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On the pitch, the FIFA World Cup 2026 Moment of the Day. This year’s World Cup is the bigger World Cup in terms of both half so more teams, and more matches’ -so more action than ever. If wishes were horses every day would be one full of big happenings, but ESPN India tries to nail down the one moment that screamed ‘The Day in Sports’.
Day 2: Giovanni Reyna’s golazo vs US U20s FIFA World Cup 2026 Moment of the Day
The match was effectively over in the 94th minute of stoppage time and USA were well on their way to a comfortable victory with a score-line of 3-1 against Paraguay at home. A destructive first half display, orchestrated by the threatening presence of Christian Pulisic and punctuated with closely-drawn strikes from Folarin Balogun,
had long concluded the match as a contest — but there still remained an air of is this really the US national team (USMNT) of 2026? Paraguay had fought back in a tight game in the second half, albeit so dramatically that it was almost at the back of your mind that the US needed one more to slap an exclamation point on this statement result.
The next act comes in the form of Giovanni Reyna.
Now, not many saw it being Reyna commanding centre stage — for he has told that type of story littering football history for decades now…. Hyper-talented wonderkid rises as a teenager and then just slowly falls away into the backlight.
Five years ago US fans were swooning at Reyna’s potential — he had already become a key player for Borussia Dortmund by 18, had set records (youngest ever goalscorer in DFB Pokal history; second youngest American scorer in the Bundesliga), and was high up on shortlists for awards like the Golden Boy (that year, 2021, won by Pedri with Dortmund teammate Jude Bellingham second). He was that good, and then teammate Erling Haaland began calling him “the American Dream.”
Everything was set for the 2022 World Cup to be his coming-out party on the world stage but that turned into a soap opera gone awry when a spat with then USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter blew up into an international situation that also sucked in his parents (dems Claudio and Danielle were both US national teamers themselves).
His club form was solid for a while (he had the second-best minutes-per-goal ratio in the 2022-’23 season among all five major European leagues), but his decline also came almost instantly. Injuries followed him and with them went whatever resemblence of form he had. Dortmund sent him out on loan to Nottingham Forest but that didn’t work and neither did going back to the Westfalonstadion. Last season, he had started just four times for new club Borussia Monchengladbach and as of this juncture was far from a assured starter with the USMNT.
The Argentine had made no secret he was a key part of the squad in previous seasons, though current head coach Mauricio Pochettino Reyna had a spiritedness about him that belied what this young man, aged just 17, has been through in his life and career (his older brother Jack had died at nine) and Pochettino seemed to have sensed it. Reyna is just 23, and it was clear the pitch made sense to the national team coach: obviously the script wasn’t nearly written. That faith was spectacularly underscored by the former wunderkind in this their World Cup opener.
During that final minute of stoppage time, the US completed 24 passes during a move that began with a Tim Weah miss hitting a wild shot from distance to the foot and concluded with it landing at Gio Reyna’s feet outside the Paraguay box. Pass and go left, then right, upfield, back again—right, forward…The United States had played with Paraguay now; no one knows defense like Paraguay does; the national reputation was on the line as Reyna took two touches into the box before SoFi stadium caught its collective breath.
And then magic. He set himself up to go right, planted his left foot just a bit wide and smashed the outside of his right — completely catching defenders and goalkeeper off guard — sending it careening into the back net. A trivela, that magical cross only the most skillful have commands over, sample delivered instep perfect at the largest of stages.
But with a single boot of the soccer ball, Gio Reyna had delivered exactly the kind of cherry on top that night in the USMNT deserved — and also scored his massive talent again — in one stroke. The American dream is back—and he has America dreaming again.
