant disrespectful sh!t.

 

Still reminds me of Berbatov.

 

Lined up perfectly for it and executed perfectly.

 

Well he went from almost fighting some Paraguayan guy to scoring the goal... okay there were 26 passes on that goal so it may not have required lightning quick speed.

Well then it's a good thing we're USMNT fans and not Gladbach fans I guess

 

Oldsters will remember this phrase that occurred to me when Gio hit that banger: “That’s why he’s here.”