USMNT Preview with Vamos’ Herc Gomez: Gio Reyna returns, Weston McKennie out, and tests against Paraguay and Uruguay 11/14/25

0:00It's Rog. If you haven't noticed, I absolutely adore New Balance and all that they create. And although I'm not a professional footballer, I still love their boots worn by some of the greatest in the game, such as Bukayo Saka, Eberichi Eze, Jeremy Frimpong and the legend James Rodriguez. Whether it's the Fioran or the Tekela, both boots are made for performance. Fiorans are crafted for speed, features a new speed control stud designed for sudden stop shot, pivots and moves used by the fastest players on the field. and T 'Kella provide superior touch and control to bring your vision to life, reducing the space between the foot and the ball for a close, intuitive feel.

0:40Grab yourself a pair today at newbalance.com slash soccer. You're listening to the Men in Blazers Media Network, Suboptimal Radio. There's something there that makes Mariccio Pochettino say, you know what, given the player pool that I have, he could be of use. He needs to see what Gio Reina is about now because con March, that's your last window, Raj. That's got to be your team. He sees something at Gladbach and he's like, you know what? I'm intrigued.

1:16Soccer's coming home. US men's national team are back for the second to last international window before the World Cup. Are we running out of time? We will play Paraguay and Uruguay, all the Guays, but the squad still feels, let's say, incredibly experimental. Lots of massive players not called in, including Christian Pulisic, Weston McKinney and Chris Richards. But one massive, almost marquee name is back. Gio Reyna returning like a prodigal son for the first time since March 2025. There's doomed tragedies in the CONCACAF Nations League. Lots of intrigue to unpack. The process that we're meant to trust remains, I've got to be candid, somewhat of a mystery.

1:59And to break it all down, it's a joy to welcome back US international, turned ESPN broadcaster, a gentles analysis I always learn from. It's my friend, it's Mr. Hercules Gomez. Raj, excited to be here with you. How are you doing, my man? I'm all right. I'm all right. I'm ready for these quite intriguing Paragames. Paraguay, Uruguay, 39th in the world, 15th in the world, both qualifiers for our World Cup. Really stern test for this team. Just to recap, in case you've missed the last couple of friendlies on Friendly Avenue, we got taught a lesson by Turkey, Switzerland, South Korea. We've drawn with Ecuador and we've beaten, let's call them A-Japan 11 and a midnight oil version of Australia in that last Christian rolled on, had you right, come alive sensation.

2:44We are three games unbeaten now against top 25 teams, Herc. Will this window help the narrative change? Well, it can help the narrative change if you play well and beat what I think are two very quality opponents in terms of player personnel, in terms of coaching to the best coaches in South America. Marisa Pogitino and this U.S. men's national team, we'll get into what this U.S. men's national team means, can pull off good results and good play. Yeah, that's going to change the narrative for sure. We want to give huge thanks to Bank of America, the official bank of US soccer and the FIFA World Cup 2026 for supporting us at the Men in Blazers media network.

3:25Discover what's possible in sports and in life. What would you like the power to do? But let's start with the gent who is back with us, Geo Raider. Oh, from exile, alongside the Robin to his Batman, Joe Scali, longtime wingman. You know him now as Golf Cart Joe. But Geo is the story. First of all, did his call-up surprise you? And I say surprise because our fallen young prince has played just 132 minutes for German Duffers, Borussia Mönchengladbach this season. 69 minutes under the US under Poch. Nice. And Poch, remember people, is a coach who preaches, this is his quote, players need to perform for their clubs.

4:04That's his cardinal rule. What do you make of Poch giving Gio a lifeline and hailing him as, quote, a special situation? Mariusz Pochettino did say you need to play. You need to be a big player on your team to get called up. And he contradicted himself. But I'm okay with this. Now, he mentioned many times in his press conference, Gio Reyna and referred to him as a special player. I counted five different times he said special player. Maybe there was more. In every team I've been on, there have been special cases, special players who get treated differently. If he doesn't bring Gio in now, he's not going to bring him in in March.

4:43He needs to see what Gio Reyna is about now. Because come March, that's your last window, Raj. That's got to be your team. That's got to be, I'm going to the World Cup with these 26 players. That's got to be the moment. So you got to see what he has. And what better opportunity against what I think is very stingy, defensive specialist in Paraguay, Uruguay. For a player in Gio Reyna, you just mentioned his minutes. 100 and what was that? 132 minutes for Borussia Mönchengladbach. That's 132 more minutes than he got in the last three years at Dortmund. Okay. He sees something at Gladbach and he's like, you know what?

5:20I'm intrigued. Does he though? I mean, Henry Bushnell tweeted, Gio Reyna's played fewer club minutes this year than any other US men's national team player. Hasn't scored or created a goal since January. Players need to perform has been the rule for months. You know, the reality is when we say he is a special player, are we using the tense wrong there? Is it he was a special player? And we're going off the geo of our imagination. And it's not because of anything he's actually done on the field, but this is purely based on our memory, our sincerely beautiful memories. Is it the geo of our imaginations that's been called up?

5:57I asked myself that same question. And I said to myself, did this kid peak at 16 years old, 17 years old? Is that where he peaked? And then I thought to myself. I did. And it's a horrible, horrible way to live a life. it is a horrible way to live a life but then i thought to myself let's go back raj and look at the finals the nation's league finals that this kid has played under greg berhalter bj callahan he's been a big time player semi-finals and big tournaments for the u.s men's national team he's been a big player goals assist who can forget haji writes double against jamaica that doesn't happen without Gio Reyna.

6:35Does not happen without Gio Reyna. Now, let's get the elephant out of the room. We can talk about how bad Gladbach is this season. They are terrible. They are terrible, and they are relegation battlers. But one of the first games I got to see Gio Reyna, they actually, I believe, lost 4-0. 4-0, I want to say it was Frankfurt. And I'm watching Gio Reyna play. Gio Reyna should have had a hat-trick of assists. That's how bad some of his teammates were. so there's something there that makes marissa pochettino say you know what given the player that i have he could be of use and that's a huge step forward because march the last time he was in camp the the nation's league where they lost to panama panama wins that at the death at the death the 90 something minute there was a minute there was a moment in the 70th minute where he looks down the bench raj and he's like i need a goal it's zero zero and literally looks down the bench and sees Gio Reyna says, nah, dog, I'm good.

7:33And goes the other way, goes with a Brian White. So I'd like to think something's changed there. Yeah. I mean, something has changed and I want to try and understand it deeper. I mean, maybe the problem that he's trying to fill has changed. I don't know what it is. I want to say I am happy for Gio Reyna as a human being. You know, he came on our show last week. You can find that on our YouTube. I found it very moving to interview to listen to this kid. And he's still so unbelievably young. He's still just 22. He's a kid who not only has had everything in his world buckle in public with his family, his club career, his international career, conflating, spiraling together in this mess.

8:16And then you layer on injury after injury. And man, you listen to him. This is the kid that's clearly suffered so much. You know, he was once on the same star boy trajectory as his friend Erling Haaland. And now he's on the bench in a German relegation battle team, but he's barely getting minutes. So God bless. I wish him redemption. I really do. I root for him. But it is a gamble by Pochettino because it completely changes the dynamic and the message he's been giving to all the other players. Why would he take this gamble now in this window? Does this risk tell us about what Pochettino thinks he's missing in this squad that would lead him to take this gamble in the first place?

8:56I think you're 100 % on the money, Raj. I think he's looking around at the player pool and saying, ah, when it comes to creative players, if I'm going to play with dual 10s, I don't have creative players. I don't have that type of animal. When Weston McKinney was in the last camp, Weston played as a dual 10. That's not his position. So he's probably thinking to himself, I am missing something. If the line of five, the three center backs is the way to go because it's been good for us, well then I got to find my tens and proof of that is Brendan Aronson's back in the fold proof of that is Diego Luna's gotten a good run proof of that is Weston McKinney's played the 10 spot that spot is going to be there to stay and if that's the case and you look at the pool that you have well you'd be hard pressed to find better tens in their moment at their ceiling than Giovanni Reina in our imagination so I want to get to these other positions but I do want to know what success for Gio Reyna in this window?

9:54Because that midfield debt chart, I talked to him about it, is probably the most stacked, most competitive position in the current squad. Does Gio have to start and show he can bring the vision, the line breaking that the other options just can't see or do? I think Gio needs to have one or two big moments. I'm talking Azteca versus Mexico. Swalums, 70 yards, puts it on Jordan Peefock's foot type of deal inside the six. Like something special to make Marisa Pochettino say, you know what? Given the fact that he doesn't play at his club, it's just too good what I see. I'm going to roll the dice with this kid because come World Cup time, there's going to be a moment where we're playing on the back foot or maybe we're down a goal and I need to just throw everything forward and maybe he can unlock a defensive line.

10:42The only way he can with individual brilliance, if that still exists for Giovanni Reina, because we've not seen it in quite some time, but I think he's rolling the dice here and I applaud him for it.

10:56Big picture. What does it mean from a trust the process perspective? Do we even care about this? I mean, this is, this is, you said it's the second to last camp before the World Cup squad's announced, which is crazy. I will get to the players who are not here right now, but I am old enough listeners to remember back in August, 2025, when Pochettino announced, quote, This is going to be the last camp to have the possibility for us to see players, new faces. And here we are, Geo back, reliable Joe Scali back. I'm happy they are. I mean, I think they could have should have been called up earlier to be candid.

11:33But this issue of trust the process, you either have to articulate the process intelligently, clearly, or it just looks like you're muddying the process. Should we be worried about whether there is a process or do we just judge this thing not by process, but by outcome and winning one knockout game in the World Cup or not winning? That's all that matters. Yeah, I think we're beyond process. If you look at the camps that we've seen. We're in a post-process world, are we? I mean, Raj, think about this for a second. how much hope we had in October, what was it, a few years ago, last year I believe when Pochettino was announced or when the reports were surfacing, and you heard that U.S.

12:15soccer spent$6 million a year to bring in a coach that was on the short list for the majority of European clubs around the world. Manchester United needed a coach? Well, Pochettino's name was going to come up. He was coaching PSG with Neymar, Mbappe, and Messi. you're thinking to yourself wow how do they do this fast forward and think about everything that you've seen what that process has looked like i don't want to trust the process i don't want to trust the process i want to see what fruits are there what what the seeds that he's planted i want to see him come to fruition with top quality players in this program what what happened in the past.

12:55I mean, how many camps can we say like you enjoyed what you saw? So it's not about trusting the process anymore. I think we're beyond that. Ladies and gentlemen, we are living in a post-process world and I don't like it. But let me ask you about Potch very, very quickly. Because I was fascinated by the interview you gave, was it the BBC 10 days ago? First of all, Jen is US soccer men's national team manager. We are headed towards a World Cup on home turf. and when Mauricio was appointed, he was announced, you know, the briefing at the time was this was a man who was going to help us build US soccer to the World Cup and beyond.

13:33So when you hear him say to the BBC and outlet, he chose for this purpose to deliver this message. He said the Premier League is the best league in the world. Of course, I miss it. I'm happy in America, but I'm also thinking about coming back to the Premier League one day into the most competitive league. what is that message he's putting out into the world well i think he's throwing the net out you know he's seeing what he can fish my colleague at espn alejandro moreno uh you know we were on air and i asked him about it and he's like you know what this is like this is like if you're married and you're talking about another woman and you're like well publicly your wife's gonna hear about it and i said well ale what would you say to those people who say but but it's but he's he's right.

14:17He's telling the truth, at least. I mean, the Premier League is the best league in the world, and he's telling the truth that he does want to go back. He's like, would your wife want to hear that? So U.S. soccer is the wife here. U.S. soccer should not be pleased that while he's got a high profile job with him, a record job with him in terms of salary, every corner or every opportunity with a English outlet, he's talking about how much he misses the Premier League and how much he wants to go back. I'm sure there are a lot of fans, U.S. fans that are saying, I don't care. That's not what you're here for.

14:51I want you to concentrate on the U.S. men's national team. I'm at a loss for words at why he goes out of his way to do this, because Mauricio Poggino likes to pander to the crowd. He's done this before. He was on Chiringuito and he was talking about Deportivo and how they are more Catalan than Barcelona. What he's doing there is he's pandering to the crowd. He panders to every crowd besides the crowd that he's paid to represent right now, which is the U.S. men's national team crowd. And I don't understand it. Yeah, I mean, it is interesting. I mean, when I hear him say that, it sounds like Potch is going full on George Strait.

15:29I'm here for a good time, not a long time. Which, by the way, I need to ask you very quickly, what does that do to the players? You know, I think the players right now, unfortunately, aren't on national team mode. They're in World Cup mode. Now, that means you're not caring about the long term health of the national team. You're worried about getting on the World Cup team and they're going to go with the flow. They're going to do whatever it takes to get on that World Cup team. I'm sure a lot of them feel uneasy, but there's no longer the team that they once were empowered to believe they had.

16:03That's fair. You know, there's one other thing that was interesting to me in that interview about that. When Potts looked at the mentality of the U.S. player, I was asked about it. He said, you need to know the culture of the American player. I say no. I know the most important thing, the culture of football and soccer. We need to translate the culture of football to the American player. I think I kind of know what he's saying. I don't really fully understand it. Do you? And do you like it? I agree with him in his assessment of coaching in U.S. soccer and the pyramid we have here. It has to be better.

16:40The messaging has to be better. I believe coaching has a long way to go. And that's a lot of it's U.S. soccer's fault for how difficult it is to become a coach in the U.S. compared to other countries. In Spain, everybody's a coach and they understand the game because they teach the game to these coaches and it's taught the same way. What I will say is, what I heard is, he doesn't think the U.S. athlete on the U.S. men's national team can compete. And as a former player of the national team, to hear that he doesn't believe his group can compete mentally, that they have the will to win, the desire to represent their country, that is outlandish.

17:17And if anything, the U.S. athlete has or has had is that the fire in their belly, the willingness to compete, that edge about them because they knew that technically they were deficient compared to the highest levels of the world. Because tactically, they didn't have maybe the coaching understanding of the highest levels in the world. And in product on the field, they've never gotten to the highest levels like the rest of the world. But what they did have was the American spirit, the will to compete, the I never back down mentality. He's telling me they don't have that now? That to me is damning.

18:02Okay, let's dive into the squad, which is headlined really again by who is not here. Christian Pulisic not in this camp, returning to fitness for AC Milan after suffering an injury in the last international window. Chris Richards has been left behind at Crystal Palace who have played so much football and I don't think he's missed a single minute of it in his dominant season. I do want to talk about Weston McKinney trying once again to assert his place at Juventus who themselves are struggling. In their city in sixth place in the Serie A table, manager Igor Tudor sacked, replaced by old friend, veteran boss, Luciano Spalletti, who McKinney must now learn to impress.

18:41Poch said this, I think it's important for Weston to be there and try to convince the coaches that keep playing me. I think it's more important than maybe be with us. No. Is it, Herc? No. Has Mauricio Pochettino ever had a full squad? What we've deemed to be the full A team. Has he ever had at any certain moment under his tutelage in a camp, the full squad healthy at his disposal to work on? Has he had that? No, he hasn't. No, he hasn't. So what he's telling me is that other places are more important than U.S. men's nationally preparing for the World Cup. I don't buy that. Weston McKinney is Weston McKinney at Juventus, and he always ends up playing.

19:26I've already read reports about how much his new coach loves him and wants to lock him down for a new contract. At Juventus, you've got international players from everywhere. So the players who stay aren't the international players. What's he doing? Gym sessions? 5v2s? Rondos? That's what he's doing there? And he's not here under your system? This is crazy, by the way. You don't hear the English national team leaving out players so they can rest with their club. Never. You don't hear the French national team say, you know what? We know what you can do. We'll leave you out. You stay with your club.

19:58It's the opposite, Rog. It's right now, right now, Spain, La Minha Mal, Barcelona, the head coach, the Federation, they're at war because Barcelona is thinking the best for the players, the club. And Spain's like, we got to get ready for a World Cup here. How could you not keep us in the loop? And Marisa Pochettino is doing the opposite. I've never seen this, that we're this close to a World Cup. You know what? You rest up. You club it up. You stay there. You don't have to be here. You don't have to think about chemistry. You don't have to think about communication. You don't have to think about building relations with the rest of the squad.

20:33And I'm saying this because Landon Donovan said this last week, and I quote, I'll say in Weston's case, and I'm pulling back the curtain a little bit. I do know in speaking to people, he wanted to come in, meaning Weston. Weston wanted to come in is what he's saying. He did, and he was surprised. So that was a Pochettino decision. I got to be honest. Now, one detail, dear listener, Landon Donovan shares an agent with Weston. Herc, dot, dot, dot. Same agency. So Landon is somebody who has authority to speak on this because if you peel that curtain back, certainly it's the agency and those in the agency telling him what's going on with Weston McKinney.

21:16But that tells you everything you need to know. I mean, we go back to the lack of communication between the players and the staff, if I'm Weston McKinney, I absolutely want to be here. This is one of the last camps I have in a setting that I don't feel very comfortable in. I'm playing as one of the dual tens, not my position. I've been in and out, haven't really been called up much by Mauricio Pochettino. I want to be here to show him I belong here. And Mauricio Pochettino should want me here as well. And I'm not here. As I said, McKinney is not the only absentee. Pulisic out, Malik Tillman out, Anthony Robinson, who I've got to be candid, his fitness is becoming a real concern.

21:54Chris Richards out and then Tyler Adams was a late scratch after a pair of injuries and back-to-back games. Let's look at some of the individual positional issues of note. Tyler Adams, his absence means probably, I guess, Christian Roldan will get more playing time. Who do you expect to see? You've got Aidan Morris, Tanner Tessman, even back for mini-exile Sebastian Berhalter. Who do you expect to see getting a grind on in Tyler's absence? You know, it's unfortunate Tyler Adams isn't here. He wasn't here last camp. He was celebrating the birth of his second child with his wife, Miss Last Camp.

22:27And now he's not here this camp. That was your captain at the last World Cup, the youngest captain in U.S. Men's National Team history at a World Cup. Very respectable player. The true leader of this team. You speak on culture so much. That's who needs to be here to establish culture if you really want it. And he's not here. So you're missing out. Who can fill that void? Honestly, it's very difficult to fill a Tyler Adams void. Defensively, the work rate, the leadership on the field, what you get off the field, what you can expect, you don't fill that void. But I kind of think there are a few winners here with Tyler's absence.

22:59Tanner Tessman and Christian Roldan and Sebastian Berhalter. You know, Sebastian Berhalter wasn't one of the guys called in last camp. And Christian Roldan kind of came about. So now you have to ask yourself, well, he was the one that Maris Pochino trusted, Berhalter and here comes Roldan and he speaks volumes of Roldan. The only constant I see there is Tanner Testament. I think he's shown me some versatility. I think he's shown me something else on and off the ball where I think he's going to be there in the absence of Tyler Adams. The ones I don't know about are going to be Christian Roldan and are going to be Sebastian Berhalter because I know how much it is that Marisa Puccino values them.

23:38It isn't so much that I think that they add incredible value to the midfield. I'm playing the man here in Marisa Pochettino. I understand how much he values them. That's the wild card for me. I don't know if Aiden Morris is going to get a crack of being, you know, the defensive midfielder for both games. I think Tanner Tessman is going to be there. He'll be a constant. I'm really intrigued to see which way he goes, whether it's Roldan or Berhalter here. Up top, we got strikers who are scoring freely for their club teams. Flo Balogun, Ricardo Pepe. He's back, baby. Had you right. Potent. How would you rank them?

24:15Oh, man. I think right now, if we're asking ourselves who pole position is, it's got to be following Balogun. He's done so well at the U.S. Men's National Team last couple camps, and he's shown an incredible ability to work off players like Christian Pulisic, who are so important and vital to this U.S. Men's National Team team. And he's one of the few forwards that can create for himself. If he plays by himself, plays with dual tens. If you're on the back foot, this is a player that his runs, his hold-up play, his link-up play, his vision up the field, his execution, and how hot he is at the moment.

24:48He scored his fourth goal of the season, you know, his last club game with Monaco. Unfortunately, that was accompanied by a red card in the first half that saw Monaco lose 4-1. So he should be somewhat fresh coming to this camp. He's got pole position for me. And I think it's Haji Wright. Haji Wright's been healthy. He's been scoring goals. Frank Lampard has him playing incredibly well. Now on the center of the pitch, he once was out wide. He finds himself more in a central position. He's scoring goals the way that we know Haji Wright can score goals. And Haji's coming off a brace in his last game versus Australia.

25:20So I think that's number two. And number three, and I hope it's still in the mind of Marisa Pochettino, is the one player early on who was scoring goals for him, whether it was off the bench or whether he was starting, and he just needed to prove his fitness. Well, he's fit. He's back on the field. And in Champions League, a late equalizer in the most Ricardo Pepe type of way. Opportunistic on the half volley, gets one touch, one chance, puts it in the back of the net. I think that's the depth chart if we're going about it right now. It's got to be Foller and Balogun 1. It's got to be Haji Wright 2.