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The countdown is on until the USA’s final 26-man World Cup roster is released on May 26, and the questions are becoming more pressing by the day. One player sitting on the fence is striker Gio Reyna.
FOX Sports’ Rob Stone joined First Things First for its weekly “World Cup Wednesday” segment and didn’t endorse Reyna making the final cut this summer.
“I had high hopes that Gio Reyna would be the star for the United States at the 2022 World Cup,” Stone said. “I thought that was going to be his breakout moment. It turned out to be kind of breaking the USMNT. Does he deserve to be on this team? I’d say no.”
Reyna was part of the 2022 World Cup squad that advanced to the last 16 before falling 3-1 to the Netherlands. However, his impact was minimal in their short-lived tournament run. Across four matches, Reyna appeared in two for 52 minutes – seven minutes against Wales and 45 minutes against the Netherlands.
In terms of this summer’s World Cup roster, Reyna’s recent activity with his club Borussia Mönchengladbach has not cemented himself as a front-runner for a place. Across 19 games Reyna appeared in, he has only recorded one goal and one assist.
Despite the 3-1 loss, Reyna found the back of the net for his time in the Bundesliga campaign last weekend against Augsburg. While one goal is a start, Reyna’s roster spot is also up for grabs with other star forwards like Timothy Weah, Malik Tillman and Alejandro Zendeas.
Stone made it clear that Reyna is not completely counted out, but it is not guaranteed that he will be on the field this summer.
“Will he be on this team? I think he has about a 30% chance of being on it because of this potential that he could maybe do something for the U.S. men’s national team this summer,” Stone said. “But he hasn’t earned it on the pitch because he hasn’t earned playing time with his club back in Germany. I’m fine if he’s not on the list.”
2026 FIFA World Cup: How to watch
From June 11 to July 19, 2026, FOX Sports presented its largest World Cup production and broadcast schedule to date with all 104 games live across FOX (69) and FS1 (35) with every game streaming live on FOX One and the FOX Sports App.
All 104 tournament matches airs live across FOX (70) and FS1 (34) with every game streaming live and on-demand in both the FOX One and FOX Sports apps. A record 40 games, more than a third of the tournament, are televised in prime time across FOX (21) and FS1 (19).
