Four years after he acted like a baby on the World Cup stage, Gio Reyna imitated a pregnant mother in a much more joyous moment.
Reyna, 23, put the final touch on USA’s 4-1 rout of Paraguay on Friday night in its first match of the 2026 World Cup, scoring on a 97th-minute play that included a remarkable 26 passes.
To celebrate the trivela goal – one scored with the outside of a player’s dominant foot – Reyna tucked the ball into his jersey to mimic a pregnant belly and put his thumb into his mouth like a baby, revealing to the world that he is about to be a father.
Reyna’s wife, Chloe, is expecting.
“I’ve known for a couple months now, so I was waiting for the perfect time,” Reyna said. “This sort of felt like it.”
Reyna appears to have come a long way from the immature player who nearly was sent home from the 2022 World Cup for displaying a poor attitude and subpar effort when he was disgruntled over a lack of playing time. His father, former men’s national team star Claudio Reyna, and mother retaliated by leaking information about a 1992 incident of domestic violence involving then-U.S. men’s coach Greg Berhalter and his wife, who were friends with the Reynas.
Was Gio Reyna playing Friday for a sense of atonement in his World Cup do-over?
“Wasn’t on my mind at all,” Gio said, even though it seems hard to believe because he shares the field with the Berhalters’ son Sebastian.
Gio’s immediate goal celebration – before the baby reveal – was to cover his ears with his hands.
Though that could be interpreted as trying to block out the noise, Gio said that was part of an inside joke with friends that he wanted to keep private.
Gio’s goal was the 10th of his international career and first in a World Cup.
Team USA coach Mauricio Pochettino – Berhalter’s successor – has repeatedly expressed Reyna, who came off the bench, despite his struggles this season at the European club level.