Claudio Reyna

Claudio Reyna

Reyna in 2008 with the New York Red Bulls
Personal information
Full nameClaudio Reyna
Date of birthJuly 20, 1973
Place of birthLivingston, New Jersey, United States
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing positionMidfielder
Youth career
1991–1993Virginia Cavaliers
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1994–1999Bayer Leverkusen26(0)
1997–1999→ VfL Wolfsburg (loan)48(6)
1999–2001Rangers64(10)
2001–2003Sunderland28(3)
2003–2007Manchester City87(4)
2007–2008New York Red Bulls29(0)
Total282(23)
National team
1994–2006United States112(8)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Claudio Reyna (born July 20, 1973) is a retired American soccer player and the current director of football operations for New York City FC.

He was the captain of the United States men's national team before retiring from international football following the U.S.'s exit from the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He is widely considered one of the greatest players the United States has ever produced. Reyna last played for New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer, where he was team captain.[1]

Club career

Early career

Reyna's father Miguel moved to the United States in 1968 from Argentina, where he had gone through the youth system of Independiente and played professionally with Los Andes.[2] He settled in New Jersey where he married a Portuguese American woman, Maria Silva, and raised a family. Reyna learned the game from his father. Born in Livingston, New Jersey,[3] Reyna would go on to become a youth player at Saint Benedict's Preparatory School in New Jersey as a teammate of Gregg Berhalter. He graduated from St. Benedict's in 1991. During Reyna's three years with the team, St Benedict's went undefeated (65–0) while Reyna was named as the only two-time Parade Magazine's national high school Player of the Year and the Gatorade National Player of the Year. In 1999, he was named by The Star-Ledger as one of the top ten New Jersey high school soccer players of the 1990s.[4]

Highly recruited out of high school, Reyna elected to attend the University of Virginia from 1991–1993 on a full-ride scholarship. While at Virginia, he spent three seasons on the men's soccer team, coached by future U.S. national team coach Bruce Arena. The Cavaliers would go on to win the NCAA championship each of his three seasons. On an individual level, Reyna won the Hermann Trophy in 1993 and the MAC Award in 1992 and 1993; and was named the 1992 and 1993 Soccer America Player of the Year. In 2000, the magazine placed him on its Team of the Century and named him the male player of the century.

Leverkusen and Wolfsburg

On August 8, 1994, Reyna signed with German Bundesliga club Bayer 04 Leverkusen after playing in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He had difficulty finding playing time with the Leverkusen first team, making only five appearances. Leverkusen loaned Reyna to fellow Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg in July 1997. He quickly established himself in Wolfsburg's first team where he became the first American to captain a European club.

He was half way through his second year with Wolfsburg when Scottish Premier League club Rangers expressed an interest in Reyna.

Rangers

On April 1, 1999, Rangers paid $826,400 to Wolfsburg and $2.76 million to Leverkusen for Reyna. Reyna would remain with Rangers until December 2001. Despite building his reputation in Germany and on the national team as a creative midfielder, he spent most of his years at Rangers playing either defensive midfield or right back. He scored ten goals for the Ibrox club, one of the most notable was a strike that proved decisive over Italian club Parma for qualification for the 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League.

Sunderland

From Rangers, he transferred to Premier League side Sunderland, who paid £2.85 million for his services.

In October 2002, he injured the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, keeping him out of action for the rest of the 2002–2003 season.

Manchester City

Reyna joined Manchester City on August 29, 2003 for £2.5 million after a move on the same fee to Fulham collapsed.[5]

Reyna's time at City was frequently punctuated by injury, restricting him to thirty appearances in his first season with the club, and causing him to miss six months of the 2004–05 season. In three and a half seasons at the City of Manchester Stadium, Reyna made 87 appearances, scoring four goals and was a popular player with City supporters.

On January 11, 2007, Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce announced that the club had agreed to terminate Reyna's contract with a view to a move to Major League Soccer for family reasons. This was finalized on January 23, 2007.[6][7]

New York Red Bulls

On January 24, 2007, Reyna signed with New York Red Bulls, where he rejoined his former University of Virginia and U.S. national team head coach Bruce Arena.[1] However, much like his years in Britain, Reyna was almost constantly bothered by injuries. He only played in twenty-seven games during two years with New York and only six games in 2008 as he rehabilitated a herniated disc. Reyna announced his professional retirement on July 16, 2008.[8]

International career

Claudio Reyna during national team practice

As a U.S. national player, Reyna got his first cap against Norway on January 15, 1994. He was a member of the team at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, but did not play due to injury. Reyna did play in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cup.

In 2002, despite sitting out the opening 3–2 upset win over Portugal due to injury, he was a key contributor in the next three U.S. games — a tie against South Korea, a loss to Poland, and a win over CONCACAF rival Mexico. In the quarterfinals, the U.S. lost to eventual runner-up Germany. He became only the third American ever (after Bert Patenaude and John Souza) named to the World Cup all-tournament team.

In 2006, Reyna again captained the U.S. at the World Cup in Germany. Trailing 1–0 in the opener against the Czech Republic, Reyna fired a 30-yard shot that bounced off the post, the best American chance in the game. In the final group game against Ghana, Reyna suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament when he lost the ball to Haminu Draman[9] who then dribbled in alone and scored Ghana's first goal.

On June 23, 2006, the day after the U.S. was eliminated from the World Cup, Reyna announced his retirement from the national team. He ended his international career with 111 caps and eight goals.[10]

Reyna also represented his country at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

In Britain, he was occasionally referred to as Captain America because of his status as captain of the U.S. national team.[11]

International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 April 20, 1994 Davidson, North Carolina  Moldova 3–0 3–0 Friendly
2 May 7, 1994 Fullerton, California  Estonia 2–0 4–0 Friendly
3 June 18, 1995 Washington, D.C.  Mexico 4–0 4–0 1995 U.S. Cup
4 June 9, 1996 Foxboro, Massachusetts  Republic of Ireland 2–1 2–1 1996 U.S. Cup
5 November 9, 1997 Burnaby, Canada  Canada 1–0 3–0 1998 World Cup qualifying
6 April 22, 1998 Vienna, Austria  Austria 3–0 3–0 Friendly
7 February 6, 1999 Jacksonville, Florida  Germany 3–0 3–0 Friendly
8 June 3, 2000 Washington, D.C.  South Africa 3–0 4–0 2000 U.S. Cup

Personal life

Reyna married Danielle Egan, then a member of the United States women's national soccer team, in July 1997, one week after attending the FIFA All-Star Game in Hong Kong and two weeks after the U.S. team's World Cup qualifier at El Salvador. They have had four children: Jack, who was born in 1999 and died of cancer in 2012, Giovanni, who was born in 2002 and named after Reyna's good friend and former colleague at Glasgow Rangers Giovanni van Bronckhorst. Joah, five, and Carolina, two. Reyna and his family live in Bedford, New York.

Reyna now spends much of his time managing the Claudio Reyna Foundation, his non-profit established to provide soccer training and mentoring to underprivileged youth around the nation and abroad. Claudio was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame on February 29, 2012.

On July 19, 2012, Reyna's 13-year-old son Jack lost his fight with cancer.[12]

Career statistics

[13]

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Germany League DFB-Pokal Other Europe Total
1995–96Bayer LeverkusenBundesliga21010220
1996–97501060
1997–98Wolfsburg28421305
1998–9920251253
Scotland League Scottish Cup League Cup Europe Total
1998–99RangersScottish Premier League6060
1999–002954091426
2000–01182201090302
2001–021021160173
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
2001–02SunderlandPremier League173173
2002–0311011121
2003–04Manchester City231301040311
2004–05172172
2005–0622110231
2006–0715010160
USA League Open Cup League Cup North America Total
2007New York Red BullsMajor League Soccer230230
20086060
Total Germany 74692838
Scotland 63960212419511
England 10573041401168
USA 290290
Career total 271221826228132327

Honours

Rangers

Individual

References

Book

Internet

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Nierman, Jonathan (January 24, 2007). "Reyna coming home to join Bulls". MLSnet.com.
  2. ↑ http://www.socceramerica.com/article.asp?ART_ID=562138757[]
  3. ↑ Trecker, Jerry (January 16, 1994). "WORLD CUP '94 Making A Quick Point Newcomers, one local, help USA over Norway". Newsday. Retrieved April 28, 2013. Chasing down a long throw from former Blau-Weiss Gottschee star Dario Brose, [Claudio Reyna], the 1993 College Player of the Year from the University of Virginia and Livingston, N.J., slammed a hard shot at Norway goalkeeper Frode Grodas to create a game-winning rebound chance for Cobi Jones as the United States defeated Norway, 2–1, in Sun Devil Stadium yesterday to begin its 1994 World Cup preparation with an upset triumph.
  4. ↑ Jandoli, Ron (November 7, 1999). "Top 10 Players of each decade". The Star-Ledger. Archived from the original on January 10, 2003. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
  5. ↑ http://m.sunderlandecho.com/sport/reyna-seals-city-switch-1-1113257
  6. ↑ "Pearce confirms Reyna request". Manchester Evening News. Archived from the original on January 13, 2007. Retrieved January 14, 2007.
  7. ↑ "Man City agree to release Reyna". BBC Sport. January 23, 2007. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
  8. ↑ Butler, Dylan (July 15, 2008). "Reyna announces his retirement". MLSnet.com. Archived from the original on July 17, 2008. Retrieved July 16, 2008.
  9. ↑ Davidson, Gary; Wagman, Robert; Courtney, Chris (June 22, 2006). "Ghana uses disputed penalty kick to end American World Cup 2–1". Soccer Times. Retrieved November 27, 2007.
  10. ↑ "Reyna, Claudio". National Football Teams. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
  11. ↑ Canavan, Tom (January 24, 2007). "Claudio Reyna Signs With Red Bulls". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  12. ↑ http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/football-news/article/2854608[]
  13. ↑ "REYNA (Claudio Reyna) – Retired football (soccer) player from United States".

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Claudio Reyna.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Thomas Dooley		 United States captain
1998-2007 		Succeeded by
Carlos Bocanegra
Preceded by
Amado Guevara		 New York Red Bulls captain
2007-2008 		Succeeded by
Juan Pablo Ángel