Borussia Dortmund and USMNT attacker Gio Reyna has returned to the training field, as confirmed by several German media sources, and could still see significant playing time before the upcoming international break.
Reyna went down with what turned out to be a relatively minor thigh injury 30 minutes into his first start on February 20 against Borussia Mönchengladbach following a long injury absence.
While the sight of the 19 year-old American starlet leaving the field in tears did stoke fears of an extended absence, Dortmund confirmed the following day that the worst was avoided, and put his timeline for return at 14 days.
With confirmation from local news outlet Ruhr Nachrichten and national source Kicker.de that Reyna was already in training Friday, the USMNT star seems to be slightly ahead of schedule.
Fans hopeful of Reyna having enough time and competitive chances to shake off the rust prior to a potential USMNT call-up later in the month have additional reason for optimism.
On Friday morning, the Deutsche Fußball Liga, responsible for operations of the Bundesliga, confirmed that Dortmund’s game scheduled this weekend against Mainz is postponed until Wednesday, March 16, due to an outbreak of positive SARS-CoV-2 cases amongst the Mainz squad.
With the postponement, Dortmund’s next game against Arminia Bielefeld is now scheduled for Sunday, March 13, giving Reyna nine days to work back to game fitness.
Should Reyna be ready to return against Bielefeld in some capacity, this will provide a total of three games before the international break, although the last of those, on March 20 at Cologne, will almost certainly come after Gregg Berhalter’s squad for the three World Cup qualifying games is announced.