Gio Reyna’s road to redemption: USA star plays for his country the first time since World Cup

Gio Reyna made a quiet but important step on his road to USMNT redemption on Friday night as he played his first international game since the World Cup – and he was used in a less familiar midfield position.

The US recorded an emphatic 7-1 victory over Grenada in the Nations League and played for 64 minutes before being substituted off by interim coach Anthony Hudson.

While his team fired in the goals, Reyna’s display in the middle of the field was a bit quieter as he helped fill the void of USA captain Tyler Adams, who misses this camp with a hamstring injury.

The US, understandably under Gregg Berhalter, would often set up with a midfield three of Adams alongside Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah. On Friday, McKennie was partnered by Reyna and Luca de la Torre.

And while the experiment lasted an hour, Reyna – who typically plays in a more wide attacking role – showed a eagerness for possession and often dropped deep for the ball before joining up with attacks where he could.

Reyna’s fallout at the World Cup with Gregg Berhalter sparked a fallout that rocked US Soccer

The 7-1 win over Grenada was a positive step for the US team and for Reyna personally 

In the player ratings from the game on MLS.com, Reyna scored the lowest of all 11 starters with a 6.10 rating. The website said of his performance: ‘It was encouraging to see Reyna back in a USMNT jersey after most of the headlines at the World Cup came via off-field controversy. It wasn’t an especially notable match for the Borussia Dortmund attacker, though, as he didn’t make the impact commensurate with his undeniable skill level.’

He made way on the 64th minute for Taylor Booth, who made his first appearance for the United States in the emphatic victory. Goals on the night came from McKennie (x2), Ricardo Pepi (x2) while stand-in captain Christian Pulisic, Brendan Aaronson and Alejandro Zendejas also scored.

Berhalter used Reyna sparingly at the World Cup and the 20-year-old nearly was sent home by Berhalter for lack of effort in training. 

The player’s parents, former US captain Claudio Reyna and former women’s player Danielle told US Soccer of a 1992 domestic violence incident involving Berhlater and the women he later married – who was Danielle’s former college roommate.

The USSF commissioned a law firm to investigate and appointed Anthony Hudson interim coach after Berhalter’s contract expired Dec. 31. The conclusion, published this month, said there was no legal impediment to appointing Berhalter again.

The decision as to who takes over as coach will likely be made the US Soccer has a new sporting director, which might not be until the summer.

Until then, Reyna has to focus on playing soccer and in the build up to Friday’s game, was backed by his teammates to leave the World Cup fallout in the past.

‘The biggest thing is making sure that everybody knows we’re here for a reason and what’s happened with Gio in the past is in the past and what happened at the World Cup happened at the World Cup and we moved on from that as players,’ Tim Ream, a senior player in the US camp, said Tuesday.

Reyna lost focus at the World Cup after Berhalter told him he would not have a big role 

Reyna has been welcomed back into the US setup for these two international games 

‘I think the biggest thing for us as a leadership and all the guys in camp is to see that he’s working hard, training hard, that he’s wanting to be here and up to this point, it’s been nothing but positive. 

‘Having conversations with different guys, everybody knows what he can bring to the table, everybody know how talented he is. 

‘And to see him come in here with that attitude and the work rate and the desire to be a part of the group and just get back on level terms with everyone without having to overly address it has been a big positive for all the guys to see.’

The US plays next on Monday night against El Salvador in Orlando, where Reyna will likely line up in front of a home crowd for the first time since the World Cup.