NEW YORK \u2014<\/strong> Four years ago, when he was named to the United States\u2019 26-man roster for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, it was no surprise to Gio Reyna.\u00a0<\/p>\n Then a 19-year-old prodigy with German titans Borussia Dortmund, the only question was whether the son of former U.S. World Cup captain Claudio Reyna and former women\u2019s national team attacker Danielle Egan would start in Qatar or provide a spark off the bench.<\/p>\n A lot has happened since then.\u00a0Reyna, rather famously, hardly played. He\u2019s also hardly played over the years since, as a series of injuries has limited him to just a handful of cameo appearances over the last four European club seasons. That includes the just-concluded 2025-26 campaign, his first with Borussia M\u00f6nchengladbach, during which Reyna started only four of the 19 matches he appeared in and scored only one goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gio Reyna is heading to his second World Cup. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n Still, most close observers of the national team felt that on a team that lacks creativity, Reyna\u2019s past performances with the U.S. squad \u2014 in November, he scored minutes into his first start under coach Mauricio Pochettino \u2014 would probably be on the Argentine\u2019s roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reyna wasn\u2019t so sure. He was sitting next to his wife when the email arrived confirming that he was headed back to the World Cup, then immediately called his parents and let them know.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We were all anxiously waiting, hopefully for good news,” Reyna said Tuesday after he was announced as part of the USA\u2019s final squad at FOX\u2019s roster reveal event on Pier 17 in Lower Manhattan.\u00a0<\/p>\n A balmy afternoon in New York took on a concert-like mood with 25 of the 26 players selected in attendance, walking onto a grand stage in front of rowdy USA supporters. Each player wore identical dark grey suits with the U.S. Soccer crest stitched onto the jacket pocket, waving the red-and-white striped jerseys they will be adorning this summer.<\/p>\n In his post-reveal press conference following the star-spangled festivities, U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino \u2013 equally decked out in a sharp suit like his players \u2014 detailed why Reyna was one of his choices.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Gio has an amazing talent and experience, too \u2026 He can add different things to the team\u2026he can help, because he’s a different player, different talent,” Pochettino explained. “I think in all the rosters, you need to have a player like him.”<\/p>\n The USA’s World Cup squad, joined by rapper Gunna in New York City. (Photo by Ira L. Black\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n Zendejas’ case was probably helped by Diego Luna’s lingering injury issues this MLS season. But the Liga MX standout also brings intangible qualities to the table. Those helped him, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Another crucial factor to consider is that this is a tournament that hopefully will span nearly two months of living together in close quarters,” said Pochettino. “It\u2019s vital to look beyond just the technical quality I\u2019ve been discussing; players must also possess that human quality, that character, so that they are not only capable of performing on the field, but also capable of providing support and encouragement off of it.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet while 26 players received World Cup invites when the emails went out last Friday, the 29 others on the 55-strong provisional roster submitted to FIFA earlier this month had their dreams shattered instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n Asked why midfielder Tanner Tessmann was passed over, Pochettino declined to discuss the reasons behind that omission or any other, saying that it was disrespectful to those who he did select. Poch claimed that the final few decisions had been so agonizing that he literally couldn\u2019t sleep at night in the weeks leading up to the announcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Still today, I cannot enjoy the 26 guys who are in front of me,” he said, “Because I\u2019m thinking of the players who are out.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY NEW YORK \u2014 Four years ago, when he was named to the United States\u2019 26-man roster for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, it was no surprise to Gio Reyna.\u00a0 Then a 19-year-old prodigy with German titans Borussia Dortmund, the only question was whether the son of former U.S. World Cup captain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}