15APR

Reyna dropped from USMNT squad projections

1 min read

09:43UTC

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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Different Perspectives

Argentina / Lionel Scaloni

Scaloni confirmed Messi for a record sixth World Cup on 28 May, choosing the 38-year-old captain's institutional authority over 18-year-old Franco Mastantuono's development potential. Commercial as well as sporting considerations weigh on any Messi decision, and Argentina's AFA was never likely to backstop an exclusion on pure sporting logic.

DFB / Rudi Völler

Völler issued informal guidance to Germany's squad on around 27 May to keep politics and sport separate, stopping short of the formal ban that produced Qatar 2022's OneLove armband collision. The approach gives the federation documented deniability while preserving each player's legal freedom to act independently.

England Football Association / Thomas Tuchel

Tuchel cut Alexander-Arnold, Foden and Palmer on system grounds, the clearest signal yet that the FA has genuinely ceded selection authority to the coaching staff. England travel without Palmer, one of the Premier League's sharpest creators, accepting a narrower build-up vocabulary against low-block opponents in exchange for off-ball discipline.

Football Supporters Europe / Euroconsumers

The fan coalition's Article 102 TFEU complaint, filed in March and unacknowledged past the April deadline, was confirmed for assessment by the European Commission on 28 May. Brussels logging the file gives the complainants a live regulatory record FIFA must preserve, building on the European Super League judgment that exposed FIFA and UEFA rules to EU competition scrutiny.

New York and New Jersey Attorneys General / UNITE HERE Local 11

On 28 May, Letitia James and Jennifer Davenport subpoenaed FIFA under their broad state authority to pursue an entity trading in their states, regardless of FIFA's Swiss registration; that same week UNITE HERE Local 11 moved its campaign to California privacy law, filing with the CPPA over FIFA accreditation data shared with DHS and ICE without worker consent.

FFIRI / Mehdi Taj

Taj framed Tijuana as resolving entry friction while simultaneously demanding multiple-entry US visas, because single-entry papers would strand the squad in Mexico after the first match-day crossing. Both are needed: the camp solves accommodation, the visa solves the border crossings Iran's three group matches require, the first before 15 June.