CHESTER, Pa. — The best version of this U.S. men’s national team, the version that crushes any reasonable expectation at next summer’s World Cup and propels soccer into a new stratosphere in the United States, almost certainly has Gio Reyna on it. 

Reyna, who started for Borussia Dortmund at age 17. Reyna, who was going to be bigger and better than Christian Pulisic. Reyna, who turned 23 on Thursday and still has so much more to give and so much time to reach his untapped potential. 

Reyna, who until this week had gone seven months without a national team call-up and for whom the fallout from the 2022 World Cup still hangs over everything.

In Qatar, Reyna reportedly was almost sent home and had to apologize to his teammates for a lack of effort in training and did not start any of Team USA’s four games.