Gio Reyna`s limited participation in Borussia Dortmund`s recent Club World Cup match highlights his ongoing struggle for playing time. He only featured for the final 12 minutes plus stoppage time in a comfortable 1-0 win, marking his longest appearance since April. This brief cameo offered little chance to make an impact.
Dortmund manager Niko Kovac explained Reyna`s limited minutes, stating the team aims to give every player opportunities. However, he acknowledged the intense competition in midfield, candidly remarking that while Reyna possesses good qualities, other players are currently “a little bit more ahead” in the pecking order.
Kovac`s straightforward comments reflect the stagnation in the 22-year-old`s career. Five years after his promising breakout with Dortmund and the USMNT, there`s been little new evidence to evaluate his potential based on consistent professional performances. Despite glimpses of talent, he hasn`t built the body of work needed to prove or disprove hypotheses about his capabilities. This pattern has also been evident with the national team, where Reyna, like the team itself, has felt stuck in a rut, even amidst coaching transitions – until recently.
The Summer of Malik Tillman
The USMNT`s summer experimentation with a less experienced Gold Cup roster has yielded one significant development: the emergence of Malik Tillman. While not a complete newcomer (first cap three years ago, successful at PSV), the 23-year-old has solidified his position.
Tillman`s time at PSV saw him become a key contributor, notching 25 goals and 17 assists across all competitions over two seasons. His game features significant versatility, allowing him to perform various attacking midfield tasks, from being active around the opponent`s box to driving the ball forward.
Both Tillman and Reyna possess the skills to address the USMNT`s midfield challenges, but their situations differ, partly due to Tillman`s valuable consistent playing time at the club level. Tillman appears to be genuinely benefiting from his current role with the national team, where his deployment seems highly effective. This approach has worked impressively recently, with Tillman scoring three goals and assisting one in his last five national team appearances, emerging as a breakout star during the Gold Cup run.
This productivity is valuable not just for Tillman, but also for the USMNT, helping compensate for deficiencies, particularly in the forward line. The team continues its search for a reliable striker, facing injuries to key players like Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi, while Josh Sargent`s status with the national team is uncertain. Tillman has effectively filled a role behind the striker (like Patrick Agyemang, who has also performed well in the Gold Cup), highlighting the USA`s ongoing need for goals from multiple positions. While Christian Pulisic is the primary threat, more goalscorers are always beneficial, making Tillman`s upward trajectory a welcome positive sign a year out from the World Cup.
In essence, Tillman might be stepping into the creative attacking role previously envisioned for Reyna, finally introducing a sense of competition many have desired for the USMNT – and he might not be the only player challenging for this spot.
The USMNT Attacking Midfield Race Heats Up
The USMNT has largely been in a holding pattern since the 2022 World Cup, collectively struggling to consistently deliver on the potential long seen in the squad. Disappointing performances in recent tournaments, including the Concacaf Nations League finals in March, have raised questions about whether the wider player pool contains untapped talent or if the team is stuck in a cycle of mediocrity. While the overall assessment is still debated, there is a clear sense of increasing competition specifically for the attacking midfield roles, perhaps more so than in other positions on the pitch.
While Tillman is establishing himself in the lineup, Real Salt Lake`s Diego Luna is another player pushing for recognition. Luna has seemingly impressed the USMNT coaching staff, earning a start over Reyna in the Nations League third-place match in March where he assisted the team`s only goal. He hasn`t yet consistently replicated that performance level, but if he can build form during the Gold Cup similar to Tillman, Reyna could find himself even lower in the depth chart.
This intensifying situation increases the pressure on Reyna to finally fulfill his potential, a persistent theme in his career. He hasn`t achieved double-digit league starts at Dortmund since the 2020-21 season. While injuries have played a part, this lack of consistent playing time strongly suggests Dortmund hasn`t been the right environment for him for years, a reality now further highlighted. He couldn`t even secure significant minutes at the Club World Cup, a late-season tournament where his manager seemed to favor players fatigued from a long European campaign over Reyna`s relative freshness. Simultaneously, Tillman and Luna are gaining valuable competitive minutes in different summer tournaments. Although FIFA rules prioritizing the Club World Cup over the Gold Cup aren`t Reyna`s fault, his situation feels like another missed opportunity for a young player who has now spent more time on the bench than gaining crucial experience at a high-level European club.
How Reyna responds to this increased competition and the rising profiles of players like Tillman and Luna is a significant question for the coming period. The key difference now is that the national team, finally, doesn`t solely bear the consequences of his club situation or development struggles.
