INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Gio Reyna’s delightful goal was a perfect way to cap a near-flawless Friday night for the United States men’s soccer team. And as Reyna trotted away in celebration, his teammates rushing toward him, he also decided that this, a World Cup opener, was the “perfect time” to make a personal announcement to the world.“My wife’s pregnant,” Reyna revealed postgame.He said those words with a boyish smile spread across his face, around two hours after flicking a trivela goal — one scored off the outside of a player’s boot — past a helpless Paraguayan goalkeeper to seal a 4-1 U.S. victory.Reyna first celebrated by covering his ears, perhaps an implicit reference to all the noise and criticism that has swirled around him in recent years. (He said it was “just something between me and my friends.”)Then he stuck the ball up his shirt and sucked on his thumb, a routine that professional soccer players have used for decades to dedicate goals to their pregnant partners.The outside world, though, did not know that Reyna’s wife, Chloe, is pregnant with the couple’s first child.“I’ve known for a couple months now,” Reyna said, “so I was waiting for the perfect time [to announce the pregnancy]. And this sort of felt like it.”It was especially perfect because Reyna’s parents (former U.S. international players Claudio and Danielle) and Chloe had “been telling me to shoot” more often and “be a bit selfish at times,” Reyna added.He did that in the 98th minute, via an uncommon technique that is difficult to pull off, with the outside of his magical right foot. Why did he choose that technique?“These questions are always hard for me,” Reyna replied. “Honestly, when I’m playing, I’m not really thinking. I’m just doing whatever felt natural. I was in a good area, and I got a good pass, and I just saw the angle, far post.”Gio Reyna scores with the outside of his boot to cap the USMNT’s win over Paraguay (Shaun Clark / ISI Photos / Getty Images)Proving Pochettino rightReyna was U.S. head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s most controversial pick for this 2026 World Cup roster. To some fans, he was a polarizing choice because of all the drama that had swirled around him at the 2022 World Cup. In soccer circles, the bigger problem was a simple one: Reyna had not started a single game for his German club, Borussia Mönchengladbach, in the calendar year 2026.In fact, his difficulties stretch back three full years. For a variety of reasons, including injuries, Reyna has logged fewer competitive minutes in that time than many players do in a single year. Since the start of the 2023-24 season, across stints at three different clubs, he has tallied a grand total of three goals and two assists.