Last week, Gio Reyna and his wife, Chloe, sat in a parking lot outside a smoothie shop in Connecticut, waiting to hear if he had made Team USA’s World Cup roster. They knew they would hear from the coaching staff any minute now, but they wanted to be alone.
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“I knew it would be nerve-wracking,” he said after returning to his wife’s parents’ home. Reyna said her parents were also in another location, “waiting anxiously.” “Just like I was.”
Soon, Reyna received a notification that she was added to the roster. He called his parents and told them the news. “I was really happy,” he said of their reaction. A few years ago, he was considered the next great young American soccer player. He was the son of two former men’s and women’s national team players, Claudio Reyna and Daniel Reyna. He was still a teenager when he went to train with Borussia Dortmund in Germany. A young attacking midfielder with a supernatural touch, he could dribble past entire defenses or create advantages with perfect passes. This is a skill that cannot exactly be taught.
However, in the 2022 World Cup, Reyna did not play much. Questions swirled about his lack of effort, attitude and fitness. He seemed to be in coach Gregg Berhalter’s doghouse. Reina had just turned 20 years old. Eventually, the situation developed into a full-blown melodrama between Reyna’s parents and the coach, who had known each other for decades.
Berharter was sacked two years later following a poor performance in the Copa America and was replaced by Mauricio Pochettino, an Argentine who previously managed world-class clubs Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain. Now, manager Pochettino has selected Reina among the 26 players he will take to the 2026 World Cup.
“Gio has great talent and experience,” Pochettino said at a press conference Tuesday in Manhattan to announce the squad. She added: “I really trust him.”
A few minutes later, Reyna, along with several teammates, met with a large group of media to answer questions. It seems like Reyna didn’t really want to dig out the 2022 World Cup.
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Has he reflected on what happened? “Remorse? I guess so,” he said. “That was a while ago. But, sure, it happened. That’s what it is.”
Was he disappointed in not playing more in 2022? “I mean, of course,” he said. “Everyone wants to play every moment of every game. But sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way.”
What did he learn from that experience? How has he changed now, four years later? “Well, I don’t think there’s that much,” he said. “That’s clearly in the past.”
Over the past four years, Reina’s club career hasn’t gone as planned either. He has never played for Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga, nor was he firmly established in the starting XI during his one season with Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, and this season was his first for Borussia Mönchengladbach, who are not in the Bundesliga.
At times on Tuesday, Reyna sounded humbled by it all. “This time, I’m going to do whatever it takes,” Reyna said. “Whatever you need me to do, I’m happy to help,” he reiterated, “I want to help the team in any way I can.”
Reyna suggested that the entire team has grown since the last World Cup and that experience will be one of the team’s strengths. “We have a lot of players who have improved,” he said. “It’s really competitive. A lot of guys are nearing or in their prime. We’re all getting older. We’re growing as people and players.”
Pochettino did not make any public promises to Reina. “I didn’t say he would play,” Pochettino said. “But he helps. He helps because he’s a different player and he has a different talent. And I think we need a player like him on the whole roster.”
At one point, a reporter asked Reina to explain the difference between Berhalter and Pochettino. “You’re going to leave me here for a little while,” Reyna said.
“They have a lot of the same qualities,” Reyna continued. “It’s… maybe a little more South American, maybe a little more loose culture1779897651. Greg had a little more rules, but I don’t know. They’re both demanding. They both gave players a lot of freedom. But at the end of the day, you have to practice, prepare, play. And if you do those things well, both coaches gave you the freedom to have fun off the field.”
Pochettino said he had faith in Reina, and that was not lost on the 23-year-old.
“It means so much. I can’t thank him enough,” Reyna said. “At the end of the day, I want to give back to him on the field and help this team be successful.”
