GOAL sat down with Gio Reyna in Atlanta, and one of the first things he said was simple and physical: he had deleted Instagram from his phone. "I’m four years older, and that's a really big difference," Reyna said, then described how he now spends time talking with family, sitting with his dog and playing PGA Tour video games with his U.S. Men's National Team teammates.
Reyna turned the conversation quickly from habit to horizon. At 23, headed into his second World Cup cycle, he kept returning to the same idea: growth. "It’s not just any four years, but from 19 to 23, I believe, in most people's lives, that is where a lot of people grow up," he said. "I’ve grown in so many different ways it's hard to pinpoint one, but yeah, now that I'm here, I'm just looking forward to this moment."
The weight of those lines comes from what Reyna is trying to change. For three and a half years his name has been tied repeatedly to the 2022 World Cup and to questions about form, fitness, injuries, attitude and perception. Reyna framed his response in practical details — less scrolling, more face‑to‑face time with people who keep him steady. "It all comes from a good supporting group around you that keeps you going every day," he said, and added that the shift "has come from within, of course."
Context matters here: Reyna's public narrative since 2022 has been part scrutiny, part storyline. He acknowledged that being in the moment makes reflection difficult. "It's hard, when you're in the moment, take a step back and think about it, but of course, things have changed," he said. The small choices he described — deleting an app, sitting with his dog, leaning on teammates — are how he says he has tried to blunt the noise and focus on the next campaign.
There is friction between intent and history. Reyna insists he wants a new story as the USMNT moves toward the 2026 World Cup, but the record of public debate around his performances and perception has not been erased by a phone gesture or a changed routine. The question that followed every answer in Atlanta was less about habits and more about outcome: will the internal adjustments produce different, observable results on the field?
Reyna did not promise a turnaround with timelines or guarantees; he offered the contours of a process. He emphasized the role of the group around him and his own evolving mindset, and he repeated that he is looking forward to the moment — to a second World Cup where he hopes the focus is on what he does for the team rather than what happened in 2022. Yet the unresolved point is clear and consequential: whether the maturity he describes at 23 will translate into a role and performance that finally reshapes how he is seen by critics and supporters alike.
He left Atlanta with preparation as the next act. Reyna has taken tangible steps to manage the noise; now the most important measure will be on the pitch, as the USMNT and Reyna head into the long build toward 2026. That is the gap he has set for himself — not the deletion of an app, but the chance to let play, not headlines, tell the next chapter of the Reyna USMNT story.
