Difficult months lie behind Giovanni Reyna – but the trend points in the right direction: In BVB’s hard-fought 2-1 win in Mainz, the US international scored the winning goal as a joker, as he did in the 4-3 win over Augsburg. His coach Edin Terzic hopes that the 20-year-old will continue like this.
Giovanni Reyna scored Dortmund’s winning goal again.
IMAGO/Jan Huebner
If the name Giovanni Reyna was in the media in the past few weeks, the articles – especially those in US magazines and newspapers – were mostly about an unsavory argument that his parents were having with US national coach Gregg Berhalter had fought for Reyna disappointing World Cup. The 20-year-old was only used sporadically in Qatar after, according to Berhalter, he had not trained well in preparation and was even about to be kicked out of the US squad because of his body language. A high-level dispute ensued, with ugly details from the past, in which the young footballer looked like a mere pawn. A role that did neither his character nor his sporting talent justice.
Since the beginning of the winter preparations, his club Borussia Dortmund has tried to shield Reyna from these events as much as possible. He should concentrate on the sport and calmly work on his form, which he had lost in recent years due to several injuries, some of which lasted months. And the project seems to be working if you take the most recent performances as a basis: Reyna had already scored the winning goal as a joker in the 4: 3 win against Augsburg last Sunday. A feat that he – albeit less ornate – repeated on Wednesday in Mainz.
“It doesn’t always have to be beautiful”
After a corner by Julian Brandt, which Sebastien Haller had headed to the far post, the American pushed the ball over the line in the third minute of added time to make it 2-1. “It doesn’t always have to be beautiful,” Reyna later stated. “It was great, those wins give you the best feeling. When you come off the bench you want to make the difference in a game like this.” He succeeded.
After the game in Mainz, the relief was not only noticeable in Reyna, but also in his teammates and his coach. “I do think that Gio is an emotional person who worries – especially when it comes to family,” said Brandt, hoping for a positive effect from Reyna’s two winning goals: “Something like that also frees you in the end.” Edin Terzic felt the same way, summing up: “We were hoping for him to speed up the game even more today, but in the end he did his job. Of course, it’s excellent for him to be the winning goalscorer again. We hope that he will continue to do the same.”
“I want to start, that’s clear”
But as well as he has now worked twice as a joker: Reyna – unlike the once again pale starting player Donyell Malen – definitely offered to play from the start. Possibly already on Sunday in Leverkusen. “I want to start, that’s clear,” said the youngster when asked about it in Mainz, but he was deliberately humble: “I don’t think about it that much. My chance will come if I keep working in training. ” Terzic explicitly emphasized that he does that on Wednesday evening: “Gio has always worked hard for us and has never been guilty of anything.”
