By Braden Chalker
US men's national team boss Gregg Berhalter was full of praise for Gio Reyna after the Nottingham Forest player came off the bench to provide two assists to propel the Stars and Stripes to victory over Jamaica.
For most of the game, Berhalter's side lacked any cutting edge to break down what was essentially Jamaica's B-team as they were without the likes of Leon Bailey, Michail Antonio and Demarai Gray. A goal within the first minute for the Reggae Boyz allowed them sit in deep and soak up pressure which forced Berhalter to bring on the US' most creative player in Reyna at the start of the second half.
The 21-year-old completely changed the game, setting up both of Haji Wright's extra-time goals that propelled the US to a nervy 3-1 victory in which they trailed up until the final moment of regulation before an own goal bailed the team out. Reyna came into the game and showed his quality despite playing under 40 minutes this second half of the season for Forest in the Premier League, with some wondering why he he received a call-up for not performing well at his current club.
"I think I heard somewhere or read somewhere, 'Why did Gio get called in the camp?'" said Berhalter after the game. "Well, I think he showed why he got called in again. Amazing quality, amazing talent, and, for us, it's about supporting him through the difficult times of adapting to the Premier League.
"His quality is unquestionable. When you see the plays he made on both the second goal and, I think most importantly, the ball he wins and then makes the pass, he has that quality that not many players have and it's clear that he deserves to play on this team."
Of course, you can't talk about Reyna, Berhalter and the USMNT without bringing up their rough history over the last year or so. But Reyna fully believes what happened between the two is in the past and is focused on performing at the highest level for his country.
"Obviously what happened, happened, but I think both of us are so far past it, and just so focused on the group that, yeah, it's not even an issue at all anymore," said Reyna about the situation between Berhalter and him. "We're just so far past it."
Reyna explained how the Reggae Boyz made life difficult for the US, but they managed to persevere and push through to reach their third consecutive Nations League final.
"I think their [Jamaica's] idea as a team was pretty clear after that, to sit deep and just close the middle and make it difficult for us [with] fouls. You know how it goes. Some games are just really, really tough and they have a lot of quality and a lot of athleticism around the pitch and it was hard to cross. It was hard to go from the middle. But yeah, we stuck with it. Really proud of the team. And moving on to Sunday is the most important," he said.
"I'll be ready to do whatever it takes for the team on Sunday ... We'll be recovering in the next few days, and prepared for Sunday, whatever it takes to hopefully win the trophy."
The USMNT and Reyna hope to go back-to-back-to-back to lift their third Nations League title over rivals Mexico on Sunday night at AT&T Stadium.
This article was originally published on 90min.com as Gregg Berhalter hails Gio Reyna for game-changing performance off the bench vs Jamaica .
