Claudio Reyna: æWe really have to go for itÆ

SA senior editor Scott French caught up with Claudio Reyna at the U.S. training camp in St. Louis as the team prepared for WednesdayÆs World Cup qualifier vs. Costa Rica in Kansas City. Reyna talks about his season with Rangers, his return to the national team after missing the Honduras game, the possibility pairing up with Clint Mathis, and offers advice for Landon Donovan. INTERVIEW BY SCOTT FRENCH SOCCER AMERICA: How did you think Rangers’ season went this year? It must have been a disappointment. CLAUDIO REYNA: Yeah, it’s been disappointing. Mostly it comes down to our injury crisis, and it has been just that. It’s been miserable with the amount of injuries we’ve had — we’ve never been able to put a consistent 11 on the field from Day 1, really. We never were able to get into any kind of rhythm and keep the same guys on the field for more than a couple games. We hit a couple sticky patches during the season where we dropped points, and it just cost us big-time because Celtic really never slipped up. So the more the season went on and the more injuries we had, it just fell further and further apart. It was disappointing obviously because at a club like Rangers, silverware is a must, so it was tough not to win anything. Hopefully, we can come back next year and be stronger than ever. SA: Is it tougher when Celtic is doing so well? Do you hear about it from the fans? CR: Of course, the fans are upset because [Celtic has] done so well this year. Within Glasgow, there’s a huge rivalry and bitterness between the clubs, but as a player, it’s been pretty good. The fans have been really good to me. I haven’t had any problems. I think when you’re a foreigner, most of the time you can stay out of trouble. I think the Scottish guys have to deal with it more, from family and friends day-in, day-out. It’s difficult because you see a lot more green and white around the city than blue and white — but that’s just normal. Last year, all our fans were proud, and it’s just turned around this year. You see the Celtic fans wearing their shirts around town. SA: Personally, how has your season gone? CR: It’s been kind of like the team’s, very up and down with injuries. I had a spell at the beginning of the season where I started off quite well, and I was out about five weeks, and that set me back physically a bit and fitness-wise. Every single game I’ve been fit, I’ve started, and that’s something I’ve really been proud of. Coach [Dick Advocaat] really put a lot of faith in me. We’ve got such a big squad, with so many really great players, and I’ve always been a starter. That’s something I think has been good. Then again, this year I hit a little period after the Mexico game — I got injured that game — where I was out again. Now I’m getting back into it again; I’m feeling pretty good again. It’s similar to the team. I was one of many guys who was injured a lot and on the sidelines, and it’s just frustrating to constantly have to battle back from injuries and try to get fit again. You play well, but you don’t feel really 100 percent. ON THE RIGHT SA: Have you been playing primarily at right back? CR: Right back or right midfield — it’s been about half and half. I’ve played about — I don’t know how many games I’ve played, but right back and right midfield and right-inside midfield. The last three games I’ve played right-inside midfield, in the center of midfield, so I’m just kind of moving around a lot. I’ve been splitting those three positions all year. SA: Do you play with a straight line of midfielders? CR: We play a 4-4-2, and we also play a lot of 3-4-3, so when we go to 3-4-3, I play on the right side or inside-right of midfield. And if we play a flat four, I’ll play right back. SA: But in midfield, is it a straight line as opposed to a diamond? CR: Yeah, flat, with kind of like a guy off the forwards. Almost like a 3-5-2, but zone, not a man-to-man, which is different than a 3-5-2. The 3-5-2 is more man assignments throughout the field. This is more like of a zone type of play. SA: Do you have a preference of positions? CR: I prefer to play in midfield, trying to get forward more, all of that. I enjoy playing right back — it’s been a new experience for me, and I’ve really enjoyed it. You get forward a lot more, especially with our team, than you’d think. You get a lot of the ball as well. And it’s an important position for a team that likes to keep possession, like we do, and play it around. It was a great experience for me. If I was to decide, if I had the choice — which I don’t; it’s up to the coach — but if I had the choice and could put myself somewhere, I’d rather play in the midfield somewhere. PLAYING FOR æTHE LITTLE GENERALÆ SA: What’s Advocaat like to play for? CR: He’s an excellent manager, as far as soccer-wise. He knows the game inside-out, really, and he’s helped me a lot, bringing me to a club like Rangers and then playing me from Day 1. I’ve played every time I’ve been fit, and I have a lot of respect for him. He’s treated me like any other player. He doesn’t look at it like, “Well, you’re from America, or you’re from somewhere else.” He looks at it very honestly. If you’re a good player, you’ll play. That’s something I like — heÆs very straightforward and honest, and very quiet, though, as well. He’s very serious about his job always. His nickname is “The Little General,” and definitely that’s a great nickname for him. ‘Cause that’s how he is. It’s been great. He taught me a lot, as well. He taught me a lot about the tactical side of the game, and also about the game in general. It’s been a great experience. Just the little things. He’s very precise with everything, being on time for everything, training us [where] everything has to be done correctly, and you have to concentrate all the time. And the little things — passing, moving, all those little things — he doesn’t let people slip or mess up or do the little things wrong — the fundamentals, I guess we’d say here. SA: Is Rangers a club you could see yourself playing for the rest of your career? CR: Yeah, I could. It’s different these days, though, than probably 10 years ago. There’s so much more movement [in] the transfer market. Players in general have a lot more power these days, which is good. It’s a little unfortunate for clubs because we can get up and leave easier than we used to. I’m at an age now where either I’ll be playing with Rangers for a long, long time, or probably moving sometime soon. I wouldn’t say this season, but you never know. If teams are interested and they come in, itÆs really such a business now. If the timing’s right, and financially it’s a good move for the club and player to move, if they can make money on a player, that’s just how it happens. Basically, I don’t really know the answer for that. It could happen [stay with Rangers long-term], of course, and I’d be delighted because that’s a great club — always playing in Europe, always around great players, always play in front of 50,000 people, so there’s not anything to complain about at Rangers. But as far as moving, you just never know. THE PRIME YEARS SA: You turn 28 this summer? CR: Yeah, 28. SA: So you’re in that … CR:Yeah, I’m in my prime. Exactly. So, in general, looking out for me selfishly, which you have to as a player, it’s a good time in the next couple of years to capitalize on something, whether it’s with Rangers or somewhere else. It’s an important period of my career the next three or four years, I would say. That’s something I’m very aware of, so we’ll just have to wait and see. I’m very happy there, that’s for sure. : Do you like Glasgow? CR: Yeah, Glasgow’s a great city. It has everything — restaurants, shopping, all those things you need for off the field. It’s very soccer-crazy, where everywhere you go, people recognize you, and everybody is somehow tied to Rangers or Celtic. It’s at times overwhelming, especially for someone who comes from this country, because you’re not used to stuff like that. The people are great, as well. Nice Scottish people are great. My family also is settled — that’s also important. SA: Have any trouble with the accents? CR: I’ve gotten used to it. It depends on what part of the city you’re in. It really does. SA: Celtic fans don’t give you too much crap? CR: No. You get the occasional idiots, but there’s idiots everywhere in this world. I’m sure our fans give their players stick when we’re doing well, poke fun at them as well, so it’s just normal. What goes around comes around. COPING WITH INJURIES SA: How hard was it not to down in Honduras for the second qualifier? CR: It was frustrating, but I’ve come to the stage where I’ve played now quite a number of years, and you know that’s part of it. You get injured, and it’s disappointing because it was an important game, but it just happens. It’s great that team was able to pull out a great result for us — that’s the most important thing. It’s normal. You go through stages where you’re going to have injuries, you’re going to miss games. I’m glad it wasn’t a long-term thing. I was only out for about three weeks, and I’m happy to be back now. SA: That was the groin pull … CR: From the Mexico game. And it was just about that time I was 50-50. I ended up playing like four days later with Rangers, but I wasn’t sure, and I just had to be honest with Bruce [Arena, the U.S. coach]. If I went on the field, I would really be thinking about my injury, and that’s not really right. We could have wasted a sub. You want to go play those games with everyone really focused. These games are really difficult, and I didn’t feel right to go and play. SA: Did you get a chance to see the game? CR: No, I didn’t at all. I had to fly back and report to Glasgow, so I didn’t see it. Kickoff was probably 3 in the morning my time, so I woke up in the morning and immediately checked on the TV, on the Teletext. Every channel has a little thing where you flick Teletext. Like CNN, you can go to sports, and it shows the results. It’s something we don’t have [in the United States] which is really big in Europe. I checked Teletext, saw the result, and I just kind of jumped around. I was excited. SA: What kind of game are you expecting against Costa Rica? CR: Again, difficult. CONCACAF has really developed into a region where the teams have really evened out. Every game is difficult, home or away. Teams are better tactically. I’ve been with the national team for about seven years or so. Teams like Jamaica and Trinidad have come along tremendously — really good teams with good players — so every game is tough. We expect another tough game. Home or away, no result is really a surprise in anymore CONCACAF. It’s great that the region’s really evened out, makes for an exciting little qualifying stage. To get nine points out of three games would be tremendous, and we really have to go for it, I think. We’re at home, already have six points in the bag. We really have to go for three points — that has to be our game plan. SA: Costa Rica has had success against the United States. Any idea why? CR: I don’t know. I just think they’ve always been good games that could go either way, home and away. Down there, we’ve been unlucky not to get a win sometimes. Games have ended up in a draw, or we’ve lost when we could have gotten a draw. me at home — they’ve all been really tight. One thing is a lot of teams come to America and realize we are a strong home team. We haven’t lost in a long time at home. So what they try to do is sit back and counter, and it’s difficult to break teams down like that. Probably, they prepare all week to play like that, to really get a lot of guys behind the ball. THE MATHIS ISSUE SA: There’s been a lot of talk in light of Clint Mathis’ performance these last few games that it’s either Clint or Claudio. Bruce would like to get both of you on the field. How do you think you two work together? In terms of roles, what’s the right way to play you guys? CR: I think we’re totally different players. I think probably for Bruce it’s so easy because there isn’t really an issue there. It’s like comparing Eddie Lewis with Tony Sanneh — they’re totally different players. Clint is more of a goal-getter, I would say. He likes to get in front of the goal, and his strength is finishing plays off, you know? And I think, on the other side of it, my strength is creating plays and trying to get people like him in position to score, work hard in midfield with Chris Armas, and get people like Clint, Josh Wolff and Earnie Stewart — any attacking player — in position to score and create things. I don’t think it will be problem for us to play together. It’ll be nice finally to play with him — we haven’t yet, with my injury and such. He’s in a good little run, playing well, scoring goals and all that. It’s good for us that we’ve created depth on the team with so many players who can step in and do well. SA: Back in ’94, you were pretty much the only youngster with a lot of veterans. Now there’s so many young guys — it’s almost different era. CR: A lot of it has to do with Bruce, I think. He’s given a lot of younger guys a chance. They’ve done well in training, they work hard. I still think, to be honest, they’re really not ready yet. But they’re showing they can come, and they’re basically knocking on the door. You can’t ask much of them yet. I think that’s what Bruce is doing really well. First, getting them involved in camps, giving them some minutes here and there — but we still have a lot of veterans with experience, when it comes down to it, who will be put in the big-game situations. But this is the perfect time to get them involved and have them around and take them down to the game down in Honduras and see what it’s like to play there, because it’s not easy. As far as talent and ability, they have a lot of it. It’s good for the future of the team. SAVIOR TALK SA: Since you were 14 or 15, you’ve been painted as the “savior” or American soccer. How much pressure did that put on you? Was it difficult to live with those kinds of expectations? CR: No, not really. I never listened to them, never bothered with them. There’s no one person who saves a country in soccer. The reason teams are good is because they have a lot of good players. It was strange. It was a generation, basically an age group, where no one else was coming through, I think. Look around even now, guys exactly my age — there aren’t many. Through the whole team — the Joe-Max Moores, Michael Burnses, Brad Friedels: They’re two years older than me. I came through from my U-20 team to the national team, and no one else made it. That was one reason, I think: because there was no one else. Now, for instance, you’ve got Landon Donovan, Bobby Convey and DaMarcus Beasley: Three of them, thrown in together, and it’s good because [the acclaim] is getting spread around. SA: Landon is seen as the new savior. Any advice for him in dealing with it? CR: Probably not to expect too much too early, not to get demoralized. He’s still young. I was 20 and playing with the national team a lot — Bora [Milutinovic, the U.S. coach when Reyna debuted in 1994] gave me a chance. I was lucky. I played a lot, but I still felt it was a couple years there where I still had so much to learn. He’s basically the same. I think if he goes through these next three years, puts his head down and works hard and listens and does all those things, kind of goes through the grooming period, then at 23, 24, he’ll walk into the team and play every time. That’s probably my advice: Not to get too upset if you don’t play as much as he thinks [he should], or the public thinks [he should], or people around him are telling him [he should]. He’s so young, and you see in other countries, there’s not many 19- and 20-year-olds who are regulars on any national team. It’s no different here. He has a bright future. So does DaMarcus and Bobby. They’re good players. They come in, work hard, and their chance will definitely come. (Scott French is a senior editor at Soccer America.)