Gio Reyna is healthy to play against England, USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter says. (Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports)
U.S. men’s national team head coach Gregg Berhalter said on Thursday that forward Gio Reyna will be available when his team takes on England in its second match of the World Cup.
Reyna was on the USA bench in Monday’s 1-1 draw with Wales but was not used by Berhalter, who decided to put in Jordan Morris instead.
During a press conference at the Qatar National Convention Center in Al-Rayyan, Qatar, Berhalter seemed to be a bit annoyed when the question and subject was brought up.
“I think I was pretty clear after the game saying he was available for the match, and it was a coach’s decision that he didn’t play,” he said. “And he’ll be available for tomorrow’s match, and we’ll see what happens.”
The USA meets England on Friday at 2 p.m. (FOX, Telemundo).
After the Welsh tie, Berhalter told ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle: “In the phase of the game we were at, we went with Jordan who we felt could give us speed and power.”
Berhalter said then that when the USMNT played an exhibition against Qatari club Al-Gharafa, Reyna felt some tightness. The staff chose to be cautious.
“It was trying to get him up to speed. There was some tightness we were guarding against,” the coach was quoted by ESPN.
Yahoo’s Henry Bushnell said that Reyna told him in the mixed that he “definitely felt 100 percent going into today.”
“A little bit of tightness over the last few days,” he added, but he said he was ready to go. I was definitely excited to play.
“It’s not my decision.”
