Had to lolz hard on that one... Sancho.... Without question. With haaland it looks like their lineup may be changed arounfld.
The new queen? Lol. I tried to do something with that too. I was afraid it would give BSMX too much ammunition.
Think we see him again on Friday or will he be back with one of the youth squads like Pulisic was after he made his debut?
We might be seeing Reyna regularly with the big team given that Frankfurt is going after Bruun Larsen and Paco reportedly wants to go home to Spain and was left out of the squad after a bad showing in practice. Plus Bundesliga teams dress 20 on gameday starting this season.
He would score a lot more goals if he was moved centrally. That's why people want him moved there. Look I think the two wingers he compares most to ironically played at Chelsea (Hazard and Robben). The question is will he be able to improve his final product into the box better or create chaos centrally? How you feel about that is how you project him. I'm not making any statements at this time, but I could see him developing in either direction.
Read that, and started laughing and said to myself,"This guy must be from New England." Sure enough, New Hampshire. Nobody outside of New England would ever in a million years agree with that statement. It's Gretzky, a million times over. No debate, period, except for periodic croaks from Pittsburgh fans, reminding us of the true, and legit, genius of Lemieux. Not about to get me to suggest he wasn't the greatest offensive defensemen ever, and absolute class guy and scorer of if not the most famous, and picturesque goal in NHL History, certainly one of the most famous. But GOAT? Literally ZERO chance of that. You've got Gretzky, Lemieux, and then some old timer picks like Howe, Hull and Richard from an earlier generation. As awesome as Orr was, he doesn't crack the medal stand, let alone retain a GOAT title. As for Gio, I don't see a playmaker in his game. I've been one of those, "maybe he's a striker" people because he doesn't have the pace for the wing, and didn't seem to have the passing chops to play at the tip of a midfield spear. I love that he's getting played in multiple positions at Dortmund and of course they have a much better idea of how to use him then I do because he's been a player that's flummoxed me ever since I first saw clips of him a few years ago. Very excited, but genuinely have no idea where he'll play. Definitely happy to have seen him deliver some assists/nice passes in clips w/Dortmund's youth teams, as he always seemed a bit too selfish on the ball as a youth player over here. He's consistently been the best player on his team so I get it, but the best players also need to know how to find the best opportunity in a given moment, which might not be you beating three guys, but instead might be you threading a lovely pass to an onrushing teammate, sure your current teammate might not finish it, but you can bet your Dortmund or USMNT player would, or would more often then not. Ballack is a fascinating comparison someone else brought up, really intriguing. I don't know, we'll see, definitely needs to improve his passing game to get to those lofty heights, but he's certainly got that same confidence and ruthlessness in front of goal.
But then he references that the hype is exclusively based on his "name". Nobody in Europe knows who the ---- Claudio Reyna is. Seriously. Why would anyone? His last relevant club performance over there was what, 14 years ago? His last major play in a tournament was tearing his ACL while getting humiliated by a Ghanaian player in a World Cup match four World Cups ago in a relatively nondescript match day 3 game played by two teams who had zero impact on the tournament. He wasn't a star in Europe. Just a solid starter, a good player, his one starring performance was literally 18 years ago in Asia during WC '02. To argue that "Reyna" carries with it fame is just patently absurd. The only people who even recognize the name are obsessive's like us who've been watching for decades and we represent like .00000001% of the world's soccer watching public. It's literally the stupidest argument I've ever heard in my life. Period. He might be overhyped. But it has nothing to do with his dad because nobody beyond people posting in these forums, or 40+ and associated with MLS or the USMNT knows who the hell Claudio Reyna is. ***Addendum: I see now that the post was 18 months ago, so somewhat kinda understandable, doesn't read nearly so bad as it would if it had come out lately. Still lacks plenty of authenticity though from the standpoint that even as a player in the US system, he produced, period, and Reyna's relevant to MLS and USMNT insiders, but not to most soccer watchers in this country as his heyday with the USMNT was literally decades ago ('94-'06, w/'98-'02 being peak relevance). Nobody is getting hyped based on someone getting a lot of run literally twenty years ago. He dramatically overrates how big Claudio is in people's minds, 18 months ago or not. We know. How many others? Not many.
This kid is a glider in the Zidane, Kaka, Ballack mold. He has size and deceptive speed, the touch and vision to be in the middle. His shot will get better so will all the other assets. He is his dad plus all the other virtues to play in the middle. He's 17! I think he will be running the show in a year. This type of game suits his style and that is what makes for success. Some. players can't get off the ground with Team A and get moved to Team B and thrive. Our boy is at home on this squad. And the other guys on the team know that. They include him as much as possible. Very exciting.
Accidentally came across the story about Gio's late big brother, Jack, from an old SI article. Not something you want to read right before going to bed when you have a small child. Just absolutely heartbreaking, and devastating. He, like Dempsey, endured something no child, or parent for that matter, should ever, ever have to go through, and yet was unfortunately all too common in the distant past and yet through the miracles of modern medicine, and modernity itself, has been rendered a rarity so that when such tragedies do happen, it's particularly crushing.
The club is optimistic: The future is now 🌟 pic.twitter.com/2zBkMTWdza— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) January 18, 2020
I think Brandt has made Dortmund's offense hum but it's not hard to notice the defense is worse without Delaney. Not sure what they'd do now if both were healthy. Maybe mix and match based on opponent and whether at home or on the road.