Gio Reyna's club struggles shouldn't keep him from being a USMNT starter - he's just too valuable to Gregg Berhalter

It wasn't a surprise to see Reyna left on the bench. Malik Tillman is the player in form and Reyna, to be fair, has little form to speak of. Berhalter opted for a 4-2-3-1 system but with Tillman, not Reyna, the player charged with pulling the strings.

Reyna got his chance, though. With the U.S. down a goal after a disastrous start to the game, Berhalter turned to Reyna as one of several players tossed in to save the game. It wasn't Reyna who did it, as the U.S. benefitted from a late own goal to send the game to extra time but, once there, Reyna ensured the result was only going to go one way.

First up was a fantastic assist to Wright, one which broke the deadlock. It was a fantastic little through ball, one that few players in the U.S. player pool have the vision to play.

The second was even better. It started with Reyna winning the ball, pushing a defender out of his way to claim it. He drove forward and then fired another threaded pass to the feet of Wright, who did the rest.

Wright was recognized as Man of the Match, but he couldn't have done it without Reyna, who silenced a few doubters with his standout performance.

To Marsch's credit, he didn't directly say Reyna shouldn't have been called up for this CONCACAF Nations League squad. He simply asked the question.

It was a fair question. Reyna joined Nottingham Forest on loan from Borussia Dortmund in the winter window and has played about one full half of soccer in the weeks since. If you're picking a national team on form or on merit, it's tough to make an argument to say that Reyna had earned his place, at least on the club level.

Now, that's not how all of this works. Previous performance makes an impact, as does pure talent. Both of those were why Reyna was called in. Marsch, though, merely asked the question, admitting that, if he were in charge, he'd have to think about this particular choice.

"Would Gio be called in if the scenario, with everything in the background, if it wasn’t what it is? Even though he hasn't hardly played?," Marsch asked on Call it What You Want, before Charlies Davies responded with a resounding "Yes".

He added: "This would be a tough one for me, really. It would be a tough discussion. Even if you want someone off the bench, game rhythm, sharpness, fitness, everything plays a factor."

It appears Berhalter had heard about Marsch's comments, as he seemed to fire back when asked about Reyna after the USMNT win.

"I think I heard somewhere or read somewhere, 'Why did Gio get called in the camp?'", Berhalter said. "Well, I think he showed why he got called in again. Amazing quality, amazing talent, and, for us, it's about supporting him through the difficult times of adapting to the Premier League. His quality is unquestionable.

"When you see the plays he made on both the second goal and, I think most importantly, the ball he wins and then makes the pass, he has that quality that not many players have and it's clear that he deserves to play on this team."

Marsch, of course, answered back.
"He's wrong, first of all, because we didn't say that Gio shouldn't be brought into camp," he said on Call It What You Want. "In fact, we made a list -- all three of us -- of all the players that we thought were locks that should be coming into camp and Gio was on there... We were having discussion on [how] when you are putting together a national team squad at any moment -- and now you have to evaluate form, fitness, everything else -- and what you need from the team.

"And we talked later about even understanding the togetherness and the mentality and the growth and development of the team really now continuing to push. Not just from the footballing standpoint, but from a togetherness and a real team belief standpoint. And to be fair, this is what we saw last night. As much as the game was anything that any of us -- I'm sure, including Gregg -- would have hoped for, you still saw this American belief that helped us find a way to get the result."

USMNT legend Tony Meola, meanwhile, was a bit harsher in his response.

"What the hell is he addressing this for? Your team performed pretty poorly for 90-plus minutes, given what we expected, and this for me is a deflection," Meola said. "He clearly was thinking about something else that had nothing to do with what happened in the match or how he was prepping for the match.

"He felt it important enough to address it in a moment where they almost got knocked out against Jamaica -- and maybe should have [been knocked out]. I'm just surprised that you would go here that night."

In the year or so since the Berhalter-Reyna controversy came to light, the youngest person involved in that saga had largely remained quiet. Reyna had not spoken to reporters since the 2022 World Cup, determined to put it all behind him on the field rather than make further waves off of it.

Heading toward the 2026 World Cup, the relationship between Berhalter and Reyna has been and will be a talking point. It's one of the biggest storylines within the USMNT. After everything that happened between the two families, can player and coach coexist for the greater good?

So far, the answer is a resounding "yes", and in his first real comments about the issue, Reyna said he has moved on.

“Obviously what happened, happened," Reyna told reporters on Thursday, "but I think both of us are so far past it and just so focused on the group that, yeah, it's not even an issue at all anymore. We're just so far past it.”

While Nottingham Forest has struggled to figure out how to get much of anything out of Reyna, the USMNT has gotten the best out of him for much of the last year.

Reyna scored twice against Ghana last October before adding another in November against Trinidad & Tobago. He had two assists in the 2023 Nations League final before passing the U.S. into the finale of the 2024 edition, showing how he fit in the USMNT's new-look 4-2-3-1.

That system, by and large, is designed around Reyna, a player who has the vision and creativity to make it work. It remains to be seen if that's still the best setup for the U.S., particularly with Tyler Adams returning to full fitness, but it is one hell of an ace in the hole for the U.S. in a game or moment where they need to break a team down.

That's what Reyna thrives at: breaking teams down. So often, the U.S. attack struggles to create the type of openings that can change a game. Reyna, all too often, is the one to make that happen.

That's why he remains such a key player for the U.S., no matter his club struggles. He's uniquely talented. When he's on the field, the USMNT is simply a more dangerous team, and he's continued to prove it with goals and assists throughout the last year.

We'll have to see how the USMNT chooses to deploy Reyna in the XI in the final, or if Berhalter chooses to at all. His fitness still isn't 100 percent given his lack of club minutes, but Berhalter hopes he can get a big game out of him in the finale.

"We're going to have to check," Berhalter said. "I hope he can play, but we'll have to check."

Reyna added: "I'll be ready to do whatever it takes for the team on Sunday. I feel good actually... I'm still pretty tired. I think I still played 75, but myself and the rest of the squad, we'll be recovering in the next few days, and prepared for Sunday, whatever it takes to hopefully win the trophy."

What this means for his future at Nottingham Forest is anyone's guess. No matter what happens Sunday, this feels like the type of international break that will leave Reyna a bit more confident in his game. Can that confidence lead to something, anything, with Forest? We'll have to see.

Even if it doesn't, Reyna has proven why he'll be involved in the Copa America this summer. Even half-fit, Reyna remains a weapon, one that could still be the difference between success and failure at the top, top level.