Gio Reyna Injured Again, Exits in Tears Less Than Two Minutes Into Dortmund Start

Gio Reyna’s roller coaster season of injury luck has hit another dip.

The U.S. men’s national team star was forced out of Borussia Dortmund’s match vs. Stuttgart after less than two minutes on Friday, with what appeared to be the recurrence of a right hamstring injury.

Reyna missed five months of action after suffering a hamstring injury in the U.S.’s first World Cup qualifying match on Sept. 2, returning for Dortmund on Feb. 6. But upon his first start soon after, he was quickly forced off after half an hour, seemingly suffering a brutal setback as he exited the field in tears. It turned out that his injury wasn’t as bad as feared, and he returned in time to join the U.S. for its final World Cup qualifying window. He appeared in all three matches off the bench, playing no more than 45 minutes in each as the U.S. polished off its ticket to Qatar.

“I had a good call with Dortmund today, with the coach at Dortmund and planning out his usage, how much we can use (Reyna),” U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said prior to camp. “The important thing is us qualifying to the World Cup, but secondly, it’s Gio returning healthy to his club. And we’re mindful of his load, the work that he’s done the last couple of weeks, and we’re going to adjust accordingly.”

Nevertheless, Friday brought the unfortunately familiar sight of Reyna walking off in tears. It happened on his first touch, when the 19-year-old was working a combination with Thorgan Hazard. He instantly pulled up before he could receive the return pass and walked straight to the locker room, covering his face as the emotion came over him. As was the case for his injury vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach, he was replaced by Julian Brandt, who wound up scoring both goals in Friday’s 2–0 win.

On Sunday, it was revealed that Reyna is expected to miss the remainder of the Bundesliga season. It remains to be seen whether it will impact his availability for the U.S. in the June international window, which is the second-to-last time the U.S. will congregate before the World Cup.

The U.S. will play two friendlies before a pair of group matches in the Concacaf Nations League, one at home vs. Grenada and the other on the road at El Salvador, where Reyna’s injury problems this season began.