USMNT stock watch: Gio Reyna’s big showing, Folarin Balogun bolsters case but defensive lapse lingers

CHESTER, Pa. – Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure as the U.S. men’s national team head coach has almost exclusively been defined by his embrace of a spirit of experimentation, both in terms of tactical ideas and fresh faces. The team seems to be locking in their preferences on the former but new names join the growing list of players who have seized their newfound opportunities. The latest was Gio Reyna, who was far from an unknown quantity ahead of the USMNT’s 2-1 win over Paraguay but may have a new lease on his national team life.

Seven months after his last game for the USMNT, Reyna marked a statement-making return in the team’s outing against Paraguay, scoring the game’s opening goal in the fourth minute. It was only the start of his impressive return to the national team, nor was it the only positive from a game that saw the U.S. survive many ebbs and flows. Both teams enjoyed a quick start, the game level by the 10th minute, before things took a grittier turn and eventually ending in a fight that saw Paraguay’s Gustavo Gomez place the USMNT’s Alex Freeman in a headlock and the visitors’ Omar Alderete pick up a red card.

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After an eventual outing, here’s a look at where the USMNT stands as they continue their evolution in time for the World Cup on home soil, now seven months away.

Stock up: Gio Reyna

The highlight of Reyna’s first start under Pochettino will be his goal but that was merely the start for the 22-year-old. For about an hour, the USMNT’s attack almost exclusively ran through the right side, Ryena and Sergino Dest advancing the ball and creating the team’s most meaningful chances. The pair almost made up for the lack of activity in the other areas of the pitch. Reyna also created two chances during his 75-minute shift, the whole outing a reminder of the promise the player has always boasted. Things have rarely gone according to plan for the 22-year-old but the increased focus his teammates have noticed this week was also clear to see for the masses on Saturday, making the most of the opportunity afforded to him.

“In terms of fitness and sort of how I feel at [Borussia Monchengladbach, his club team], I feel really, really good,” Reyna said post-match. “I feel valued, feel important, feel ready to go so obviously when you feel better mentally, you can definitely play better on the field, too, so I’m definitely building up. I feel great. I’m just happy but I just have to keep working now.”

Reyna’s play made it easier for his teammates to get involved in the game, especially fellow goalscorer Folarin Balogun.

“He brings just a lot of versatility, a lot of fluidity to the attacks because obviously, he’s a really creative player, extremely intelligent,” Balogun said about Reyna. “Moments in the game, I was able to speak with him because it was more of a difficult game for me with both center backs being close to me so I spoke to Gio for him to make runs and behind me and stuff like that. When you’re just playing with an intelligent guy like Gio, it’s a lot easier. He understands the messages and the signals.”

Pochettino was able to take a victory lap of sorts, not only for handing Reyna the start but for another experiment that went in his favor. The head coach did offer a reminder that performances with club teams will hold increased importance until the World Cup, something that is especially pertinent for Reyna – he essentially dropped out of the player pool because of a lack of playing time at Borussia Dortmund, but seems to have found an ideal landing spot with ‘Gladbach.

“He scored and I think he did a very good job, so happy with him,” Pochettino said. “He showed why he start[ed] and confirmed that he’s a player that needs [to] improve because he needs to play more in his club but we can see today that he was great, scored and assisted and the way that he always has the capacity to read the game and find the free space in between the lines. I think that was a nightmare for Paraguay and I think he did a very good job.”

Stock down: Strikers not named Folarin Balogun

Balogun joined Reyna on the scoresheet on Saturday with the game-winner, the forward now with four goal contributions in four consecutive starts. Coupled with the fact that he scored four goals for Manco in between October’s international break and this one, Balogun has hit the ground running after an injury-plagued year. It is perhaps more impressive, though, that he extended his streak despite an imperfect outing – he had just 14 touches over 90 minutes, the result of Paraguay’s center backs marking him to the point that he was nearly invisible.

“Today was a completely different game,” Balogun said. “I had limited touches and it was difficult but the most important thing in days like today is just to stay concentrated, just to stay focused and in the end, I was able to get a chance, which I was able to score so just trying to take it game by game.”

Yet, his ability to survive this particular test is a testament to his overall abilities. For a long time, it has felt that the No. 9 role is Balogun’s to lose and since his national team return in September, he has lived up to the billing. This is not to discount the other contenders for the role, chief among them Haji Wright and Ricardo Pepi. Those two are undoubtedly in the mix for World Cup roster spots and Pochettino has a good problem on his hands if they are all fit and in form by the time the World Cup comes around, but Balogun has developed a regular habit of bolstering his case as the USMNT’s go-to in attack.

“In the end, he was decisive,” Pochettino said about Balogun. “He scored the winning goal … He was fantastic because it wasn’t easy to find the game. The two center backs with Paraguay were very good and really competitive and you know South American center backs – I was one many years ago – we know our way to defend is difficult and I think it’s a massive lesson for him and the players that played today against Paraguay.”

Stock up: USMNT’s versatility

Pochettino’s tactical stamp for the team is becoming clearer with each game, especially so after a switch in September to a back three. He first broke it out in the second half of a 2-0 loss against South Korea two months ago and since, the team has gone undefeated. Pochettino continues to make game-specific tinkers to the formation, valuing a fluidity and flexibility that seems to suit the team well.

“Today, I think what we like is to build from back with three players, doesn’t mean [it’s] our three center backs,” Pochettino said, “because Joe [Scally] is more fullback than center back and I think to stretch the pitch with Sergino [Dest] and Max [Arfsten], and then play with two midfielders, Cristian [Roldan] and [Tanner] Tessman and then five in front using the half space in the pocket, which sometimes we use Tessman a little bit higher using the free pocket, always trying to find the third man free in this situation that always will appear – Brenden Aaronson or Gio Ryena or Tessman. I think it was difficult for Paraguay to match because I think we created good superiority in the middle and with our midfielders, I think that is why we dominated the game and play[ed] more in the opposite half than in our own half. That is the picture.

“If you see when we are in the opposite half, we defend in another phase, always it’s a back four with two midfielders — 1-4-2-3-1. That is the main system or the main shape. When we don’t have the ball and when we have the ball, we start to find different alternatives in our dynamic, how we want to build form back and then how we want to use the space to try to find, going forward, the space in behind the defensive line or one-v-one on the side. I think that is the dynamic we were trying to create and then to have the possibility to rotate and use different players, use different spaces on the pitch.”

The familiarity of the gameplan seems to be taking hold with the player pool as a whole – Pochettino is working with 12 players this month who were not involved in October’s friendlies but the roster turnover seems not to have impacted the understanding of the USMNT’s approach.

“I thought the boys who weren’t normally here or the boys who haven’t normally played together did a really good job stepping in and it wasn’t a team that’s played together a lot but I felt like the chemistry and the fight was there,” Balogun said. “As Poch told us, he most important thing sometimes is just the brotherhood and that can get you through games. He says feeling together, it’s more important than tactics sometimes so we felt like we stuck together and before the game, we spoke about how we had to be a good team today and how we had to fight for each other like brothers and I thought we did that.”

Stock down: Defensive shape

A month ago, Pochettino said one of the USMNT’s most significant areas of improvement was their inability to put together a complete 90-minute performance, something the group struggled with yet again on Saturday. The hosts grew into the game but had a lapse early on, barely giving themselves time to celebrate Reyna’s fourth minute goal before conceding in the ninth. Paraguay’s goal only materialized because of a lack of pressure from the U.S. in midfield, allowing Miguel Almiron to get the better of Scally and send the ball Alex Arce’s way for a quick finish.

“I think we all [can] agree that we cannot concede this type of goal because it [was] so easy,” Pochettino said. “We were working about this concept and we know that this long ball, direct, can find us in a situation that they are very good in but I think we knew but for sure, it’s my responsibility. I don’t blame the players. Maybe I need to work a little bit more and to try to provide the players the possibility that in that type of situation, perform or behave in a different way but it’s true that it was a goal that we should not concede.”