Gio Reyna made his season debut for Borussia Dortmund on Saturday – in the same week he was called back up to the US men’s national team by coach Gregg Berhalter.
Reyna had been dealing with a hairline fracture in his leg which forced him to miss out on the USA’s September friendlies.
He had also missed Dortmund’s first six matches of this Bundesliga campaign.
On Saturday, though, Reyna’s season began as he entered Dortmund’s 4-2 win over Union Berlin the 64th minute.
His USA teammate Brenden Aaronson also came on as a sub for the opposition in the 55th minute.
While Reyna appeared for the USA in June in the CONCACAF Nations League, his inclusion in the latest squad is the first time he’ll play under Berhalter since the scandal that rocked US Soccer at the beginning of this year.
Gio Reyna made his season debut for Borussia Dortmund on Saturday in a 4-2 win
After leading the team to a round of 16 finish in Qatar, Berhalter’s contract elapsed at the end of 2022 and he wasn’t given a renewal, thanks in part to Claudio and Danielle Reyna – the parents of Gio – revealing that Berhalter was part of a domestic violence incident to senior members of US Soccer.
Berhalter also disclosed at a conference after the tournament that an unnamed player – later revealed to be Reyna – had shown a lack of effort in training and was ‘not meeting expectations on and off the field.’
However, the pair spoke before Reyna was officially named to the latest squad, with Berhalter calling it a ‘positive conversation.’
Gregg Berhalter (L) said that his relationship with Reyna will ‘need time’ to fully heal
‘It’s about aligning on how we’re moving forward and I think we did that,’ Berhalter told reporters on a Zoom call.
‘I think it will take time. There’s a difference between the Zoom call and being in person, but I think that both intentions are positive.
‘And the idea is that we work together for the team to be successful and I think we’re both prepared to do that… Although it may take some time we’re both aligned with what we want to accomplish.’
Berhalter was re-hired as the team’s coach in June.
The USA faces Germany next Saturday before playing Ghana on October 17.