Gio Reyna was nearly sent home from the 2022 World Cup by former U.S. men’s national team head coach Gregg Berhalter. Close to four years later, Reyna is gearing up to leave better memories in his second go-around on the world’s biggest stage. Reyna is currently with his USMNT teammates in Georgia, preparing for Sunday’s penultimate friendly against Senegal. The American midfielder/attacker was included in Mauricio Pochettino’s 26-player World Cup roster after enduring a frustrating club campaign in Germany with Borussia Moenchengladbach. Reyna’s time at Qatar 2022 was headlined by controversy between himself and Berhalter, which eventually led to a public feud between the two families in the subsequent months. Now as he prepares to help the USMNT deliver a strong showing on home soil this summer, Reyna is focused on that only. “It’s obviously a little bit tiring at this point at the end,” Reyna told reporters on Friday. “It doesn’t really affect me anymore. I’m just, to me, it more confuses me when I get asked the question still. It’s obviously four years removed and I think everyone is so far removed from that.“So yeah, it’s hard for me to even think about that because I never really do and I’m just at the moment obviously just thinking about this World Cup and what I can do to help the team,” he added. Reyna is now 23-years-old and fresh off of his seventh club season abroad. After moving to Gladbach from Borussia Dortmund last summer, Reyna went on to make 20 appearances in Eugen Polanski’s squad, scoring just once in Bundesliga play. Playing time continued to be a worry for Reyna though, who logged only 577 minutes in all competitions. While Reyna’s production was at a much higher level during the earlier stages of his career, he admitted growth as an overall player since then. “Obviously, a lot has changed; married now, have a dog,” Reyna said. “I just like to say, I matured and grown up in many aspects of my life. It’s hard to pinpoint one.“And then as a player, I think I just understand the game a bit more where maybe when I was a bit young, I was just out there playing, doing what I felt,” he added. “Now there’s obviously still that component to it, but there’s so much more that goes into the game tactically and what coaches and what teams need.”How Pochettino uses Reyna this summer remains to be seen, especially with several attacking options in the USMNT squad. Reyna’s lone start in his last five USMNT appearances came against Paraguay last November, a friendly in Chester, Pennsylvania in which he scored in. Similar to his Gladbach role over the past few months, Reyna came off the bench in March’s pair of matches against Belgium and Portugal, a role that may continue in the upcoming friendlies before group stage play begins. While Reyna would love to be in the starting lineup, he is focused on being ready for whatever Pochettino asks of him.“I think obviously not been starting, but it’s been good chunks of minutes, I would say,” Reyna said. “I think rhythm comes from game time, which I feel even those 30, 20-minute stints definitely help. But in the end, it also comes down to training well every day and preparing yourself, which I feel like I try to do whether I’m playing 90 minutes in a good situation or not playing at all. So it’s just the consistent body of work every day showing up and trying to get better.”