ORANGEBURG, N.Y. — In the aftermath of the U.S. national team’s failed qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Claudio Reyna slammed “arrogant” youth coaches and called for a cultural change across all levels of soccer in the United States.
Eight months later, there’s a new US Soccer president in Carlos Cordeiro and Earnie Stewart is in the newly-formed role of the general manager of the USMNT. But the New York City FC sporting director’s stance hasn’t softened when it comes to the sport’s development in this country.
“When I get an opportunity to sit in meetings and talk about soccer and the direction, the first thing is you have to be real and honest,” Reyna said. “Sometimes I think we tiptoe around that because we don’t want to hurt feelings. That’s my disappointment at times, is that we dance around where we’re really at, we try to over-exaggerate things and how good we are vs. just being real and honest.”
Reyna said true development is happening in other countries around the world because there’s more humility, while false narratives are created in the United States despite the country not being where it could or should be right now.
“That was my point last time when I talked about it because I feel that sometimes we’re kind of asleep here and not really being honest about where we are as players, coaches, teams, everything, our styles and systems of play, while countries around the world continue to advance and move forward,” Reyna said. “We just seem to, again, create stories that aren’t real about where we’re at.”
Reyna’s call for more honest conversations is across the board – from youth teams, to Major League Soccer and to the national teams.
“Whether it’s youth, professional, on all levels certainly we have to realize that it’s good, but what is that level of good mean? We have to be much better than what we’re at,” Reyna said. “I’m never going to stop saying that because I think we have to push and just be honest about where we’re at.”
Reyna also doesn’t subscribe to the theory that MLS is responsible for building up the USMNT. His job as sporting director is to make NYCFC the best possible team it can be, not take on additional responsibility for the growth of the USMNT.
“I don’t think as coaches and sporting directors our job is to wake up and think about the national team,” Reyna said. “We’re trying to advance each of our clubs, our league and with that, hopefully the national team will improve.”
Under Reyna’s direction, NYCFC has gotten younger and more athletic this year, bringing in young, dynamic players from Paraguay (Jesus Medina), Libya by way of Switzerland (Ismael Tajouri-Shradi), and Sweden (Anton Tinnerholm) this offseason. All three have played major minutes for NYCFC, who are second in the Eastern Conference.
There are young players who have represented the US at the youth levels on the roster in 2017 SuperDraft pick Jonathan Lewis and the club's two Homegrown players, James Sands and Joe Scally.
But Reyna said their playing time with NYCFC, as should be the case with other American players, will not be awarded just because of their nationality.
“I’ll never change my point of view that playing has to be earned and not given and not create opportunities and a false environment where guys are given playing time,” Reyna said. “That’s not professional anything. You’ve got to earn it.
“Our Americans have to earn to play. There’s many more international players coming into our league, which is good, and our players need to out-perform them, out-train them to get on the field.”
With expansion, Reyna said, naturally more opportunities are created. But even on those teams, there needs to be a competitive environment to foster true growth.
“The second we create a comfortable environment we’re in trouble,” Reyna said. “That’s my biggest concern overall, whether you’re 16, 17, 18 or 25, 26, if you’re not in a competitive environment, it’s difficult and challenging. We have to make sure the league continues to create opportunities, but opportunities that are earned for American players. Then we’ll continue to improve.”
