Gio Reyna ends scoring drought, boosts World Cup roster hopes
Gio Reyna’s late goal ended a year without one, but the bigger test is whether enough minutes and health will earn him a World Cup roster spot.
Gio Reyna’s 90th-minute finish did more than trim Borussia Mönchengladbach’s 3-1 loss to Augsburg. It gave the 23-year-old U.S. midfielder a fresh argument at the exact moment Mauricio Pochettino is weighing the final pieces of a World Cup roster that will be announced May 26 in New York City.
Reyna scored in the 90+2 minute at WWK Arena, meeting a pass from Rocco Reitz with a first-time shot to end a club scoring drought that stretched back to January 2025, when he was still with Borussia Dortmund. The goal was his first since the move to Mönchengladbach and a reminder that, even in defeat, Reyna can still decide a moment in a top European league.
That is the tension surrounding Reyna now. Pochettino will unveil the 26-player U.S. squad before the team’s final tune-ups, against Senegal on May 31 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Germany on June 6 in Chicago. For Reyna, the issue is no longer simply talent. It is whether he can offer sustained form, durability and tactical value after years in which promise has been interrupted by injuries and limited rhythm.
Borussia Mönchengladbach completed Reyna’s transfer from Borussia Dortmund on a three-year deal running through 2028, a move Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl said was meant to help Reyna regain strength through playing time and confidence. Saturday’s performance fit that logic better than the scoreline did. Gladbach lost, but Reyna stayed involved enough to show he was functional, fit and dangerous in a match that Augsburg won to stay in the hunt for European qualification.
Reyna’s resume still carries weight in U.S. soccer circles. He made his national team debut against Wales on Nov. 12, 2020, one day before his 18th birthday, and four days later became the third-youngest scorer in U.S. men’s national team history when he scored against Panama. He is also Claudio Reyna’s son, a name that connects him to earlier World Cup cycles and to expectations that have followed him from one roster conversation to the next.
That pedigree keeps Reyna in the frame. But the coming decision is not about reputation alone. For Pochettino and the U.S. staff, Reyna’s late goal is one more data point in a crowded race where health, consistency and fit may matter more than flashes, and where the next roster call could define whether his World Cup case keeps growing or starts to fade again.
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