AL-RAYYAN, Qatar – It’s no secret that the United States men’s national team is heading into the 2022 FIFA World Cup healthier than they’ve been in a long time.
Weston McKennie, Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah – these key contributors all missed vital time over the final year-plus with accidents. As it stands all of them must be accessible and able to play when the Americans open their group stage slate Monday towards Wales (2 p.m. ET, FOX and the FOX Sports app).
So ought to one other vastly essential participant: 20-year-old attacker Giovanni Reyna. Perhaps the most naturally gifted of any member of the 26-man U.S. roster, Reyna barely performed throughout World Cup qualifying due to a extreme hamstring tear that was adopted by a sequence of setbacks. But his return to one thing approaching full health after nearly a complete calendar 12 months on the sideline may spell the distinction between success or failure for the USMNT in Qatar.
“He’s a great player,” Pulisic, the Champions League-winning Chelsea winger and U.S. headliner, mentioned Wednesday of Reyna who, like Pulisic is a product of German expertise incubator Borussia Dortmund. “We need him in this team and when he’s healthy we’re better.”
For the uninitiated, Reyna is American soccer royalty. His father, Claudio Reyna, performed in three World Cups for the USMNT, captaining the squad in two of them. His mom, Danielle Egan, is a former U.S. girls’s nationwide teamer who received 4 nationwide titles in 4 years with the University of North Carolina.
Gio, as he is recognized, is thought of one among the prime younger prospects in the sport. He’s the youngest American ever to seem in the UEFA Champions League. And now, after his seemingly unstoppable trajectory was slowed first by the pandemic after which by his maddening damage woes, has an opportunity to be the breakout participant for the youngest crew at this World Cup.
“I always knew I was gonna be ready for this moment,” Reyna, when requested by FOX Sports if he ever doubted he’d be again in time, informed reporters Wednesday after the U.S. skilled at Al Gharrafa Stadium on the outskirts of Doha. “I think it was always in the back of my head, too: make sure I was ready for the World Cup.”
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Boasting his father’s silky contact and off-the-charts soccer IQ and his mom’s all-world athleticism, Reyna presents a distinct dimension to U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter — even when he nonetheless may not be fairly in a position to play all 90 minutes of the Americans’ three first-round matches. He’s a game-changer. And his presence alone ought to provide the USMNT a lift.
“He just has that demeanor about him: when he steps on the field, he changes,” U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner mentioned. “For a young kid, he’s like a leader on the team. I don’t think he knows that yet, but I can see it in him.”
What you possibly can’t see are nerves. Perhaps due to his pedigree, Reyna is unflappable. Not solely is he unfazed by the magnitude of taking part in in entrance of a worldwide viewers for the first time in his younger profession, he appears to see it nearly as his future.
“It’s something you dream of your whole life and it’s what you work towards,” he mentioned earlier than shortly including: “But now that I’m here, we gotta perform.”
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That Reyna all the time anticipated to play at this World Cup doesn’t imply the final year-plus was straightforward. On two separate events final season, he returned to Dortmund’s lineup solely to re-injure himself and stroll off the discipline in tears. The second occasion ended his 2021-22 season and value him the starting of this one, plus 4 U.S. matches in June.
Not desirous to threat something, the Bundesliga energy has intently managed Reyna’s minutes this season. That persistence has paid off lately, with Reyna showing in every of the Black & Yellow’s 10 video games earlier than the World Cup break.
“I’m feeling good, I’m feeling strong,” mentioned Reyna, who will put on the similar No. 21 shirt his dad did at the 1998 World Cup. “It’s obviously still managing a few things [and] it’s gonna take time, but I’m ready to help the team here.”
Just getting so far is a reward for his persistence.
“World Cups don’t come around too often,” he mentioned. “It’s a special moment.”
It is likely to be much more particular for his mother and pa, who will arrive in Qatar two days earlier than the Americans’ opener.
“They’ll probably be crying when I’m playing in the first game,” mentioned Reyna, who hasn’t seen his mother and father in months.
“I’m sure it’s going to mean a lot to them.”
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Doug McIntyre is a soccer author for FOX Sports. Before becoming a member of FOX Sports in 2021, he was a workers author with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has lined United States males’s and ladies’s nationwide groups at a number of FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
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