JOE SCALLY AND GIO REYNA have been friends since childhood and during that time they have been teammates in academies, youth national teams, the full national teams, and now at the first-team club level with Borussia Monchengladbach, which finished the 2025/26 Bundesliga season in 12^th place. But it is also at this time when both are at the crossroads.

We are now less than two weeks until Mauricio Pochettino names his roster for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and there are not many clues as to what the Argentine manager will do. When he names the roster for March, Pochettino insisted it was not the final roster and no decisions were made as to who would ultimately make the team.

Still, when reading the tea leaves and the predicted rosters of many pundits and journalists who have followed the team for years, the suspicion is that both Reyna and Scally are on the bubble – for different reasons.

Reyna has struggled badly for playing time. This season, Reyna has played just 510 minutes for Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga (plus another 68 in the DFB Pokal). It marks his fifth straight season where he has been held to under 800 minutes.

Last October, Reyna spoke to the Associated Press and indicated he understood that he needed to play to make the World Cup team.

“I think Pochettino was very clear with saying, ‘You need to play, perform and then if you do that then you have a good chance to come in again,’” Reyna told the AP. “It’s all on me now.”

While Reyna scored his first and only goal of the season in the second to last game and he grew into a consistent substitute role by the end of the season, the minutes ultimately were not there.

Still, there is the belief or hope by some that Reyna still could be a difference maker for the U.S. team. Pochettino at least acknowledges this because he has called up Reyna in the last two international windows, both in November and March. During that time, whenever asked, Pochettino has spoken highly of Reyna and his performances during the March window.

But by any measure, Reyna is not a lock to make the World Cup team. It will come down to whether his limited resume over the past few years is enough.  

“I obviously came here to play more,” Reyna explained of his season. “I was a bit unfortunate with two injuries that weren't great timing. The last couple of weeks has been very good for me to get more minutes and to have some good performances, I felt. The season's coming to an end now, so hopefully we can just finish off with one more good game this weekend for the team and individually also. And then, hope to go to the World Cup and continue with the form that I feel like I'm building on.”

“No spot is guaranteed or safe,” he added. “I want to be there. It's a World Cup in your home country. I try not to let it take over my day and stress me out too much, but it is in the back of my mind. I want to be there. I want to represent my country. I want to give everything for the team.”

For Reyna, the major talking point was the disastrous fallout following the 2022 World Cup in Qatar where Reyna’s effort was questioned when he was not playing much, the-coach Gregg Berhalter revealed that information in a seminar that was supposed to be off-the-record, and then Reyna’s parents unveiled a domestic violence incident between Berhalter and his wife (then his girlfriend) in college.

Since then, Reyna has been in the spotlight. When asked about whether he has done enough to make the World Cup team, his answer was diplomatic.

“If I say no, I am not backing myself,” Reyna said. “And then if I say yes, it’s the arrogant answer where I feel like I should be there. I’ll keep it pretty simple. I love the staff, I love the players, I love the national team. Whatever happens, happens.”

While he also admitted to being disappointed with his playing time in the World Cup in 2022, he strikes a tone now that he is willing to be supportive no matter what role he is given.

“I am just really trying to do whatever it can to help the team achieve something great, whether it's starting and playing 90 minutes or just supporting from the bench and not playing at all,” Reyna said. “And I think we all have this mindset, and I think this is one of our strengths, and that can collectively bring us to success.”

For Scally, the situation is nearly the complete opposite. While Reyna has not played consistently over four seasons, Scally has become remarkably durable. He has eclipsed the 2000+ minute plateau in each of five seasons at Borussia Monchengladbach. This year, he became the youngest non-German to eclipse 150 Bundesliga appearances.

“The season's been up and down,” Scally said. “We were always in and around relegation. I don't think it was ever on our minds as players or as a team. We always felt that we had the quality to never really reached that dip. The 150 games is something special. I think it shows all the hard work and different things that I've done to get to that point. And of course, I'm very happy and proud. Nothing comes sort of without hard work, and I think that's sort of where that came from.”

Scally also says that while he has one more year left on his contract with Borussia Moncehngladbach, he might be interested in taking his career in another direction and that he has important decisions to make after the World Cup.

“I've been here for a long time,” Scally said. “I love the club. It's no secret that I also would, of course, love to at some point in my career also experience something different. It'll be an exciting summer with the World Cup and that's kind of where my focus is at now and then after that we'll see.”

But as for Scally being on the bubble, the problem is simply numbers. Sergino Dest, Tim Weah, and Alex Freeman are all right backs who have played more with the national team over the past year. The path for Scally could be that Weah would play mostly as a winger and Freeman could play as a central defender in a three-man formation.

But Scally could also be useful as a backup central defender or left back and help give the staff options during the game. Still, he knows that his consistent play over the last several seasons is a huge asset for him.

“I have a great relationship with the coach,” Scally said. “I think he just pretty much reiterates to be at your club playing minutes. I’ve been playing every game. So I think that's the main thing. I just keep doing that. It puts myself, puts us in the best possible way to be there at the World Cup and arrive at 100%.”

Both Scally and Reyna have vastly different resumes to be included on the 2026 World Cup roster. In the coming days we will find out if either or both will be on the team.