Gio Reyna’s USMNT return raises questions for Berhalter

The rapprochement between U.S. males’s nationwide crew supervisor Gregg Berhalter and gifted attacker Gio Reyna has lastly taken place.

Now what?

Reyna is included within the newest U.S. roster, which was introduced on Thursday for video games towards Germany on Oct. 14 and Ghana three days later. The matches will mark Reyna’s first motion with the USMNT since fracturing his proper leg within the Concacaf Nations League closing towards Canada final June.

More critically, Reyna and Berhalter can be working collectively for the primary time because the 2022 World Cup, when tensions between the pair result in the households of each males being engulfed by a really public feud.

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There are nonetheless loads of questions about what the longer term holds for Reyna at worldwide stage. Foremost amongst these is the extent to which Reyna’s and Berhalter’s relationship is actually mended.

There was a roughly eight-month interval wherein the 2 did not speak following a maelstrom of incidents that stemmed from Reyna’s restricted enjoying time on the 2022 World Cup. Berhalter afterward contributed to the following outing of Reyna’s poor angle, and in response Reyna’s household instructed U.S. Soccer officers a couple of decades-old home violence incident involving Berhalter.

Suffice it to say, there was appreciable therapeutic that wanted to happen.

On a convention name with reporters after Thursday’s roster announcement, Berhalter confirmed that step one occurred “weeks ago” with the 2 conversing over a Zoom name. He did not present a lot in the way in which of particulars past that, besides for saying that he and Reyna are in a “good spot” and that it was a “positive conversation.”

Berhalter did acknowledge that the method of mending the connection is ongoing.

“I think it will take time,” Berhalter stated. “It is a difference between a Zoom call and being in person. But I think that both intentions are positive, and the idea is that we work together for the team to be successful, and I think we’re both prepared to do that.”

Time will reveal the extent to which that truly occurs. There are ups and downs in any coach-player relationship, and what occurred over these eight months is not simply going to scrub away.

But the 2 have to start someplace, and the upcoming camp is the place to begin. Reyna’s return to the nationwide crew camp raises its personal set of on-field questions, although.

Reyna hasn’t performed for membership or nation since sustaining the aforementioned proper leg fracture. He has been wholesome sufficient to be on the bench for Borussia Dortmund of late, so how a lot might he see the sector for the U.S. crew?

Berhalter indicated his strategy to utilizing Reyna within the upcoming video games can be much like his dealing with of Folarin Balogun through the September window. On that event, with Balogun working his method again to full health following his transfer to AS Monaco, Berhalter restricted the ahead to 45-minute stints towards Uzbekistan and Oman.

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Berhalter stated on Thursday that his purpose is to construct up Reyna’s health “in a safe way” and ship him again to Dortmund ready to make a higher influence for his membership.

“We’re going to be creative with the minutes,” Berhalter stated in relation to Reyna. “We want to certainly get him on the field and work through both the Germany game, and seeing what position he plays. And then in the Ghana game, same thing, seeing how we can get him in different positions throughout the camp on the field.”

Where Reyna is deployed could be the largest query of all. During the 2022 cycle, Reyna performed virtually solely on the wing. But towards higher groups, the U.S. has struggled to create probabilities on a constant foundation and, in response, Berhalter might have a look at placing the inventive Reyna ready to get on the ball extra.

At the 2022 World Cup — wherein Reyna performed a mere 52 minutes due partially to disciplinary points — the USMNT’s xG, or anticipated targets, per 90 minutes of precise enjoying time (which incorporates stoppage time) was 0.91. That xG, which measures probability creation, ranked twenty second within the event amongst all 32 groups, and twelfth out of the 16 groups that reached the knockout phases. Yes, that is a small pattern dimension, however it nonetheless factors to how the U.S. might use some extra creativity.

One attainable resolution was on show final June, when the USMNT, beneath interim supervisor B.J. Callaghan, trotted out a 4-2-3-1 with Reyna in a central attacking function. Against these World Cup qualifiers Mexico and Canada, the U.S. assault seemed rather more fluid and the assault additionally benefitted from Reyna dealing with set piece duties.

Berhalter did not rule out Reyna reprising that central attacking function, however he did not utterly decide to it both.

“In terms of Gio, we see him being able to play three positions: center midfielder, attacking midfielder and winger,” Berhalter stated. “And we use wingers in different ways. Sometimes the wingers are wide against the line, and sometimes they’re in between the lines, and we see him as more of an in-between-the-lines winger.”

The continued absence of defensive midfielder Tyler Adams on account of a hamstring damage means the U.S. supervisor has another questions about his midfield to resolve. Does he play with single holding midfielder or resort to a double pivot? But previously, Berhalter has lauded how the midfield trio of Adams, Yunus Musah and Weston McKennie have performed collectively, hinting that he would proceed with that group if all have been wholesome.

During the Nations League, Callaghan famous that Reyna’s potential to defend is an space the place the U.S. teaching workers have requested for enchancment, and the 20-year-old responded effectively to that problem. If that continues to be the case, the advantages of enjoying Reyna centrally appear to outweigh his defensive shortcomings, particularly if he has two out of Musah, McKennie and (hopefully) Adams enjoying behind him. It appears the time has arrived to collect extra information about Reyna’s potential to function in that midfield function.

Either method, the video games towards Germany and Ghana will definitely present a stern take a look at to see if the U.S. assault — in addition to Berhalter and Reyna — can transfer ahead.