http://www.safc.com/news.asp?article=101099&lid=204 Reyna goes 73 minutes in his first preseason action.
Reyna's club sacrifice Claudio Reyna has vowed to give up international football for two years to help the Sunderland cause... TeamTalk
So we knew this was probably going to be the case for a while. I seriously have my thoughts about whether or not Claudio will be able to crack into the lineup if he doesn't play with the national team for 2 years.... Don't get me wrong I've been the biggest Reyna supporter here. When the posts for "Reyna to Right Back" I disagreed, When the posts saying "Reyna Sucks" came up, I put those in their place. But two years without a game for the US, with the way the team is developing, especially with the midfield options. Seems a bit risky does it not? I mean theirs already O'Brien, Donovan, Beasley, and Mastroeni to put in the midfield. Of course their are injuries, and things happen, but I don't know that this is the smartest move for Claudio. Then again, you can't blame a man for being tired, and he has played for the US 92 times since 1994.
I think it's a very smart move. I'm sure he feels that if he can stay healthy he can really help sunderland and improve his status in the premiereship. Not to mention spending more time with his family. He's a known quantity with the National team, I doubt highly he will be forgotten because of this. It's not like he hasn't given in the past. Besides it opens up the spot for someone else to prove themselves and can only make us better.
I'd guess that he made this decision with Arena's input and support, not in a vacuum. If Arena's the coach for the next four years this will have no impact on Reyna's selection for WCQ '06.
All this time spent on these boards and you still don't realize that true development takes place on the club level and not on a national team? I'm optimistic that Claudio will continue to improve as player, and more importantly, as a leader over the next few seasons.
news flash! the next two years of USMNT is going to be of trial and experimentation. Players will compete for the chance to be used in important games. Reyna will not risk his place, as places will not be up for grabs until after 2 years. As an older candidate, the best thing he could do for himself is to stay playing injury-free club ball. Not travelling to and fro for meaningless friendlies. Now that we have all of our nats playing professionally (unlike 6-8 years ago), it is not important to play for them every given chance -- unless they are on the bubble.