Gio Reyna's USMNT stock surges with statement performance

CHESTER, Pa. – It is putting it mildly to say Gio Reyna has weathered more than his share of highs and lows in his professional career, particularly for someone who’s somehow still only 23 despite nearly a decade in the spotlight.

Whatever’s happening at club level, however, the New York City FC academy product rarely misses a chance to star for his country.

Reyna reminded everyone of the rare talent that’s taken him this far, this fast, making a triumphant return to the US men's national team with a goal – the first headed goal of his senior career – in the Yanks’ edgy 2-1 win over Paraguay on a lively autumn night at Subaru Park, home of the Philadelphia Union.

“He always shows up for the national team,” said Union alumnus Brenden Aaronson afterwards.

“Gio’s one of my best friends in football. We grew up playing against each other for a long time. I know the kind of player he is, and I'm just really happy for him,” added Aaronson, one of the first to celebrate with Reyna after his early header past Albirroja goalkeeper Orlando Gill.

“He deserves it. He’s been through a lot with injuries, with all this stuff, but whenever he plays for the national team, he's always there, and it's awesome to see.”

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Moment seized

Reyna has played just 147 Bundesliga minutes across six matches with his new club Borussia Mönchengladbach this season, and there were signs of rust in his first US start since the loss to Uruguay that ended their Copa América campaign on July 1, 2024.

Yet it was evident that his quality endures, and beyond the goal he was centrally involved in the buildup to Folarin Balogun’s second-half winner.

“So happy with him,” said coach Mauricio Pochettino, lauding Reyna’s movement and incision against a cunning, physical Paraguayan rearguard. “He showed why he started. And he has confirmed that he's a player that needs to improve, because he needs to play more in his club, but we can see today that he was great.

“The capacity to read the game and find the free space in between the lines, I think that was a nightmare for Paraguay.”

"Show that I belong"

‘Poch’ wants everyone on his squad to earn their place via consistency and productivity at club level, understandably. And Reyna underlined his determination to win a starting role at Gladbach. But either way, he might just be impossible to leave out of next summer’s FIFA 2026 World Cup roster.

“I knew it was an opportunity for me to show that I belong here,” Reyna told reporters. “He [Pochettino] has been great with me all week, working with him, and yeah, just trying to give me the freedom and the confidence to sort of be myself. So I can't thank him enough, obviously, for the start and just for the relationship that we've really built this camp.

“In the end, it’s performances like this that can help everybody here,” he added. “I want to have, more importantly, seven or eight good months in the rest of the season with Gladbach, and then I believe if I keep performing like I did tonight, and then I'll have a good chance to make the team and have an impact there too.”

His header came from a pinpoint cross from Columbus Crew All-Star Max Arfsten, who continued his jaw-dropping surge from newcomer to mainstay over the past year. Meanwhile, Balogun’s winner was made possible by tenacious counterpressing from Diego Luna and Cristian Roldan, two other MLS standouts who’ve become USMNT success stories under Pochettino, to start the sequence.

Signs of progress

While Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay will surely present another rugged obstacle in Tampa on Tuesday, it’s fair to say the Yanks have dug themselves out from the low point of their flameout at the Concacaf Nations League finals back in March.

Here there was both “harmony,” to use Pochettino’s word for their collective tactical fluidity, and a Philly-style grittiness that flashed to the surface in the late fracas that broke out between the teams after Alex Freeman and Gustavo Gómez tussled in injury time.

Positive signs with the 2026 World Cup looming ever closer.

“[With] the whole team, was the idea to press high with intensity. The good thing, that was a team performing, a team with intensity, going to press. It wasn’t individual actions,” said Poch. “It was a big test for us, and I think a good test that we need to be happy, but I want to repeat: It's not enough. We need to keep pushing. We need to keep improving.”