It was a nice weekend for Americans in Europe and Giovanni Reyna put in the best performance of the bunch, imo. That being the case I thought it might be fun to go back over the match and see how Reyna graded out.
Spoiler alert – pretty dang good
If you haven’t read one of these USMNT (+/-) Player Grades articles before click here for an explanation of the system.
Grading Beverage: Russell’s Reserve Bourbon
Grades
Interpreting the Grades
| 15+ | Excellent game |
| 9-14 | Played well to very well |
| 5-8 | Solid |
| 0-4 | Not great, Bob |
| Below 0 | Listening to my kids argue 😑 |
*The Adjusted Total uses the Elo ratings to take into account opponent and competition factors.*
MOTM – Gio Reyna (+20)
Reyna looked good on the initial watch, but he looked even better upon further review. He put up 21 events, which is a goodly number, and overcame a -5 from four not so great events to reach this total. He was a terror on the break (+9 in offensive transition), but he had positive totals in all four game phases.
He carries the ball forward really well and he’s nigh impossible to get the ball away from. There are still areas he can improve in (see: Belz’ critique), but he is an offensive weapon for Dortmund RIGHT NOW. Has he put Julian Brandt (German national team member btw) on the bench? I know Brandt started the Super Cup game against Bayern, but I don’t know how Lucien Favre takes Reyna out of the starting eleven anytime soon.
Also, I don’t know if anyone else has noticed this, but the Gio Reyna Crotch Shot Counter™ has reached 2. He took a solid shot to the nether regions against Sparta Rotterdam on 9/7 and now this one:
Here’s hoping this counter doesn’t go to three, Gio. 🤣
Here’s his real highlights btw:
Triple 🅰️
— wavyfooty (@wavyfooty) October 4, 2020
Gio Reyna erupted for a hatty of assists as #Dortmund beat Freiburg 4-0. Our 17-year old youngin is giving heavy Pulisic at BVB vibes. Another American wonder kid going dummy in the Black + Yellow. Many more mazzas like this destined to come 🌋pic.twitter.com/dVqg6eVt7o
Other Notable Positives
There were a lot in this game. Dortmund played well and Freiburg looked entirely impotent. Emre Can and Marco Reus probably deserve some attention (all +10) for their performances, but dinner time is approaching for the family and I don’t want this thing to be 2,000+ words. We’ll limit it to the three guys at +11.
Mats Hummels (+11)
It seems like every team I grade lately has one of these defenders. Juve has Bonucci. Leipzig has Upamecano. And Dortmund has Hummels (and Can to a lesser extent). These guys are such a joy to watch. They control the game from their position in defense and put the ball into good places to jump start attacks. Brooks and Ream are decent at this, but nowhere near the level of the players I mentioned. Maybe Richards or McKenzie will get there one day…
I picked this pass at random off my event log. 👀 He got a positive note for seven other passes as well. So good. *shakes head jealously*
Jude Bellingham (+11)
This kid is going to be good. He actually had quite a few negative events (5) so he could have been even higher. Most of the time when he got dinged it was for careless passes that look to be fairly easy to eliminate. When he puts it all together…watch out. And, like Reyna, he’s 17 years old. He covers ground rapidly and gets a leg in to cause turnovers in dangerous places. His offensive game looks like it’s going to be dangerous as well.
I’m pretty excited about the future of the USMNT, but England is going to be a bear of a team at that 2026 World Cup. Revolutionary War rematch in the final anyone?
Erling Håland (+11)
Check the very end of the article if you want to get into my spicy Twitter take on Mr. Håland, but we’ll leave that alone here. Håland was put on this earth to chew bubble gum and score goals…and he’s all out of bubble gum. (H/T to the worst movie I’ve ever seen – it’s awesome😂)
His runs and ability to get a hard, accurate shot off are remarkable. Add in the fact that he’s 6’4″, runs like an ostrich (they’re fast), and seems to have that internal rage to score and you’ve got something pretty special. Watching him and Reyna develop together on the field and as friends has been a blast.
Room for Improvement
Manuel Akanji (-3)
I like Akanji. I thought he was Dortmund’s best defender for a stretch when he first joined in 2018, but he’s had a rough go of it lately. In this game, he had five TOs and two of them were of the dangerous variety. None of them were punished because of that whole Freiburg impotence thing I mentioned earlier, but you can’t be doing stuff like this:
This is a BAD turnover from Akanji, but what in the world is this Freiburg dude doing? What's the opposite of a nose for the goal? Ugh. pic.twitter.com/gtM67QNZPa
— HalfSpaces (@blharreld) October 5, 2020
There’s definitely talent there, but he needs to eliminate plays like this or Dortmund is going to be giving up some goals that they shouldn’t
All in all, this was a well-played game from BVB and a fun watch. I’m sure I’ll be watching most of their games this year so I hope it continues. It would also be nice if anyone other than Bayern would win the Bundesliga this year so…heja BVB.
If you enjoyed this and would like to be informed of future articles type your email address in the box and you’ll be notified of each new post. Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter @blharreld 🤓
So about that Håland thing….
Last night as I was working on the grades for this game an errant thought crossed my mind…Håland’s game reminds me a little of Gyasi Zardes (everyone’s favorite USMNT forward🤣). I tweeted that out (got a little ratio’d) and there was a bit of a reaction. I’ll explain my thinking here, but please feel free not to read this if you think that’s the most idiotic thing you’ve ever heard.
*Note* This whole section is Jon’s idea btw. Please direct complaints his way.
Zardes is smart and makes fast, hard runs. He’s not much use in the build up, but he’s pretty handy around the net. Zardes obviously isn’t anywhere near Håland’s level, but that’s kind of what Håland does too. If you watch him he’s decent in the build up, but not amazing. You’ll see plenty of moments like this:
That looks a little Zardes-esque, right? There are lots of reasons that Håland is waaay better than Gyasi, but their games aren’t totally dissimilar, imo.
I’m not going to die on this hill and I’m not trying to be a troll. It was just a thought. Shalom.
Excellent post, thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it 🙏