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IRVINE, Calif. — Broadly speaking, there is not much to take from the U.S. men’s national team’s 2-1 win over Paraguay last November, even with the two sides set to meet again Friday in the opening match of the World Cup.
That was a friendly in Chester, Pennsylvania. This is a World Cup opener with global attention.
Ten USMNT starters from that night are on this World Cup squad, but a good chunk of them will likely be on the bench, and players like Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie weren’t in November camp at all.
On a tactical level, and as a matter of intensity, it’s not worth the effort of comparing them.
The two most important developments of that night for the USMNT, though, were neither.
For the uninitiated, those were Gio Reyna scoring four minutes into his first national team cap since March to reestablish himself in the World Cup roster mix, and a brawl that broke out toward the end of stoppage time when Alex Freeman and Gustavo Gómez started wrestling over the ball, leading to Paraguay’s bench emptying.
Omar Alderete, a Paraguay defender likely to start Friday, earned a red card during that fracas despite not playing a minute of the actual game.
That fight, in the more literal sense, sparked up again from the USMNT on Saturday when Tim Weah went in hard on a tackle late in a 2-1 loss to Germany. Given Paraguay’s intensely physical style — as well as the very recent history at play — it looks relevant again for Friday’s game.
“I think our biggest strength of this team is that we really enjoy spending time with each other and we really enjoy each other as human beings,” Reyna said Tuesday when the topic was brought up. “I think that shows in how we play. Whether it’s running for each other or in moments, chippy moments, that’s our biggest strength, is how much we love each other.”
During the Atlanta portion of USMNT camp, Weah said that coach Mauricio Pochettino has brought some of “that South American grit” to the USMNT, alluding to the reputation of teams from the continent to play right up to the line in terms of their physicality.
“It started in Gold Cup [last summer], to be completely honest with you,” captain Tim Ream said Monday. “There were a few get-togethers in those games as well. I think the Paraguay game, at the end, there was a little bit extra. It had the feel of, the game meant something more. Now you look at it and think, OK, it was the perfect test for us at home. It’s good we had that experience.”
As for Reyna, it seems likely his role will look a lot like it did at the 2022 World Cup, which is to say he’s unlikely to start against Paraguay. The 23-year-old came off the bench for a 28-minute cameo against Germany and struggled to impact the game.
Still, since that November window, Pochettino has been consistent in saying Reyna has the sort of innate talent every team needs, giving himself the justification to put the controversial midfielder on the 26-man roster. If the USMNT finds itself needing a goal in the second half, it would be no surprise if the manager turned to Reyna.
Different as the scenario is, surely his performance against Paraguay seven months ago would at least lend itself to some confidence.
“We’ve been together for every day the last year,” said Joe Scally, Reyna’s teammate at Borussia Mönchengladbach and close friend. “He’s been doing great, bringing the energy he always brings. It’s the same at club or now. He’s an unbelievable player. He’s done well in camp. It’s very nice to see.”
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