'Things have changed' - USMNT's Reyna is ready to tell a new story

Gio Reyna GFX

GOAL sat down with Gio Reyna to discuss his reputation, his growth since Qatar and why this World Cup gives him the chance to change the story around him.

ATLANTA -- Over the last three and a half years, Gio Reyna has developed something of an unintended superpower: the ability to say the same thing over and over again, just slightly differently. Every time he meets the media, it's some variation of the same discussion. It's one that, no matter how hard he's tried, he's never quite been able to escape.

As a result, Reyna's story has become something of a repetitive one over the last few years: 2022 World Cup, form, fitness, injuries, attitude, perception, reputation - all mixed in over and over again. There comes a time, though, when someone becomes tired of answering the same old questions about the same old topics. There comes a time when the topic has to change, particularly if the person at the center of it has.

That's why Reyna is so ready to talk about something else. He's ready to look forward. As he heads into his second World Cup, he simply wants to talk about who he is, not who he was. So what's the angle then? Well, it's both complicated and simple: Reyna's story has evolved. He's just waiting for the world to notice.

"I’m four years older, and that's a really big difference," he tells GOAL. "It’s not just any four years, but from 19 to 23, I believe, in most people's lives, that is where a lot of people grow up. I’ve grown in so many different ways it's hard to pinpoint one, but yeah, now that I'm here, I'm just looking forward to this moment.

“It's hard, when you're in the moment, take a step back and think about it, but of course, things have changed."

That is why, ahead of a potentially life-changing summer, there may be no better time for Reyna to turn the page. He has moved on. Now, maybe, he can help everyone else do the same. A new chapter is there for him, if he can show just how much has changed.

"It all comes from a good supporting group around you that keeps you going every day," he says. "Then, also, it has come from within, of course."

The World Cup has arrived, and Reyna, now 23, looks ready for it, which means it's time for this particular story to begin.

Gio Reyna USMNT

The reputation question

There was a point where Reyna just decided to stop scrolling. The decision to do so was easy. He deleted Instagram from his phone and decided that his time could be better spent elsewhere: talking to family, sitting with his dog, playing the PGA Tour video with his U.S. Men's National Team teammates - literally anything but mindlessly staring at the phone. During those scrolling sessions, it became harder and harder to avoid seeing what was being said. Whenever his name popped up, in headlines or social media comments, the same sort of discussions always followed.

Reyna's reputation has been debated and dissected plenty of times over the last three and a half years. It's the one thing that everyone always wants to know about. Is he who social media says he is? Did it all happen the way we read? Is he fit? Is he confident? Do people like him? Does he care? Does he feel he has more to prove? Is everything that everyone's assumed about him actually true?

Some is, he can admit. Like all stories, the ones about Reyna have morphed out of control over the years, spiraling in ways he never could have imagined. They did begin somewhere, though, and those beginnings are worth acknowledging. The other parts? They're worth laughing about.

"I feel like a lot of the noise around me can tend to be that I'm a little bit of a hothead and, maybe, that I have attitude problems," Reyna says as if he's setting things up for a swift denial.

Not quite. He cracks a smile as he continues: "I think if you ask a lot of these guys on this team, there are, at times, moments on the field where I can be a hothead, for sure."

Not a hothead in the traditional sense, mind you. The term can be used negatively, and it has been used that way plenty of times. Reyna, as he has said many times before, took it too far during one particular week in Qatar. Now, though, he takes a second to try to reclaim it. Gone is "hothead," and in comes "passionate." It's a slight shift, but a significant one.

"I feel like part of it is that it's something you need to be successful in the sport," he says of his own ego and passion, which, again, have been the center of debate for his entire adult life. "You need to have that self-drive and that hunger and that fire. You need to keep going. Off the field, though? I feel like I'm very centered and very rational, yeah."

Part of being rational is accepting reality. Reyna knows his. He knows that there are still plenty out there eager to hold the 2022 World Cup over him. Some people will define everything he does by how he handled the worst days of his professional career. Even as his life evolved, that moment will remain a chapter, one that can't be erased.

It can be moved past, though. Perhaps even overshadowed, if all goes well. The reality is, though, that reputations are hard to shed. Reyna knows this.

"I feel like I'm definitely way less of a problem to the team than maybe people have thought in the past," he says with a laugh. "I feel like that probably stems from that story more than anything, but I think I'm a team player. I enjoy being with this group of guys. I'm probably less of a problem for coaches than people think.

"People think I just walk in every day and everyone looks, but no, I'm pretty normal. I just want to do my best and help my team."

One thing that Reyna has made clear time and time again is that this team, the USMNT, means everything to him. He was raised to love it, and he never fell out of love. For him, though, it's not just a program, a status, or a soccer team; it's deeper than that.

United States v Paraguay - International Friendly

Where Reyna fits inside the USMNT brotherhood

There's no overstating Reyna's friendship with Joe Scally. It's partly why he and his wife traded in Dortmund for Düsseldorf to join his longtime friend at Borussia Monchengladbach. The change has been nice, Reyna says. Düsseldorf is busy, while Dortmund was much more of a small-town vibe. It helps that Scally is there, too.

That's one relationship that defines Reyna's comfort with the USMNT. There are plenty of others. He's known Brenden Aaronson since he was 13 or 14. Same with Chris Richards. Other new faces have been added along the way. Chris Brady is newer, but he was locked in on competing with Reyna, Scally, and Aaronson in another video game, Clash Royale, this past March. Everyone knows everyone. Everyone has a memory. Everyone fits together somewhere.

What's Reyna's fit? In his words, he's the quieter type. For all the noise he creates on the field and all the headlines that follow him off it, Reyna tends to be a bit more subtle within the group.

"I feel like I'm pretty, pretty chill," he says. "Off the field, I speak to everybody. Maybe I'm not the loudest guy in the room, but I feel like I'm pretty well-liked on the team. I would say I'm not the guy who's going to speak the most in every room, like maybe Chris Richards or Tyler Adams or Weston [McKennie]."

For years, players within the program have reflected on the USMNT brotherhood and what it means to them. They've also reflected on how they've survived the tough times: the 2022 World Cup, the 2024 Copa America, and the 2025 Nations League. Reyna has an answer to explain how they did it: they care about the team and each other.

"I've been on some teams where it has not been like this," he says. "Moreso on the club level than anything, but here? I really mean it: one of our strengths is that everyone gets along. There's no beef in any way with anybody. Everybody really enjoys being with everybody on this team. That's what I love about coming back to this team.

"On the field, you see that we really play for each other every time around the field."

One thing about Reyna is that he does show up every time he takes the field in a USMNT shirt. It's not a coincidence, and it's relevant heading into this summer.

Gio Reyna, USMNT

A 'special' talent

For much of the last year, USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino, too, has been asked to weigh in on Reyna. Last March, when getting his first real look at the midfielder, he said Reyna had work to do to catch up to the rest of the team physically. Every time since, he's leapt as far as he could to support the 23-year-old midfielder, whom he has routinely labeled as "special".

It is why, although Reyna played just 510 league minutes this season with Gladbach, Pochettino included him in his World Cup squad. It is why, despite struggling for consistent minutes for much of this cycle, Reyna was still able to score and assist during the November break. It is why he was in the XI against Senegal - and why he could conceivably start this summer.

There are no guarantees and no certainties, but there is something about Reyna. Pochettino sees it.

“I trust in everyone, but I really trust in him," Pochettino said. "I don’t say that he’s going to play the game, but he can help. He can help because he’s a different player, a different talent. And I think, in a roster, you need to have a player like him."

The complicating factor of all of that is that Reyna hasn't had the chance to help in many games. He's started just 20 league games since 2021. In that time, he has 12 goals and four assists. Yet, when he's put on the USMNT shirt, Reyna has always shown up. In 39 caps, he has nine goals and six assists, and of those 16 goal contributions, half have come in official games.

"Gio is a player, I think, that can see things that not a lot of others can see," said USMNT striker Folarin Balogun, who has been on the end of multiple Reyna assists since making the big switch to the USMNT in 2023. "I've already seen that, even just in the early stages of practice. He's a player that I love to have near me. I think everyone's glad that he's here."

So how does Reyna do it? What is the key to switching it on after his game has been switched off for longer than he would have wanted?

"Deep down, I really trust in my ability and what I can do any time I step on a field," he says. "Of course, it's not as easy when you know maybe you're playing 20 minutes. So, of course, the game-to-game rhythm matters, and I think that's what I'm looking at to really take the next step in my career."

Reyna has been thinking about those steps a lot lately. He took one last summer when he made the move to Gladbach to try to reignite his career. He took another in the fall to seize his USMNT chance with a goal against Paraguay and an assist against Uruguay. And he took some over these last few weeks as he wondered if he'd done enough to get the chance of a lifetime.

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'We want to do something special'

Now, with just days remaining before the start of the World Cup, the noise is getting louder, but Reyna has learned to shut that out over the years. Again, the social media is gone. What he does hear is filtered to him by his wife or parents. He understands that the discussions and debates are ongoing; it's part of the business. The headline writers play their part, as do people like Reyna, the headline makers.

The last few weeks were nerve-wracking. He was with his wife in Connecticut on the day of USMNT call-ups. After getting a smoothie, the Reynas were too nervous to go home. So they waited and waited until the call came. When it did, nerves turned to joy and, quickly, anticipation.

Even so, whether he wants to admit it or not, Reyna knew that, when his name was announced as part of the squad, there would be no singular, universal reaction. It would be complicated because, again, all of this tends to be complicated.

"It's all so much more than just stepping onto the pitch and playing," he says. "It's never that simple. I wish it was. I'm sure everybody wishes it was that easy as a player, too. Obviously, this game means so much to all of us."

It means even more this summer. There's so much talk about the pressure of this particular World Cup, which is being hosted stateside, but several members of the USMNT have pointed out that World Cups, naturally, come with pressure. Wherever they're played, this is the maximum amount of weight that can be put into a game. Yes, it's at home and, yes, that means something, but the nerves and excitement can only go so high.

"It’s a World Cup summer," Reyna says. "I think not only myself, but you can feel the whole team's just energy is taking that much of a step higher. I think you saw against Senegal that we don't want to take this summer for granted. We want to do something special."

Perhaps that's the one thing everyone can agree on. This summer can be something special, both for individuals and the collective. It can push everything forward, mark the moment soccer truly arrives stateside and change lives and legacies forever.

Maybe this is the summer Reyna wins back the crowd, too. Maybe it is one of goals, forgiveness and bright moments that drown out the dark ones. Maybe, at last, the world will have a new story to tell about him. Maybe this is the summer everything changes.

Reyna wants that. He wants to achieve something for all of those who believed in him and all of those who wrote him off in equal measure. More than that, though, he wants to achieve something that he can be proud of. This is his story, too, after all.

"I'm looking to do this for a lot of people," he says, "But I'm looking to do it for myself more than anybody because this is what I've wanted to do my whole life. I really want to make that next step, and I really believe I can. I want to stay fit. I'm doing a lot of things off the field to try to keep that up to the best I can.

"I just really want to make the most of this talent that I have. Hopefully, this World Cup is a good kickstart for that."

Until that happens, Reyna will face more questions. Many will be the same. Maybe some will be new. Finally, though, it's time to really focus on the only question that matters: what's Reyna going to do next?