6JUN

Reyna dropped from USMNT squad projections

1 min read

12:17UTC

Gio Reyna has not returned to the Borussia Monchengladbach bench following a muscle injury. Multiple projections now drop him from Pochettino's 26-man squad.

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Key takeaway

Reyna's Monchengladbach bench return before 26 May is the last data point Pochettino's staff will have on him.

Gio Reyna has not returned to the Borussia Monchengladbach bench following a muscle injury, and multiple projections now drop him from the USMNT's 26-man squad ahead of Mauricio Pochettino's 26 May announcement .

Reyna's situation is the clearest live example of the five unresolved selection problems ESPN detailed on 13 April. His club minutes have been the throughline of every US World Cup squad conversation since his 2022 break with Gregg Berhalter, and a muscle injury that keeps him off the matchday 18 at Borussia-Park is the sort of data Pochettino's staff cannot contradict with a mid-April friendly because there is no mid-April friendly. The next USMNT window is 31 May against Senegal in Charlotte, the day after the 26-man squad is submitted.

That sequencing is what moves a fitness question into a selection one. The Senegal fixture cannot audition a borderline player into the squad; it can only confirm or contradict the list already sent to FIFA. Reyna's return to a Bundesliga bench in the next ten days is therefore the last data point Pochettino's staff will receive on him before the cutoff, which makes every Monchengladbach team sheet between now and the squad submission a public selection signal he cannot influence from Los Angeles.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Gio Reyna is a 22-year-old American footballer who plays for Borussia Mönchengladbach in Germany's Bundesliga. He has suffered recurring muscle injuries and has played only five minutes of club football since January 2026. The USMNT head coach, Mauricio Pochettino, must name a 26-player squad on 26 May for the home World Cup. Reyna was previously considered one of the US team's most technically gifted players. Multiple projection models and sports media outlets now list him as likely to miss the squad entirely. With no competitive matches available before the 26 May announcement and only two friendly windows in late May and early June, Pochettino has almost no data on which to base an inclusion decision.

Sources:SBI Soccer

Mentions:FIFA →Senegal →World Cup →USMNT →Los Angeles →Germany →Gregg Berhalter →Gio Reyna →Borussia Mönchengladbach →Mauricio Pochettino →

First Reported In

Update #8 · Three clocks running against kickoff

SBI Soccer· 19 Apr 2026

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Causes and effects

Caused by

Pochettino sets 26 May USMNT squad call with five gaps

Pochettino's five unresolved selection problems, confirmed this week, include Reyna's fitness, making his absence from the Borussia Mönchengladbach bench a direct selection pressure.

Occurred 13 Apr 2026

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This Event

Reyna dropped from USMNT squad projections

The USMNT's most talented creator is trending out of the home tournament as the 26 May squad cutoff narrows, with no competitive window left for a selection audition.

Led to

US name 26, leave their shape blank

Reyna's benching at Mönchengladbach was the open question Pochettino resolved by including him in the final 26.

Occurred 26 May 2026

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USA settle a back four vs Senegal

Reyna had been dropped from USMNT projections after failing to return to the Mönchengladbach bench; the Senegal start reversed that assessment.

Occurred 31 May 2026

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Different Perspectives

FIFA

FIFA remains publicly silent on every open dispute touching the tournament: no response to the UNITE HERE ICE-moratorium demand since April, no on-record comment on the Iran visa reversal, no intervention on the FIGC election. Its governance architecture, which routes bilateral matters to governments and domestic federation matters to national bodies, structurally precludes a direct answer on all three.

Andrea Abodi / Italian Sports Ministry

Abodi's ANAC referral is the first formal institutional step in his challenge to Malagò, converting a legal argument into a timed procedural clock, with both bodies reportedly receiving the request with "considerable frustration". The 15 June deadline means Italy's federation crisis will peak mid-tournament regardless of the ruling's direction.

Mauricio Pochettino / USMNT

Pochettino confirmed the 4-3-3 with Reyna and Pulisic starting against Germany, resolving the formation question at the cost of a 3-1 defeat that exposed the defensive axis. His public frustration over Richards's fitness, "I got a little annoyed", frames the 11 June deadline as an emotional as well as a tactical decision.

FFIRI / Mehdi Taj

FFIRI confirmed the squad's clearance but stated five federation staffers were blocked under a "false pretences" finding, and denied separately reported player rejections, insisting the playing group travels intact. Taj's 5 June deadline expired; the approval arrived the same day, meeting the form of the demand while leaving the delegation short.

US State Department / UNITE HERE Local 11

Unnamed US officials approved Iran's squad visas via Ankara without a formal State Department statement, leaving Taremi's individual file unconfirmed; at the same venue system, UNITE HERE Local 11's 96% strike mandate among 2,000 SoFi workers, following FIFA's silence since 7 April, means US immigration enforcement runs as two parallel pressure tracks through the opener.

France (FFF)

Manager Didier Deschamps confirmed William Saliba will play, reversing the 'very doubtful' briefing from earlier in the week and deferring any surgery until after the tournament. France recovers its first-choice central defender for the group stage at a point when rivals were adjusting their tactical assessments.