Claudio Reyna

Claudio Reyna

File:Claudio Reyna 2015.jpg Reyna as New York City FC sporting director in March 2015
Personal information
Full name	Claudio Reyna
Date of birth	(1973-07-20) July 20, 1973
Place of birth	Livingston, New Jersey, U.S.
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1991–1993	Virginia Cavaliers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1994–1999	Bayer Leverkusen	26	(0)
1997–1999	→ VfL Wolfsburg (loan)	48	(6)
1999–2001	Rangers	64	(10)
2001–2003	Sunderland	28	(3)
2003–2007	Manchester City	87	(4)
2007–2008	New York Red Bulls	29	(0)
Total		282	(23)
International career
1994–2006	United States	112	(8)
*Club domestic league appearances and 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.

Early life

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. He settled in Springfield Township, Union County, New Jersey in the 1950s, married a Portuguese American woman, Maria Silva, and raised a family. Reyna was born in Livingston, New Jersey, where he learned the game from his father.

Club career

Early career

In New Jersey, Reyna would go on to become a youth player at Saint Benedict's Preparatory School, 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.

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 2002–03 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.

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.

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. 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.

International career

Reyna practicing with the U.S. national soccer team in 2006.

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 Cups.

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 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.

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

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

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

Other roles

New York City FC

On May 22, 2013, Reyna was appointed Sporting Director of MLS expansion team New York City FC.

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 and Carolina. 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 died of cancer.

Career statistics

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
1995–96	Bayer Leverkusen	Bundesliga	21	0	1	0					22	0
1996–97			5	0	1	0					6	0
1997–98	Wolfsburg		28	4	2	1					30	5
1998–99			20	2	5	1					25	3
Scotland			League		Scottish Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
1998–99	Rangers	Scottish Premier League	6	0							6	0
1999–2000			29	5	4	0			9	1	42	6
2000–01			18	2	2	0	1	0	9	0	30	2
2001–02			10	2			1	1	6	0	17	3
England			League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
2001–02	Sunderland	FA Premier League	17	3							17	3
2002–03			11	0			1	1			12	1
2003–04	Manchester City		23	1	3	0	1	0	4	0	31	1
2004–05			17	2							17	2
2005–06			22	1			1	0			23	1
2006–07			15	0			1	0			16	0
U.S.			League		Open Cup		League Cup		North America		Total
2007	New York Red Bulls	Major League Soccer	23	0							23	0
2008			6	0							6	0
Total	Germany		74	6	9	2					83	8
	Scotland		63	9	6	0	2	1	24	1	95	11
	England		105	7	3	0	4	1	4	0	116	8
	U.S.		29	0							29	0
Career total			271	22	18	2	6	2	28	1	323	27

Honors

Rangers

• Scottish Premier League: 1999–2000
• Scottish Cup: 1999–2000

Individual

• FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 2002

References

Book

• More Than Goals: From Backyard Games to World Cup Competition with Mike Woitalla (2004, ISBN 978-0-7360-5171-2)

Internet

External links

• Claudio Reyna at Soccerbase