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Gio Reyna cannot help but crack a smile.
It is less than one minute into an interview about the past year and a half of his career and the unknown of the next few months ahead; about the fallout and controversy that swirled around him after the 2022 World Cup and a loan to Nottingham Forest that didn’t go as hoped; and about the uncertainty of where he will play next season.
It has hardly been the path Reyna envisioned after his first full season at Borussia Dortmund in 2020-21. As a 17-year-old, he played in 32 Bundesliga games, scored four goals and registered seven assists. But then, nothing has gone as planned.
He missed most of the 2021-22 season owing to hamstring injuries. He played less than he hoped at the 2022 World Cup. The controversy about his role, his reaction to it, and an ugly drama that involved his national team coach Gregg Berhalter and his parents — father Claudio, the former U.S. men’s national team captain, and mother Danielle, an ex-U.S. women’s national team player — erupted after the tournament in Qatar, dominating headlines around Reyna and the national team for the next year.
In January 2023, it emerged that, after the World Cup, Danielle had raised a domestic incident in 1992 between Berhalter and his now-wife Rosalind while the pair were dating as students at the University of North Carolina. The Berhalters co-signed a statement saying the leak was an attempt to “take down” the coach and apologised for the “shameful moment” when Berhalter “kicked” his future wife “in the legs”.
U.S. Soccer launched an independent investigation as soon as it became aware of the allegation against Berhalter. This eventually cleared Berhalter for a second cycle as USMNT head coach and found Claudio Reyna had a “pattern of periodic outreach” to U.S. Soccer officials regarding the treatment of his children. Berhalter was reappointed in June 2023.
Gio Reyna said that his presence in camp is proof enough that they have been able to move forward.
“When something like that happens, you wish everything doesn’t come out, everything doesn’t happen the way it happened,” he said. “But you kind of live and you learn, whether it’s the good or the bad. You just try to take away what you can and move on.
Reyna with Berhalter during the 2022 World Cup (Ercin Erturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“I would’ve loved to have a bigger impact than I did (in Qatar). What happened, happened. And me dealing with it the way I did wasn’t the best, but I think we all kind of learned a lot the way everything was dealt with. I’m just happy it’s in the past.”
It might be hard for some to believe but, despite all of this, the national team has become a sanctuary for 21-year-old Reyna. He and Berhalter both say they have worked through the fallout of the controversy.
Reyna is now the starting No. 10 for the U.S. going into this summer’s Copa America. He has played his best soccer of the last 18 months with the national team. He was named player of the final round of the CONCACAF Nations League after scoring two goals and adding two assists as the USMNT won a third straight crown.
His experiences with the USMNT have been in marked contrast to his form at club level, however. Reyna left Dortmund on loan in search of more playing time and found less at Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.
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It makes the next year all that more important. What is coming next? How might he find a way to gain his confidence back?
“Confidence has never really been an issue of mine,” Reyna says, the smile spreading across his face.
The wry self-deprecation is an acknowledgement of some of the criticisms that have swirled around him during his career and the fact that Reyna still truly believes in one simple truth: if you put him on the field, he will produce for you.
His success with the U.S. over the last year can be chalked up largely to one thing: “I just feel good,” Reyna said. “It’s more because I’m given the opportunity to play — and in my favorite position. It’s the consistency, the confidence and the feeling of being valued.”
This summer’s Copa will provide a massive stage for Reyna to prove his ability to perform at the highest level and also to show he is undeterred by the challenges of the last 18 months. Some of those challenges are self-inflicted, others completely out of his control, from Qatar to Nottingham Forest. But all, in his eyes, are a part of the journey.
“Anyone that has had just ups in life (is) pretty unique and (is living) an extraordinary life; life’s not like that,” Reyna said. “It’s how you stay consistent through the ups and the downs. There’s always gonna be downs whether it’s on or off the field. Life’s not always perfect. It’s a beautiful, beautiful thing when you start to enjoy the struggles, learn from them and get stronger.
“I’ve learned to use these tough times to build myself up, learn things and get stronger.”
The Copa America marks a potentially important moment for Reyna. That he’s expected to be in the starting lineup when the U.S. opens up on June 23 against Bolivia in a major international tournament could provide some closure after what happened in Qatar.
Both Reyna and Berhalter insist they have moved forward, with the coach telling The Washington Post last month that they have “used this time productively to start to rebuild, to repair, the relationship where we gain trust with each other again.”
“It did take time,” Berhalter said. “But the relationship is in a much better spot.”
That tournament in Qatar was a proving ground of sorts for this U.S. team. They went into Qatar as the second-youngest roster in the tournament, with hype building around the potential of a pool of players reaching new heights at top European clubs. Those expectations have only increased as the players grow further into their careers at club level.
Fans believe this team can do more than any other that came before it. Co-hosting the World Cup with Canada and Mexico in 2026 presents the best opportunity yet to make a historic run in the tournament. Reyna is one of the faces of this so-called ‘Golden Generation’ and, like the rest of the group, is trying to prove he can live up to the potential heaped on his — and their — shoulders.
Reyna and the USMNT will face Bolivia, Panama and Uruguay at the Copa America (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
Reyna understands why the pressure is there, but says no one is running from it.
“I put more pressure on myself than I think anyone could really put on me,” Reyna said. “I have big, big goals in this career and high aspirations for where I want to get to by the time I’m done. The other faces of the team, the leaders, I think everyone knows (the expectations). But we try to come together as the leaders of the team and be ready. We kind of block that noise out, just be present, focused on each training session and each game, and just be really driven to be successful as a group.”
For Reyna, a successful run at the Copa holds implications for what happens after this summer.
The smile is back again, but this time it’s because he’s thinking about a rainstorm, candles on a beach and the nerves of not losing an engagement ring.
Six days before he reported for U.S. camp this month, Reyna proposed to his girlfriend, Chloe Ortolano. Rain nearly scuttled plans, but the storm cleared in the afternoon in time for him to get down on one knee. There may be some symbolism somewhere about clouds finally parting and life moving forward but, for Reyna, it’s more about the simplicity of being happy. Throughout the interview, Reyna seems relaxed and content. He lights up when talking about the engagement and his family.
Reyna’s family has long been his support system. That circle has expanded now, and they’re ready, he said, to go with him wherever these next few months will take him. Where that is, he’s not sure.
Reyna extended his contract with Dortmund through 2026 before going on loan to Nottingham Forest. That loan did not include a purchase option, and so now he’s set to return to the German club.
Whether he remains there or not remains uncertain. It may depend on what happens with Jadon Sancho, who spent last season on loan at Dortmund from Manchester United, and Donyell Malen, who has been linked with a summer move to a Premier League club. Perhaps Marco Reus’s departure — with the 35-year-old reported to be weighing up a move to Major League Soccer — could open up opportunities.
For now, Reyna said he’s ready for any possibility.
“I’m really focused on the national team at the moment,” Reyna said. “There’s been discussions and I’m not quite sure what’s going to happen. I just want to go somewhere that is at the highest possible level, but still play an important role, get consistent minutes and be an important player for any team, whether it’s at Dortmund or somewhere else.
“I’m just looking for the right fit for me, playing at a high level and a club that wants me — where I feel valued.”
Reyna said he watched Dortmund’s run to the Champions League final, which they lost to Real Madrid.
“They strung in some great defensive performances,” he said. “The centerbacks played amazing, they countered well and scored goals. That crowd at Dortmund helps so much. What an amazing run, they fully deserved to get the final.”
And while he wasn’t there for the Champions League run, Reyna said he took away plenty from his loan to Forest. He played just 236 minutes in a team that was in a relegation battle and fighting financial regulation charges, struggling to carve out a role in a team that leaned heavily on Morgan Gibbs-White at No. 10.
But Reyna said he didn’t hold anything against anyone at Forest — “it just didn’t work out,” as they had hoped.
Reyna only made two Premier League starts for Forest (David Rogers/Getty Images)
“It didn’t go as planned. The goal was to go there and play games and get really consistent minutes but the club was under a lot of pressure and things happen,” Reyna said. “It’s never that simple, going on loan for three to four months.
“I was blessed to be at Dortmund for a few years, finishing top five guaranteed and playing Champions League every year. At Forest, I saw the other side of it. It gave me a perspective of a different kind of football. One day I’d love to go back to the Premier League, so to get a taste of that was also really valuable for me going forward.”
Reyna is hardly the first player to see a loan fail. His U.S. teammate Weston McKennie did not catch on during a loan spell at Leeds United and yet fought his way back into the Juventus team last year.
Like McKennie, Reyna still clearly has self-belief and, while answers about his future at club level could come soon, Reyna also knows that Copa America provides a big stage for him to put on a show for anyone who might be watching and evaluating. Just as he’s not looking back, Reyna can’t afford to look too far forward either.
“I’m just locked in for Copa America,” he said. “That’s really it at the moment. Everything else after that will kind of take care of itself.”
(Top image: Getty; Maddie Meyer – FIFA, Stephen Nadler/ISI Photos/USSF; design: John Bradford)
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